Parigi, 1254. Caterina da Colleaperto, giovane donna medico, esercita nel più importante ospedale della città. Animata dall’entusiasmo per la propria professione e sostenuta dall’appoggio di Rolando Lanfranchi, illustre maestro in medicina e suo amante, può permettersi di ignorare l’ostilità dei colleghi e dell’intera corporazione. Le sue capacità sono riconosciute da una schiera crescente di clienti che la introducono a corte e le consentono di frequentare esponenti dell’alta aristocrazia. Tutto sembra procedere per il meglio, quando una scoperta inaspettata spegne ogni sua certezza: per sottrarsi a una situazione ormai insostenibile, medita la fuga, che diventa precipitosa quando apprende che sul suo capo pende una denuncia. Nessuno la difende, nemmeno Rolando. Attraversa le Alpi, diretta in Lombardia. Il cammino, lungo e faticoso, é segnato da un avvenimento drammatico che le procura grande sofferenza, lenita solo dalla presenza benevola di uno sconosciuto precettore inglese. Arriva a Milano e scopre una città contraddittoria, dove convivono miseria e lusso: mentre fame e malattie sterminano i miseri, i potenti fanno a gara per sfoggiare le vesti preziose realizzate dal sarto più famoso della città. Tormentata dal proprio passato, Caterina considera la possibilità di abbandonare la professione, ma l’inatteso contatto con i più bisognosi la spinge a riconsiderare le finalità della medicina. Le speranze che credeva perdute per sempre germoglieranno ancora. Caterina ritroverà in se stessa la donna libera e coraggiosa che è sempre stata, anticipatrice di tempi che verranno e capace di stringere fra le mani la propria vita.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In the Middle Ages medicine, like all other areas of knowledge, was a prerogative of men. Women interested in practising the profession were allowed to act as midwives and little else. Despite this, history conserves records of a few women doctors, from Trotula Salernitana and Hildegard von Bingen, to Abella, Rebecca Guarna, Costanza Calende and Ersenda, who practised at the court of the Louis IXth, King of France. The fact that we still remember their names means that these women were such skilled therapists that it was impossible to ignore them. One suspects that there were many others besides them of whose existence all traces have been lost. This is a hypothesis confirmed by the fact that the Studium of Montpellier, one of the most important medical faculties in Europe, also admitted aspiring women students. Their path was almost certainly paved with difficulties. In this novel I have tried to imagine the extent to which prejudice and mistrust may have influenced the social and personal lives of these courageous women. Caterina da Colleaperto is a literary invention but could have been any one of the medieval women doctors who attempted to gain professional dignity on a par with men. The character of Marco Raineri, the Milanese tailor, is also the fruit of invention. In describing his workshop my intention was to give an account of one of the most important handcrafts of the times. Under the colours of the court, or those of the commune, the tailor’s profession was highly appreciated and one that made it possible for those who practised it at a high level to accumulate considerable monetary fortunes. The first Milanese document attesting to the existence of the Hospital of the Colombetta dates back to 1279 but other fragments of information lead us to believe that it may have been in operation around the middle of the thirteenth century. This was an association that came into being thanks to certain Milanese benefactors and was devoted to helping the poorer sectors of the population, which were gradually growing in number because of the precarious economic conditions caused by a long period of political instability. Independent of the ecclesiastical hierarchies, the association was administered by a small religious congregation, the Fratelli della Misericordia, and headed by a prior. Work with the poor was carried out by a small group of monks, supported by a large number of voluntary helpers who shared their lives and their duties, often contributing their own personal resources. The Hospital of the Colombetta was unique in Milan and probably one of the first examples of organized and hardworking lay charity that Milan was rightly so proud of in the following centuries. The building I imagined as the site of the clinic really did exist. It was an arms factory situated on a road that is still known by the same name: having survived the paving over of the canals and the bombs of the second world war, it was pulled down later during large-scale urban rebuilding work which affected the area of the ancient Porta Ticinese. Some of the characters in the novel actually existed in the period in question: the King of France, Louis IXth, his brother Alfonse de Poitiers, his sister Isabelle, Guiard de Laon, Jean de Passavant, Rutebeuf, Robert de Sorbon, Eudes Rigaud, Tazio Mandelli, Egidio da Cortenuova, Manfredi da Sesto, Manfredo Lancia d’Incisa. Their personalities are the fruit of my imagination. As regards the special stimulant used by the character Raineri, I was inspired by “Fowler’s Solution”, a much-discussed arsenic potion used a couple of centuries ago in some parts of Karinthie. I decided quite arbitrarily to allow its origins to date back to the Middle Ages.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In the Middle Ages medicine, like all other areas of knowledge, was a prerogative of men. Women interested in practising the profession were allowed to act as midwives and little else. Despite this, history conserves records of a few women doctors, from Trotula Salernitana and Hildegard von Bingen, to Abella, Rebecca Guarna, Costanza Calende and Ersenda, who practised at the court of the Louis IXth, King of France. The fact that we still remember their names means that these women were such skilled therapists that it was impossible to ignore them. One suspects that there were many others besides them of whose existence all traces have been lost. This is a hypothesis confirmed by the fact that the Studium of Montpellier, one of the most important medical faculties in Europe, also admitted aspiring women students. Their path was almost certainly paved with difficulties. In this novel I have tried to imagine the extent to which prejudice and mistrust may have influenced the social and personal lives of these courageous women. Caterina da Colleaperto is a literary invention but could have been any one of the medieval women doctors who attempted to gain professional dignity on a par with men. The character of Marco Raineri, the Milanese tailor, is also the fruit of invention. In describing his workshop my intention was to give an account of one of the most important handcrafts of the times. Under the colours of the court, or those of the commune, the tailor’s profession was highly appreciated and one that made it possible for those who practised it at a high level to accumulate considerable monetary fortunes. The first Milanese document attesting to the existence of the Hospital of the Colombetta dates back to 1279 but other fragments of information lead us to believe that it may have been in operation around the middle of the thirteenth century. This was an association that came into being thanks to certain Milanese benefactors and was devoted to helping the poorer sectors of the population, which were gradually growing in number because of the precarious economic conditions caused by a long period of political instability. Independent of the ecclesiastical hierarchies, the association was administered by a small religious congregation, the Fratelli della Misericordia, and headed by a prior. Work with the poor was carried out by a small group of monks, supported by a large number of voluntary helpers who shared their lives and their duties, often contributing their own personal resources. The Hospital of the Colombetta was unique in Milan and probably one of the first examples of organized and hardworking lay charity that Milan was rightly so proud of in the following centuries. The building I imagined as the site of the clinic really did exist. It was an arms factory situated on a road that is still known by the same name: having survived the paving over of the canals and the bombs of the second world war, it was pulled down later during large-scale urban rebuilding work which affected the area of the ancient Porta Ticinese. Some of the characters in the novel actually existed in the period in question: the King of France, Louis IXth, his brother Alfonse de Poitiers, his sister Isabelle, Guiard de Laon, Jean de Passavant, Rutebeuf, Robert de Sorbon, Eudes Rigaud, Tazio Mandelli, Egidio da Cortenuova, Manfredi da Sesto, Manfredo Lancia d’Incisa. Their personalities are the fruit of my imagination. As regards the special stimulant used by the character Raineri, I was inspired by “Fowler’s Solution”, a much-discussed arsenic potion used a couple of centuries ago in some parts of Karinthie. I decided quite arbitrarily to allow its origins to date back to the Middle Ages.