Congratulations to HCMH’s post-doc, Dr. Sarina Kuersteiner, on her article titled “Ad instar quatuor elementorum: Medical and Literary Knowledge in Salatiele’s Ars notarie (1242-1243)” published in a special issue of RiMe (Rivista dell’Istituto di Storia dell’Europa Mediterranea) — “Il Notaio nella società dell’Europa mediterranea (secc. XIV-XIX)”

This article examines the implications of medical and literary knowledge for the meaning of the Ars notarie (1242-1243) written by the Bolognese notary, jurist, and teacher of the notarial art, Salatiele. While previous scholars described the Ars notarie as shortening the gap between notarial practice and Roman legal theory in thirteenth-century Bologna, the analysis of medical and literary knowledge in the Ars notarie suggests that the Galenic body and Ovidian verses provided Salatiele with models to theorize notarial instruments as media to join elements of commercialization and monetization such as proportional balances, shifting prices, and multiplying relationships into ordering principles of the common good.