Summary: Consilia played an important role in medieval but also early modern professional health literature. Literary "consilium" contained a written statement of one particular case, the patient's condition and disease as well as advice on a medical procedure where a doctor in accordance with the contemporary discourse analyzed symptoms, determined the diagnosis, prognosis and recommended its pharmacological treatment including possible technical interventions (venesection etc.). In the 16th century, the Consilia Literature was a common part of many eminent physicians' practice whereas nowadays it is unjustly neglected source of history of medicine, pharmacology, dietetics and so on. The first part of the dissertation is devoted to the definition of genre, the initial stages of its development and description of the specifics of the Middle Ages. However the results of fifteen eminent physicians of Italy (B. Vettori, G. B. Da Monte, V. Trincavelli, A. M. Venusti, G. Capodivaccio, C. Guarinoni), France (J. Fernel, G. de Baillou) and of the German-speaking areas of Central Europe (J. Crato, R. Solenander, L. Scholz, D. Cornarius, J. Wittich, T. Mermann, J. Matthaeus), became the main theme of work of early modern consultative collections. On examination of nearly seven thousand consilia from twenty two...

This thesis examines the existence of posthumanism in the dramas of Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, and William Shakespeare – the three most prominent playwrights of the early modern period. Posthumanist theory, which gives scholars the opportunity to look at past works in a new and unique way, attempts to re-locate the human in the diverse creatures and objects in the world we inhabit. By applying posthumanist theory to older works, we can better understand the early modern period and its writers as well as their relevance to the present. Their plays’ messages serve as warnings that work to guide humanity in the right direction if we are willing to listen. Current events show us the dangers of continuing down the path of our present course. In short, by looking to the past I hope to chart the course of posthumanist interpretation on literature and our own species in the future.

This master thesis aims to show how a qualitative approach to early modern medical practitioners’ perspectives can provide a basis for a better understanding of the disease of dysentery. The focus is on: 1) How the disease of dysentery was described and how the challenge of dysentery was perceived. 2) What individual measure and commitments were taken for the patients and why. 3) How the cause of the disease was understood and explained. 4) How perspectives differed between physicians and surgeons.Of particular interest when it comes to the disease of dysentery is how the disease and its cause were perceived.Eleven texts written by mainly British medical practitioners from primary sources such as reports, logbooks and letters on dysentery written during the years 1740 - 1800 have been used for close readings and a qualitative analysis was performed on the collected data.The analysis showed (i) that medical practitioners expressed considerable interest in dysentery and in trying to understand it as a great suffering for individuals, for society and for humanity as a whole. (ii) Medical practitioners took treatment measures based on how they understood the cause of the disease outbreak. Either the dysentery was referred to internal causes, as sickness in organs, especially the organs that produced bodily fluids, or it was referred to external causes, as a sickness caused by heat, cold, weather, winds, air, climate, seasons, lunar position, etc. (iii) The cause of the disease was understood and explained both as an infection and as a pre-disposition for imbalances in body fluids. (iv) Both physicians and surgeons understood that the disease of dysentery was a global phenomenon and that the disease often was connected to the climate and weather. This standpoint was based on the fact that dysentery distinguished itself as an autumnal disease. Its eruption usually began with a few scattered cases in July, then increased in August and culminated in September. Theories about the disease, its causes and treatment did not differ significantly between physicians and surgeons. However, the views of different physicians did differ.The thematic map of understanding related to disease of dysentery, shows that medical practitioners’ knowledge, theories and ideas behind the medical practice of dysentery, have an ambiguity in the view of both the dysentery and the treatment of it. This was probably due to interpretation based both on observable causes of diseases, and on a more theoretical abstract meaning, where diseases to a greater extent was understood on the basis of symptoms and signs.It is suggested that regardless of the knowledge base of the individual medical practitioner, no one represented an independent knowledge base for their treatment of dysentery; rather they participated actively with each other in a mutually constitutive way in order to shape their understanding of the dysentery. This theses’ qualitative approach, allows dysentery patients and their medical practitioners via the texts of the medical practitioners, to offer very personal accounts of a highly contagious disease.

