Jan Victor, Market Scene with a Quack at his Stall (c. 1650)

Carnivals, trade fairs and markets regularly attracted so-called itinerants such as the “quack” pictured here. “Quack” was a pejorative term for those offering medical treatment without any professional qualification while loudly advertising their “medicines.” The fact that quacks were also itinerants only supported their reputation as a suspicious social group In the Early Modern period, when “itinerant” was a synonym for those not subject to any ruler since itinerants did not maintain a place of residency. In a society divided into a hierarchy of estates, this was considered a disadvantage, yet it also provided some freedoms – such as unrestricted mobility – which were denied the majority of the population.