Digital Highlights: Renaissance Midwifery

As city physician of Zurich, part of Jakob Rüff’s [or Jacob Rueff] (1500-58) responsibilities included the regulation of public midwives and their duties. In 1554, he issued a practical manual intended primarily for midwives, but which also addressed surgeons, elite women, and scholars. Two editions were released that year: one in Latin (De Conceptu et Generatione Homini) and one in German (Ein schön lustig Trostbüchle).

The scope of Rüff’s book was wide-reaching, covering conception and antenatal care as well as delivery. Some interesting sections include those on “unnatural births” (concerning malpresentation of the fetus) and “unperfect children” (covering physical deformities and offering tales of “monstrous births”), which are heavily illustrated.  The book also includes accurate descriptions and illustrations for using the birthing stool and four surgical instruments.

[portfolio_slideshow]

The exceptional illustrations in Rüff’s book made a major contribution to its popularity. Rüff was lucky to be working with the very talented printer Christoph Froschauer (c.1490-1564), best known for his printing of the Bible. Rüff’s book went through several printings after its initial publication in 1554, and many new engravings by Jost Amman (1539-91) were added to the 1580 edition of De Conceptu. It was translated into English in 1637, under the title The Expert Midwife, or An Excellent and most necessary Treatise on the generation and birth of Man.

Because De Conceptu  built on the anatomical images available in Vesalius’s De Humani Corporus Fabrica (1543) and Rösslin’s Der Schwangeren Frawen und Hebammen Rosengarten (1513), it offered the most informed illustrations of female pelvic anatomy available at that time. You can browse more historical midwifery manuals or view our entire collection of quality resources at the Medical Heritage Library!