Disease is not a unique or singular phenomenon. The medical literature contains multiple reports discussing disease interactions and co-occurrence which remains an important issue. Despite this, there has been no systematic investigation of disease co-occurrence in paleopathology. This thesis will begin to fill the gap by producing a detailed analysis of the pathological indicators for scurvy, rickets, and their co-occurrence, focussing on features of co-occurrence and their identification. The Collégiale Saint-Amé collection from 16th to 18th century Douai, France includes 48 individuals ranging from fetal to five years of age. Previous research indicated a large number of potential cases of scurvy and rickets in the juveniles (Devriendt et al. 2010). The current study identified 12 cases of possible co-occurrence based on macroscopic, radiographic, and microscopic techniques; biocultural and historical data supported disease presence. Macroscopic results indicate that lesions associated with scurvy are identifiable and the vascular system is not known to be directly affected by rickets. Rickets features are present but changes are subtle and reduced in prevalence. Radiographs demonstrate features of both diseases but the presence or absence of the line of Fraenkel, a scurvy feature, was useful in identifying the likely dominant disease process. Diagenetic change significantly impacted microscopic investigations but the technique provided some supporting evidence for the presence of rickets. The results clearly demonstrate that cases of co-occurrence of scurvy and rickets are present and identifiable in the archaeological record. Important factors for recognition include the sequence in which conditions develop and duration of illness. Presently only cases with moderately or better developed features of both scurvy and rickets can be identified. Use of multiple techniques was critical to observe subtle changes and build a case for disease presence. Further research on co-occurrence of any diseases is encouraged to create a fuller understanding of past disease. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

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<p>This work is a local study of charity in seventeenth-century Marseilles. Civic councillors, inspired by the <em>dévot</em> movement, were the chief agents of charitable poor relief. Responding to external political pressures from the Bourbon monarchy and religious inspiration from within the community, charity became a facet of local political authority and a vehicle of social moral reform. The collective purpose of the newly emerging specialized asylums was to mould orderly and spiritually orthodox members of society. In light of the city’s ongoing hopes for civic autonomy and its unwavering commitment to Catholicism, the desire for citizen-virtue crystallizes as a struggle for distinctly <em>Marseillais</em> identity. My study emphasizes not the ‘<em>enfermement</em>’ but the concept of ‘charity’ as the central concept in treatment of the poor. The asylums were ‘rehabilitative’ rather than purely punitive. In showing charity as a mechanism of social reform – tailored to each group’s material, moral and spiritual lowliness and to the threat they allegedly posed – the study implicitly unveils the exclusionary aspects of the social mosaic.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

In my diploma thesis is analyzed economic security of the collegiate chapter house in Stará Boleslav (near Prague). After an outline of the issue in the Middle Ages, the study concentrates on an evaluation of the profitability and economic impact of the estates of the Stará Boleslav chapter in the early modern period; also other possibilities of economic security are analysed here (including financial effect resulting from the Baroque pilgrimage). In some respects, the comparison is made here between Stará Boleslav collegiate chapter and some similar Czech church institutions. The topic is examined primarily on the basis of unpublished sources (land registers, population censuses etc.; list of the most important of them is included in appendix), taking into account also printed sources and secondary literature.

Thesis title in English Constitutio Criminalis Josephina and its influence on the decision-making practice of the Court of Appeal: Sexual offences in the years 1687-1727 Abstract This paper captures the development of the juridical practice of the Prague Court of Appeal between years 1687-1727 and examines the influence of the Constitutio Criminalis Josephina of 1707/8 on this practice. The research is focused on punishing of the sexual offenses, ie adultery, bigamy, fornication, incest, rape and sodomy. The primary sources for the research are law codes, especially Koldín's Code Práva městská Království českého (1579) and "Josephina"; besides them others are used: the Constitutio Criminalis Carolina (1532), the Constitutio Criminalis Ferdinandea (1656) and Brikcí's Práva městská (1536). The practice of the appellate court itself has been examined on the basis of the books of sentences that contain the judgments of that court. Firstly, the relevant legislation of the period was described for each of the offenses and then the judicial practice was examined. The applied methodology can be qualified as quantitative-qualitative comparative analysis which makes possible recognizing the changes that occurred with the implementation of "Josephina". The main findings of the thesis suggest that "Josephina" was an...

