REPRESENTATION OF CHARITY, EXEMPLARY CATHOLICS, OR MODEL NOBLEMEN? THE “SCHNEIDHAUS”, A SURGICAL FUGGER HOSPITAL IN AUGSBURG

The Schneidhaus was a hospital foundation of the counts Fugger specialized in surgery of hernia and bladder-stones and characterized by a number of apparently unique features, which allow to trace aspects of how the counts Fugger represented themselves during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. An allusion to charity covers just one functional aspect. During major confessional crises the hospital, including its localization(s) in Augsburg, also served to represent the Fugger as exemplary Catholic citizens. Moreover, evasive traces of several buildings designated as Schneidhaus and singular hints at their architecture point to additional functions: the hospital also was a means to support the efforts of the Counts Fugger to establish themselves among the German (and European) noblemen by displaying model behavior as rulers and humanists. A recently acquired illustrated manuscript in the German Museum of the History of Medicine in Ingolstadt was a further tool to assist these functions. The manuscript transferred practices inside the Schneidhaus into transportable evidence, thus allowing the counts Fugger to display, wherever necessary, their practice as models for Catholic charitable citizens and rulers of territories in combination with hints at their noble engagement for revealing wonders and marvels while also encouraging accountability of medical personnel and advancement of medical knowledge.

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