Vision, Medicine, and Magic: Bewitchment and Lovesickness in Jacques Grevin’s Deux livres des venins (1568)

Abstract

In the sixteenth century, university-trained physicians were still primarily scholars rather than practitioners, and as such participated in these discussions about witchcraft and magic, particularly in relation to illness. Early-modern medical texts contain discussions where their authors try to delimit the boundaries between the natural, preternatural, and supernatural realms as they pertain to issues of illness and disease. An example that illustrates how physicians were involved in this debate is found in the Deux livres des venins of Jacques Grevin. Grevin attempts to undercut ‘superstitious’ beliefs by attributing the supposed effects of bewitchment and spells to natural causes, based on his view of how the senses function naturally. He accepts the validity of lovesickness being transmitted through the eyes as something that occurs naturally, but does not go so far as to suggest that a witch can cause illness through an evil glance. Keywords:bewitchment; Deux livres des venins ; Jacques Grevin; lovesickness; magic; medicine; sixteenth-century physicians; vision