A Companion to the English Version of J. Liebault’s Treatise on the Diseases of Women: MS Hunter 303

Jean Liebault (1535-1596), a doctor of medicine and an agronomist born in Dijon, contributed to the emergence of modern gynaecology by rescuing the Hippocratic medical tradition that recognized the specificity of the female body. His main work, a comprehensive treatise devoted to describing and treating the diseases of women, was highly influential in French gynaecology, being published several times. This book presents the semi-diplomatic edition of the only known English version of Liebault’s work. The manuscript, entitled Treatise on the Diseases of Women (MS Hunter 303, pp. 1-958), is housed in the Hunterian Collection at Glasgow University Library. The edition is accompanied by a palaeographic and a codicological study, and a linguistic analysis of the text, offering a primary source for the research of the English language, as well as the history of medicine and women’s studies.