Johannes de Ketham: Fasciculus Medicinae

Johannes de Ketham: Fasciculus Medicinae

Johannes de Ketham (c. 1415–1470), born Johannes Kellner von Kirchheim, was a German physician from Kirchheim unter Teck who practiced in Vienna and later became a professor of medicine. It is assumed that he used the Fasciculus Medicinae himself and recommended it in his lectures, as it contains a number of medical treatises well-known among late medieval physicians. These were neither written by him nor did he compile them himself – de Ketham's merit lies in his editorship of the first printed and therefore much more accessible edition of the anthology, whose title means as much as "bundle of medicine".

Anatomy, Plague and Astrology

The compendium offers a remarkable insight into the medical practice of the 15th century by combining ancient and medieval traditions with Renaissance innovations. The treatises address central medical topics that preoccupied the physicians of the time – from the treatment of special diseases such as the plague and diagnostic procedures such as uroscopy, to which a woodcut is dedicated, through anatomy and gynecology to the astrologically correct execution of bloodletting. The treatises are attributed in the work itself to Petrus de Taussignano, Mundinus de Luzzi, Rhazes and Petrus de Montagnana. The latter appears with an explicit inscription on the first woodcut as a writing magister.

A bestseller of the late Middle Ages

The first edition of the Fasciculus Medicinae was published in 1491 by the brothers Giovanni and Gregorio Gregorius in Venice, who already had experience in printing medical incunabula. The work quickly became a bestseller and was not only reprinted in Latin, but also translated into Italian, Spanish and Dutch within a few years. In the around 30 years following its publication, no fewer than 20 new editions were printed. The presented edition of 1495 was also expanded to include a further surgical treatise and is characterized by even more naturalistic woodcuts.

Innovative woodcuts

The ten full-page woodcuts in the work are particularly remarkable: they illustrate the complex topics of the treatises with just a few lines. Particularly impressive are the images of human bodies, whose anatomy is astonishingly naturalistic and which immediately evoke associations with great Renaissance paintings and sculptures, as they also pick up on the ideal of beauty of the time. Some illustrations also show physicians – as teachers, anatomists and practitioners – as well as nurses treating the sick and following medical instructions.

A Glimpse into Medieval Body Images

The Fasciculus Medicinae provides us today with a significant insight into the body images and medical concepts of the Middle Ages through the combination of text and images. In the 15th century, man was still understood with unshakeable certainty as part of the divine world and thus as a microcosm in the macrocosm. Despite medical innovations and the first autopsies, the inside of the body was still a great mystery at this time, with female bodies being particularly taboo and stigmatized. It is therefore not surprising that physicians in the Late Middle Ages and Early Renaissance continued to follow the long-established doctrine of the four humors and astrological rules. Injuries, childhood diseases and the plague were considered particularly threatening at this time, which also reflects the circumstances of that era. The work is therefore an important testimony to late medieval medical history in every respect.