Abstract
The criticism of bad doctors in the name of reason and knowledge, which appeared in the Hippocratic corpus and Galen's work, continued into the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The authority of Greek medicine was passed on by Persian and Arab scholars, and organized medical teaching in Christian Europe from the XIIIthcentury onwards. The creation of medical faculties and the organization of guilds of surgeons, barbers and apothecaries reinforced the determination of authorities and scholars to combat empirical physicians and traditional practices. But these were countered by the validity of practical experience and the confidence of patients.
In the last third of the XVIthcentury, the arrival of Italian charlatan troupes in France brought with it a new look, with the spectacular and theatrical dimension dominating. We comment on Thomas Sonnet de Courval's Satyre contre les charlatans et les pseudomédecins empyriques and Discours de l'origine des mœurs, fraudes et impostures des ciarlatans (1622), translated from the Italian Scipione Mercurio, Degli errori popolorai d'Italia (1603).
These texts were in response to the success of Tabarin, a charlatan in the Place Dauphine, who performed facetious and burlesque farces while selling remedies and ointments. The interpretation of this show remains ambiguous. Was it intended to attract onlookers and sell products? Was the sale of remedies an accessory associated with the charlatan's persona ? Or was it a way of remunerating the actors, without anyone really being fooled ? Is the charlatan an impostor, who seeks to deceive the public, or is he the one who reveals, with a great burst of laughter, that scholars are above all not to be taken seriously ? We propose to call " Tabarin's theorem " this formula, inscribed on an engraving of the time representing him on stage : " Tel se pense plus que lui sage qui est plus charlatan ".
