Thank you Pen and Sword for producing such engaging books in interesting sub-genres of history. Whether you are interested in everyday life in the Medieval time period or just medical history, this book has something for everyone.

A fascinating look back at medicine in The Middle Ages. I think my favourite chapter was ‘A Woman’s Duty’, well not favourite but most interesting (in some ways we have made good progress but in others not so much). I would recommend to anyone interested in the time period or the history of medicine/medical treatment.

This book gave me everything I was looking for and more! Needless to say, the subject is absolutely fascinating, and the unique research that went into completing this work is interesting, and fascinating and gives a great overview.
Ancient Egypt and Greece had put the bases of medicine and as the Dark ages came, surely some of that knowledge was lost, but on the other hand, people regained a more hands-on approach with all the plagues sweeping through the centuries.

Medicine in the Middle Ages was a fabulous read! I had a professor who used to laugh when discussing medical practices in medieval times during a course, and as I read through this book, I got a deeper understanding as to why he got such a chuckle.

Now, if you have a weak stomach, there are some areas of this book that will bother you, but I absolutely loved reading through this one! It was fabulous! The author did a great job and was able to give a full picture, the good, the bad, and the ugly of the medical practices of the time.

I definitely recommend reading through this book, as you will have a new appreciation for medical services today.

Absolutely loved this! As someone who is very interested in history and how things used to be seen and done it was a fascinating read which I couldn’t tear myself away from. Would recommend to friends and family

4 "gratitude inducing and stomach churning" stars !!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Pen & Sword History for an e-copy of this book. This was released October 2021. I am providing an honest review.

This book is a fascinating if grotesque look at the state of health, medicine, hygiene, illness and torture during the Middle Ages in primarily Western Europe. The author has written a most fascinating, informative and contextual book of life during this most brutal of times. The author writes in an easy to follow, conversational and well organized fashion and she keeps the reader both engrossed (as well as grossed out) and involved as she explores many aspects of this very broad topic.

From my memory here is a list of some of the topics covered:
-role of Greek and Middle Eastern philosophy and practice of health and medicine
-idea of the imbalance of the four humors as the major cause of ill health
-lack of understanding of how poor hygiene, filth and close quarters lead to epidemics and poor health
-discussion of illnesses such as the bubonic plague, syphyllis, leprosy, dysentery and attempts at treatments
-poor knowledge of birthing practices that led to huge numbers of maternal deaths
- childhood illness and only a quarter of children living to past ten years of age
-huge differences in health status between the nobility and peasants
-the role of physicians, surgeons, barbers, midwives, herbalists and apothecaries
- the role of church and Christian faith
-the rise of hospitals, almshouses and guesthouses
-types of surgeries done without anesthetics
-medicinal uses of herbs and poisons
-types of executions and the beginnings of torture methods
-the role of war in premature deaths and injuries for men
- a bunch of other topics that are just not coming to mind now

As you can tell there is huge breadth in this book and an extensive bibliography to further your knowledge in any particular topics that a reader finds interesting.

This is an excellent primer that I most enjoyed (for lack of a better word). I would have liked some pictures and diagrams and I found the end a bit abrupt. But perhaps this was purposeful as many in those times died prematurely.....

Timely Take-Aways for Life-Long Learning

New Takes on Medieval Life

New works of nonfiction bust myths about the people and progress of the Middle Ages by providing new perspectives on this often misunderstood time period.

Medicine in the Middle Ages: Surviving the Times
Juliana Cummings, Dec 2021, Pen and Sword History
Themes: Medical history, Middle Ages, Medieval

MEDICINE IN THE MIDDLE AGES describes the perils of medieval life and how these people approached healing. Rooted in the work of ancient Greek and Roman philosophers, medieval medicine was linked to both the Catholic Church and the social status of patients. Explore the birth of hospitals and the horrors of war.

Take-aways: Educators will find this book useful in helping their students understand the challenges faced by both the rich and poor of the middle ages. From science and social studies to history, this book takes a multi-disciplinary approach to exploring the connection among religion, torture, plagues, medicine, and disease.

