Pliny and Renaissance Gynaecology

Pliny the Elder’s Natural History is one of the most important sources for gynaecological treatises of the Renaissance. Of the entire Plinian encyclopaedia, books 7 and 28 seem to be the most frequently quoted or used to explain medical phenomena, particularly those relating to anthropology, extraordinary births, and the miraculous properties of menstrual blood, among others.

In this presentation, I will consider two works in particular: Ludovico Bonaccioli’s (1475–1536) Enneas muliebris, and Rodrigo de Castro Lusitano’s (1546–1627/29), De uniuersa mulierum medicina. Bonaccioli’s treatise is included in the Gynaeciorum libri (last edition in 1597), a compendium of several treatises on women’s medicine.

Castro’s work deals with women’s nature and conditions in a theoretical and practical way. Both authors cite Pliny as a main source, particularly with regard to cases and stories of mirabilia.

Besides the medical material drawn from Pliny, these authors also relied on the names, cases, and extraordinary reports preserved in the Natural History, many of which would otherwise have been lost.

Ultimately, Pliny was used as a source for Wunderkammern. For this presentation, my main goal is therefore to explore the importance of Pliny in these treatises and to pinpoint how the knowledge he conveyed was used and preserved by these physicians.