Experience and theory in medical practice during the later Middle Ages: Valesco de Tarenta (fl. 1382--1426) at the court of Foix (France)

This dissertation examines the life and works of Valesco de Tarenta (fl. 1382--1426). Valesco was born in Portugal and studied at the University of Paris, before finally earning his medical license at the University of Montpellier during the late-fourteenth century. Subsequently, he acquired a job practicing medicine in southern France at the court of Foix, under count Gaston Febus and his successors. During his career at Foix, Valesco wrote several treatises on practical medicine, the most famous being his Philonium. This thesis examines the respective roles of theory and experience in Valesco's writings and medical practice.; The main sources for this study are Valesco's own medical writings, along with those of some of his teachers and contemporaries. Chapter one provides a survey of Valesco's theoretical education and the social context of his practice at Foix. The following chapters analyze the theoretical issues of concern to Valesco; the ways in which he incorporates empirical knowledge into his writings; and finally some examples of how he blended his theoretical training and practical experience in his own practice.; Ultimately, this dissertation argues that when faced with difficult diseases, such as the Black Death, and apparent flaws in the texts of the ancient medical authorities, physicians of the late-fourteenth and early-fifteenth centuries increasingly relied on their own experience and the empirical observations of others to help them answer difficult theoretical questions and direct their own medical practices. In many ways this reliance on experience represents a subversive culture that went against the traditional emphasis on theoretical over empirical knowledge in scholastic medicine. Valesco, like some of his contemporaries, was influenced by the literature of "secrets," which gave a pre-eminent position to knowledge gained through personal experience in nature. The sub-culture of secrets appears to have provided a framework in which Valesco and other physicians could rely on their own experience, as well as that of others, in their own medical practices. In particular, Valesco combines theoretical knowledge with empirical knowledge in his approach to issues of women's health and the treatment of pain.