Medical Cultures of the Early Modern Spanish Empire

Medical Cultures of the Early Modern Spanish Empire, 1st Edition, explores the interactions and conflicts among diverse healing traditions across early modern Spanish territories. The volume aims to place the history of early modern Spanish medicine on a new footing within the English-speaking academic world.

Across twelve chapters, the collection traces how Spanish travelers, soldiers, and emigrants transported ideas concerning health and sickness throughout the monarchy, where these beliefs encountered local cultures. The essays address how concepts of health, sex, monstrosity, and death circulated across regions such as Mexico, the Canary Islands, the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and Germany.

Part of the New Hispanisms: Cultural and Literary Studies series, the work relies on a wide array of primary materials, including inquisitorial records, broadsheets, sermons, and dramatic poetry.