Demons, Nature, or God? Witchcraft Accusations and the French Disease in Early Modern Venice

McGough, Laura J.

doi:10.1353/bhm.2006.0069

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Only four accusations occur, and not a single one of the defendants in these cases was found guilty. 25 To what extent, if any, syphilis led to collective violence against prostitutes or women has yet to be shown for early modern Europe. Instead, in places such as Lucca, laws on prostitution were in fact liberalized in the fifteen-thirties, and a new appellate court was created to protect prostitutes from abusive violence.…”

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confidence: 99%

Pandemics: waves of disease, waves of hate from the Plague of Athens to A.I.D.S.*

Cohn

2012

Historical Research

106

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This article briefly surveys the history of pandemics in the West, contesting long-held assumptions that epidemics sparked hatred and blame of the 'Other', and that it was worse when diseases were mysterious as to their causes and cures. The article finds that blame and hate were rarely connected with pandemics in history. In antiquity, epidemics more often brought societies together rather than dividing them as continued to happen with some diseases such as influenza in modernity. On the other hand, some diseases such as cholera were more regularly blamed than others and triggered violence even after their agents and mechanisms of transmission had become well known.In 2009 the so-called Mexican swine flu fuelled widespread fear of contagion but, contrary to expectation, failed to spark hatred and violence. Given the climate of mounting Mexican drug wars and U.S. antipathies towards Mexicans crossing borders and competing for jobs in a recession, this absence may strike us as especially surprising. Perhaps had mortality rates soared, the spectre of racial, class and religious prejudice may have loomed large, as with certain pandemics in the past. Are a disease's mortality rates, its fatality rates and rapidity of dissemination, or fear of a new and mysterious disease or a strain of it the critical factors that determine whether an epidemic will trigger hate and violence? Or does the pandemichate nexus depend less on the character of the disease and more on underlying social and political conditions already in existence at a particular time and place? Or do any of these explanations work? To what extent were scapegoating, violence against victims and the innocent, or 'the hate of class in times of epidemics', to cite René Baehrel, universal or near universal aspects of big epidemics? 1 More recent historians of mentalities and medicine have thought much the same as Baehrel: hate has been the normal consequence of pandemics. According to Carlo Ginzburg, "the prodigious trauma of great pestilences intensified the search for a scapegoat on which fears, hatreds and tension of all kind could be discharged"? 2 By the reckoning of Dorothy Nelkin and Sander Gilman: 'Blaming has always been a means to make mysterious and devastating diseases comprehensible and therefore possibly controllable'. 3 Roy Porter concurred with Susan Sontag: 'deadly diseases' especially when 'there is no cure to hand' and the 'aetiology … is obscure … spawn sinister

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confidence: 99%

Pandemics: waves of disease, waves of hate from the Plague of Athens to A.I.D.S.*

Cohn

2012

Historical Research

106

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“…The ability to access treatises in their original form and language will enable more complete and accurate translation of these works by qualified scholars. For example, several evaluations of historical documentation and literature shed light on the relationship between the 16th‐century syphilis epidemic and increasing misogyny and persecution of women accused of witchcraft or perceived “moral failings,” such as prostitution (e.g., Herero Ingelmo & Montero Cartelle, ; Juárez‐Almendros, ; Losse, ; McGough, , ; Ross, ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing the understanding of treponemal disease in the past and present

Baker

Crane-Kramer

Dee

et al. 2020

American J Phys Anthropol

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Syphilis was perceived to be a new disease in Europe in the late 15th century, igniting a debate about its origin that continues today in anthropological, historical, and medical circles. We move beyond this age-old debate using an interdisciplinary approach that tackles broader questions to advance the understanding of treponemal infection (syphilis, yaws, bejel, and pinta). How did the causative organism(s) and humans co-evolve? How did the related diseases caused by Treponema pallidum emerge in different parts of the world and affect people across both time and space? How are T. pallidum subspecies related to the treponeme causing pinta? The current state of scholarship in specific areas is reviewed with recommendations made to stimulate future work. Understanding treponemal biology, genetic relationships, epidemiology, and clinical manifestations is crucial for vaccine development today and for investigating the distribution of infection in both modern and past populations.Paleopathologists must improve diagnostic criteria and use a standard approach for recording skeletal lesions on archaeological human remains. Adequate contextualization of cultural and environmental conditions is necessary, including site dating and justification for any corrections made for marine or freshwater reservoir effects. Biogeochemical analyses may assess aquatic contributions to diet, physiological changes arising from treponemal disease and its treatments (e.g., mercury), or residential mobility of those affected. Shifting the focus from point of origin to investigating who is affected (e.g., by age/sex or socioeconomic status) and disease distribution (e.g., coastal/ inland, rural/urban) will advance our understanding of the treponemal disease and its impact on people through time. K E Y W O R D S archaeological biogeochemistry,

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“…9 At whatever stage of syphilis, some patients have been so stigmatized and marginalized that they ended up committing suicide, a fact known since the early emergence of the disease in the 15th century. 10…”

Section: The Endmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kostas Karyotakis (1896–1928): did the great Greek suicidal poet suffer from syphilis?

Kousoulis¹

2012

J Med Biogr

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Kostas Karyotakis is one of the most important Greek poets. His works reflect his existential, pessimistic and satirical tone. He was born in Tripolis, studied Law and spent most of his life working as a public servant. Since 1922 he was aware that he was suffering from syphilis. The disease seems to be the reason why he never accepted the full love of Maria Polydouri, a Greek lyric poet. Karyotakis' conventional life and his many detachments made him feel depressed, a fact that has led many to believe that a clinical depression caused his suicidal ideation. However, the fear of neurosyphilis appears to be the most decisive factor that led to him committing suicide in Preveza. This view is supported by a poem he wrote about the disease, the words of his contemporaries and his suicidal note.

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Demons, Nature, or God? Witchcraft Accusations and the French Disease in Early Modern Venice

Cited by 10 publications

References 36 publications

Pandemics: waves of disease, waves of hate from the Plague of Athens to A.I.D.S.*

Pandemics: waves of disease, waves of hate from the Plague of Athens to A.I.D.S.*

Advancing the understanding of treponemal disease in the past and present

Kostas Karyotakis (1896–1928): did the great Greek suicidal poet suffer from syphilis?

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