Science, technology and society and the Middle and Modern Ages

Historical analysis of the interdependence of science in medieval and modern society.

Specifically, the degree of penetration, popularization and influence of medicine, astronomy and
natural history in many areas, and between the different social groups, from very diverse sources
such as archives, scientific texts and non-scientific or technical literature (sermons, theatre,
poetry and other literary sources) full of images related to scientific activity. Medicine based on
Galenism, and its particular way of understanding practice and its practitioners, was popular and
widespread.

That’s why medicine was considered an invaluable and indispensable benefit for society. The
same happened with two scientific disciplines directly related to medicine: astronomy and
medical history. The research of this group focuses on:

 Modern medicine in its socioeconomic and political context: medical practice and
healthcare during the Spanish Catholic Monarchy, particularly in the self-governing
Kingdom of Valencia; the presence of extra academic forms of medicine in the 16th and
17th centuries.
 The public and scientific activity: the circulation and popularization of scientific ideas
within the intellectual categories of this period, the Baroque representations of medicine and
natural history in sermons and creative literature during the Spanish Catholic Monarchy.
 The scientific ideas of astronomers, cosmographers and doctors in the Modern
Age: considering specifically the role of astrology, as well as the changes in the content and
limits of disciplines in the knowledge map of the 16th and 17th centuries.
 Study of the role of doctors as experts in various fields: such as in the different early
medieval or modern Valencian courts or in municipal councils, through sources from
archives, religious literature (sermons) and poetry literature (Ausiàs March) of the time.
 Development of a complete catalogue of the collection from the legacy of doctor and
medical historian José Rodrigo Pertegás, located in different Valencian and Catalan libraries
and archives.
 Baroque images and representations of the sick and disease in the Spanish Catholic
Monarchy through two non-medical sources: one the one hand, a collection of letters from
the late 17th century exchanged between a doctor who worked for the king and his patients
and, on the other hand, Baroque literature (plays and novels), to know about social attitudes.
 The process of understanding American nature and land, and the introduction of American
plants in Europe: in particular the dissemination of scientific knowledge in herbaria, medical
texts and the Chronicles of the Indies during the 16th and 17th centuries.