Books by Maaike van der Lugt
What moral and normative power did nature have according to medieval thinkers? The contributors t... more What moral and normative power did nature have according to medieval thinkers? The contributors to this volume study this question in different disciplines and discourses – theology, philosophy, political thought, literature, rhetoric, art, ethnography, medicine, physionomy and astrology, – between the 12th and the 15th century. « Nature » had many different meanings and its moral and normative authority varied considerably depending on the specific context and intentions of medieval authors who referred to its power, order, or law. Nature often validated social, religious, moral, and legal norms. However, its power was also disruptive. Appealing to the authority of nature could be a way to reveal the weaknesses, limits, and contradictions of the medieval moral, religious, social, and legal system.
Aestimatio: Critical Reviews in the History of Science
This book studies the cultural history of the concept of heredity during the later Middle Ages an... more This book studies the cultural history of the concept of heredity during the later Middle Ages and the Early modern period. Interdisciplinary in approach, it combines the history of medicine, of science, theology, law, political theory and historiography. To be true, during the period under study, there was no general theory of heredity. Even though the functioning of medieval society was largely founded on kinship and hereditary transmission, there was no coherent ideology to justify this sociological rule. Moreover, learned discourse was often hostile to heredity. Medicine and physiognomy placed emphasis on the individual and often downplayed parental determinism. Theories of nobility exalted personal virtue, while depreciating ancestry. Christian theology insisted on the unity of humankind, a tendency that was still reinforced by Aristotelian philosophy. However, as this book also shows, the Middle Ages invented several concepts and terms that later played a crucial role in the development of the paradigm of heredity. The interpretation of the legal term ‘consanguinity’ in the sense of biological kinship, and the term ‘race’ are medieval creations. The same is true of the distinction between noble and non-noble animals (for hawks and birds), and of the idea of noble blood. Some medieval scholars theorized the idea that social discrimination, such as the discrimination of the Jews, was, in part, rooted in a specific physical constitution. Moreover, medieval physicians started to qualify certain diseases as hereditary. The divide between the Middle Ages and the Early modern period has often been presupposed rather than really examined. The chronology of this book allows to be sensitive to both continuity and change and to qualify the importance of the discovery of the Americas for the history of heredity.
Can a woman become pregnant by taking a bath in water polluted by sperm? Is spontaneous generatio... more Can a woman become pregnant by taking a bath in water polluted by sperm? Is spontaneous generation possible, and if so, which animals can be born that way – worms only, or people too, if human beings became extinct? Can demons sleep with women, and what is the nature of children born from these mixed unions? What is Mary's contribution to the miraculous conception of Christ, and if this miracle is the work of the Holy Ghost, was Mary really a mother? Medieval theologians, philosophers and physicians have pursued such and similar questions with great candour and energy, and tried to formulate answers in terms of contemporary embryological theories. This book is the first comprehensive study of the debates about the three forms of extraordinary generation mentioned above, that is ‘limiting cases' of natural generation (represented in the title by the worm), generation by demons, and the generation of Christ. A preliminary chapter, an overview of the evolution of medieval theories of normal human generation, forms the essential backdrop for the three case studies. A close reading of texts produced in medieval universities, many of which are still unpublished, analysed within their institutional, cultural and religious context, shows that the learned discussions on extraordinary generation are far from anecdotal. They presuppose several more general themes. The book uncovers the strong and often unexpected interactions between theology and the profane sciences, and the points of contact between scholasticism and the world of legends and ‘popular' beliefs. It also contributes to the history of the notion of paternity, maternity and filiation, and of the development of the medieval conception of miracles and the order of nature.
Papers by Maaike van der Lugt
The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of the conceptualization of sk... more The aim of this article is to contribute to a better understanding of the conceptualization of skin color in medieval medicine, through the study of commentaries on the key text on the subject, Johannitius' Isagoge. The study of skin color is complicated by the gap between the medieval color system and the classifications to which we are accustomed today. The relationship between skin pigmentation and named color is, moreover, often quite complex. Even seemingly straightforward adjectives such as “black” or “white” pose difficulties, due to the coexistence, even confusion, in medieval medical sources of at least two systems of skin color, both of Greco-Arabic origin: a first medical, humoral or physiognomonic model focused on the individual and limited to the oikoumènè or “temperate zone”; a second, ethnological and geographical model, taking into account different peoples according to the latitude of their origin (“climate”). Color terms do not have the same meaning in these two systems, and skin color does not have the same status or causality. Following Johannitius, medieval commentators explain skin color as an outward sign of an individual's humoral complexion. They were less interested in ethnic color. This is not to suggest that skin color among medieval physicians was alien to the prejudices of the time. As with humorous temperaments, ethnic portraits incorporate a characterization of the mores of different peoples. Nevertheless, the primacy of semiology must be affirmed. In medieval medicine, skin color was part of a way of thinking that, through infinite classifications of complexions, sought to decipher bodies, in order to adapt diet and treatment to each patient.
