Intermezzo - Syphilis & the Italian Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance is also known as the “Golden Age of Bastards”. Powerful men routinely took many mistresses and fathered several children with them. “Natural” children were frequently raised by the legal wife, alongside half brothers and sisters; others were sent to live and be educated in foreign courts. 

“The Wolf of Rimini”

Several of these bastards had brilliant careers: 

• Despite the presence of legitimate children Lionello d’Este (1407-1450) was favoured by his father as successor as Marquess of Ferrara. 
• Career soldier Federigo III da Montefeltro (1422-1482) was an illegitimate son of the lord of Urbino. 
• The notorious Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417-1468), popularly known as “The Wolf of Rimini”, was an illegitimate son of the lord of Fano.

The Italian Renaissance is also known as the era of highly contagious syphilis. At the time, social environmental and biological conditions were ideal for the spread of infections: new contacts among people, increasing trade, movements of armies from one part to the other within Europe, and also promiscuity and prostitution. 
The first well-documented major outbreak of syphilis occurred in Naples in the mid-1490s after Charles VIII of France had invaded Italy. It was of exceptional virulence, highly contagious and caused severe ulceration. Soon, a slower-progressing form of syphilis replaced the initial severe form. Many symptoms were less severe, and the rash, of a reddish colour, did not cause itching. Moreover, the gummy tumours then appeared only in a limited number of cases. For Renaissance rulers, leading the licentious lifestyle of court society of the time, syphilis was almost an occupational hazard.

Syphilis is caused by a microscopic organism with a corkscrew shape, the “Treponema Pallidum” spirochaete, discovered in 1905 by Fritz Schudinn. It is passed on primarily by sexual intercourse, but can also be transmitted to a foetus during pregnancy by an infected mother.

As a disease, syphilis has 3 very distinct stages: primary, secondary and tertiary syphilis, separated by latent periods with no visible symptoms.

1. Primary syphilis usually appears between a fortnight and a month after infection. It is characterised by the development of a small, firm, hard-edged, but painless ulcer on the genitals where it has entered the body. It it is left untreated this primary lesion will usually heal spontaneously within a few weeks. Swellings of the lymph glands can also appear. In women this primary stage may to undetected it the chancre has formed inside the body, and the disease is revealed only in the secondary stage. However, syphilis is at its most infectious during the primary stage.
2. After the untreated spirochaete has spread through the body, sufferers enter the Secondary stage. Extensive but painless skin rashes develop all over the body, often accompanied by fever, headaches, a general exhaustion and aching bones. After a few weeks these secondary symptoms disappear in their turn.
3. Tertiary syphilis develops in untreated cases after a further latent period of anywhere between 12 months and 20 years. It progressively destroys the skin, bones and internal organs, inflicting the greatest horros on its victims. A small rubbery tumor (“gumma”) can develop anywhere in the body. An attack on the bones can cause especially horrific mutilations when the nasal and palate bones have been destroyed. Cesare Borgia (±1476-1507), for example, bore a leather mask covering half his face, supposedly to hide a disfigurement due to syphilis. Late syphilis can also cause destruction of the nerve cells in the spinal cord, producing a stumbling gait and very poor coordination. General paralysis of the insane can be caused by a general softening of the brain resulting in a form of insanity often linked with a form of creative genius, but actually more destructive and in the end deadly in its effects.

For skin diseases poisonous mercury had already been used as a ‘remedy’ and soon became the most popular ‘treatment’ for syphilis; it remained in use until the 20th century. The drawbacks of the use of mercury were such unpleasant side effects as corrosion of the membranes of the mouth causing gum ulcerations, the loosening of the teeth and the erosion of the bones. 

Sources: D. Hayden: Pox (Genius, Madness and the Mysteries of Syphilis), K. Brown: The Pox (The Life and near Death of a very Social Disease), Cesare Borgia and the Great Pox,