Medicine and Humanism in Late Medieval Italy ─ The Carrara Herbal in Padua

Serapion in Carrara Padua: The Late-Medieval Fortuna of an Arabic Herbal examines the afterlife of the Cordovan Arab Ibn SarAbA?a€?s thirteenth-century pharmacopeia in the illustrated edition commissioned by the last prince of Padua, Francesco II a€?il Novelloa€? da Carrara (r. 1390-1405). Known in the West as Serapion the Younger, Ibn SarAbA? synthesized information about simple (single-ingredient) drugs from earlier Greek and Arabic authorities. By 1290, his text was available in Latin translation and, along with the texts of other medical authorities from the Arab world, circulated widely in medical schools across the Italian peninsula, including those at the University of Padua. Francesco Novelloa€?s edition of Serapiona€?s text, known as the Carrara Herbal (BL Egerton 2020), attests to the growing influence of Arabic medicine both inside and outside of the University. Its contents speak to the Carrara familya€?s historic role as patrons and protectors of the Studium. Yet, its form - as a luxury manuscript written in Paduan dialect and illuminated with illustrations of plants and representations of Carrara heraldry - locates the pharmacopeia in court culture. In particular, the Herbala€?s form connects Serapiona€?s text to patterns of book collection and rhetorics of self-making encouraged by Petrarch and practiced by Francescoa€?s forefathers. Beginning with Petrarch (1304-74) and continuing with Pier Paolo Vergerio (1370-1444/45), humanists held privileged positions in the Carrara court, and humanist culture vied with the Universitya€?s successes for leading roles in Carrara self-promotion. With Francescoa€?s other illustrated books, the Carrara Herbal negotiated these historical arenas of family patronage and brought them into confluence to promote Francesco as a new, ideal a€?physician princea€? capable of ensuring the moral and physical health of Padua. Considered in this way, the Herbal is the product of an intersection between the Pan-Mediterranean transmission of medical knowledge and the rise of humanism in the Italian courts, an intersection typically attributed to the later Renaissance.

Sarah R. Kyle is Assistant Professor of Humanities and Philosophy, College of Liberal Arts at the University of Central Oklahoma, USA