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Whether helping educators keep up-to-date in their subject-areas, promoting student reading in the content-areas, or simply encouraging nonfiction leisure reading, teacher librarians need to be aware of the best new titles across the curriculum and how to activate life-long learning. - Annette Lamb

Fascinating look at medicine in the Middle Ages, it got a bit too ‘in the weeds’ at portions, but there was great scholarship on display, and a lot of good information. A good overview.

If you're a germaphobe, look away. Medicine back in the days was not for the faint of heart or stomach. But come back quickly, because this book is an enjoyable look at what life before medicine was like. Juliana Cummings does a great job of painting both a sad and hopeful look into the past, showing her passion for her subject.
I enjoyed myself immensely and I think a lot of other readers will too.

A millennia of medicine in one package! I have a degree that includes the History of Medicine so this was a great refresher read for me. I would say it would suit the interested amateur who has a knowledge of the basics of Medicine or History.

From Arabia, to Europe and the West in later centuries the book is well balanced and gives equal weight to all practitioners and types of medicine.

Easy enough to read and managed to get across the information without bogging itself down in medical jargon.

A very well written account of medicine in the Middle Ages, from injuries on the battle field to the effects of medical care you might receive depending on what social class you belonged to. The book covered a lot and was a great introduction to the topic of medicine of the Middle Ages.

The writing style of this book was engaging and a joy to read. Some history books can sometimes feel a bit heavy going in regards to information, but this one was effortless.

Well researched, it’s an informative account on how treatments were performed - how physicians would have treat their patients and what they thought at the time.

A recommended read if you’re interested in medicine during the Middle Ages.

Many thanks to Pen & Sword and Netgalley for sending me an ARC of this book.

A BIG thank you to Pen & Sword for granting my "wish" and allowing me to read this book on NetGalley!

I have always been a huge fan of history, with medical history being one of my favorite sub-genre's to read about. The moment I saw this book I knew I had to read it. It just FELT like it would have the answers to some questions I've always wondered about concerning medical/health problems of the past. And boy did it !!

I'm sure somebody out there could write a very longgggggg, dry, technical manual to Medieval medical history and I'm sure it would be very helpful! But unless you're a college student, professor, or someone in the field, I don't see that book being very enjoyable. THIS book is enjoyable! Juliana Cummings does a wonderful job of keeping facts moving within the text while not boring the reader with every finite detail of the medical history of Medieval Times. Each chapter covers a different "piece" of the Medieval medical pie (if you will) but flow wonderfully together as a whole text.

Juliana Cummings has definitely done her research and she has made a lovely book that brings the facts and history to life for anyone who has ever wondered about the past. Although the Medieval period can be seen today as dark, unsanitary, and almost inhumane, Juliana Cummings takes the good and the bad and shows that at the end of the day people are people.

A great read for anyone who loves history, medicine, or just something full of very interesting facts. This book will definitely win you "cool points" when you start mentioning facts at a Holiday Party! 10/10 !

A good overview of the history of medieval medicine, its origins, and development through the period in question.

I have to start by saying that I did enjoy some parts of the book but in general I found it too confusing. I appreciated that it was written for each chapter covering one topic but I personally would have preferred a sequential date order to show how the changes occurred. The consequence of doing a topic related chapter was that there was no flow through the Middle Ages of the medical situations as dates were continually going forwards and then back again which muddied the waters for the reader. Not following events in date order meant that there was far too many duplication of dates this way.
I did not like the constant references and writings from historical figures as personally this added little to the topic.
As I read through I felt that I was reading a university dissertation rather than a book for general readers and I strongly believe that this failed to reach the book description.

I don’t know a whole lot about medicine in the Middle Ages. I’ve read a lot of nonfiction books about various plagues that swept through numerous regions during the time period we would define as “Middle Ages” but aside from that, and information gleaned in those books, I don’t know much. However, I want to know more. I find myself, when I read books set in this time period, often wondering how exactly people survived. When I saw Medicine in the Middle Ages, I knew it was a book I had to read, and so I jumped on it.

