Practical Medicine from Salerno to the Black Death

From the eleventh century to the Black Death in 1348 Europe was economically vigorous and expanding, especially in Mediterranean societies. In this world of growing wealth new educational institutions were founded, the universities, and it was in these that a new form of medicine came to be taught and which widely influenced medical care throughout Europe. The essays in this collection focus on the practical aspects of medieval medicine, and among other issues they explore how far this new learned medicine percolated through to to the popular level; how the learned medical men understood and coped with plague; the theory and practice of medical astrology, and of bleeding (phlebotomy) for the cure and prevention of illness. Several essays deal with the development and interrelations of the nascent medical profession, and of Christian, Muslim and Jewish practioners one to another. Special emphasis is given to the practice of surgery and, the problems of recovering knowledge of a large proportion of medical care - that given by women - are also explored. This collection forms a companion volume to The Medical Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century (1985, edited by Andrew Wear, Roger French and I. M. Lonie), The Medical Revolution of the Seventeenth Century (1989, edited by Roger French and Andrew Wear), The Medical Enlightenment of the Eighteenth Century (1990, edited by Andrew cunningham and Roger French), and The Laboratory Revolution in Medicine (1992, edited by Andrew Cunningham and Perry Williams).