The Shame and Medicine Project and the Centre for Medical History are thrilled to welcome to the University of Exeter Dr Emily Cock (Cardiff University) to give the online Shame and Medical History seminar:

“very Vulgar and too Familier”: shame and healthcare in the early modern household

27th March 2025, 14.00 GMT.

TITLE:

“very Vulgar and too Familier”: shame and healthcare in the early modern household

ABSTRACT:

This paper considers the impact of shame for managing health and disability in the early modern household through a microhistorical study of unmarried gentry woman Gertrude Savile (1697-1758) and her shifting cast of carers and cared-for: her family, friends, servants, pets, and practitioners. In a household of fraught hierarchies, requiring or delivering treatment for embarrassing ailments like anal fistulas, or failing to meet social and economic obligations due to immobility, threatened your honour and position. Savile has been unjustly denigrated by historians as a lonely and anxious spinster, but her extensive life writing in diaries, account books and other genres give a unique insight into the impact of shifting health problems on household relationships and management.

BIO:

Dr Emily Cock is a Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History at Cardiff University.

“very Vulgar and too Familier”

Follow this organizer to stay informed on future events

Events you might like

Advocaat Familierecht Den Bosch Online EventAdvocaat Familierecht Den Bosch Online Event

Advocaat Familierecht Den Bosch Online Event