From the French Pox to Lues Venerea
From the French Pox
to "Lues Venerea"
Medical and Governmental Responses to the French Pox
in Nuremberg, 1495-1700
Monica O'Brien
24 November 2026 – 5 PM (CET)
This talk explores responses to the French pox in Nuremberg from its first epidemic appearance in the twilight of the Middle Ages until the dawn of the eighteenth century when morbo Gallico became lues venerea.
The presentation focuses on the medical and governmental responses to the disease, particularly understandings of its contagion and decisions about aid provided to the sick poor. It explores the sexual and non-sexual (e.g. through objects and non-sexual touch) theories of the pox’s contagion, showing how both endured in medical texts and municipal authorities’ thinking, even as the pox became lues venerea.
Much of the historiography on the French pox has heretofore focussed on how theories of its sexual transmission influenced responses. Moreover, previous research has shown the influence of sexual theories of contagion on governmental responses to the pox in western Europe.
Through analysis of city council records, this talk argues that non-sexual theories of contagion significantly influenced the Nuremberg government’s provision of aid to the poxed poor.
Furthermore, Ratsverlässe (books of council decisions) show how, at points, contagion theories intersected with concerns about resource limitations and morality, resulting in restrictions or increases in the charity provided to the sick.
Overall, this presentation will show that contagion theories led to a response dominated by the provision of charity to French pox victims in Nuremberg throughout the period 1495-1700.
About the Speaker ...
Monica Catherine O’Brien is an Effective Learning Adviser at the University of Glasgow, UK, where she studied for her PhD in History.
Her research explores the medical, social, and emotional histories of epidemic disease and illness in late medieval and early modern Europe. Previously, Monica was a postdoctoral fellow at the Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel, where she focused on religious emotions and responses to syphilis.
