ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

“I Have Traveled Far and Wide for 56 Years”: Choosing Itineracy in Early Modern Europe

• In Event: European Surgeons Across the Early Modern World: Itineracy, Knowledge, and Practice

English Abstract

Surgeons in sixteenth-century Europe were generally expected to travel during the journeyman period of their training – yet itinerants often were viewed with suspicion and distrust. While many surgeons eventually settled into careers in a particular town or city, others remained itinerant throughout their lifetimes. Some even chose to remain itinerant when they had other options. This paper examines the possibilities and perils of itineracy for European surgeons. It focuses on the German surgical specialist Georg Bartisch (1535-1607), who continued to spend part of each year on the road even after he became a citizen of Dresden and court oculist to the Elector of Saxony. In two different publications, Bartisch mused extensively on the benefits and practicalities of his itinerancy as well as the difficulties he encountered, particularly in distinguishing his surgical practice from (in his view) poorly-trained marketplace charlatans. In contrasting himself with these “bad” itinerants, Bartisch focused on his multi-site education and training, his superior materials and morality, and the experience itinerancy had brought him. These attributes set Bartisch up as a “good itinerant,” but they also presented a strong argument for the value of itinerant surgeons more broadly. His musings allow us to gain a better picture of why an early modern surgeon might have chosen itinerancy and what surgeons felt they learned from their travels.

Author

• Alisha Rankin, Tufts University