Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

Ambroise Paré

I Dressed Him, God Healed Him · Royal Surgeon · c. 1510–1590

The French barber-surgeon who stopped pouring boiling oil into gunshot wounds, used ligatures in amputations, wrote in French for working surgeons, and served four kings.

Why Paré is on Incandio

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE. Its historical figures are the people a student learns from, questions and — where a specification topic is theirs — defends an idea against. Ambroise Paré can be questioned here in a dramatised, historically grounded portrayal, and the five-chapter life below is written to be read alongside the course.

Who was Paré?

Paré was born around 1510 near Laval in Maine and trained as a barber-surgeon, serving at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris. As an army surgeon at Turin in 1537 he ran out of the boiling oil of elder then used on gunshot wounds, which were believed to be poisoned, and dressed the remaining wounded with egg yolk, oil of roses and turpentine; the next morning they were in far better condition than those who had been scalded. In 1545 he published his method in French. At the siege of Damvillers in 1552 he tied off arteries with ligatures during an amputation instead of sealing them with a hot iron, and later described the method and the forceps for it. He served Henry II, Francis II, Charles IX and Henry III, designed artificial limbs, described phantom limb pain, and in 1575 published his collected works in French despite opposition from the Paris Faculty of Medicine. He died in Paris in 1590.

Major achievements

• Replaced boiling oil with a soothing dressing for gunshot wounds
• Used ligatures to tie arteries in amputations and designed forceps to do it
• Wrote in French so that ordinary surgeons could read his work
• Designed artificial limbs and described phantom limb pain
• Rose from barber-surgeon to First Surgeon to the King

Life in brief

• c. 1510 — Born near Laval: At Bourg-Hersent in Maine; the year is uncertain.
• 1537 — Turin: The oil runs out; the gentle dressing works better.
• 1545 — First book: His method for gunshot wounds, published in French.
• 1552 — Ligatures at Damvillers: Ties arteries in an amputation instead of cauterising.
• 1559 — Henry II's fatal wound: Attends the king with Vesalius.
• 1575 — Collected works: Published in French over the Faculty's objections.
• 1590 — Dies in Paris: 20 December, in a Paris held by the Catholic League.

Explore the life of Paré — five chapters

1. The Barber's Apprentice — From a village in Maine to the Hôtel-Dieu
2. The Night at Turin — When the boiling oil ran out
3. Thread Instead of Fire — Tying arteries in amputations
4. Surgeon to Four Kings — Court, wars of religion and a cruel experiment
5. Writing in French — A surgeon against the Faculty

Read the five-chapter life of Ambroise Paré →

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