title: Of monsters and prodigies: the interpretation of birth defects in the sixteenth century.
abstract: In the sixteenth century, a time of religious and social upheaval, naturalistic theories of generation were joined to ideas that monstrous births were divine signs. In this paper, we explore how medicine and theology were combined to explain the almost cataclysmic religious, social, and political events of the century.
authors.affiliation: Office of Maternal/Infant Health and Genetics, Washington State Department of Health, Seattle.
authors.forename: M T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Walton
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Fineman
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Walton
mesh_terms: D009008:Abnormalities, Severe Teratoid / Q000266:history*; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000266:history*; D005060:Europe; D049669:History, 16th Century; D006801:Humans; D012068:Religion and Medicine