Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents: (From the Broadview Sources Series)

Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West traces the history of medicine and medical practice from Ancient Egypt through to the end of the Middle Ages. Featuring nearly one hundred primary documents and images, this book introduces readers to the words and ideas of men and women from across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, from prominent physicians to humble healers. Each of the book’s ten chronological and thematic chapters is given a significant historical introduction, in which each primary source is described in its original context. Many of the included source texts are newly translated by the editor, some of them appearing in English for the first time.

“We finally have a sorely needed volume of primary sources that illustrates the breadth, depth, vibrancy, and development of premodern medical thinking. Winston Black has assembled a remarkable collection of key texts and provided clear and concise introductions that contextualize the sources and highlight their significance. Unfamiliar terms and references are conveniently explained in the margins, making the already clear translations even more readable. Any course that addresses premodern health or healing will find this coherent, expertly curated, and accessible set of sources absolutely essential.” ― Frederick Gibbs, University of New Mexico

“Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West is a welcome addition to the growing corpus of primary-source collections dealing with the history of science and medicine. Providing an eclectic range of numerous documents from the earliest civilizations in the Mediterranean basin through the central Middle Ages, the book can serve as a general grounding in the subject, as a supplemental text for survey courses, or as a source for further individualized research. The source texts―many of which are translated into English for the first time―come prefaced with helpful thematic overviews, and each text receives its own introduction. Medicine and Healing presents a nuanced yet manageable selection of sources; students will find it eminently fascinating.” ― Christine Senecal, Shippensburg University

“Winston Black has chosen an intriguing array of primary sources on themes such as religious healing, ancient Egyptian medicine, the Islamicate world, surgery, women’s medicine, and charms and magical medicine. Clear headnotes, careful definitions of technical or unfamiliar terms, and topic overviews will help undergraduates and new graduate students alike. Teaching early medicine just got easier!” ― Mary Fissell, Johns Hopkins University

“In Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West: A History in Documents, Black draws on his strengths as a historian of medicine and religion to provide a concise and accessible treatment of the development of the medical arts from Antiquity to the Late Medieval Period. … As it is meant as an introduction to the topic, Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West does not stray from its path and for this reason it is a welcome exemplar of what can be achieved in future contributions of introductory works on the history of science and medicine.” ― Michael Lawson University of California-Berkeley, Journal of the Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science

”Black has broken new ground with this innovative book, which includes sources from all the major traditions of Western medicine. It is beautifully produced and marketed at a very reasonable price. Black has done a great service in making premodern medical literature accessible to a far wider audience of students and other non-experts alike. I would strongly encourage medical historians, historians of the ancient and medieval world, and librarians to order copies immediately.“ ― Petros Bouras-Vallianatos, University of Edinburgh, Speculum

Medicine and Healing in the Premodern West traces the history of medicine and medical practice from Ancient Egypt through to the end of the Middle Ages. Featuring nearly one hundred primary documents and images, this book introduces readers to the words and ideas of men and women from across Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, from prominent physicians to humble healers. Each of the book’s ten chronological and thematic chapters is given a significant historical introduction, in which each primary source is described in its original context. Many of the included source texts are newly translated by the editor, some of them appearing in English for the first time.

Winston Black is a historian of medieval science, medicine, and culture. He is the editor of Henry of Huntingdon’s Anglicanus Ortus: A Verse Herbal of the Twelfth Century, author of The Middle Ages: Facts and Fictions, and co-author (with John M. Riddle) of A History of the Middle Ages, 300-1500, 2nd edition.