Jehan Leclerc et les chirurgiens jurés de Paris : une rivalité professionnelle à l’Hôtel-Dieu (1498-1500)

Abstract

At the end of the 15th century, Jehan Leclerc was a surgeon at the Hotel-Dieu of Paris where he provided healthcare to poor patients who were welcomed in the institution. From 1498 to 1500, he had incurred the hostility of several surgeons of the city. A sample of notarial acts, especially certificates of treatment and of recovery, provides details concerning the career of this controversial practitioner. In those documents, former patients testified that he made successful treatments and revealed the conflict between him and the surgeons’ guild members. A study of the career of Jehan Leclerc sheds new light on the daily life of the hospital, medical staff, surgical operations and assistance schemes in the Hotel-Dieu. This particular conflict shows the importance of visiting poor patients to enhance the professional status of Parisian surgeons, and reveals some shared values of occupational ethics.

Keywords

• surgeons
• Hotel-Dieu of Paris
• notarial acts
• health
• charity