Conserving Health in Early Modern Culture: Bodies and Environments in Italy and England

Sandra Cavallo (Editor), Tessa Storey (Editor)

Research output: Book/ReportBook

Abstract

Did early modern people care about their health? And what did it mean to lead a healthy life in Italy and England? Through a range of textual evidence, images and material artefacts Conserving health in early modern culture documents the profound impact which ideas about healthy living had on daily practices as well as on intellectual life and the material world in this period. In both countries staying healthy was understood as depending on the careful management of the six ‘Non-Naturals’: the air one breathed, food and drink, excretions, sleep, exercise and repose, and the ‘passions of the soul’. To a close scrutiny, however, models of prevention differed considerably in Italy and England, reflecting country-specific cultural, political and medical contexts and different confessional backgrounds.
Original languageEnglish
Place of PublicationLondon
PublisherManchester University Press
Number of pages344
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-5261-1350-4, 978-1-5261-1349-8
ISBN (Print)978-1-5261-1347-4
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jul 2017

Publication series

NameSocial Histories of Medicine
PublisherManchester Unversity Press

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