Conoscere, consigliare, curare: la medicina nelle lettere di Cristina di Lorena alla figlia

Abstract

Through the critical use of gender categories, new research perspectives have allowed the history of medicine to open up to a gender dimension, highlighting the important role of women in health care, not only in what is commonly defined as domestic medicine. Starting from reflections of this type, this study, through the examination of the letters exchanged between the Grand Duchess of Tuscany Christine of Lorraine and her daughter Caterina de’ Medici Gonzaga, Duchess of Mantua, in the years between 1617 and 1629, recently published by Beatrice Biagioli and Elisabetta Stumpo, analyzes the interests and knowledge of the Grand Duchess,  highlighting unexpected skills in the medical field. Furthermore, the exchange of information, advice and knowledge in this area helps to enrich the reconstruction of a complex and intimate mother-daughter relationship.