Ibn Khaldun, medieval medicine and Islam – four articles
Here are four recent articles focusing on Ibn Khaldun, the fourteenth-century century social scientist and historian. Written by Mohammadreza Shahidipak, they focus on his views on medicine and the role of Islam in this science.
What it was like to be a medieval physician
A look at the day-to-day problems of a medieval physician.
People in early medieval settlement had “very poor health,” study finds
New study on early medieval community reveals they suffered from many diseases and infections.
New study re-examines the death of Edward the Black Prince
Whatever disease killed Edward the Black Prince—heir apparent to the English throne in the 14th century—is unlikely to have been chronic dysentery, as is commonly believed, according to a study in the journal BMJ Military Health.
Medieval skeletons help reveal genetic causes of bone tumours
Two men buried in a medieval graveyard in Ireland had a genetic condition called Multiple Osteochondromas, which causes benign bone tumours. One of the disease mutations is a new discovery, so this is the first time such information has been unlocked from ancient genomic data.
Medieval physicians understood the ‘Placebo Effect’, study finds
Historians have often derided the medical cures found in medieval texts as not effective and being just “mere placebo.” However, a new study points out that the ‘Placebo Effect’, being a real thing, could provide relief to patients, even in the Middle Ages. Moreover, medieval physicians understood how to help their patients achieve these benefits.
8th-century medical text lost for centuries has been rediscovered
Jianshangren’s Secret Prescription, a text of Chinese Traditional Medicine that was brought to Japan in the 8th century, has long been believed to be lost. However, the text has now been published after being passed down through a family for 52 generations.
Embodying the Soul with Meg Leja
This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Meg Leja about the relationship between bodies and souls in medical thought in the early Middle Ages, why people were meant to care deeply for both, and where medieval people believed the soul to be located in the body.
8,000 medieval medical recipes being digitised by Cambridge University Library
How did our medieval ancestors use dove faeces, fox lungs, salted owl, and eel grease in medical treatments? A major project at Cambridge University Library is finding out.
Research from Viking latrines helps reveal the long history of a parasite
Using stool samples from Viking latrines, researchers at the University of Copenhagen have genetically mapped one of the oldest human parasites – the whipworm.
The Management and Daily Life of a Medieval Hospital
This article looks at the late medieval hospitals of the kingdom of France at the end of the Middle Ages and asks how they were managed, how large they were, and what daily life was like in these charitable institutions.
Medieval friars were ‘riddled with parasites’, study finds
A new analysis of remains from medieval Cambridge shows that local Augustinian friars were almost twice as likely as the city’s general population to be infected by intestinal parasites.
The Early Medieval Hospital
The birth and rise of a charitable institution in Europe during the Early Middle Ages.
The Past and Present of Abortion in Medieval Law
Abortion is once again in the spotlight in the United States, as its Supreme Court is set to uphold a law limiting this right. How do medieval laws and views on abortion play a role in this issue?
Medieval Advice for Pregnant Women
The wonderful and bizarre pieces of advice offered to pregnant women by a group of medieval peasant women.
What was the biggest health problem of the Middle Ages?
The bubonic plague is often considered the greatest threat to human health during the Middle Ages. But a new study suggests that medieval…
How deadly was the Justinianic Plague?
‘Plague sceptics’ are wrong to underestimate the devastating impact that bubonic plague had in the 6th–8th centuries CE, argues a new study based on ancient texts and recent genetic discoveries.
The ‘Healthy’ Medieval Diet
I found that the word ‘diet’ does come into English – it’s originally Greek and then Latin – during the Middle Ages as early as the 13th century and it has a wide range of meanings from a whole course of life, a way of living or thinking, a way of feeding a restricted prescribed course of food for those who are ill or in prison.
New book explores how poison shaped medieval Chinese medicine, culture
If poison was medicinal, then what was medicine?
Medieval potions and modern lotions
Could there also be some medical merit behind many of the seemingly bizarre ingredients?
Medieval Contraception with Eleanor Janega
One of the things medieval and modern people definitely have in common is an interest in preventing unwanted pregnancies. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Eleanor Janega to get all the details on medieval contraception.
The Trotula with Monica Green
In honour of the 20th anniversary of the publication of The Trotula, Danièle speaks with editor and translator Dr. Monica Green about this astonishing collection of medieval medical and cosmetic advice for women.
Researchers learning how immunity to the plague developed
Scientists examining the remains of 36 bubonic plague victims from a 16th-century mass grave in Germany have found the first evidence that evolutionary adaptive processes, driven by the disease, may have conferred immunity on later generations of people from the region.
Cancer rates in medieval Britain around ten times higher than previously thought, study suggests
Between 9-14% of adults in medieval Britain had the disease at the time of their death.
Epidemics in Medieval Iceland: The Evidence of Contemporary Annals
Elizabeth Rowe discusses how epidemics repeatedly struck the isolated community of Iceland in the later Middle Ages, and contemporary annals record them in ways that range from the horrifying to the humorous.