It’s that time of year again – the mad scramble for the perfect Christmas gift for the historian, nerd, avid reader on your list. Here are a few suggestions for you – new releases for December and January!
Sights for Sore Eyes: Vision and Health in Medieval England
December 14, 2014 By
The eye being the noblest and most frail of the external organs, a single grain of corrosive matter is more harmful to it than a hundred would be to feet or jaws; thus we must operate on the eye and such like organs much more carefully.
Plague Remedies from Renaissance Italy
December 11, 2014 By
‘Rue tops, one clove of garlic, a walnut, a grain of salt, and eat on an empty stomach everyday for up to a month, and you must be cheerful, and this recipe, it’s good against vermin and it’s perfect.
The Medieval Globe launches with special issue on the Black Death
December 11, 2014 By
Pandemic Disease in the Medieval World: Rethinking the Black Death is the theme for the inaugural issue of The Medieval Globe.
The rebirth of fertility: the Trotula and her travelling companions c. 1200-1450
December 3, 2014 By
This thesis examines to what extent women were involved in their own healthcare and that of others, in the late medieval period.
Fossil Sharks’ Teeth: A Medieval Safeguard Against Poisoning
November 30, 2014 By
In the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, particularly between the thirteenth and the sixteenth century, the most common way of eliminating one’s enemy was by poisoning his food or drink at a banquet.
What can fourteenth century Venice teach us about Ebola?
November 21, 2014 By
Venice’s response to the plague an “example of resilience management,’ say experts
Medieval Beauty Tips
November 12, 2014 By
How did women in the Middle Ages make their hair, faces and skin look beautiful? The Trotula, a medieval text for women written in 12th century Salerno includes recipes and instructions that help ladies clear up their skin, colour their hair and even get rid of the stench from their mouth! Here are 15 excerpts from the Trotula that offer medieval beauty tips!
Healthy Eating in the Middle Ages: the Tacuinum Sanitatis
November 10, 2014 By
In the late Middle Ages, princes and the powerful learnt the health and hygiene rules of rational medicine from the Tacuinum Sanitatis, a treatise on well-being and health widely disseminated in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Þur sarriþu þursa trutin: Monster-Fighting and Medicine in Early Medieval Scandinavia
October 30, 2014 By
This paper seeks evidence among our extensive Scandinavian mythological texts for an area which they seldom discuss explicitly: the conceptualisation and handling of illness and healing.
Petrus Hispanus (circa 1215-1277) and ‘The Treasury of the Poor’
October 24, 2014 By
The identity of Petrus Hispanus is a matter of some controversy. Part of the problem is centred on the fact that ‘Hispanus’ covers the general region of the Iberian Peninsula, referred to in medieval times as ‘las Españas’ (the Spains), incorporating both present day Spain and Portgual.
Dental and oral diseases in Medieval Persia, lessons from Hedayat Akhawayni
October 23, 2014 By
Persian physicians had a great role in assimilation and expansion of medical sciences during the medieval period and Islamic golden age.
‘I know not what it is’: Illustrating Plants in Medieval Manuscripts
October 20, 2014 By
If a medical literary expert such as Simon of Genoa could not always identify the plants mentioned in the literature, where would that leave physicians who probably had little time to devote to inquiries as deeply and tenaciously as Simon?
Surgery in the 14th century
October 19, 2014 By
Henri de Mondeville (c. 1260 – 1316) was the surgeon to two kings of France – Philip IV and Louis X. In 1312 he wrote Cyrurgia (Surgery), one of the first works of its kind from the Middle Ages.
Animal bites in the Middle Ages
October 13, 2014 By
Medieval authors suggested varied treatments for bites. The initial act usually was to distinguish between the bites of venomous beasts (snakes, scorpions and rabid dogs were included here) and non-venomous animals (hares, cats and non-rabid dogs, for example)
When gold was medicine
October 12, 2014 By
If you came to a medieval physician with a problem such a trembling heart or melancholy, he may give you gold as part of your cure.
Medical Prognosis in the Middle Ages: William the Englishman’s De urina non visa and its fortune
October 5, 2014 By
He aimed to give to his colleagues and fellows the means to judge the state of the patient based not on the urine flask, but on the configuration of the sky at the time of consultation.
A New Look at the Role of Urinalysis in the History of Diagnostic Medicine
October 5, 2014 By
Before this century, urine was the predominant body fluid used by the physician for diagnosis and prognosis.
Bleeding flowers and waning moons: a history of menstruation in France, c. 1495-1761
September 29, 2014 By
This thesis explores early modem perceptions of menstrual bleeding, demonstrating that attempts to understand menstrual bleeding extended beyond the early modem medical world
Prevention Strategies and Changes in Sexual Mores in Response to the Outbreak of Syphilis in Europe in the Early Modern Age
September 21, 2014 By
Prevention Strategies and Changes in Sexual Mores in Response to the Outbreak of Syphilis in Europe in the Early Modern Age By Eugenia Tognotti Journal of Ancient Diseases and Preventive Remedies, Vol.2:2 (2014) Abstract: In the same way as AIDS in the 20th century, syphilis was the sexual scourge of the 16th century. Both of these […]
Containing Contagion: Perception and Prevention of Plague in the Late Middle Ages
September 19, 2014 By
When the Black Death, one of the world’s deadliest epidemics, struck the European continent, the people afflicted with plague looked to those already respected in the medical field.
Were medieval monks obese?
September 18, 2014 By
The modern image of the medieval monk, as often depicted in Robin Hood’s Friar Tuck, is of the overweight man who indulges in food. How accurate is this stereotype?
Medicine and surgery in the Livre des Assises de la Cour des Bourgeois de Jérusalem
September 15, 2014 By
The Livre des Assises, written in the thirteenth century in Acre, not only provides insights into the practice of medicine and surgery in the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, but also suggests that the licensing and regulation of doctors reflected contemporary Islamic practice.
Sleepwalking and Murder in the Middle Ages
September 8, 2014 By
It happens that many people get up at night while asleep, take weapons or sticks, or ride a horse.What is the cause of this? What is the remedy?
The Illnesses of King Richard and King Philippe on the Third Crusade
September 2, 2014 By
For weeks both Richard and Philippe were close to the brink of death, before they finally recovered.
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