Magic, Medicine and Authority in Mid-Seventeenth-Century Muscovy: 

Andreas Engelhardt (d. 1683) and the Role of the Western Physician at the Court of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich, 1656-1666

R. Collis / Russian History 40 (2013) 399–427
© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2013
Russian History 40 (2013) 399–427
brill.com/ruhi

Abstract

In Early Modern Europe court physicians exerted great influence in service to their royal patrons. These medical practitioners acted as learned conduits, whose knowledge of natural philosophy, which often included occult theories of healing, natural magic and astrology, was able to serve the broad interests of their patrons. Thus, in addition to being charged with maintaining the health of a ruler, physicians were often exploited by monarchs seeking to enhance the general health of their body politic. This case study of the German physician Andreas Engelhardt examines his decade-long ser- vice in Moscow between 1656 and 1666 at the court of Aleksei Mikhailovich. This study of Engelhardt's role at court at a time of increased Western influence in Muscovy aims to reveal how the tsar sought to utilize the learning of his German physician in a variety of* Robert Collis is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at The University of Sheffield(UK). His publications include the monograph
The Petrine Instauration: Religion, Esotericism and Science at the Court of Peter the Great, 1689-1725 ways. Engelhardt not only administered Western medical remedies, including the use of unicorn horns, to the royal family, but was also instructed to ascertain whether various Russian and Siberian folk remedies possessed beneficent qualities. This process of legitimization and containment of medical knowledge coincided with an attempt to suppress the authority of folk healers, thereby reflecting the autocratic nature of Aleksei Mikhailovich's reign. Furthermore, this article demonstrates that the tsar drew on Engelhardt’s supposed expertise in astrology and divination in order to know how Muscovy would be affected by the appearance of a comet in the winter of 1664-1665.

https://tinyurl.com/2xs6j8xr

Russia and the Medical Drug Trade in the Seventeenth Century

Clare Griffin*

Summary.

 This article deals with the trade in medicines into Russia in the seventeenth century. Both the early modern medical drug trade, and Russian medicine, have previously received substantial attention, but no work has thus far been undertaken on the Russian angle of the drug trade. Drawing on previously unused documents, this article traces the kinds of drugs acquired by the Moscow court. In contrast to the dominant view of official Russian medicine as divorced from native healing practices and fundamentally reliant upon Western European trends, these documents re-veal that drugs were sourced as locally as Moscow markets, and from as far afield as East Asia and the Americas, but that not all drugs were accepted. As many of these imports came through Western European markets, this article also sheds further light on what drugs were available there, demonstrating the great diversity of drugs traded in early modern Europe.

https://tinyurl.com/y2h48pd7

Exotic Drugs and English Medicine: England’s Drug Trade, c 1550–c. 1800

Patrick Wallis*

Summary.
What effect did the dramatic expansion in long distance trade in the early modern period have on healthcare in England?

This article presents new evidence on the scale, origins and content of English imports of medical drugs between 1567 and 1774. It shows that the volume of imported medical drugs exploded in the seventeenth century, and continued growing more gradually over the eighteenth century. The variety of imported drugs changed more slowly. Much was re-exported, but estimates of dosages suggest that some common drugs (for example, senna, Jesuits ’Bark) were available to the majority of the population in the eighteenth century. English demand for foreign drugs provides further evidence for a radical expansion in medical consumption in the seventeenth century. It also suggests that much of this new demand was met by purchasing drugs rather than buying services

https://www.academia.edu/13063426/Exotic_Drugs_and_English_Medicine_Englands_Drug_Trade_c_1550_c_1800