Antoine Thomas, SI as a «Patient» of the Kangxi Emperor (r. 1662-1722): A Case Study on the Appropriation of Theriac at the Imperial Court

Abstract

In this article I shall concentrate on Antoine Thomas’ illness and death (July 28, 1709) in Peking. This will serve as a case study to elucidate certain aspects of the role played by Jesuit medicine, i.e. Jesuit physicians and Jesuit drugs, at the court of the Kangxi emperor (r. 1662-1722), the first of the three great rulers of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911). As a first step the network of power, as reflected in the so-called medical palace memorials, will be presented in order to arrive at a more comprehensive evaluation of the medical involvement of the Jesuits, as practising physicians, suppliers of foreign drugs and as patients. It will be shown that the circumstances of Thomas’ illness and death must be based on a political and social analysis of the role of court medicine as patronised by the Kangxi emperor. Secondly, the case study of Antoine Thomas will also allow us to reflect on the delocalisation and appropriation of theriac at the Chinese court - one of the foreign drugs in the supply of which Jesuits might have been participated. Last but not least, I shall introduce a number of references in archival documents which throw some additional light on Thomas’ illness and death, and how they were perceived and dealt with in the imperial court.