Abstract

FERRAGUD, Carmel. Medical expert reports in the Valencia of the late Middle Ages: cases of poisoning. Dynamis [online]. 2016, vol.36, n.1, pp.119-141. ISSN 2340-7948.

During the last decades of the 13th century, in the midst of the shaping and medicalization of the new Kingdom of Valencia, the authorities and citizens envisaged the role that physicians could have in clarifying violent deaths. The first circumstance that compelled judges to resort to physicians was the possible poisoning of an individual, given that they could contribute to elucidating the truth with their expert knowledge. They were even requested to use post-mortem dissection if necessary for this purpose. In reality, physicians were conscious of their limitations in this field and the need for them to act with caution.

Keywords : poisoning; Valencian legislation; human dissection; expert report; surgery; jews and converts.

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