THE MODERN PHARMACIST
INTRODUCTION 1 LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY 59 LETTERS TO CAMILLA ERCULIANI 99 CONSILIUM 766 IN DEFENSE OF CAMILLA ERCULIANI 105 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION THE OTHER VOICE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY ALTHOUGH NATURAL PHILOSOPHY WAS PRIMARILY A MALE DO MAIN THE CIRCULATION OF VERNACULAR TRANSLATIONS OF ANCIENT TEXTS AND CONVERSATIONS CONDUCTED OUTSIDE THE UNIVERSITY IN ACADEMIES AND INFORMAL SETTINGS ENABLED WOMEN TO PARTICIPATE IN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT NATURAL PHILOSOPHY THE PADUAN APOTHECARY CAMILLA ERCULIANI TOOK PART IN THIS VERNACULAR MOVEMENT SHE IS ONE OF THE OTHER VOICES WHO CHALLENGED THE DOMINANT MALE CULTURE AND DEMONSTRAT ED THAT WOMEN TOO COULD LEARN UNDERSTAND AND EVEN PRODUCE SCIENTIFIC KNOWL EDGE ERCULIANI S UNIQUE AND EXCEPTIONAL LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY PRINTED IN KRAKOW IN 1584 1 PRESENTS HER HYPOTHESIS ABOUT THE MATERIAL CAUSES OF THE GREAT FLOOD GIVES EXPRESSION TO A WOMAN S VOICE AND SPEAKS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A PERSON IN SOCIETY WHO MIGHT NOT BE EXPECTED TO ENGAGE IN SCIENTIFIC DISCUSSION POSITIONING HERSELF ON AN EQUAL FOOTING WITH CONTEMPORARY MALE NATURAL PHI LOSOPHERS SHE VIES FORCEFULLY WITH THEIR THEORIES OFTEN CONTRADICTING THEM AND DEFENDS HER OWN OPINIONS AS A WOMAN SOMETIMES AGAINST ACCLAIMED AUTHORITIES WHILE EARLY MODERN ITALIAN SOCIETY ACKNOWLEDGED CERTAIN WOMEN AS CAPABLE OF LEARNING BASIC SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY IT WAS RARE FOR WOMEN TO PUBLICLY ELABORATE THEIR OWN THEORIES IT WAS EVEN MORE UNUSUAL FOR A WOMAN TO INSIST ON PRESENTING HERSELF AS A NATURAL PHILOSOPHER AS ERCULIANI DID WHAT MIGHT HAVE INSPIRED AND EMPOWERED A WOMAN LIVING IN PADUA AT THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY TO WRITE A WORK OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN THE VER NACULAR FIRST THE LIVELY AND STIMULATING CONTEXT OF PADUA AND ITS FAMOUS UNI VERSITY CERTAINLY INSPIRED ERCULIANI TO DEVELOP HER INTEREST IN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY ADDITIONALLY ERCULIANI MUST HAVE HAD FORMATIVE ENCOUNTERS AND CONVERSATIONS WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF HER PHARMACY IN PADUA SHE CONTINUED THESE CONVERSATIONS IN THE FORM OF EPISTOLARY EXCHANGES WITH PHYSICIANS AND PHILOSOPHERS WHICH CONTRIBUTED TO HER SENSE OF HERSELF AS A SCHOLAR FINALLY ERCULIANI ENGAGED WITH A PROGRAM OF READING INCLUDING BOTH THE BIBLE AND BOOKS OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY WHICH EQUIPPED HER TO PURSUE HER STUDIES WHEN ERCULIANI PUBLISHED HER LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY IN 1584 WOMEN HAD ALREADY BECOME AN ESTABLISHED PART OF THE ITALIAN LITERARY TRADITION FOLLOWING THE ENORMOUS SUCCESSES ACHIEVED IN THE 1540S AND 1550S BY WOMEN AUTHORS OF 1 ERCULIANI LETTERE DI PHILOSOPHIA NATURALE TRANSLATED IN THIS VOLUME AS LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY ON WOMEN AND SCIENCE IN EARLY MODERN ITALY SEE RAY DAUGHTERS OF ALCHEMY 1 FIGURE 8 TITLE PAGE OF CAMILLA ERCULIANI LETTERE DI PHILOSOPHIA NATURALE KRAKOW 1584 COURTESY OF BIBLIOTECA ALESSANDRINA ROME LYRIC POETRY ON THE PETRARCHAN MODEL AND ESPECIALLY BY VITTORIA COLONNA 1490 1547 WOMEN OF THE LATER SIXTEENTH CENTURY DEVOTED THEMSELVES TO A RANGE OF LITERARY GENRES DISPLAYING THEIR LITERARY ABILITIES AND PUBLISHING THEIR WORKS AS VIRGINIA COX HAS POINTED OUT EARLY MODERN ITALIAN WOMEN WRITERS ENJOYED A GREAT DEAL OF LIBERTY TO