Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 45728
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Liboni , Gionata,
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Teorie e pratiche sul corpo femminile alla corte di Lucrezia Borgia: l’Enneas muliebris di Ludovico Bonaccioli tra filosofia, medicina ed erudizione
  • Source: Itinerari 61, 1 ( 2022): Pages 183 - 217. Special issue: Le Filosofie dei Medici: testi e dottrine dal XII al XVII secolo / The Philosophies of Physicians: Texts and Doctrines from the 12th to the 17th Century. edited by Iolanda Ventura and Marco Forlivesi.
    Available open access from the journal website: https://www.mimesisedizioni.it/download/14152/38d60849394e/itinerari-lxi-2022-14x21-_st.pdf
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Body Borgia, Lucrezia, Wife of Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara Ludovico Bonaccioli, Physician Gynecology
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 16
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  • Abstract: This paper aims to present and contextualize Bonaccioli’s Enneas muliebris, first published in 1502-3 and recurrently printed (in various defective forms) within important 16th and 17th-century gynaeciae collections. In the background of the rise of the figure of the male gynecologist, this work offers an interesting example of manual designed for an educated audience interested in acquiring a basic knowledge of the theories and practices concerning the female body. Remarkably, despite his acceptance of the Aristotelian-Galenic framework, Bonaccioli promotes a reform, inspired by medical humanism, of the Latin medical nomenclature, in order to describe more accurately the anatomy of the female genitalia and the fetal development; moreover, he introduces a vision of the woman which enhances the specificity of female body and sexuality. In so doing, on the one hand he responds to the expectations of a new female audience; on the other, he imposes on women an instrument of discipline and control. [Reproduced from the journal page on the Mimesis Edizioni website: https://www.mimesisedizioni.it/libro/9788857596099/toc/4477]
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  • Author's Affiliation: University of Ferrara [Adjunct Professor] and University of Parma [Adjunct Professor]
  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2022.
  • Language: Italian
  • ISSN/ISBN: 20369484 (print); 27852555 (online)