Between Digital Humanities and New Philology: the epistolae medicinales and the consilia of the humanist Jorge Godines

Abstract

Digital Humanities, like the textual approach proposed by New Philology, have brought profound changes to how research in Humanities is
conducted today and have enabled the conception of ambitious projects that require multidisciplinary and international teams. Thus, after reflecting on the genesis and scope of Digital Humanities and New Philology, we will present a selection of national and international research projects that exemplify the practical application of these fields to Linguistic and Literary Studies and History, highlighting their contribution to the preservation, analysis, and deeper understanding of various corpora. Particular emphasis will be given to projects that demonstrate the innovative and fruitful applicability of Digital Humanities and New Philology to the study of epistolary corpora (with special focus on medical letters and consilia), as they provide a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the content of the texts that integrate them, elucidating crucial aspects such as the identity of the correspondents, the nature of the bonds that united them, or the socio-political and cultural context in which they moved. Finally, considering the advances made in this field of study, the conception of a new research project will be presented, centred on an unpublished set of epistolae medicinales and consilia by Jorge Godines, a 16th-century Portuguese physician.