Kisamor

Kisamor (Maria Jansson), (1788-1842), was a Swedish doctor, the most famous female doctor, and perhaps the most famous Swedish doctor altogether in the 19th century. She is the most famous example of an "old wise woman"; the women in the villages of old Europe who functioned as the doctors and healers of the population before ordinary doctors became normal to the public, in English called the Cunning folk. Her real name was Maria Jansson, but she is known in history as Kisamor, "The Mother in Kisa", after the place were she worked.

Biography

Born in Örebro as the daughter of a doctor in natural medicine, she had an early wish to follow in her father's profession, but her her father wouldn't let her. Instead, her forced her to marry a farmer. The marriage became unhappy, and she divorced her husband.

By this time, she functioned as a doctor in natural medicine and made her living visiting and nursing people. She was widely reputed, and called upon from far away. One day, she was given a home in Östergötland as a gift by some rich women after she had made them well after sickness. She visited the sick in their cottages, and sometimes they came to her in the inn called Kisa, and thereby, she became known as Kisamor, "The Mother in Kisa".

She became famous for skill, and people came to her from all over the country to ask her for help. In 1825, she was given special permission to work as a doctor, even though it was forbidden for a woman to work as a doctor.

See also

* Lovisa Aarberg
* Ingeborg i Mjarhult

Sources

* Österberg, Carin et al., "Svenska kvinnor: föregångare, nyskapare". Lund: Signum 1990. (ISBN 91-87896-03-6)
* http://art-bin.com/art/akisamo.html

External links

* http://art-bin.com/art/akisamen.html