The Lament of the Melons

Abstract

Regimens advising on the management of the non-naturals constituted a significant proportion of the vernacular medical texts in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. Scholars however are divided as to the extent to which such medical advice was familiar to the majority of the population. This article shows that cheap Italian 8vo song pamphlets, sung in the streets and sold by cantastorie and peddlers, provide evidence for the widespread circulation of preventive medical advice. Street singers were not deliberately transmitting medical knowledge but assumed it was already common knowledge, a shared discourse with which they could entertain their publics. The article concludes with a brief exploration of whether similar texts communicated medical ideas in France and England. Regimens advising on the management of the non-naturals constituted a significant proportion of the vernacular medical texts in sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe. Scholars however are divided as to the extent to which such medical advice was familiar to the majority of the population. This article shows that cheap Italian 8vo song pamphlets, sung in the streets and sold by cantastorie and peddlers, provide evidence for the widespread circulation of preventive medical advice. Street singers were not deliberately transmitting medical knowledge but assumed it was already common knowledge, a shared discourse with which they could entertain their publics. The article concludes with a brief exploration of whether similar texts communicated medical ideas in France and England.