Medieval Medicine: A Reader

Rich and refreshing! The material ranges from academic exposition to clinical advice, from riveting narrative to poignant correspondence, and from piety to satire. The readings are given in full, rather than excerpted. Lucid introductions cover the spectrum of the entire textbook, without ever becoming "textbookish," and serious analysis is leavened by sensible asides and keen wit. The readings and comments are perfectly matched in celebrating the vibrant sanitas of medieval medicine.---Luke Demaitre, University of Virginia

Scholarship in recent decades has greatly broadened our understanding of the ways people in the Middle Ages perceived their bodies, their illnesse, and their responses to illnesses. Access to original texts has been, until now, largely confined to specialists. Wallis performs the great service of making these writings accessible through accurate and graceful translations.---Linda Ehrsam Voigts, University of Missouri-Kansas City

Medieval Medicine: A Reader presents a welcome collection of primary sources on the thories and practices of medicine in medieval Europe and the Mediterranean. No comprehensive collection like this has been available before. Covering aspects of the professional training and practice of medicine, the intersections with law and the development of ethical codes, the volume is particularly useful for its rich collection of materials from the early Middle Ages, which have not been well represented in studies of medieval medicine. With helpful introductions that come from long experience teaching on the subject, Faith Wallis's collection will be a boon to any teacher or student engaging for the first time with medieval European medical history.---Monica Green, Arizona State University

Medical Knowledge and practice changed profoundly during the medieval period. In this collection over 100 primary sources, many translated for the first time, Faith Wallis reveals the dynamic world of medicine the Middle Ages that has been largely unavailable to students and scholars. The reader includes 21 illustrations and a glossary of medical terms.

Faith Wallis is Associate Professor at McGill University, jointly appointed in the Department of History and the Department of Social Studies of Medicine. She is the co-editor of Medieval Science, Technology and Medicine: An Encyclopedia (Routledge, 2005) and the author of essays and translations on medieval science and medicine.