‘Charlatans, mountebanks and other similar people’: The regulation and role of itinerant practitioners in early modern Italy

Much despised and satirised, but rarely understood, the figure of the wandering, theatrical, remedy-selling charlatan was nevertheless quite real in early modern Europe. Fortunately for the historian, the records of the Italian medical colleges are rich in information about them, as a result of the licensing procedure charlatans had to undergo in order to sell their medicines. These records allow us to explore the activities of real charlatans, operating in society, avoiding the all-too-common approach to this figure, a mixture of disdain and whimsy. Indeed charlatans are an important test case for historians, since attitudes to them reveal a great deal about shifts in mental categories over time. The article begins by surveying the general characteristics of Italian charlatans, before proceeding to outline the licensing procedure, since it provides much of our data about them. This data is used to discuss the different types of charlatan, not by any means a homogenous group, their marketing of ‘secrets’ and their use of theatre and popular entertainments. The article accounts for the popularity of charlatans, the needs they fulfilled and how they fit into the early modern medical network. And it explores the contradictory reaction of the medical, civic and ecclesiastical authorities, which combined revulsion and ridicule with a grudging acceptance. © 1995 Taylor and Francis Group LLC.