Signs and portents

As reports in the popular press often illustrate, the fascination with monstrous births is still with us. Whether as objects of salacious curiosity, medical study, or as signs and portents, monstrous births have been studied throughout history, yet comparatively little has been written to explore this peculiar interest. In Signs and Portents, Professor Wilson charts the changes in attitude to monstrous births from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. Drawing on a wealth of printed sources throughout Europe, many of which are little known to scholars, he shows how 'monsters' were interpreted in the sixteenth century as mysterious visitations from God, auguring catastrophe and punishment, even at times involving demons and bewitchment. Through the Enlightenment these ideas gradually changed to include the natural philosopher's curiosity about the strange and wondrous, before monsters increasingly came to be seen as problems for medicine to understand. Lavishly illustrated with quotations from an abundance of pamphlets and books, as well as including many unfamiliar illustrations, Signs and Portents is the first full-length study of monstrous births for over half a century. It will be of interest not only to medical historians, but also to all those concerned with the cultural history of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.