Frederick of Montefeltro (1422-1482), Duke of Urbino, is one of the foremost warlords and patron of the arts of the whole Italian Renaissance. He died in Ferrara in the autumn of 1482 after contracting an infectious disease during his last military campaign in Northern Italy. His body was taken to Urbino and after solemn funerals it was embalmed. The corpse remained in a wooden coffin hung to the wall, to the right of the main altar, in the church of San Bernardini until 1620, when it was placed in a burial chamber under the floor of the church. The remains were exhumed twice: in 1824 and in 1938. On both occasions they were found in a rather poor state of preservation. The last exhumation in 2000 confirmed the extremely poor preservation status of his skeletal remains. However it was possible to note a marked development of the muscular attachments of the upper limbs and of the pelvic bone, especially of the iliac crest, that are the result of considerable physical activity, unmistakably linked to his extensive practice of horse riding. The most remarkable find is the first metatarsal bone of the right foot, fortunatly still well preserved. The metatarsal, showing a deep erosion at the medial side, has subsequently undergone radiological analysis (conventional X-ray and CT scan) which clearly demonstrated the typical morphology of a gouty lesion, exhibiting a periarticular lytic lesion with an excavated appearance and foci of reactive bone deposition and sclerosis around the margins. Various historical sources report that Federico of Montefeltro suffered from a severe form of gout, but an outstanding primary source is a handwritten private letter sent by the Duke to his physician Battiderro da Mercatello in 1461, that clarifies the gouty nature of his ailments. The study shows how an alliance between historical, documental and paleopathological methods may increase the precision of retrospective diagnoses, thus helping to shed clearer ligth onto the antiquity and evolution of diseases.
The Gout of Duke Frederick of Montefeltro (1422 - 1482): historical sources and osteological evidence
FORNACIARI, ANTONIO;GIUFFRA, VALENTINA;GAETA, RAFFAELE;CARAMELLA, DAVIDE;
2017-01-01
Abstract
Frederick of Montefeltro (1422-1482), Duke of Urbino, is one of the foremost warlords and patron of the arts of the whole Italian Renaissance. He died in Ferrara in the autumn of 1482 after contracting an infectious disease during his last military campaign in Northern Italy. His body was taken to Urbino and after solemn funerals it was embalmed. The corpse remained in a wooden coffin hung to the wall, to the right of the main altar, in the church of San Bernardini until 1620, when it was placed in a burial chamber under the floor of the church. The remains were exhumed twice: in 1824 and in 1938. On both occasions they were found in a rather poor state of preservation. The last exhumation in 2000 confirmed the extremely poor preservation status of his skeletal remains. However it was possible to note a marked development of the muscular attachments of the upper limbs and of the pelvic bone, especially of the iliac crest, that are the result of considerable physical activity, unmistakably linked to his extensive practice of horse riding. The most remarkable find is the first metatarsal bone of the right foot, fortunatly still well preserved. The metatarsal, showing a deep erosion at the medial side, has subsequently undergone radiological analysis (conventional X-ray and CT scan) which clearly demonstrated the typical morphology of a gouty lesion, exhibiting a periarticular lytic lesion with an excavated appearance and foci of reactive bone deposition and sclerosis around the margins. Various historical sources report that Federico of Montefeltro suffered from a severe form of gout, but an outstanding primary source is a handwritten private letter sent by the Duke to his physician Battiderro da Mercatello in 1461, that clarifies the gouty nature of his ailments. The study shows how an alliance between historical, documental and paleopathological methods may increase the precision of retrospective diagnoses, thus helping to shed clearer ligth onto the antiquity and evolution of diseases.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
