Nonnatus dictus quod caeso defunctae matris utero prodiit’. Postmortem Caesarean Section in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

Bibliographic Data

ID12210604
AuthorsAlessandra Foscati (0000-0002-8383-6270, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume32
Issue3
Pages465-480
Publication date2018-02-21
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial History of Medicine (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0951-631X • E-ISSN: 1477-4666
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/shm/hky022
OpenAlexW2972647572
LanguageEN
Citations received4

Historians call sectio in mortua the act of opening the abdomen of a woman who has died during pregnancy or in childbirth in order to extract a baby. According to recent studies, the sectio is considered to be a routine practice carried out by male surgeons from the end of the Middle Ages, particularly in Italy, where the evidence of the sectio being performed by a midwife is scanty. But was it really such a popular operation at the time, and can the figure of the midwife be seen as secondary? It is also known that the operation was qualified through aspects which went beyond the surgical sphere, such as religion, myth, and especially law. How did these fields interact? This article highlights the complexity of sectio through the interpretation of different sources spanning from the late Middle Ages to the Early Modern period

Ancient history · Art · Caesarean section · Childbirth · Gynecology · Middle Ages · Mythology · Obstetrics · Period (music · Pregnancy · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History of Medicine Studies · Medical History and Innovations · Medicine · Classics · History

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