Droits, 2022
If you want an offprint, send me an email.
Article 311 of the French Civil Code defines a legal... more If you want an offprint, send me an email.
Article 311 of the French Civil Code defines a legal presumption period. Starting from the date of birth, it defines a period of time during which the child was conceived and thus determines the presumed father of the child. This legal presumption has a long history, the roots of which can be found in the Digest. The Digest contains several fragments explaining that the periods chosen were in line with Hippocratic medical knowledge about the duration of pregnancy. In the Middle Ages, Roman law professors lost interest in the subject for a long time. It was Cino da Pistoia (+ 1336) who proposed an innovative commentary on the subject, including a consilium on the duration of pregnancy by the physician Gentile da Foligno. The question of the legal presumption thus became a place where the jurists debated the place of the medical authority in the law. The article analyses Cino's position and Gentile's proposals. It also examines the arguments of Albericus de Rosate, who was very open to the use of scientific expertise by jurists, and those of Pierre Jacobi, a jurist from Montpellier. An examination of the positions of these different jurists helps to put into perspective the idea that the law of kinship was biologised in the late Middle Ages.
Allaiter de l'Antiquité à nos jours: Histoire et pratiques d'une culture en Europe, 2022
This article takes a retrospective and prospective look at the study of the history of generation... more This article takes a retrospective and prospective look at the study of the history of generation in the Middle Ages. Whereas early studies focused on theories and ideas developed in the medieval schools and universities, historians have, since the 1970s, become increasingly interested in the dissemination, circulation and vernacularisation of medical and philosophical learning and in hands-on skills, especially of women. Norms, beliefs, and values around sexuality, childbirth, and marriage, in addition to social, religious, legal and cultural practices have likewise attracted increasing attention. The article identifies several avenues for further research. The available scholarship invites us to rethink conventional periodisations. More comparative studies acknowledging regional differences in institutional, social, and cultural landscapes within the Latin West are needed. Jewish and Islamic perspectives also merit further attention. In-depth comparative studies would allow us to identify affinities and differences in reception of the same Greek heritage and better understand how specific norms, beliefs, and practices related to marriage, sex, and childbearing informed the study of generation and how knowledge of the physiology of generation in turn influenced social and religious practices, norms, and beliefs. The last section proposes some methodological reflections on key terms (generation, reproduction, conception, heredity, infertility, abortion, etc.) and on the danger and uses of anachronism in the study of generation.
Micrologus, 1999
Several medieval moral and didactic tales describe the animation of corpses by the devil or demon... more Several medieval moral and didactic tales describe the animation of corpses by the devil or demons. But the theme of the diabolical corpse also appears in learned demonology, as part of a general theory of the apparition of angels and demons. Theologians reject the idea that these are only hallucinations, and they must explain how demons and angels, which are pure incorporeal invisible spirits, can appear to us. Between 1100 and 1250, they developed a theory of assumed bodies, by supposing that demons and angels can temporarily attach themselves to a body, either a corpse, or a mass of condensed air. They associate the assumption of corpses to demonic magic. The discussion does not have anecdotal interest only, because it permits theologians to conceptualise the power of demons, while also emphasising their incapacity to work real miracles. At the same time, the concept of the assumed body leads them to discuss the notion of life and the human person.. At the end of this debate, in order to save the reality of apparitions, while also respecting their concepts of life and the soul, theologians amplify the possibility for simulation and deceit. Even though a demon is not a real person, quite incapable of the life functions (opera vitae), demons can manipulate the assumed corpse in a perfect way. Man loses any fixed criteria to distinguish between the real and fake, and must permanently be on his guard, for he can never be sure that the devil is not lurking somewhere.
Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 49:3, p. 563-588, 2019
Medieval discussions about breastfeeding were saturated with moral and social meanings and argume... more Medieval discussions about breastfeeding were saturated with moral and social meanings and arguments about how a good mother should behave and what makes for a happy, healthy baby. At the center was the question of who should breastfeed, the mother or a wet nurse. While the church sanctioned maternal breastfeeding as a moral norm, recourse to wet nurses was the norm for elites, and the custom spread in the later Middle Ages to the middling segments of society. Medieval physicians formulated their advice according to their understanding of the moral and normative authority of nature, but also in complex dialogue with contemporary pastoral theory and moral philosophy (which rejected wet-nursing), as well as contemporary social practices, values, and beliefs. Physicians recognized maternal breastfeeding as the best and most natural option because of the physiological continuity between gestation and lactation, yet their advice was adapted to the social realities of their patrons and patients by giving guidance about choosing a good wet nurse and controlling her manner of life. Contrary to what is often claimed or supposed, the notion that the milk of amoral and bad-mannered wet nurses might lead to the degeneration of children did not originate from Galenic physiology but from nonmedical sources. Physicians themselves were reticent about attributing quasi-hereditary powers to mother’s milk, insisting instead on the dangers of neglect in the care of infants.
Annales de démographie historique, 2019
"Blood, Heredity and Kinship in the Middle Ages : Biological and Social Models. Albert the Great ... more "Blood, Heredity and Kinship in the Middle Ages : Biological and Social Models. Albert the Great and Baldus"
The article studies the role of blood and heredity in the works of two great medieval thinkers : the theologian and philosopher of nature Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280), and the legal scholar Baldus degli Ubaldi (d. 1400). After an overview of the “hereditary turn” of the early fourteenth century, which saw the coining of several new concepts (royal blood, hereditary disease), the article investigates to what extent Albert the Great and Baldus used biological models to explain legal kinship structures. Albert is one of the few medieval thinkers who used detailed physiological arguments to justify the ecclesiastical ban on consanguineous marriage. Natural philosophy also influenced Baldus’s theory of kinship and descent. However, Albert’s ideas had little influence, and neither Albert’s nor Baldus’s hereditary thought falls under the term “hereditary determinism”. Albert’s theory of generation, as well as Baldus’s casuistry about noble bastards, show that in discussions about legal kinship natural philosophy was often glossed over, or was a reflection of social norms. In this respect, the role of hereditary blood in the Middle Ages may be compared to the flexible meanings and uses of ethnic DNA testing today.
Without denying the possibility of divine or demonic intervention, medieval physicians often prop... more Without denying the possibility of divine or demonic intervention, medieval physicians often proposed naturalistic explanations for mysterious and supposedly supernatural events. The medical discussions about the incubus studied in this article provide a particularly illuminating case of this naturalistic approach, and more generally of the relationship between science, theology and common belief. Medieval physicians described incubus as a suffocating feeling during sleep, accompanied by the impression that something presses heavily upon one; they claimed that these sensations are nothing but a bad dream with purely natural causes. They pointed out that theologians and the common people attributed nocturnal suffocation to the actions of demons, while the common people believed that the nocturnal assailant is an old woman, a witch, who oppresses sleepers and strangles infants. Medieval physicians emphatically rejected both these alternative ‘realist' explanations. The belief in nocturnal stranglers is widely attested in non-medical sources from Antiquity on and subsequently gave its name to the night-mare. However, the term incubus is not used in these sources. Conversely, in theology, the term incubus does not refer to the belief in nocturnal assailants, but to a similar, but non-identical belief in demons who have sexual intercourse with women. Even though the medical incubus did not develop as an alter-ego of the sexual demon, from the early 15th century on some physicians started to incorporate the latter notion into their discussions. This shift points to the growing force of the belief in sexual demons at the dawn of the witch-craze. Moreoever, with the ever increasing empowerment of the devil, it was no longer possible for physicians to dismiss demonological beliefs as categorically as before. This far from nullifies the importance of the physicians' naturalising arguments about the incubus. For it was in the works of late medieval physicians that well known early modern critics of the witch-craze found the arguments they used to attack the reality of the witches' alleged actions.
The article explores the place of Pietro of Abano’s Expositio problematum in the medieval recepti... more The article explores the place of Pietro of Abano’s Expositio problematum in the medieval reception of Aristotle’s Problems. The date, place and circumstances of the composition of the Expositio have been the object of much misunderstanding and confusion. As confirmed by recent scholarship, there can, however, no longer be any doubt that Pietro based his commentary on Bartholomew of Messina’s Latin translation, probably using more than one copy of it. Despite his knowledge of Greek, Pietro did not have access to the Greek original. He started the Expositio in Paris and finished it in Padua in 1310. It probably reflects university teaching, but there is no formal proof of Pietro’s links with the university of Paris. Even though Pietro’s pioneering commentary is transmitted in 19 known manuscripts and quickly came to be seen as the standard gloss — to the point where his paraphrases were sometimes used as a substitute for the Problems themselves — the Expositio did not initiate a scholastic commentary tradition. Later extant commentaries are either written in the vernacular, or short and simplified collections of questions and answers. The reasons for Pietro’s splendid isolation were, as shown by Pietro’s own thoughts about the form, object and plan of the Problems, both practical and epistemological.
