Publications by Anna M Peterson
Disease and the Environment in the Medieval and Early Modern Worlds, 2022
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A Companion to Late Medieval and Early Modern Siena, 2021
The aim of this chapter is to explore the methods and institutions dedicated to the wellbeing of ... more The aim of this chapter is to explore the methods and institutions dedicated to the wellbeing of the urban population before the outbreak of the Plague in 1348, at which point there was a shift in the hospital landscape. Although traditionally the studies on Sienese hospitals have focused on the Ospedale Santa Maria della Scala, this contribution will explore the network of hospitals and leper houses in the city of Siena, how they di fered from one another, as well as the level of care the inhabitants could have expected during this period. It will also touch on historiographical debates regarding the concept of care and cure in a medieval context, and the degree of independence these institutions may have had from municipal and other authorities.
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Living on the Edge: Transgression, Exclusion & Persecution in the Middle Ages , 2022
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Leprosy and identity in the Middle Ages: from England to the Mediterranean , 2021
The aim of this volume, in part, is to discuss what the word 'leper' meant to the sick and health... more The aim of this volume, in part, is to discuss what the word 'leper' meant to the sick and healthy alike of medieval Europe. 1 On the surface, a leper was simply a person who su ered from leprosy. However, this is only part of who a leper was and what they represented in medieval society. As the contributions to this volume show, the connotation and conceptualisation of the word 'leper' varied in di erent regions and contexts. The leper was to a great extent defined by his or her disease; however, the term 'leper' itself had a multifaceted connotation. Specifically, this chapter is focused on how the word 'leper' was employed in the documentation for Narbonne and Siena and what this tells us about local attitudes towards these individuals. The chapter examines the word 'leper', and all its derivatives in Latin and the vernacular, specifically Occitan in Narbonne (Languedoc) and Italian in Siena (Tuscany), before the Black Death in 1348. The analysis concludes in 1348 because it marks a point of significant demographic, social and political upheaval for both of these cities. Lepers were seen as either 'tame' or 'wild', a characterisation that coloured how they were perceived by medieval society. Narbonne and Siena o er a compelling comparison, especially with regard to the treatment and perception of lepers. These cities are in regions that are understudied vis-à-vis leprosy, and illustrate the varied approach to integrating or segregating leprosi. I argue that in the context of these two cities, 'leper' had a distinctive meaning, one that denoted a leprous person who conformed to a specific lifestyle as prescribed by local norms.
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Tracing hospital boundaries: integration and segregation in South Eastern Europe and beyond, 1050-1970, 2020
Lepers have been represented as outsiders, people where were socially and physically excluded fro... more Lepers have been represented as outsiders, people where were socially and physically excluded from their communities. However, this perception has been challenged over the past two decades by scholars such as Fraçois-Olivier Touati, Carol Rawcliffe, and Luke Demaitre. They have sought to focus on the links between lepers and society, how medieval society understood the disease in both medicine and popular culture, and the life styles of the lepers themselves. This paper will endeavour to examine the primary sources in light of these authors’ works, as well as, taking into account the Lepers Plot and the shift in how lepers were preceived. The two leprosaria in medieval Narbonne are well documented for the period before the Black Death. When Jacqueline Caille wrote about their role in the city, she emphasised their location extra-muros and their isolation. The leprosaria were located along the major roads leading into Narbonne, making them very visible to both citizens and visitors alike. Despite this, the testaments show that these leprosaria were frequently patronised by the people of Narbonne, making them a central element in the welfare economy. Within the context of the other healthcare institutions, the leprosaria played an important and visible role. The Consuls of the Cité and Bourg respectively approved the admission of new fratres and sorores, and were concerned with the efficacy of the administrators of the leprosaria. This paper will endeavour to show that there is a difference between rejection and precaution, and that these institutions were communities unto themselves.
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PhD Thesis by Anna M Peterson
This thesis analyses the development of the hospitals and leprosaria in Narbonne and Siena from t... more This thesis analyses the development of the hospitals and leprosaria in Narbonne and Siena from their foundation to the Black Death (c.1080-1348). Specifically, it examines their respective relationships with the people of Narbonne and Siena and the municipality within a comparative framework. This thesis helps address the gap in comparative studies of the history of hospitals and leprosaria. This comparative study demonstrates how the internal governance of these institutions responded to and was shaped by, changes in the political and social climate in Narbonne and Siena. This becomes apparent through comparison of the Hospital of St Just, and Hospital of St Paul in Narbonne, with the Ospedale di Santa Maria della Scala in Siena. All of these houses were established by ecclesiastical institutions between the late eleventh and mid-twelfth century; however, there is a marked difference between the growth of the Ospedale versus that of those institutions in Narbonne. The absence of strong central leadership in these houses could have led to the more diverse lexicon for the hospitals and leprosaria of Narbonne, while the presence of such leadership in Siena resulted in the houses being led by a rector. Furthermore, Siena's wealth, population, and the Ospedale's independence from its founders facilitated its development into the paragon of the medieval hospital. These elements are absent from Narbonne, which was entering a period of decline particularly in the thirteenth century. This thesis also recontextualises the study of leprosaria in both cities by deconstructing the traditional exclusion narrative; indeed, this study presents the first examination of the lepers and leprosaria in Siena. Examination of these two cities reveals that there were various approaches to supporting and regulating lepers. It also demonstrates that lepers and leprosaria played an important role within the urban environment, by providing lepers a community while also presenting the healthy with an opportunity to serve them and reap spiritual benefits. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of the institutional development of assistive houses in these two cities, placing them in their respective political and social contexts and evaluates their relationship with authorities, especially the episcopacy, papacy, and municipality.
