The 1614 Statutes of Thorner Surgical Guild and the 1617 Charter od Thorner Guild-like Surgical Apprentices’ Fraternity. The Edition of Primary Sources

Abstract

The establishment of surgical guilds in various towns and cities of east and central Europe was characteristic of a move throughout those territories in the 16th to 17th centuries to organize surgeons into professional bodies and to distinguish them from unorganized practitioners, e.g. barbers, quacks and itinerant operators on bladder stones, herniae and cataracts, that provided more of the surgical care of former times. One of the city ordinances dealing with the regulation of local surgery was the charter of surgeons’ guild and guild-like surgical apprentices’ fraternity of Thorn in Royal Prussia. The paper offers a vast edition of primary source documents that provided the organizational framework of both institutions.