Dr. Meghan Callahan

As the primary caregivers for families and communities, Renaissance women held a vast store of knowledge of medical remedies. Healing potions and oils were concocted via word of mouth or recipes, passed down from woman to woman. These earthly remedies were boosted by prayers and relics of the saints. Medical care of the body went along with aesthetic care, and women created perfumes, makeup and hair dyes to improve their appearance. But sometimes this knowledge was seen as dangerous, and women were accused of witchcraft instead of healing. This course will explore the different ways Renaissance women shared and spread healing knowledge.

Lecture 1: Medicine
Medicine and healing were in the hands of women for years before men took over as doctors. Using herbs to heal illness and injury was passed down from woman to woman. Written “recipe” books, like that of Medici mother Maria Salviaiti, preserved this oral knowledge. While healing was viewed as holy, wielding such knowledge could also be dangerous, and women who knew too much could also be accused of witchcraft. In this class we’ll talk about how women gathered knowledge, produced medicine and enacted care.

Lecture 2: Make-up
Potions, salves, poultices and oils were part of medical and aesthetic care. Noblewomen were expected to maintain high standards of beauty, and incorporated a range of beauty products in their daily life. Lower class women, especially courtesans, also needed to maintain appearances. We’ll investigate how egg whites, snail water (purchased by the Mona Lisa!), lemon juice, pearl dust, and even lead were used to lighten and moisturize skin and hair.

Lecture 3: Miracles
While women and their patients relied on earthly knowledge of cures, they also invoked the saints for assistance. Prayers were written on small slips of paper and worn around the neck, oil that miraculously dripped from saints’ tombs was bottled and sold, and nun apothecaries created medicines for sale. St. Roch and St. Sebastian were invoked during plagues, and ex-votos were displayed in churches to thank saints for healing. This class will look at the religious material culture of help and healing.

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