Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance

Toxicology in the Middle Ages and Renaissance provides an authoritative and fascinating exploration into the use of toxins and poisons in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Part of the History of Toxicology and Environmental Health series, this volume is a follow-up, chronologically, to the first two volumes which explored toxicology in antiquity.

The book approximately covers the 1100s through the 1600s, delving into different aspects of toxicology, such as the contributions of scientific scholars of the time, sensational poisoners and poisoning cases, as well as myths. Historical figures, such as the Borgias and Catherine de Medici are discussed. Toxicologists, students, medical researchers, and those interested in the history of science will find insightful and relevant material in this volume.

Provides the historical background for understanding modern toxicologyIllustrates the ways previous civilizations learned to distinguish safe from hazardous substances, how to avoid them, and how to use them against enemiesExplores the way famous historical figures used toxins

1. Poison and Its Dose: Paracelsus on Toxicology 2. The Golden Age of Medieval Islamic Toxicology 3. Maimonides’ Book on Poisons and the Protection Against Lethal Drugs 4. Pietro d’Abano, De venenis: Reintroducing Greek Toxicology into Late Medieval Medicine 5. The Case Against the Borgias: Motive, Opportunity, and Means 6. Aqua Tofana 7. Poisons and the Prince: Toxicology and Statecraft at the Medici Grand Ducal Court 8. Georgius Agricola, a Pioneer in the Toxic Hazards of Mining, and His Influence 9. Jan Baptist Van Helmont and the Medical–Alchemical Perspectives of Poison 10. Origin of Myths Related to Curative, Antidotal and Other Medicinal Properties of Animal “Horns” in the Middle Ages 11. Animal Stones and the Dark Age of Bezoars 12. Fossil Sharks’ Teeth as Alexipharmics 13. Catherine La Voisin: Poisons and Magic at the Royal Court of Louis XIV 14. A Late Medieval Criminal Prosecution for Poisoning: The Failed Murder Trial of Margarida de Portu (1396) 15. Animal Venoms in the Middle Ages 16. Medical Literature on Poison, c. 1300–1600