Doctors, folk medicine and the Inquisition : : the repression of magical healing in Portugal during the Enlightenment / / by Timothy D. Walker.

• Superior document: The medieval and early modern Iberian world, v. 23
• Author: Walker, Timothy Dale, 1963-
• Year of Publication: 2005
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Series: Medieval and early modern Iberian world ; v. 23.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (462 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Inquisition trials for sorcery and witchcraft in Portugal reached a late crescindo (1715 to 1755). This study of those events focuses on the Inquisition's role in prosecuting and discrediting popular healers (called saludadores or curandeiros), who were charged with practicing magical crimes. Significantly, these trials coincide with the entrance of university-trained physicians and surgeons into the paid ranks of the Portuguese Inquisition in unprecedented numbers. State-licensed medical practitioners, motivated by professional competition combined with a desire to promote rationalized "scientific" medicine, used their positions within the Holy Office to initiate trials against purveyors of superstitious folk remedies. The repression of folk healing reveals a conflict between learned medical culture and popular healing culture in Enlightenment-era Portugal. In this rare instance, the Inquisition functioned as an instrument of progressive social change.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements. vii -- List of Abbreviations. ix -- List of Charts and Graphs. xi -- List of Tables. xiii -- List of Illustrations. xv -- Part I -- Social, Political and Institutional Context -- Chapter One. Introduction and Overview. 3 -- Chapter Two. The Role of the Curandeiro and Saludador in Early Modern Portuguese Society. 36 -- Chapter Three. Enlightenment Influences: The Movement Toward Medical Reform in Eighteenth-Century Portugal 88 -- Chapter Four. Monarch and Inquisitor General: Two Personalities who Shaped the Holy Office Campaign Against Popular Healers. 153 -- Chapter Five. Interconnections: The Influence of Licensed Physicians and Surgeons in the Inquisition and at Court during the Reign of Dom João V. 180 -- Part II -- The Repression of Magical Healing -- Chapter Six. A Deliberate Policy of Oppression: Portuguese Inquisition Trials Against Popular Healers for Magical Crimes, circa 1690-1780. 211 -- Chapter Seven. Case Studies: Prosecutions of Curandeiros and Saludadores in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Portugal. 263 -- Chapter Eight. Punishing Magical Criminals: Mild Customs (Brandos Costumes) and Social Control. 294 -- Chapter Nine. Demographics and Geographic Mobility of Popular Healers Prosecuted by the Portuguese Inquisition, 1682-1802. 346 -- Chapter Ten. Conclusions. 395 -- Bibliography. 405 -- Glossary of Portuguese Terms. 421 -- Index. 423.