EXPERIMENT WITH LITERARY GENRES WHICH REACHED AN APEX IN QUAL ITY QUANTITY AND VARIETY BETWEEN THE END OF THE SIXTEENTH AND THE BEGINNING OF THE MODERN PHARMACIST 2 THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES 2 THIS FREEDOM WAS PROBABLY DUE PARADOXICALLY TO THE DIFFUSION OF DEVOTIONAL LITERATURE DURING THE COUNTER REFORMATION DEVOTIONAL LITERATURE WAS A TRADITIONALLY FEMININE GENRE THAT ALLOWED AN INCREASING NUM BER OF WOMEN TO WRITE AND PUBLISH WORKS WHICH WERE OFTEN BUT NOT EXCLUSIVELY DEVOTIONAL IN NATURE 3 THIS FAVORABLE SITUATION WAS THE LITERARY BACKGROUND FOR ERCULIANI S 1584 PUBLICATION ANOTHER IMPORTANT SOURCE OF ENCOURAGEMENT FOR ERCULIANI WAS THE RAPIDLY GROWING GENRE OF MALE AUTHORED INSTRUCTIVE AND DIDACTIC VERNACULAR PHILOSOPHI CAL LITERATURE PUBLISHED OVER THE COURSE OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY INSPIRED LARGELY BY ARISTOTELIAN NATURAL PHILOSOPHY THESE WORKS MADE PHILOSOPHY AVAILABLE TO A LARGER AUDIENCE OF NON EXPERTS AND IN MOST CASES THESE TEXTS WERE ADDRESSED SPECIFICALLY TO A FEMALE AUDIENCE TO A CERTAIN EXTENT ERCULIANI S WORK WAS A RESULT OF THE DIFFUSION OF THIS GENRE OF LITERATURE WHICH SHE REFERENCED IN HER LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY HOWEVER ERCULIANI ALSO WENT BEYOND THE AIM OF THESE WORKS WHILE DIDACTIC TEXTS MADE SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY MORE EASILY UNDERSTANDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE TO WOMEN THEY DID NOT NECESSARILY INTEND TO TRANSFORM WOMEN INTO PHILOSOPHERS THE STATUS ERCULIANI ASPIRED TO ACHIEVE IN THE LATE SIXTEENTH AND EARLY SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES OTHER WOMEN AUTHORS INCLUDING MODERATA FONTE 1555 1592 MARGHERITA SARROCCHI 1560 1617 AND LUCREZIA MARINELLA 1571 79 1653 WERE INSPIRED BY THIS GENRE OF VERNACULAR SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE AND GRAPPLED WITH NATURAL PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS 4 CAMILLA ERCULIANI HOWEVER WAS THE ONLY WOMAN WRITER OF HER TIME TO PUBLISH A BOOK WITH A PHILOSOPHICAL ARGU MENT THAT INTRODUCED NEW SCIENTIFIC THEORIES BY PUBLISHING HER LETTERS ERCULIANI PARTICIPATED PUBLICLY IN THE CONTEMPO RARY INTELLECTUAL WORLD OF HER TIME HER APOTHECARY SHOP OR PHARMACY IN WHICH SHE LIKELY MET SCHOLARS AND DISCUSSED PHILOSOPHICAL MATTERS FROM WHICH WOMEN WERE USUALLY EXCLUDED WAS A SPACE THAT STRADDLED THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE REALMS A SPACE BEYOND THE DOMESTIC ENVIRONMENT BUT ONE WHERE HER PUBLIC VOICE WAS PRESUMABLY LIMITED TO A SMALL GROUP OF PEOPLE HER CORRESPONDENCE WITH SEVERAL SCHOLARS WAS CERTAINLY ALSO A MEANS OF EXPRESSING HER POINT OF VIEW BUT THESE RELATIONSHIPS WERE ALSO AS FAR AS WE KNOW ONE ON ONE AND PRESUMABLY THE MANU SCRIPTS OF HER LETTERS DID NOT HAVE A WIDE CIRCULATION PRINTING HER BOOK THEREFORE CONSTITUTED AN IMPORTANT STEP TOWARD ERCULIANI S PUBLIC EXPRESSION OF HER VIEWS AS A WOMAN AND AS A NATURAL PHILOSOPHER ERCULIANI POSITIONED HERSELF AS AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER WOMEN BY SPEAKING TO A BROAD AUDIENCE OUTSIDE HER OWN SAFE ENVIRON MENT YET PUBLISHING ABROAD IN KRAKOW PRINTING ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF COP IES AND COUCHING HER PROSE IN THE EPISTOLARY GENRE ENSURED THAT ERCULIANI S WORK 2 SEE COX WOMEN S WRITING IN ITALY 3 SEE VIRGINIA COX THE PRODIGIOUS MUSE WOMEN S WRITING IN COUNTER REFORMATION ITALY BALTIMORE JOHN HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS 2011 4 SEE IN THIS INTRODUCTION 64 67 THE MODERN PHARMACIST 3 WOULD NOT HAVE