IMC 2026: Sessions
Session 111: Medical Temporalities
Monday 6 July 2026, 11:15-12:45
| Organiser: | IMC Programming Committee |
|---|---|
| Moderator/Chair: | Nicola Carpentieri, Dipartimento di Studi Linguistici e Letterari, Università degli Studi di Padova |
| Paper 111-a | Organisation, Intentions, and Lexical Differences in the Two Catalan Versions of Teodoric Borgognoni's Chirurgia (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Other, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Medicine, Science |
| Paper 111-b | Catalan Translations of Giordano Ruffo's Liber de medicina equorum: The Transmission of Hippiatric Knowledge (Language: English) Index terms: Language and Literature - Other, Manuscripts and Palaeography, Medicine |
| Paper 111-c | The Rhythms of Disease: Intermittent Fevers in Medieval Life and Thought (Language: English) Index terms: Daily Life, Hagiography, Medicine, Social History |
| Abstract | Paper 111-a: Chirurgia, of Teodorico Borgognoni (1205–1298), is a major work in the rationalization of surgery with a strong presence in the Crown of Aragon. In fact, the first translation into a vernacular language was in Catalan (early 14th century) and was documented in more than 20 libraries. Despite this wide presence, only two complete witnesses survive today. This paper will analyse the two manuscripts, the intentions of the two translators (Guillem Corretger and Bernat de Berriac), the different organizations of the content (ordinatio partium), and the lexical differences evident in the early efforts to transfer medical science into vernacular Catalan. Paper 111-b: This paper analyses the Catalan translations of Giordano Ruffo’s Liber de medicina equorum (c. 1250–1254), the earliest Western compendium of veterinary science. Written at the court of Emperor Frederick II, Ruffo’s treatise combined Hippocratic-Galenic doctrine with practical knowledge acquired in the imperial stables, and it became a cornerstone of medieval hippiatry across Europe. Despite Ruffo’s decisive influence on later hippiatric literature, his Catalan reception has remained understudied even though several anonymous translations are preserved. These texts reveal how learned veterinary knowledge was vernacularized and adapted into Catalan culture, underscoring the urgent need for critical editions and detailed philological study. Paper 111-c: Tertiana and quartana febris, i. e. intermittent fevers, are today generally identified by scholars with the modern concept of malaria. However, people in the Middle Ages had their own ideas about the origin and curability of these diseases. These caused illness which often lasted for months, having a strong influence on individuals’ lives, and recurred in the rhythm of the days after which they were named. Medieval hagiography, especially miracles, and late medieval correspondence in particular provide us with information about the fears, concerns and ideas that people associated with these diseases in their everyday lives. |