Thomas Raynalde

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Thomas Raynalde

English physician who published The Byrthe of Mankynde (1540, 1545). This was the first English translation of Rösslin's Der Rosengarten, a German manual for midwives, itself a synopsis from medieval writers. It was the only book that dealt with obstetrics apart from medicine and surgery. The copperplates depict subjects that had been exclusive women's knowledge: the birth chair, birthing room, development of the fetus, and its relation to the uterus. In its introduction, Raynalde wrote that many might not think it proper to have such matters written in "our mother and vulgar language for the detection and discovery by men."

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Thomas Raynalde

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