The first thing I was concerned about is accessibility. Anyone who reads a good amount of nonfiction knows that sometimes authors probably think they are being accessible to the every reader, but in the end they are anything but. I didn’t want a book that read like a textbook, and I knew with my limited medical background, I’d need something I could easily sink into and understand, and I will say I found all of that here. Medicine in the Middle Ages might have a somewhat dry title, but the text inside the book is anything but. Cummings does a fantastic job weaving together history and scientific understanding to give readers a well-rounded overview of the topic, of the beliefs in that day and age, where they came from, and how they influenced medical understanding.

Cummings spends the first part of the book talking more about how life was lived in the Middle Ages, rather than discussing medicine itself. This part of the book fascinated me, and I discovered pretty early on that it was essential to start the book out this way. You have to understand how people lived to be able to fully appreciate how they interacted with the world when something like a plague swept through. Once this foundation is laid, however, the author immerses herself in her subject matter. Due to the fact that we have some firm foundation upon which to explore this topic, thanks to the first chunk of the book, the information about medicine meant more to me, because I had context with which to address it.

The Middle Ages itself is a period of time spanning about 1,000 years, and things change in that amount of time. Cummings spans the era, touching on important moments and historical events, giving some of them an intimate study while glossing over ones that might not be, perhaps, as important to the reader’s general understanding. The Black Death, an infamous plague that wiped out a good chunk of Europe’s population, is covered in detail, and though I have read numerous books on the subject already, I did learn some new things here. She also does not shy away from matters like childbirth, hospitals, and insane asylums, which were things I was really hoping to find in this book, and aren’t very often covered in other books detailing matters in this time period.

Context was something I appreciated throughout. Cummings doesn’t just throw readers into the mire, she leads them through. We read about these events from a 21st century standpoint, which is often why I think, “How on earth did anyone survive back then?” We don’t often read about these things from the standpoint of someone living there, at that time. Cummings has a way of peeling back the layers between us and them, and showing readers not just what people practiced in the way of medicine, but why they did it, and their current understanding of what they were doing and why. This allows readers to better grasp what they got right, and what they got wrong, and how well (or poorly) they were doing based on the information they had at the time. From women’s healthcare to war wounds to plagues, each aspect is covered compassionately, and with an obvious understanding for not just why people did what they did, but their understanding of what they were doing as well.

Ultimately, I learned a lot more from this book than I expected, and not all of it was about medicine. Due to Cumming’s knack for weaving history and science together into such a smooth narrative, I learned a lot of things about history that I didn’t know already as well. In fact, I went into this book with a general sense of curiosity, and left it with a list as long as my arm of things to google and learn more about. That’s always the sign of a good nonfiction book, in my estimation. They don’t just inform the reader, but they make the reader want to know more, and that’s what this did. Perhaps if I did have one drawback, it’s that this book isn’t terribly long. Clocking in at just under 200 pages, there isn’t a lot of room here for the author to cover topics in extensive detail, and so you might just want to make a list of things to further research, as some of the topics covered felt more like vignettes.

Accessibly written with a knack for context and an ability to present complex topics in easily digestible bites, Medicine in the Middle Ages was a fascinating read. I highly recommend it to any nonfiction reader who enjoys books that seamlessly blend science and history.

I enjoyed a lot about this book and other aspects I enjoyed a lot less. Whilst the focus on famous people at times was understandable, it did drag me away from the main reason I picked up this book. I could also have done without torture, but I guess in a way it makes sense the author included it. We always forget how long that time period was and so it was interesting to read about the changes in that period as well.

I found it interesting and informative. There's plenty of information (too much at times) but I learned something new.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine

A great insightful book on a topic that needs to be discussed and researched more. I find the way medicine has evolved fascinating and it was great to hear about the meaning behind procedures we hear about a lot but don't understand. Parts of this book were a bit too textbooky for me and I was expecting something a bit more fun but as a whole I would recommend it to people interested in medicine or history.

This book was well written, informative and comprehensive.

For anyone interested in history, I would recommend reading this.

Many thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for gifting me this arc in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.

I just couldn’t get into this book. The first part was mainly about religion and I get that they are interrelated, but too much!