In the 1540s, medical publishing is in fashion in Lyon, specifically in the form of translations of Galen. Prefaces to the translations of the Greek physician highlight the conflicts underlying the practices of doctors, surgeons, and apothecaries in their closely-related disciplines. Translating Galen and his successors actually amounts to making accessible ancient science which was until then reserved for readers of Latin or Greek, that is to say, scholars. We study the issues that oversee the circulation of these translations as well as the receptions they enabled among a reading public much more diverse than it might seem, within a larger context of reflection on the role of translation as a vehicle for the dissemination of knowledge.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Rajchenbach, Ã., (2025), "Médecins, chirurgiens, apothicaires : à qui sont adressées les traductions médicales ? Enquête sur l’édition lyonnaise des années 1540", HSSCommons: (DOI: )

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1. Renaissance and Reformation

Original publication: Rajchenbach, Élise. "Médecins, chirurgiens, apothicaires : à qui sont adressées les traductions médicales ? Enquête sur l’édition lyonnaise des années 1540." Renaissance and Reformation 42 (1): 2019. 211-232. DOI: 10.7202/1064525ar. This material has been re-published in an unmodified form on the Canadian HSS Commons with the permission of Iter Canada / Renaissance and Reformation. Copyright © the author(s). Their work is distributed by Renaissance and Reformation under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. For details, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/.