Remedios y saberes médicos de las mujeres en la Italia renacentista y su reflejo en la obra de Moderata Fonte

Abstract

Considering the latest research on the history of medicine it is undeniable that women have played an essential role in the experimentation, application, and transmission of traditional medical knowledge. There is evidence of their work during the Renaissance related to family care and the preparation of remedies at home. This paper aims to study how literature could help us to understand essential aspects of women’s medical knowledge during the Renaissance. Thus, this article will analyze the work Il merito delle donne [The Worth of Women] (1600), in which Moderata Fonte displays all this traditional medical knowledge and challenges all women to promote a kind of medicine centered on themselves.