This article argues that, contrary to what is often alleged or supposed, the concept of hereditar... more This article argues that, contrary to what is often alleged or supposed, the concept of hereditary disease is a medieval creation. To be true, ancient medicine already recognized diseases that are transmitted from parents to offspring, but it did not possess technical and specific terminology allowing to distinguish them from congenital diseases. The assimilation of Arabic medical treatises in the 1230s and 1240s was instrumental in the development of such a terminology in the West. Latin authors went, however, beyond their sources by developing legal analogies of transmission. This sometimes helped them to distinguish hereditary disease from other procreation and sex-related illnesses. Moreover, hereditary disease was not just a descriptive term. Medieval authors also tried to define the types of diseases that are transmitted hereditarily (chronic diseases) and proposed different causal schemes to account for them. Nevertheless, the notion of hereditary disease remained relatively marginal within the medieval life sciences. The central notion was generation, not heredity. The second part of the article studies religious and political implications of the notion of hereditary disease. The Church did not take hereditary disease into account as a justification for the laws on consanguinity, nor as an impediment for marriage or reason for divorce. However, in medical and philosophical contexts hereditary disease sometimes acquired a eugenic dimension, in the form of advice on partner choice or proposals for policies to keep the disabled from having children.
The last part of the article examines the links between hereditary disease and the doctrine of original sin. Theories of transmission of original sin varied widely; some were more hereditary and/or biological than others. The Augustinian tradition, which makes transmission depend on renewal in each generation by a psycho-sexual mechanism, is far removed from modern concepts of heredity, but close to the medieval theory of generation. Overall, the medical debate on hereditary disease and the theological one on original sin are parallel; there are similarities and common sources of inspiration, but few explicit connections or comparisons.
Uploads
Books by Maaike van der Lugt
Papers by Maaike van der Lugt
Article 311 of the French Civil Code defines a legal presumption period. Starting from the date of birth, it defines a period of time during which the child was conceived and thus determines the presumed father of the child. This legal presumption has a long history, the roots of which can be found in the Digest. The Digest contains several fragments explaining that the periods chosen were in line with Hippocratic medical knowledge about the duration of pregnancy. In the Middle Ages, Roman law professors lost interest in the subject for a long time. It was Cino da Pistoia (+ 1336) who proposed an innovative commentary on the subject, including a consilium on the duration of pregnancy by the physician Gentile da Foligno. The question of the legal presumption thus became a place where the jurists debated the place of the medical authority in the law. The article analyses Cino's position and Gentile's proposals. It also examines the arguments of Albericus de Rosate, who was very open to the use of scientific expertise by jurists, and those of Pierre Jacobi, a jurist from Montpellier. An examination of the positions of these different jurists helps to put into perspective the idea that the law of kinship was biologised in the late Middle Ages.
The article studies the role of blood and heredity in the works of two great medieval thinkers : the theologian and philosopher of nature Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280), and the legal scholar Baldus degli Ubaldi (d. 1400). After an overview of the “hereditary turn” of the early fourteenth century, which saw the coining of several new concepts (royal blood, hereditary disease), the article investigates to what extent Albert the Great and Baldus used biological models to explain legal kinship structures. Albert is one of the few medieval thinkers who used detailed physiological arguments to justify the ecclesiastical ban on consanguineous marriage. Natural philosophy also influenced Baldus’s theory of kinship and descent. However, Albert’s ideas had little influence, and neither Albert’s nor Baldus’s hereditary thought falls under the term “hereditary determinism”. Albert’s theory of generation, as well as Baldus’s casuistry about noble bastards, show that in discussions about legal kinship natural philosophy was often glossed over, or was a reflection of social norms. In this respect, the role of hereditary blood in the Middle Ages may be compared to the flexible meanings and uses of ethnic DNA testing today.
