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Despite his fame Paracelsus remains an illusive character. As this volume points out it is somewhat of a paradox that the fascination with Paracelsus and his ideas has remained so widespread when it is born in mind that it is far from clear what exactly he contributed to medicine and natural philosophy. But perhaps it is exactly this enigma which through the ages has made Paracelsus so attractive to such a variety of people who all want to claim him as an advocate for their particular ideas. The first section of this book deals with the historiography surrounding Paracelsus and Paracelsianism and points to the need of reclaiming the man and his ideas in their proper historical context. A further two sections are concerned with the different religious, social and political implications of Paracelsianism and its medical and natural philosophical significance respectively

Cover -- Half Title -- Dedication -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of tables -- List of figures -- Preface -- 1 A new home or a temporary abode? Dutch and Walloon exiles in England -- 2 The French and Dutch congregations in London in the early seventeenth century -- 3 A friendship turned sour: Puritans and Dutch Calvinists in East Anglia, 1603-1660 -- 4 From uniformity to tolerance: the effects on the Dutch church in London of reverse patterns in English church policy, 1634-1647 -- 5 Merchants and ministers: the foundations of international Calvinism -- 6 From persecution to integration: the decline of the Anglo-Dutch communities in England, 1648-1702 -- 7 The schooling of the Dutch Calvinist community in London, 1550-1650 -- 8 Tribute and triumph: Dutch pageants and Stuart coronations -- 9 Calvinist agape or Godly dining club? -- 10 Plague in Elizabethan and Stuart London: the Dutch response -- 11 The attraction of Leiden University for English students of medicine and theology, 1590-1642 -- Index

The tremendous changes in the role and significance of religion during Reformation and the Catholic Counter-Reformation affected all of society. Yet, there have been few attempts to view medicine and the ideas underpinning it within the context of the period and see what changes it underwent. Medicine and the Reformation charts how both popular and official religion affected orthodox medicine as well as more popular healers. Illustrating the central part played by medicine in Lutheran teachings, the Calvinistic rationalization of disease, and the Catholic responses, the contribut

This is the first volume to take a broad historical sweep of the close relation between medicines and poisons in the Western tradition, and their interconnectedness. They are like two ends of a spectrum, for the same natural material can be medicine or poison, depending on the dose, and poisons can be transformed into medicines, while medicines can turn out to be poisons. The book looks at important moments in the history of the relationship between poisons and medicines in European history, from Roman times, with the Greek physician Galen, through the Renaissance and the maverick physician Paracelsus, to the present, when poisons are actively being turned into beneficial medicines.