Synopses & Reviews
The period from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment constitutes a vital phase in the history of European medicine. Elements of continuity with the classical and medieval past are evident in the ongoing importance of a humor-based view of medicine and the treatment of illness. At the same time, new theories of the body emerged in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to challenge established ideas in medical circles. In recent years, scholars have explored this terrain with increasingly fascinating results, often revising our previous understanding of the ways in which early modern Europeans discussed the body, health and disease. In order to understand these and related processes, historians are increasingly aware of the way in which every aspect of medical care and provision in early modern Europe was shaped by the social, religious, political and cultural concerns of the age.
Synopsis
Considers how the body was viewed by the medical profession from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, and challenges established ideas in the field of medical history. Examines the provision of medical care in context and how it was shaped by the social, religious, political and cultural concerns of the age. Arranged thematically and with brief but scholarly introductions, the selection of documents includes contemporary sources, recent research in the field and classical writings. Written in an accessible style by an Open University lecturer. Companion volume to The Healing Arts: Health, Disease and Society in Europe 1500-1800.
Synopsis
Health, disease and society in Europe 1500-1800 considers how the body was viewed by the medical profession from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment, and challenges established ideas in the field of medical history. It examines the provision of medical care in context and how it was shaped by the social, religious, political and cultural concerns of the age.
Arranged thematically and with brief but scholarly introductions, the selection of documents includes contemporary sources, recent research in the field and classical writings. Written in an accessible style by an Open University lecturer. This is a companion volume to The Healing Arts: Health, Disease and Society in Europe 1500-1800.
About the Author
Peter Elmer is Senior Lecturer of History of Science, Technology and Medicine, The Open University.
Olé Peter Grell is Lecturer in Early Modern History, The Open University.
Table of Contents
Medical Practice and Theory: The Classical and Medieval Heritage * The Sick Body and Its Healers, 1500-1700 * The Medical Renaissance of the Sixteenth Century: Vesalius, Medical Humanism and Bloodletting * Medicine and Religion in Sixteenth-Century Europe * Chemical Medicine and the Challenge to Galenism: The Legacy of Paracelsus * Charity, the State and Public Health in Early Modern Europe * New Models of the Body, 1600-1800 * Women and Medicine in Early Modern Europe * The Care and Cure of the Insane in Early Modern Europe * War and Medicine in Early Modern Europe * Environment, Health and Population, 1500-1800 * European Medicine in the Age of Colonialism * Medical Organisation, Training and the Medical Marketplace in Eighteenth-Century Europe * Index