Découvrir l’imposteur : expertises dans la prison de Valence au milieu du xve siècle

Abstract

Physicians were often summoned as expert witnesses in the law courts of the city of Valencia in the Late Middle Ages. Their aid was requested for various reasons and they were expected to render judgments or make prognoses. One of the settings in which they intervened was the prison. Torture was part of the unfolding of the legal proceedings as a way to prove the facts and thus dispel any doubt the judge might have. Doubts that had been raised by any possible feigned illnesses required the proficiency of those experts who were the ones to decide whether or not to inflict torture on the prisoners. This paper analyzes in extensive detail a particular case which took place in Valencia in 1440, and required the expert opinion of four physicians and a surgeon.

Keywords

• torture
• expertise
• law courts
• surgery
• feigned illnesses
• prognoses