The Fetus in the Middle Ages: Science, Theology, and Law

Historians’ studies of procreation and the fetus in medieval thought have mostly focused on one type of discourse, whether medicine and natural philosophy, theology, or law. Despite the richness of the literature, studies along disciplinary lines tend to obscure the extent to which the fetus is at the center of all these discourses at the same time. Scholastic theologians provided the Church with moral and legal norms about sex and marriage, but they also actively participated in debates about the initial matter of the fetus, the role of women in generation, the formation of the embryo, the causes of sex determination, and the similarities and differences between parents and children. In addition, debates about certain religious doctrines and moral questions involved detailed discussion of the physiology of reproduction. The goal of this book project is to show how the fetus, as a site where scientific, religious, legal, and ethical issues collided and intertwined, pervaded multiple discourses in the world of the medieval schools and beyond. As such, it contributes not only to the history of medieval medicine and science, but also to the history of the family, sexuality, and gender, while opening a dialogue with contemporary issues.