Latin Surgery in a New Skin: The German Translation of Lanfranc of Milan’s Chirurgia magna

Lanfranc of Milan (1250–1306) is one of the most influential surgeons of the late Middle Ages and his Latin works - the Libellus (opusculum) de chirurgia, better known as Chirurgia parva (Lyon, 1293–1294), and the Liber de chirurgia (Ars completa totius chirurgiae) or Chirurgia magna (Paris, 1296) - informed surgical practice until the sixteenth century. !e importance of Lanfranc’s works is witnessed by the large number of vernacular translations produced in the years following those works’ compilation and that made Lanfranc’s scholarship available throughout Europe to those who did not read Latin. The Chirurgia parva was repeatedly translated into High German, and three different versions have emerged. For the Chirurgia magna, only one German translation is known. This Upper German version is transmitted, along with the Chirurgia parva, in Kalocsa, Cathedral Library, MS 376 and Erlangen, University Library, MS B 32. Moreover, an incomplete version interpolated with an epitome of surgery in the form of questions and answers, also based on Lanfranc’s work, can be found in London, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, MS 398. In this study, the Upper German translation of Lanfranc’s major work, its structure, and terminology are taken into consideration, and contrasted with its Latin original, paying particular attention to the modifications undergone by Lanfranc’s text to suit a new audience and a new language.