Renaissance Medicine in action
Pare, Vesalius and the death of Henri II of France in 1559
Objectives
At the 2005 SHP Conference, Sue Holt, who teaches on the Wirral, came
up with the intriguing information that, in 1559, Vesalius and Pare were
in the same room, treating the same patient – and not just any patient
but the King of France. I was amazed. I’d always thought of Vesalius
and Pare as separate topics from different pages of a textbook, not real
men who met and talked. It seemed it ought to provide the basis for an
activity but it’s not always easy to turn a good story into an activity.
In the end I decided to combine the two – keeping it as a story
but creating a series of tableaux which create activity for students and
thus increase motivation and interest.
The other question was what it could achieve in terms of learning objectives,
besides being a good story. My suggestion is using this activity as an
introduction to Renaissance Medicine, identifying some of the key ideas
and people that will be studied in the weeks to come and identifying some
of the changes and continuities from the Middle Ages. It provides a basic
set of ideas to build on.
Therefore, after using this activity students should have developed knowledge
and understanding of
a) Vesalius and Pare and their areas of expertise
b) some key changes and causes of change i.e. printing, experience of
war, anatomical knowledge and dissection, experimentation and practical
surgery
c) some continuities from the Middle Ages i.e. trephinning, bleeding,
diagnosis using uroscopy, belief in the Four Humours
If, as a teacher, you do not have much experience of active learning,
this kind of “tableau” activity offers a gentler way in. As
teacher you act as the news broadcaster, providing a running commentary
on the events of June 1559 – so you have a clear script. The students
take the parts of the people in the news, miming actions but not needing
to say anything. This means you can concentrate on moving the students
into the correct places. You don’t have to be thinking of questions
and responding to answers as well if you don’t want to – but
you can build them in if you wish.
Setting Up
1. You need a space to set up the tableaux. The front of the classroom
may well suffice.
2. Props – a bed for the King (large desk with pillow?). a crown,
a urine flask containing some apple juice, maybe a couple of jousting
helmets.
3. Identify which student is playing which role. It may be helpful to
give theme ach a card saying who they are as hold-ups and confusions because
The captain of the Guard has forgotten that’s what he is just disrupts
the story. The list of characters is below. Some do very little other
than walking on and standing there i.e. prince and princess, ministers,
doctors – so you need to decide whether they are worth having. This
will almost certainly depend on the nature of the individual class and
students.
4. Students not playing parts need to keep notes of any changes or continuities
they can spot. The degree of structure you give them obviously depends
on the class. You could just have a list of key features of medieval medicine
on a sheet with three columns – changed, stayed the same, no evidence
yet – and ask students to complete them as the activity unfolds.
Or you could provide much more guided questions, focussing students on
individual characters and events within the activity.
Cast
King Henri II
Queen Catherine
Princess and Prince
Several doctors
Two government ministers
Pare
Vesalius
Montgomery
Captain of the Guard
4 criminals (or use stuffed toys for this role – see below)
Servants
The Activity
Below is the story/commentary together with a description of which characters
are doing what at each stage. You don’t have to ask the students
questions while they are in role but you may want to – these are
suggested in [brackets].
Note – the wedding in tableau 1 was a proxy wedding to Philip II
of Spain, who was replaced by the Duke of Alba for the occasion. So the
“Prince” is historically inaccurate but you won’t want
to get distracted by what a proxy wedding was. I just mention that to
save anybody correcting me! The other excitement is that it was Nostradamus
who warned Henri against jousting – makes me wonder who else might
turn up in this story.
Tableau 1 - King, Queen, Prince and Princess
Commentary - It is the summer of 1559. King Henri II of France and Queen
Catherine are holding a big celebration for their daughter’s wedding.
Part of the celebration is a 3 day jousting tournament and King Henri
is looking forward to taking part in the jousting, even though he has
been warned that it will be very dangerous.
Tableau 2 – King and Montgomery standing at opposite
sides of room. Queen, P and P, servants watching. Brief the characters
to follow your words and act them out.
Here they are ready for the joust. Henri II at that end and his opponent,
the Count de Montgomery. The flag drops and the two men gallop forward.
They lower their lances and take aim at each other’s helmets. They’re
about to strike – crash!
The King has been hurt. Montgomery’s wooden lance has gone through
the gaps in the King’s visor and hit him in the right eye. The King
is still on his horse but he’s swaying from one side to the other.
