Within the conception of knowledge of the early Modern Age, the concepts of body, health and sexuality were placed somewhere between magic and science. This paper takes into consideration two genres within the medical and the magical traditions: the regimina sanitatis and the domestic encyclopedias, i.e. the production concerning the magia naturalis. These writings generally focus on the therapeutical praxis rather than on the theory, thus also sexuality is never discussed as a separate issue. Whereas the regimina belong to the tradition of Galenic humoral medicine and offer generic and universal indications, domestic encyclopedias are closer to the concrete needs of reality and address a vast range of issues. A few examples are: the care for one’s look according to Renaissance aesthetic canon, the preoccupations of young women who had to marry much older men, or the preoccupations of men who wanted to verify their wives’ or fiancés’ chastity. Closer to magic are instead love spells or recipes to stimulate or inhibit virility. The language used in these texts often shifts from Latin to German, as the most delicate pieces of information were omitted in German sources or were maintained in Latin passages. Authors and translators put forward moral pretexts to justify these choices that often had the only effect of attracting the reader’s attention and of underlining these passages. However, the general tendency of these writings seems to reflect more a desire for knowledge and modern man’s curiosity than an effort to comply with moral or religious indications. This is well documented by the passages presented at the end of the paper, extracted from coeval sources, ranging from Konrad von Eichstätt (1300) to C. W. Hufeland (1798).

Nella concezione del sapere della prima età moderna, corpo, salute e sessualità erano concetti che si collocavano a cavallo tra magia e scienza. Questo contributo si sofferma su due filoni della tradizione medica e di quella magica: i regimina sanitatis e le enciclopedie domestiche, cioè la letteratura della cosiddetta “magia naturalis”. Queste fonti si concentrano più sulla prassi terapeutica che sulla teoria, quindi anche la sessualità non viene mai problematizzata come ambito a sé stante. Mentre i regimina si collocano nella tradizione della medicina umorale galenica e offrono indicazioni generiche e universali, le enciclopedie domestiche sono più aderenti ai bisogni concreti della realtà e abbracciano una vasta gamma di temi: la cura dell’aspetto esteriore secondo il canone estetico rinascimentale, i problemi di giovani donne che devono sposare uomini molto più vecchi di loro o di uomini che vogliono mettere alla prova la castità della moglie o della promessa sposa sono solo alcuni esempi. Più vicini alla magia sono invece l’incantesimo d’amore e le ricette per stimolare o inibire la virilità. Il linguaggio dei testi oscilla tra latino e lingua tedesca, perché le informazioni più delicate vengono spesso tralasciate nelle fonti in tedesco, o sono mantenute in inserti latini; autori e traduttori adducono pretesti morali, che spesso servivano però soltanto ad attirare l’attenzione del lettore e a mettere ancor più in evidenza i brani in questione. L’orientamento dei testi sembra comunque più corrispondere al desiderio di conoscenza e alla curiosità dell’uomo moderno, che aderire a valori o rappresentazioni morali e religiose; lo documentano bene i testi presentati in coda al contributo, tratti da fonti dell’epoca, da Konrad von Eichstätt (1300) a C. W. Hufeland (1798).

Balbiani, L., “Das ein yeglicher man mit messiger mynne mynnen mag”. Sexualität, Medizin und Magie in der Frühen Neuzeit, in Bruns, C., Walter, T. (ed.), Von Lust und Schmerz. Eine historische Anthropologie der Sexualität, Böhlau, Köln Weimar Wien 2004: 23- 59 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/194407]

“Das ein yeglicher man mit messiger mynne mynnen mag”. Sexualität, Medizin und Magie in der Frühen Neuzeit

Balbiani, Laura
2004

Abstract

Within the conception of knowledge of the early Modern Age, the concepts of body, health and sexuality were placed somewhere between magic and science. This paper takes into consideration two genres within the medical and the magical traditions: the regimina sanitatis and the domestic encyclopedias, i.e. the production concerning the magia naturalis. These writings generally focus on the therapeutical praxis rather than on the theory, thus also sexuality is never discussed as a separate issue. Whereas the regimina belong to the tradition of Galenic humoral medicine and offer generic and universal indications, domestic encyclopedias are closer to the concrete needs of reality and address a vast range of issues. A few examples are: the care for one’s look according to Renaissance aesthetic canon, the preoccupations of young women who had to marry much older men, or the preoccupations of men who wanted to verify their wives’ or fiancés’ chastity. Closer to magic are instead love spells or recipes to stimulate or inhibit virility. The language used in these texts often shifts from Latin to German, as the most delicate pieces of information were omitted in German sources or were maintained in Latin passages. Authors and translators put forward moral pretexts to justify these choices that often had the only effect of attracting the reader’s attention and of underlining these passages. However, the general tendency of these writings seems to reflect more a desire for knowledge and modern man’s curiosity than an effort to comply with moral or religious indications. This is well documented by the passages presented at the end of the paper, extracted from coeval sources, ranging from Konrad von Eichstätt (1300) to C. W. Hufeland (1798).
2004
Tedesco
Von Lust und Schmerz. Eine historische Anthropologie der Sexualität
9783412073039
Böhlau
Balbiani, L., “Das ein yeglicher man mit messiger mynne mynnen mag”. Sexualität, Medizin und Magie in der Frühen Neuzeit, in Bruns, C., Walter, T. (ed.), Von Lust und Schmerz. Eine historische Anthropologie der Sexualität, Böhlau, Köln Weimar Wien 2004: 23- 59 [http://hdl.handle.net/10807/194407]
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10807/194407
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