From the Ancient Myth of the Caesars to the Medieval and Renaissance Tradition: The Practice of Caesarean Section in De universa mulierum medicina by Rodrigo de Castro

The caesarean section performed on a living woman to save both mother and baby is first considered in gynecological texts in the late sixteenth century after the treatise by the French physician François Rousset. It is included alongside descriptions of post-mortem caesarean section, already practised in the Middle Ages with the aim of saving the baby. The early seventeenth-century work by the Lusitanian physician Roderico de Castro is often referenced on this subject, seen as critical of Rousset's theory. Castro is cited above all for formulating a new suggestion – operating on a woman in the throes of death – because he was convinced that the post-mortem caesarean section was pointless. This article provides thorough analysis of Castro's work, comparing it to Rousset’s treatise and medical texts by other authors to reveal its originality and its real contribution to the interpretation of the two different caesarean sections.