THE SAME IMPACT AND VISIBILITY AS A MORE TRADITIONAL PHILOSOPHICAL TREATISE PRINTED IN VENICE DOING SO HOWEVER WAS THE SAFEST AND PERHAPS THE ONLY POSSIBLE WAY FOR HER TO DISSEMINATE HER IDEAS AS A NEW AUTHOR UNFORTUNATELY THESE CHOICES DID NOT ULTIMATELY PROTECT ERCULIANI FROM THE INQUISITION AND SHE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO PUBLISH THE ADDITIONAL TREATISES SHE HAD PLANNED AND WHICH MIGHT HAVE WON HER WIDESPREAD RECOGNITION AS A PHILOSOPHER WRITTEN IN ITALIAN ERCULIANI S LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY SERVED A DOUBLE FUNCTION IT PRESENTED A NEW SCIENTIFIC THEORY AND DEMONSTRATED THAT WOMEN COULD PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCOURSES OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY AS EQUALS TO MEN THUS SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR OTHER WOMEN TO FOLLOW THESE FEATURES OF ERCULIANI S WORK MAKE IT STAND OUT AND ILLUMINATE THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WOMEN AND SCIENCE ERCULIANI S BOOK IS PART OF A LARGER STORY BROUGHT TO LIGHT BY INVESTIGATIONS OF OTHER CONTEMPORARY WOMEN AUTHORS INCLUDING MODERATA FONTE MADDALENA CAMPIGLIA 1553 1595 LUCREZIA MARINELLA AND MARIA GONDOLA LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY 5 CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SUCH WOMEN AUTHORS WHETHER ACTUAL OR MERELY HYPOTHETICAL ARE PARTICULARLY INTRIGUING SINCE THEY REVEAL THE TENDENCY SHARED BY MANY WOMEN TO EXPRESS A DISSENTING VOICE IN RELATION TO DOMINANT DISCOURSES ERCULIANI IS ALSO UNIQUE AS THE ONLY KNOWN SIXTEENTH CENTURY EXAMPLE OF A WOMAN TO HAVE BEEN ACCUSED OF HERESY ON THE BASIS OF HAVING WRITTEN A WORK WITH A SCIENTIFIC ARGUMENT HER PROVOCATIVE PHILOSOPHICAL DEMONSTRATION OF THE NATURAL ORIGINS OF THE FLOOD BROUGHT HER TO THE ATTENTION OF THE PADUAN INQUISITION THE SINGLE SURVIVING DOCUMENT THAT SHEDS LIGHT ON THIS INQUISITORIAL PROCESS IS AN IM PORTANT AND RARE TESTIMONY TO THE WAY THAT THE INQUISITION ACTED IN A CONFRONTATION WITH A FEMALE AUTHOR OF A SCIENTIFIC AND PHILOSOPHICAL TEXT 6 WHILE THE INQUISITORIAL ARCHIVES ARE FULL OF CASES BROUGHT AGAINST WOMEN ACCUSED OF WITCHCRAFT AND MEN ACCUSED OF HAVING EXPRESSED THEORIES AND DOCTRINES CONTRARY TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH THIS IS THE ONLY CASE OF A WOMAN ACCUSED OF HAVING EXPRESSED HERETICAL IDEAS IN A BOOK OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY ERCULIANI S STORY OFFERS MANY OPPORTUNITIES FOR REFLEC TION ON EARLY MODERN PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATES ON THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THEM AND ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SCIENCE AND RELIGION IN LATE SIXTEENTH CENTURY PADUA THERE ARE ONLY FIVE SURVIVING COPIES OF ERCULIANI S LETTERS ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY WHICH IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE REASONS MODERN SCHOLARS NEGLECTED HER WORK FOR SO LONG RECENTLY AXEL ERDMANN INCLUDED IT IN AN INVENTORY OF TEXTS BY EUROPEAN WOMEN AND IT WAS LISTED IN AN APPENDIX TO THE VOLUME NEL CER CHIO DELLA LUNA EDITED BY MARINA ZANCAN 7 PAULINA BUCHWALD PELCOWA CITED THE 5 FOR MARIA GONDOLA SEE IN THIS INTRODUCTION 63 64 6 FOR ERCULIANI S INQUISITORIAL TRIAL SEE IN THIS INTRODUCTION 96 106 7 AXEL ERDMANN MY GRACIOUS SILENCE WOMEN IN THE MIRROR OF SIXTEENTH CENTURY PRINTING IN WESTERN EUROPE LUCERNE GILHOFER RANSCHBURG 1999 214 MARINA ZANCAN ED NEL CERCHIO DELLA LUNA FIGURE DI DONNA IN ALCUNI TESTI DEL XVI SECOLO VENICE MARSILIO 1983 259 THE MODERN PHARMACIST 4