Elizabeth Mellyn

Elizabeth Mellyn

Associate Professor
Associate Professor
Phone: (603) 862-3028
Office: Horton Social Science Center, Room 407, Durham, NH 03824
Websites:
Elizabeth (Liz) Mellyn is a social and cultural historian of medieval and early modern Europe with broad teaching interests in the global history of science, medicine, infectious disease, and mental illness from antiquity to the present. She teaches courses on religious conflict, power, and politics in medieval and early modern Europe as well as courses on the history of medicine and the “psy” and “neuro” disciplines.

 

Her first book, Mad Tuscans and Their Families, examines how families, communities, and civic and medical authorities responded to the challenges mental illness brought to households and neighborhoods through pragmatic legal solutions forged in criminal and civil courts between the fourteenth and eighteenth centuries. Her current project, Madness in an Early Modern City, reimagines the history of asylums from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century through the lens of public health and healthcare finance. At its core, the project asks enduring questions: how do societies decide who is responsible for the care of people considered mentally ill, where should that care take place, and with what resources? 

 

Drawing on the rich archives of Tuscany's first hospital dedicated to the care of severely mentally ill men and women, this work examines the institution through the eyes of magistrates, founders, staff, patients, and families to trace the early development of mental healthcare systems. Her research has been supported by the Fulbright Commission, Harvard University’s Villa I Tatti Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, the American Academy in Rome, and a collaborative grant from the Modern Language Initiative and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

 

As co-founder and current coordinator of UNH’s Medical Humanities, Society, & Ethics Minor, she works to spark broader conversations that bridge divides between science, culture, and lived experience. Through innovative course design and crossdisciplinary collaboration, she aims to connect students and faculty across fields in exploring the human dimensions of health, illness, and care.

Courses Taught

  • HIST 437H: Honors/The Mad Among Us
  • HIST 498: Expl Hist Perspectives
  • HIST 500: Intro to Historical Thinking
  • HIST 515: Game of Thrones
  • HIST 565: Women in Modern Europe
  • HIST 641/841: Europe after the Black Death
  • HIST 642/842: Saints, Sinners, and Heretics
  • HIST 690/890: Seminar: Historical Expl
  • HIST 695: Independent Study
  • HIST 797: Colloquium

Education

  • Ph.D., Early Mod Eur History, Harvard University
  • M.A., Harvard University
  • B.A., Medieval & Renaissance Studies, University of Chicago

Research Interests

  • History of science and medicine
  • History of medicine and the body
  • Global Health
  • European History
  • Political history
  • Cultural History
  • Medical humanities

Selected Publications

  • Mellyn, E. (2024). On Purgatory’s Edge: Suicide in Early Modern Italy. In The Learned and Lived Law Essays in Honor of Charles Donahue (pp. 394-423). BRILL.

  • Mellyn, E. (2024). The Curious Case of the Two Antonios: What Hospital Records Can and Cannot Tell Us. In Early Modern Medicine An Introduction to Source Analysis (pp. 44-64).

  • Mellyn, E. W. (2021). Abortion in Early Modern Italy. ISIS, 112(4), 829-830. doi:10.1086/717060

  • Mellyn, E. W. (2021). Forgotten Healers: women and the pursuit of health in late Renaissance Italy. ANNALS OF SCIENCE, 78(2), 252-259. doi:10.1080/00033790.2021.1887352

  • Mellyn, E. W. (2020). The Economics of Healthcare and the Tuscan Medical Enlightenment. In Unknown Book (pp. 87-115). Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/

  • Mellyn, E. W. (2014). Mad Tuscans and Their Families: A History of Mental Disorder in Early Modern Italy. Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/

  • Mellyn, E. W., & Mellyn, E. W. (2014). Mad Tuscans and Their Families A HISTORY OF MENTAL DISORDER IN EARLY MODERN ITALY Introduction. In MAD TUSCANS AND THEIR FAMILIES: A HISTORY OF MENTAL DISORDER IN EARLY MODERN ITALY (pp. 1-+). Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/

  • Mellyn, E. W., & Mellyn, E. W. (2014). From Madness to Sickness. In MAD TUSCANS AND THEIR FAMILIES: A HISTORY OF MENTAL DISORDER IN EARLY MODERN ITALY (pp. 128-+). Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/

  • Mellyn, E. W., & Mellyn, E. W. (2014). "Madness Is Punishment Enough". In MAD TUSCANS AND THEIR FAMILIES: A HISTORY OF MENTAL DISORDER IN EARLY MODERN ITALY (pp. 58-+). Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/

  • Mellyn, E. W., & Mellyn, E. W. (2014). Spending Without Measure. In MAD TUSCANS AND THEIR FAMILIES: A HISTORY OF MENTAL DISORDER IN EARLY MODERN ITALY (pp. 94-+). Retrieved from https://www.webofscience.com/

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