The last part of the article examines the links between hereditary disease and the doctrine of original sin. Theories of transmission of original sin varied widely; some were more hereditary and/or biological than others. The Augustinian tradition, which makes transmission depend on renewal in each generation by a psycho-sexual mechanism, is far removed from modern concepts of heredity, but close to the medieval theory of generation. Overall, the medical debate on hereditary disease and the theological one on original sin are parallel; there are similarities and common sources of inspiration, but few explicit connections or comparisons.
Article 311 of the French Civil Code defines a legal presumption period. Starting from the date of birth, it defines a period of time during which the child was conceived and thus determines the presumed father of the child. This legal presumption has a long history, the roots of which can be found in the Digest. The Digest contains several fragments explaining that the periods chosen were in line with Hippocratic medical knowledge about the duration of pregnancy. In the Middle Ages, Roman law professors lost interest in the subject for a long time. It was Cino da Pistoia (+ 1336) who proposed an innovative commentary on the subject, including a consilium on the duration of pregnancy by the physician Gentile da Foligno. The question of the legal presumption thus became a place where the jurists debated the place of the medical authority in the law. The article analyses Cino's position and Gentile's proposals. It also examines the arguments of Albericus de Rosate, who was very open to the use of scientific expertise by jurists, and those of Pierre Jacobi, a jurist from Montpellier. An examination of the positions of these different jurists helps to put into perspective the idea that the law of kinship was biologised in the late Middle Ages.
The article studies the role of blood and heredity in the works of two great medieval thinkers : the theologian and philosopher of nature Albert the Great (c. 1200-1280), and the legal scholar Baldus degli Ubaldi (d. 1400). After an overview of the “hereditary turn” of the early fourteenth century, which saw the coining of several new concepts (royal blood, hereditary disease), the article investigates to what extent Albert the Great and Baldus used biological models to explain legal kinship structures. Albert is one of the few medieval thinkers who used detailed physiological arguments to justify the ecclesiastical ban on consanguineous marriage. Natural philosophy also influenced Baldus’s theory of kinship and descent. However, Albert’s ideas had little influence, and neither Albert’s nor Baldus’s hereditary thought falls under the term “hereditary determinism”. Albert’s theory of generation, as well as Baldus’s casuistry about noble bastards, show that in discussions about legal kinship natural philosophy was often glossed over, or was a reflection of social norms. In this respect, the role of hereditary blood in the Middle Ages may be compared to the flexible meanings and uses of ethnic DNA testing today.
The last part of the article examines the links between hereditary disease and the doctrine of original sin. Theories of transmission of original sin varied widely; some were more hereditary and/or biological than others. The Augustinian tradition, which makes transmission depend on renewal in each generation by a psycho-sexual mechanism, is far removed from modern concepts of heredity, but close to the medieval theory of generation. Overall, the medical debate on hereditary disease and the theological one on original sin are parallel; there are similarities and common sources of inspiration, but few explicit connections or comparisons.
Organisation : Maaike van der Lugt (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines-Paris Saclay)
Maud Pérez-Simon (Université Sorbonne nouvelle-Paris 3) Nicolas Weill-Parot (École Pratique des Hautes Études - PSL)
Since Lynn Thorndike’s seminal study in his History of Magic and Experimental Science, the Book of the Cow has received attention from a number of scholars. This research has shown that the Latin translation circulated in clerical and university circles. It both fascinated and horrified medieval readers. The magic of the Book of the Cow relies on the forces of nature rather than the invocation of demons. However, in the eyes of medieval readers the book wasn’t any less dangerous. What shocked them most, was not the ambition to create an artificial humanlike being, but that this was supposed to be done by crossing a human and an animal. Several additional manuscripts have recently been identified and important work has been done on the place of the Book of the Cow in Arabic thought, based on careful study of citations and other indirect evidence.
The aim of the informal workshop we are convening on October 14th 2016 is to take stock of the available research and to reflect on the best method to go further and edit this fascinating text. The Book of the Cow defies traditional philological methods. Of the Arabic original only a small fragment subsists. The extreme variation between Latin manuscripts and their often truncated state seriously complicates the construction of a stemma. Moreover, in the Latin tradition, the Book of the Cow is intimately associated with another Arabic magical text which serves as its prologue. This raises the question of whether or not the two texts should be edited together. The answer to this question will depend, in part, on the reconstruction of the Arabic tradition. As such, team work and the pooling of different lines of expertise are vital. The workshop will bring together experts of Arabic and Latin magic and of Latin and Arabic philology. Its goal is to design a blueprint for further collaboration.