Sources for the History of Medicine in Late Medieval England

by Carole Rawcliffe

Selected, Introduced and Translated by Carole Rawcliffe.

The material contained here derives from a wide variety of printed and manuscript sources, chosen to give some idea of the rich diversity of evidence available to the historian of English medicine and its place in society during the fourteenth, fifteenth, and early sixteenth centuries. Latin and French have been translated into modern English, while vernacular texts have been slightly modified, and obsolete or difficult words explained. Middle English has otherwise been retained to give the past an authentic voice and to emphasize the similarities as well as the differences between the experience of modern readers and that of the inhabitants of late medieval England

Contents:
The theory of humors --
Man as part of the cosmos --
The body as a metaphor for society --
The physician --
The surgeon --
Medical ethics --
Fighting for a professional monopoly --
Treatment --
Epidemics and how to avoid them --
Mental illness --
Charms and magic --
Herbal and herbal cures --
Childbirth --
Women and medicine.

125 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

Carole Rawcliffe was an editor on the History of Parliament Trust (1979-92) before becoming a Senior Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at UEA (1992-7). She was made Reader in the History of Medicine (1997-2002) and Professor of Medieval History (2002).

Her research focuses upon the theory and practice of medicine in medieval England, with particular emphasis upon hospitals, the interconnection between healing and religion, and urban health. As editor of The History of Norwich (2004), she maintains an interest in the East Anglian region, and has written extensively on its medical provision. Her most recent book, Leprosy in Medieval England (2006), is a study of medieval responses to disease. She is currently investigating concepts of health and welfare before the Reformation.