Dragon's Blood or the Red Delusion: Textual Tradition, Craftsmanship, and Discovery in the Early Modern Period

This article explores the plurality of referents associated with the term “dragon's blood” (“sanguis draconis”), a legendary substance that brings together Greco-Roman and Arabic medical knowledge, local vernacular traditions and artisanal practices, and new Spanish and Portuguese botanical dis...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inRenaissance quarterly Vol. 76; no. 4; pp. 1223 - 1271
Main Author Basile, Gaston Javier
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge Cambridge University Press 01.01.2023
Subjects
16th century
Arabic language
Case studies
Colloquial language
Drug stores
Early modern period
Lengua árabe
Medicina
Names
Natural history
Philology
Trees
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Summary:This article explores the plurality of referents associated with the term “dragon's blood” (“sanguis draconis”), a legendary substance that brings together Greco-Roman and Arabic medical knowledge, local vernacular traditions and artisanal practices, and new Spanish and Portuguese botanical discoveries. The study of dragon's blood reveals the interface between overlapping epistemic paradigms governing the definition, use, and circulation of complex material substances in early modern Europe, ranging from humanist learned discussions and artisanal experimentation to vernacular narratives of discovery, along with the shifting criteria of truth, authenticity, and value advocated by different communities of learning and practice.
ISSN:0034-4338
1935-0236
DOI:10.1017/rqx.2023.543