Case study of Berengario da Carpi and Lorenzo de' Medici

Abstract

Abstract Jacopo Berengario da Carpi (c.1460–c.1530) made several important advances in anatomy, being universally considered the founder of ‘animated anatomy’ (anatomia animata). In addition to being a famous anatomist, Berengario was also a highly regarded surgeon. One of his famous clients was Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino (1492–1519). In 1517, Lorenzo suffered a skull injury from an harquebus shot and Berengario was asked to come to his bedside. Lorenzo's case gave Berengario the opportunity to write his Tractatus de Fractura Calve sive Cranei, published in Bologna by Gerolamo Benedetti in 1518. Berengario addressed his treatise to Lorenzo himself. This illustrated monograph was the most original neurosurgical treatise at that time, as Berengario was able to cite both from contemporary information and from his own direct observation all possible kinds of skull fracture, including the relationship between the site of the lesions and the resulting neurological effects. At the end of the book, Berengario explained and illustrated the surgical equipment to be used in each case, depicting a drill previously unseen in a medical volume and providing the recipe for a human dressing, a kind of poultice made of mummified human remins, to be applied regularly to wounds. Lorenzo de' Medici died in 1519 and was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo in Florence. His corpse was exhumed in 1875 and 1947. The casts of his skull made on those occasions are now preserved in the museums of Florence University, and clearly show evidence of the wound. Read more about the stories behind this masterpiece in an essay online.