Pancio of Controne (1275 ca.-1340), a Tuscan physician at the courts of Edward II and Edward III of England

Abstract

This article focuses on the figure of Pancio of Controne, a 14th-century Tuscan physician who played a major role as archiater at the courts of the king Edward II (1307-1327) and Edward III (1327-1377). Through documents preserved in the English and Italian archives, it is possible to trace the biography of this illustrious physician and to reconstruct his social ascent and his economic activities. What emerges is a multi-faceted figure who devotes himself as much to medicine as to political and above all economic affairs, a range of activities that can be understood if they are read in the light of late medieval society and the Italian commercial expansion of the 13th-14th centuries.