EARLY MODERN MEDICINE: Paracelsus on the art of the physician.

Physician vs. Nature

• The physician is only the servant of nature, not her master.
• No disease comes from the physician, nor any cure. He can only aggravate the course of the disease, but he can also improve it.

Book knowledge vs. Experience

• The patient should be the physician’s book.
• A man cannot draw the theory of medicine from his head, but from what his eyes see and his fingers touch.
• The art of medicine cannot be inherited, nor can it be copied from books.
• It must be digested many time and many times spat out. One must always re-chew it and knead it thoroughly, and one must be alert while learning it not doze like peasants turning over pears in the sun.
• The longer the book, the shorter the insight to be gained; the longer the prescription, the smaller its effect.

(Source: Paracelsus, Selected Writings, trans. Norbert Guterman)

EARLY MODERN ETIQUETTE. Bathroom and table manners.

When invited to dinner

• Try to please others, but not too much, or you will appear more like a buffoon or a jester or perhaps a flatterer rather than a well-mannered gentleman.
• Dirty, foul, repulsive or disgusting things are not to be done in the presence of others.
• Therefore relieve your needs in private, and when you return, don’t rearrange your clothing. Don’t even wash your hands in decent company, because it implies something disgusting to their imagination.
• Don’t grind your teeth or shriek, and avoid singing -- especially solo-- if your voice is out of tune.
• Don’t yawn, cough, sneeze loudly, or bray like an ass.
• When you have blown your nose, you should not open your handkerchief and look inside, as if pearls or rubies might have descended from your brain.
• Don’t offer anyone your glass of wine after you have tasted it, or offer fruit into which you have bitten.
• Don’t smell anyone’s food or even your own, for fear that some things that men find disgusting may drop from your nose.
• Don’t act like a pig with its snout in the swill, never raising your eyes from the food in front of you.
• Don’t use your napkin to wipe off sweat or blow your nose.

(Source, Galateo by Giovanni Della Casa, trans. Konrad Eisenbichler and Kenneth Bartlett. Image: chivalrytoday.com)

LIVING THE RENAISSANCE TODAY. Renaissance Festivals in America.

The first Renaissance Festival was organized in 1963 in the Hollywood Hills-- ground zero of make-believe.  There are now more than a 150 annual fairs in the US, with the two largest in Plantersville, Texas, and Shakopee, Minnesota.

 

Together, those fairs attract about six million visitors, slightly more females than males (53 vs. 46 percent), with a third in the under 35 years of age group coveted by merchants. They are generally well educated  (64 % college grads) and well-off (52% homeowners). They have to be well-off because it will cost them $ 300/day and up. What do they get for their money?

• The illusion to escape the modern world and spend a day surrounded by fake architecture, in a lovely English village or the noble court of our beloved Queen Bess.
• Becoming part of the fantasy and magic by dressing up. Popular costumes for rent are: Romeo and Juliet, the village wench, the tavern lady, sexy Gwenhyfar, the executioner, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. If you are tired of historical characters, there is always Guido Libido, the Hopeless romantic, friend to all women.
• Fun, fun, fun in a place where pleasures reign and merrymaking is the rule. What kind of pleasures? Full contact jousting, falconry, jugglers, jesters, an exchange of comic insults, bear-baiting (the comic version), and leeching (the bloodless version, I assume).
• Post-Renaissance payment methods. Sign at one festival booth: We honor Lady Visa and the Master of the Card.

(Source: Paul Grendler, The European Renaissance in American Life)

EARLY MODERN STRATEGY: LORENZO DE’ MEDICI’s LETTERS

Here is a lesson in strategy from a seasoned Renaissance politician. The quotes are from his letters, 1467- 89.

• How to obtain consent. We would like to inspect your properties…If you do not reply, we will interpret your lack of an answer as a quick way of giving your consent. I think I’ll try that strategy on the IRS: “I would like to withhold my taxes…If you do not reply, I take that as a quick way of you giving your consent.”
• How to get out of visiting your mother. My doctor does not think it would be good for my eczema to return to your place. PS: Send my purple tunic, as I have nothing to wear.

• How to get out of giving a present. I was going to send you some trout, but the fishing wasn’t good because it rained so furiously.

• How to avoid exile and death. I decided to go voluntarily to Naples.

• Sucking up to the Pope. So sorry to hear that you are suffering from the gout. As Saint Francis felt the pain of the wounds suffered by Jesus Christ, thus do I feel every pain and ill suffered by Your Holiness in my own person and am much vexed thereby.

• Don’t trust the French.What reliance is to be placed on France, seeing the French nature, I know not.

• Don’t denounce the King. It is better to dissimulate and make secret preparations than to show anger before being ready to strike…but an agreement would, I think, be better than a good war.

• First sign the contract, then complain. By the kindness of Your Holiness the contract of the alum works has been awarded to me…I entreat Your Holiness at last to act like a Pope…and not trust so much in posterity and good health.

(Source: Jon Thiem, Lorenzo de' Medici. Selected poems and Prose. Image: kingsacademy.com) 

LORENZO DE’ MEDICI: GOOD ADVICE TO HIS SON, THE CARDINAL

Leo X by Botero

 

What can you say to a sixteen-year old, who has just been appointed cardinal?

This is what Lorenzo de’ Medici had to say to his son Giovanni:

• Lead a saintly, exemplary, and honest life. So far you are doing alright, son. I notice you’ve been to confession and to communion without anyone reminding you.
• If all the cardinals were good, there would always be a good pope. Hint: why not aim for the top yourself?
• Persevere in studies suitable to your profession.
• Of course temptations will be great once you take up residence in Rome, that sink of all iniquities.
• See what you can do for the family. Assist our House.
• Use jewels and silken stuff sparingly.
• Eat plain food and do much exercise.
• Get up early and draw up the agenda for the day.
• In the evening, reflect on what you have to do the next day, so that events may not come upon you unawares.Don’t bother the Pope. He is a busy man and grateful if people don’t break his ears. If you see him, talk about amusing things.

 

It worked! Giovanni became Pope (Leo X) in 1513.

(Source: Jon Thiem, Lorenzo de Medici: Selected Poems and Prose. Image: www.1.bp.blogspot.com)