Men are running out to control his horse and they are helping the King
down. Montgomery is watching anxiously. What is going through his mind?
[ask Montgomery what he’s worried about? What he might be afraid
of?]
The King is on his feet. No, he’s collapsed. Servants are walking
him towards the palace. No, wait, he’s walking properly himself.
Is he going to be all right?
[ask all students – what kinds of surgery might be possible? What
were the problems of doing surgery at that time? What are his chances
of recovery?]
Tableau 3 K, Q, P &P, ministers, doctors, Pare and
servants. Have urine flask/apple juice to hand for doctors’ use.
Here we are in the King’s bed chamber. The Queen and their children
have gathered round the King’s bed. Here are the government ministers
and his doctors. Fortunately the great French surgeon, Ambroise Pare,
is here. If anyone can save the King it’s Pare.
[ask – where might Pare have gained his surgical experience? What
do you think doctors will do to diagnose and treat the king?]
But the doctors are looking grim. They are examining the king’s
urine to see if it tells them anything about his condition. Now they are
suggesting bleeding the King because the wound has thrown his humours
out of balance. Pare has seen many wounds like this on the battlefield
so we must not give up hope. The Queen has ordered the arrest of the Count
de Montgomery if he can be found.
[ask Montgomery – what is he afraid of? Could also ask students
here about changes/continuities in medical practice.]
Tableau 4 – as previous but bring in Vesalius
Good news – the great anatomist, Andreas Vesalius, has arrived to
see the King, who is no better. Vesalius knows more about the human body
than anyone else in the world.
[ask – how do you think he has found out about anatomy?]
He has written magnificent books based on his own dissected of bodies.
They are full of detailed pictures thanks to this wonderful invention
of printing.
Vesalius is examining the King, looking carefully at the wound. He’s
shaking his head. The King has a high fever. Vesalius says the wound is
infected and this will kill the king.
[ask - how might they try to stop infections? Could they do so successfully?]
Tableau 5 – takes place to the side – just
Queen and Captain of the Guard. You could use students as the criminals
but that may feel too sensitive so you could use stuffed toys in the roles
of the criminals – although even with them you don’t do the
beheading and experimentation!
Queen Catherine is leaving the room. She’s talking to the Captain
of the Guard.
[ask – what do you think he’s going to do?]
She’s given orders that 4 criminals are to be beheaded,
[ask – why?]
then lances are to be thrust into their eyes so that the doctors can examine
the wounds more closely.
[ask – what does this tell us about medical knowledge at the time
and how they found out?}
Now the government ministers are bringing news to the Queen. Montgomery
has tried to escape. Now she’s deciding what to do
[ask – what will she do?]
she’s ordered him to be executed.
Tableau 6 King, Queen P & P, Pare, doctors
Back at the king’s bedside.
[ask – Pare is considering an operation – what might it be?]
The great Pare is considering trephination, cutting a hole in the King’s
skull. This is an operation which has been done by doctors for many centuries.
Pare is an expert but he says it will do no good in this case. He knows
that trephination helps other kinds of injuries but not this one.
The King is much weaker. The doctors have examined the wounds in the
heads of the executed criminals but they say they can do nothing to help
the King. Now the doctors leave the King’s bedside.
The King is dead.
Debriefing
Now we need to focus on changes and continuities since the Middle Ages.
Exactly how you do this depends on the way you set up students’
observation of the activity. Questioning could follow this sequence
- who were the two famous doctors? What were they famous for?
- how did each man gain his experience?
- which of these was the biggest change from the Middle Ages? (i.e.
Vesalius and anatomy a big step forward; Pare very much a continuity
in method on what we know so far)
- what other changes have you spotted? What was helping changes to happen?
- what continuities have you identified? Why hadn’t there been
changes?
- So what have been the main 3 things we have learned about Renaissance
Medicine?
- What other questions do you want to ask about Renaissance medicine?
Further information
Googling Pare, Vesalius and Henri/Henry II produces quite a few references,
of which the most useful is an article (although written for doctors)
which can be found at http://www.haciendapub.com/jneuro1.html
I’d be grateful for any further details comprehensible to a non-doctor,
many of which seemed to be tucked away in obscure medical journals which
I don’t expect to understand.
For other activities on the History of Medicine see Dan Lyndon’s
school site
http://www.comptonhistory.com/compton2/medicineresources.htm
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