L’historiographie ottomaniste traitant de la question de l’esclavage s’est surtout concentrée sur la période tardive de l’Empire (XIXe-XXe s.) produisant des livres de recherche et de synthèse (B. Lewis 1971, 1990 ; E. Toledano 1982, 1997, 2007 ; H. Erdem 1996 ; M. Zilfi 2010). Sur l’époque moderne, on dispose d’un corpus grandissant d’études portant sur des aspects ponctuels du phénomène servile. L’objectif de cette thèse est de réaliser la première monographie (en quelque langue que ce soit) sur l’esclavage dans la société ottomane de l’époque dite « classique » (XVIe-XVIIe s.), en s’intéressant à l’esclavage pratiqué dans l’espace privé et non au domaine, beaucoup plus étudié, des esclaves du sultan et du système d’asservissement militaro-administratif. À partir essentiellement de documents d’archives de l’État ottoman, du corpus juridique et législatif et de textes littéraires, la thèse aborde des questions d’histoire juridique, sociale, économique, culturelle et des mentalités. Les axes principaux de la recherche concernent ainsi le cadre juridique doctrinaire de l’esclavage en tant qu’institution et l’application du droit par les autorités ottomanes, le commerce des esclaves, les différentes formes de la main d’œuvre servile, l’esclavage au quotidien, le devenir des affranchis, mais aussi la représentation que se faisait l’élite ottomane de l’esclavage, sujet auquel est consacré un tiers de la thèse. Le cadre géographique couvre les « provinces centrales » (Roumélie, Istanbul, Anatolie), mais des micro-études sont consacrées à la Syrie (arabophone mais indissociable de l’Anatolie), l’Égypte, la Crimée, le Caucase et le Kurdistan. / Ottoman historiography dealing with slavery has been concentrated particularly on the later period of the Empire (19th-20th c.) and produced monographs of research and synthesis (B. Lewis 1971, 1990 ; E. Toledano 1982, 1997, 2007 ; H. Erdem 1996 ; M. Zilfi 2010).). For the early-modern period, there is a growing body of articles on localized aspects of the servile phenomenon. This dissertation’s objective is to realize the first monograph on slavery in the Ottoman society of the so-called “classical” period in whatever language it may be. The main focus is on slavery in the private space as opposed to the more well-known and studied sultan’s slaves and the military-administrative servitude (the “kul system”). Based essentially on archival documents of the Ottoman state, legal and juridical records, as well as literary texts, the dissertation tackles problems of juridical, social, economical, cultural history, as well as that of mentalities. Thus the research’s main axes concern the legal doctrine of slavery as an institution and the implementation of law by the Ottoman authorities; the slave trade; various forms of slave labour; slavery in everyday life; the fate of manumitted slaves; but also the representations of slavery by the Ottoman elites (topic to which a third of the thesis is devoted). The geographical framework covers the “central provinces” (Rumelia, Istanbul, Anatolia), but the dissertation also includes micro-studies on Syria (Arab-speaking but inseparable from Anatolia), Egypt, Crimea, Caucasus and Kurdistan.

Cette thèse analyse la réception en Europe des évènements survenus au Japon pendant la période de mission, à l’époque moderne. Le discours diffusé dans le monde occidental avait commencé par un certain triomphalisme, incarné par les chrétiens japonais arrivés à Rome en 1585. Or, quand les autorités locales ont proscrit et poursuivi la nouvelle religion, il a évolué vers une rhétorique centrée sur la notion de « martyr ». Par la suite, cette idée a été activement utilisée pour présenter l’expérience chrétienne japonaise dans l’Europe moderne, et son emploi était intimement lié à la pensée politique et religieuse de l’époque. Les martyrs du Japon ont en outre donné lieu, en 1627, à la première béatification de saints issus des « Indes ». Cet évènement, tant pour l’Église, que pour les empires coloniaux ibériques, n’a été rendu possible qu’à travers l’intégration du Japon dans une vision du monde où ses dirigeants persécuteurs sont considérés comme des tyrans, et non pas comme de simples sauvages. La transmission de ces conceptions dans le Vieux Continent a également pris des formes concrètes, avec les tableaux, sculptures et gravures, ou encore la littérature et le théâtre. Dans les pièces jésuites, l’Archipel devient en effet un thème d’un genre destiné à l’édification publique. Tout cela a contribué à créer un Japon imaginaire, qui s’est par la suite largement imposé dans les esprits. Cette thèse montre que les martyrs japonais ne peuvent être circonscrits à l’histoire de l’Église ou des ordres missionnaires, mais qu’ils ont contribué à la construction de la culture européenne, en particulier dans sa perception de sa place dans le monde. / This thesis analyzes the reception of the Japanese mission in Europe, from the 16th to the 18th century. The discourse diffused in Europe started with a certain triumphalism, embodied by the Japanese Christians sent to Rome in 1585. However, when the local authorities began to prosecute and ban the new religion, it evolved to an imagery centered on the concept of “martyr". After that, this notion has been actively used to relate the Japanese Christian experience in modern Europe, and it was intimately linked to the religious and political thought of the time. The martyrs of Japan also gave, in 1627, the first beatification of saints from the “Indies”. This exceptional event, for both the Catholic church and the Iberian colonial empires, was only made possible by the integration of Japan in a determined word-view, where its leaders were regarded as tyrants, and not as uncivilized savages. The concrete transmission of such conceptions in the Old Continent was conducted by various means, such as paintings, sculptures and engravings, or literature, and theater. In the Jesuit plays, the Japanese martyrs became a topic in a literary genre essentially designed for public edification. All of this gave birth to an imaginary Japan that subsequently established itself in the minds of the time. Overall, this thesis shows that Japanese martyrs cannot simply be confined to the history of the Church or missionary orders. They have contributed significantly to the construction of European culture, particularly in its perception of its place in the world.