ABSTRACT
Among physicians rendering medical service at European courts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, by far the largest number cared for households at the smaller, less prominent courts of German territorial princes. The modest size of princely courts in comparison with those of royal patrons often encouraged occupational versatility among court attendants in order to respond to the personal interests and needs of the prince. The requirement for multiform talent especially affected the roles and responsibilities of physicians. Besides practising physic, physicians at smaller courts at times held administrative posts. They provided valuable ambassadorial services, and, because many doctors had studied mathematics in addition to medicine, 1 they could assume functions as diverse as making medically relevant astrological prognostications 2 to overseeing practical building and engineering projects. Given such a variety of activities within the confines of the territorial court, there must certainly be a sense in which the authority of the prince often proved to be role directive. But how far did that authority extend? Could the court, for instance, influence the practice of a particular kind of medicine or lead physicians to confront situations and to develop skills which might have been otherwise ignored?
