"Panaceia's Daughters" provides the first book-length study of noblewomen's healing activities in early modern Europe. Drawing on rich archival sources, Alisha Rankin demonstrates that numerous German noblewomen were deeply involved in making medicines and recommending them to patients, and many gained widespread fame for their remedies. Turning a common historical argument on its head, Rankin maintains that noblewomen's pharmacy came to prominence not in spite of their gender but because of it. Rankin demonstrates the ways in which noblewomen's pharmacy was bound up in notions of charity, class, religion, and household roles, as well as in expanding networks of knowledge and early forms of scientific experimentation. The opening chapters place noblewomen's healing within the context of cultural exchange, experiential knowledge, and the widespread search for medicinal recipes in early modern Europe. Case studies of renowned healers Dorothea of Mansfeld and Anna of Saxony then demonstrate the value their pharmacy held in their respective roles as elderly widow and royal consort, while a study of the long-suffering Duchess Elisabeth of Rochlitz emphasizes the importance of experiential knowledge and medicinal remedies to the patient's experience of illness.
About the Author
Alisha Rankin is assistant professor of history at Tufts University. She is co-editor of "Secrets and Knowledge in Medicine and Science, 1500-1800".
Reviews
"'Panaceia's Daughters' is a fascinating read. Meticulously researched and brimming with new insights, it tells the forgotten story of the early modern German noblewomen who worked as healers and experimented with newfangled medicines. Alisha Rankin reveals a hitherto invisible underworld of empirical and experimental science that flourished in the households of early modern Germany, and brings back to life the everyday world of the Renaissance courts. A model cultural history of science, 'Panaceia's Daughters' is an important contribution to our understanding of women's roles in making scientific knowledge and is essential reading for anyone interested in gender history and the history of the Scientific Revolution. With this engrossing, pathbreaking work, Rankin takes her place among the leading historians of early modern science" – William Eamon, New Mexico State University
"With admirable archival skill and a remarkable ability to tease meaning out of seemingly straightforward sources, Alisha Rankin reconstructs the extensive medical activity and widely recognized authority of scores of German noblewomen and situates them at the nexus of medical expertise, charity, and patronage. This book not only challenges us to rethink our understanding of patronage and court culture in terms of gender but also reminds us of the many varieties of empiricism and experimentalism that flourished in the sixteenth century, long before they were articulated and institutionalized in scientific societies. 'Panaceia's Daughters' is a delight to read and will further establish early modern German courts as lively sites for the exploration of nature" – Tara Nummedal, Brown University
"Through deep and meticulous research into little-used archives, 'Panaceia's Daughters' gives insight into both macro-historical issues such as the development of new modes of knowledge-making in early modern Europe and micro-historical questions of lay perceptions of sickness and health. Most of all, it underscores the sometimes hidden but always central place of women in health care and healing in the early modern era, revealing the importance of 'princess-practitioners' and vividly bringing to life their networks of recipe and medicinal exchange. This book demonstrates that kitchen gardens, still rooms, recipes, and household arts should not be relegated to the margins but, rather, placed squarely within the history of the scientific revolution" – Pamela H. Smith, Columbia University
"This is a beautifully crafted, solid, and imaginative piece of historical research that brings new light on the role of women in early modern medicine and on their participation in the early modern culture of experimentation and empiricism. Alisha Rankin highlights the connection between the medieval tradition of experimenta (medical recipes) and the birth of early modern empiricist attitudes and practices, thus offering an important contribution to the history of early modern scientific culture" – Gianna Pomata, Johns Hopkins University