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Conference Presentations by Anna M Peterson
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Reviews by Anna M Peterson
Dynamis, 2018
Reseñas Sally Mayall Brasher. Hospitals and charity: Religious culture and civic life in Medieval... more Reseñas Sally Mayall Brasher. Hospitals and charity: Religious culture and civic life in Medieval Northern Italy. Manchester: Manchester University Press; 2017, 224 p. ISBN: 978-1-5261-1928-5. £70.
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Call for Papers by Anna M Peterson
The history of healing has a rich body of scholarship, albeit one that is scattered across time, ... more The history of healing has a rich body of scholarship, albeit one that is scattered across time, topic, and place. This volume seeks to bring together this rather disparate field by soliciting engaging works that explore the nature of healing, broadly defined, through a variety of lenses from history to ethnopharmacology to archaeology and beyond from the Ancient World to 1800. Only through interdisciplinary work does the study of pre-modern health and healing begin to take shape. As healing knows few boundaries, this volume will explore care and cure across the globe in an effort to highlight common threads and themes. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
- Recipes, their development, use and abuse
- Pharmacology
- Reception, transfer, translation, reuse, and misuse of healing knowledge and techniques
- Professionals and practitioners
- Spaces and places of healing
- Religion and ritual
- Material culture including amulets, charms, instruments of healing, etc.
- Indigenous and colonial knowledge and practice
- Gendered and transgender health
- Fertility, infertility, and sexuality
- Informal networks of care
- Intersections between healing and race
- Disability and healing
- Healing on the battlefield
- Death and deathcare
- Appropriation of pre-modern healing in the modern era
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Minji Lee leemin@montclair.edu or Anna Peterson peterson.anna.m@gmail.com by 2 December 2024.
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Medica: Studies in Pre-Modern Health and Healing (Routledge) is a multidisciplinary book series t... more Medica: Studies in Pre-Modern Health and Healing (Routledge) is a multidisciplinary book series that encourages and promotes scholarship in the long history of health, healing, and medicine from the Ancient World to 1800. The series explores all aspects of pre-modern health and healing, expanding upon traditional definitions while encouraging global and comparative perspectives. We invite book proposals related to pre-modern healing, broadly defined. Book projects may focus on specific geographical regions or cross boundaries to highlight shared and/or divergent healing cultures.
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We are pleased to announce the call for papers for "Leprosy and the 'Leper' Reconsidered," which ... more We are pleased to announce the call for papers for "Leprosy and the 'Leper' Reconsidered," which will take place at McGill University in Montréal, Canada. This is an interdisciplinary and trans- historical conference which seeks both to unite and to broaden the discourse on leprosy sufferers and leprosy. In this way, this conference aims to highlight and discuss the presence of leprosy not only across time, but also across physical borders and spaces. Indeed, this conference aims to erase such boundaries in order to foster a more encompassing discussion of such a global disease. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is a growing need to address leprosy within an interdisciplinary framework in order to expand our understanding of changing discourse, medical, social, and popular, surrounding the disease and the afflicted.
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Papers by Anna M Peterson
A Companion to Late Medieval and Early Modern Siena
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Chapters in Edited Volumes by Anna M Peterson
Disease and the Environment in the Medieval and Early Modern Worlds, 2022
This chapter discusses how healthscaping policies and practices were conceived and enacted in two... more This chapter discusses how healthscaping policies and practices were conceived and enacted in two northern Italian cities between the twelfth and mid-fourteenth centuries to prevent disease and keep the local environment clean of corruption of various kinds. Bologna and Siena make for fertile comparison: each was both a powerful commercial hub in its respective region and an important religious centre. The healthscaping policies that emerged in the two cities were largely shaped by contemporary understandings of health and disease and demonstrate how various aspects of civic life were impacted by the desire to keep urban spaces clean, respectable, and to ensure the health of all, no matter their social class or status.
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Uploads
Publications by Anna M Peterson
PhD Thesis by Anna M Peterson
Conference Presentations by Anna M Peterson
Reviews by Anna M Peterson
Call for Papers by Anna M Peterson
- Recipes, their development, use and abuse
- Pharmacology
- Reception, transfer, translation, reuse, and misuse of healing knowledge and techniques
- Professionals and practitioners
- Spaces and places of healing
- Religion and ritual
- Material culture including amulets, charms, instruments of healing, etc.
- Indigenous and colonial knowledge and practice
- Gendered and transgender health
- Fertility, infertility, and sexuality
- Informal networks of care
- Intersections between healing and race
- Disability and healing
- Healing on the battlefield
- Death and deathcare
- Appropriation of pre-modern healing in the modern era
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Minji Lee leemin@montclair.edu or Anna Peterson peterson.anna.m@gmail.com by 2 December 2024.
Papers by Anna M Peterson
Chapters in Edited Volumes by Anna M Peterson
- Recipes, their development, use and abuse
- Pharmacology
- Reception, transfer, translation, reuse, and misuse of healing knowledge and techniques
- Professionals and practitioners
- Spaces and places of healing
- Religion and ritual
- Material culture including amulets, charms, instruments of healing, etc.
- Indigenous and colonial knowledge and practice
- Gendered and transgender health
- Fertility, infertility, and sexuality
- Informal networks of care
- Intersections between healing and race
- Disability and healing
- Healing on the battlefield
- Death and deathcare
- Appropriation of pre-modern healing in the modern era
Please submit a 300-word abstract and a 100-word bio to Minji Lee leemin@montclair.edu or Anna Peterson peterson.anna.m@gmail.com by 2 December 2024.