Manifestationen des Vertrauens – Medizinerkarrieren am Münchener Hof der Frühen Neuzeit

Abstract

The Wittelsbach Court in Munich exemplifies an astonishing standard of court medicine and an enhancement in efforts to improve health care in early modern times. Focusing on account books, the paper examines medical personnel in order to identify and describe ‘medical practitioners’ at court in Bavaria from 1550 to 1750. What were their numbers, modes of employment and payment? What qualified physicians for a position at court? And what roles did they play in addition to offering medical treatments and therapeutic practices? Using the example of Dr. Stefano Simeoni, personal physician and intimate friend of the Bavarian electress, the paper examines whether employment at court paid off for early modern physicians and which factors could determine the success or failure of a medical career at court.