{"id":2072,"date":"2019-09-04T11:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-09-04T10:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2019-07-22T13:56:32","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T12:56:32","slug":"a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/","title":{"rendered":"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Article Summary by Adam S. Komorowski<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tuberculosis is a disease that comes in many forms: prior to the advent of modern medicine, one of the more common forms of tuberculosis was found in the lymph nodes in the neck. This form, especially within England and France, was known as \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d. Thought to only be cured by the touch of the monarch in those countries\u2014and linked to the monarchy\u2019s hold on power and legitimacy during times of political upheaval\u2014many people depended on the miraculous hope of cure. In the 17th century in England, when King Charles II was looking to restore his hold on power after the collapse of the English Commonwealth, he co-opted the ritual of curing the King\u2019s-Evil for his political benefit. Charles II\u2019s sergeant-surgeon Richard Wiseman was an integral part of screening potential patients for the King to cure. In his little-known work <em>Severall Chirurgicall Treatises<\/em> (1676), Richard Wiseman presents a case series of 91 patients who he has cured of the King\u2019s-Evil by surgical and medical means. As a member of the King\u2019s court, this was something daring: to suggest that a miraculous power of cure reserved in the majesty of the monarch\u2019s touch was somehow shared by medicine was dangerous. In our paper, we analyze the treatise on the King\u2019s-Evil, and contrast it to Wiseman\u2019s folk-healer contemporaries: in so doing, we show that Wiseman was unique and deftly navigated his role as a member of the King\u2019s Court, while also assuming the language and syntax of the kingly ritual in order to appropriate the kingly power to heal for medicine.<!--TrendMD v2.4.8--><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Article Summary by Adam S. Komorowski Tuberculosis is a disease that comes in many forms: prior to the advent of modern medicine, one of the more common forms of tuberculosis was found in the lymph nodes in the neck. This form, especially within England and France, was known as \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d. Thought to only be [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15028],"tags":[15044],"class_list":["post-2072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-announcements","tag-research"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d - Medical Humanities Tuberculosis king&#039;s evil Richard Wiseman<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Adam S. Komorowski analyses Richard Wiseman&#039;s discussion of \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d, a form of tuberculosis, in &quot;Severall Chirurgicall Treatises&quot; (1676).\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d - Medical Humanities Tuberculosis king&#039;s evil Richard Wiseman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Adam S. Komorowski analyses Richard Wiseman&#039;s discussion of \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d, a form of tuberculosis, in &quot;Severall Chirurgicall Treatises&quot; (1676).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medical Humanities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-04T10:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Pak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\"},\"headline\":\"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-04T10:00:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":294,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"research\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Journal Announcements\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d - Medical Humanities Tuberculosis king's evil Richard Wiseman\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-04T10:00:45+00:00\",\"description\":\"Adam S. Komorowski analyses Richard Wiseman's discussion of \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d, a form of tuberculosis, in \\\"Severall Chirurgicall Treatises\\\" (1676).\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/2019\\\/09\\\/04\\\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"description\":\"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Medical Humanities\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/files\\\/2017\\\/10\\\/blog-logo-mh.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":34,\"caption\":\"Medical Humanities\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c\",\"name\":\"Chris Pak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris Pak\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/blog-team\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/medical-humanities\\\/author\\\/chrispak\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d - Medical Humanities Tuberculosis king's evil Richard Wiseman","description":"Adam S. Komorowski analyses Richard Wiseman's discussion of \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d, a form of tuberculosis, in \"Severall Chirurgicall Treatises\" (1676).","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d - Medical Humanities Tuberculosis king's evil Richard Wiseman","og_description":"Adam S. Komorowski analyses Richard Wiseman's discussion of \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d, a form of tuberculosis, in \"Severall Chirurgicall Treatises\" (1676).","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/","og_site_name":"Medical Humanities","article_published_time":"2019-09-04T10:00:45+00:00","author":"Chris Pak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Pak","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Pak","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/person\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c"},"headline":"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d","datePublished":"2019-09-04T10:00:45+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/"},"wordCount":294,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"keywords":["research"],"articleSection":["Journal Announcements"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/","name":"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d - Medical Humanities Tuberculosis king's evil Richard Wiseman","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-09-04T10:00:45+00:00","description":"Adam S. Komorowski analyses Richard Wiseman's discussion of \u201cthe King\u2019s-Evil\u201d, a form of tuberculosis, in \"Severall Chirurgicall Treatises\" (1676).","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/2019\/09\/04\/a-politics-of-the-senses-the-political-role-of-the-kings-evil-in-richard-wisemans-severall-chirurgicall-treatises\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Politics of the Senses: The Political Role of the Kings Evil in Richard Wiseman\u2019s \u201cSeverall Chirurgicall Treatises\u201d"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","name":"Medical Humanities","description":"Providing a space for scholarly intervention into the conversation around medicine, as practice and philosophy, as it engages with humanities and arts.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#organization","name":"Medical Humanities","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/files\/2017\/10\/blog-logo-mh.png","width":300,"height":34,"caption":"Medical Humanities"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/#\/schema\/person\/0e11c1a9a0f1f9f2aa898a719652c44c","name":"Chris Pak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d8e2081fcdeea32c307cbbb99bfceffaf5bd08d12c3d5e1b155798facd9674a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris Pak"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/blog-team\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/author\/chrispak\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2072\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/medical-humanities\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}