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“A SPEDIE REFORMATION ”. Barber-Surgeons, Anatomization, and the Reformation of Medicine in Tudor London

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Paracelsian Moments
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71“A Spedie Reformation”Barber-Surgeons, Anatomization, and the Reformation of Medicine in Tudor LondonLynda PayneDuring the late sixteenth century two generations ofambitious and articulate surgeons came to exerciseincreasing influence within the newly combined Bar-ber-Surgeons’ Company of London (1540). Against theshifting background of the Tudor Reformation and wide-spread anxiety about health in the capital, learned surgeonscalled for their own reformation in the “decayed and ruined” art of medicine. 1The foundations upon which the leading surgeons of the United Company ofBarber-Surgeons erected their medical reformation were classical learning andChristian conduct. In anatomy they modeled themselves upon Galen of Perga-mum (ca. 130–200 c.e.), whose surgical works had been largely recovered andpublished by the 1540s, while in surgical practice they principally followed theethical guidelines of Aulus Cornelius Celsus (ca. 14–37 c.e.). The nascent com-munity of learned surgeons cultivated and publicized an image of themselves asgodly in their manners and bearing. They sought to instill a Christian reverencefor the body during dissections at the Barber-Surgeons’ Hall and promoted them-selves as protectors of the gullible public from quacks and unskillful surgeonsalike. Unlike some English Paracelsians such as Richard Bostocke who viewedtheir reformation of medicine as entailing the necessary overthrow of the ancientpagan medical authorities, the newly incorporated Company of Barber-Surgeonslooked to the same authoritative sources as the university-trained physicians.Inpractice the medical reformation was carried out on three fronts. First,prominent surgeons in the Company enacted strict regulations concerning the1. John Read, A Most Excellent and Compendious Method of Curing Woundes in the Head(Lon-don, 1588), epistle 3.Paracelsian.bookPage71Monday,December16,200212:42PM
© 2021 Penn State University Press

71“A Spedie Reformation”Barber-Surgeons, Anatomization, and the Reformation of Medicine in Tudor LondonLynda PayneDuring the late sixteenth century two generations ofambitious and articulate surgeons came to exerciseincreasing influence within the newly combined Bar-ber-Surgeons’ Company of London (1540). Against theshifting background of the Tudor Reformation and wide-spread anxiety about health in the capital, learned surgeonscalled for their own reformation in the “decayed and ruined” art of medicine. 1The foundations upon which the leading surgeons of the United Company ofBarber-Surgeons erected their medical reformation were classical learning andChristian conduct. In anatomy they modeled themselves upon Galen of Perga-mum (ca. 130–200 c.e.), whose surgical works had been largely recovered andpublished by the 1540s, while in surgical practice they principally followed theethical guidelines of Aulus Cornelius Celsus (ca. 14–37 c.e.). The nascent com-munity of learned surgeons cultivated and publicized an image of themselves asgodly in their manners and bearing. They sought to instill a Christian reverencefor the body during dissections at the Barber-Surgeons’ Hall and promoted them-selves as protectors of the gullible public from quacks and unskillful surgeonsalike. Unlike some English Paracelsians such as Richard Bostocke who viewedtheir reformation of medicine as entailing the necessary overthrow of the ancientpagan medical authorities, the newly incorporated Company of Barber-Surgeonslooked to the same authoritative sources as the university-trained physicians.Inpractice the medical reformation was carried out on three fronts. First,prominent surgeons in the Company enacted strict regulations concerning the1. John Read, A Most Excellent and Compendious Method of Curing Woundes in the Head(Lon-don, 1588), epistle 3.Paracelsian.bookPage71Monday,December16,200212:42PM
© 2021 Penn State University Press

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Introduction xi
  5. PARACELSIANA
  6. PARACELSUS’ S BIOGRAPHY AMONG HIS DETRACTORS 3
  7. PARACELSUS AND THE BOUNDARIES OF MEDICINE IN E ARLY MODERN AUGSBURG 19
  8. TO BE OR NOT TO BE A PARACELSIAN. Something Spagyric in the State of Denmark 35
  9. “A SPEDIE REFORMATION ”. Barber-Surgeons, Anatomization, and the Reformation of Medicine in Tudor London 71
  10. SEEING “MICROCOSMA ”. Paracelsus’s Gendered Epistemology 93
  11. PARACELSUS ON BAPTISM AND THE ACQUIRING OF THE ETERNAL BODY 117
  12. PARACELSUS AND VAN HELMONT ON IMAGINATION. Magnetism and Medicine before Mesmer 135
  13. NATURAL MAGIC AND NATURAL WONDERS
  14. UNHOLY ASTROLOGY. Did Pico Always View It That Way? 151
  15. WINE AND OBSCENITIES. Astrology’s Degradation in the Five Books of Rabelais 163
  16. ROBERT BOYLE , “THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST,” AND HEBREW 187
  17. JOHANNES PRAETORIUS. Early Modern Topography and the Giant Rübezahl 207
  18. DEMONS, NATURAL MAGIC, AND THE VIRTUALLY REAL. Visual Paradox in Early Modern Europe 223
  19. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PARACELSIANA AND EARLY MODERN SCIENCE . 247
  20. INDEX 257
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271091037-006

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter i
  2. Contents vii
  3. Acknowledgments ix
  4. Introduction xi
  5. PARACELSIANA
  6. PARACELSUS’ S BIOGRAPHY AMONG HIS DETRACTORS 3
  7. PARACELSUS AND THE BOUNDARIES OF MEDICINE IN E ARLY MODERN AUGSBURG 19
  8. TO BE OR NOT TO BE A PARACELSIAN. Something Spagyric in the State of Denmark 35
  9. “A SPEDIE REFORMATION ”. Barber-Surgeons, Anatomization, and the Reformation of Medicine in Tudor London 71
  10. SEEING “MICROCOSMA ”. Paracelsus’s Gendered Epistemology 93
  11. PARACELSUS ON BAPTISM AND THE ACQUIRING OF THE ETERNAL BODY 117
  12. PARACELSUS AND VAN HELMONT ON IMAGINATION. Magnetism and Medicine before Mesmer 135
  13. NATURAL MAGIC AND NATURAL WONDERS
  14. UNHOLY ASTROLOGY. Did Pico Always View It That Way? 151
  15. WINE AND OBSCENITIES. Astrology’s Degradation in the Five Books of Rabelais 163
  16. ROBERT BOYLE , “THE SCEPTICAL CHYMIST,” AND HEBREW 187
  17. JOHANNES PRAETORIUS. Early Modern Topography and the Giant Rübezahl 207
  18. DEMONS, NATURAL MAGIC, AND THE VIRTUALLY REAL. Visual Paradox in Early Modern Europe 223
  19. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PARACELSIANA AND EARLY MODERN SCIENCE . 247
  20. INDEX 257
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