Wounds in the Middle Ages

Edited by Anne Kirkham, University of Manchester, UK

and Cordelia Warr, University of Manchester, UK
The History of Medicine in Context
May 2014 234 x 156 mm
270 pages Hardback
978-1-4094-6569-0 70.00
Includes 11 b&w illustrations
Wounds were a potent signifier reaching across all aspects of life in Europe in the middle ages, and their representation,
perception and treatment is the focus of this volume. Following a survey of the history of medical wound treatment in the
middle ages, paired chapters explore key themes situating wounds within the context of religious belief, writing on
medicine, status and identity, and surgical practice. The final chapter reviews the history of medieval wounding through
the modern imagination.
Adopting an innovative approach to the subject, this book will appeal to all those interested in how past societies regarded
health, disease and healing and will improve knowledge of not only the practice of medicine in the past, but also of the
ethical, religious and cultural dimensions structuring that practice.
Contents
Introduction: wounds in the Middle Ages, Anne Kirkham and Cordelia Warr; Part I A Medical Overview: The management
of military wounds in the Middle Ages, J on Clasper. Part II Miraculous Wounds and Miraculous Healing: Changing
stigmata, Cordelia Warr; Miracle and medicine: conceptions of medical knowledge and practice in thirteenth-century
miracle accounts, Louise Elizabeth Wilson. Part III The Broken Body and the Broken Soul: The solution of continuous
things: wounds in late medieval medicine and surgery, Karine vant Land; Medicine for the wounded soul, M.K.K. Yearl.
Part IV Wounds as Signifiers for Romance Man and Civil Man: Christs wounds and the birth of romance, Hannah Priest;
Wounding in the high Middle Ages: law and practice, J enny Benham. Part V Wound Surgery in the Fourteenth Century:
Medicines for surgical practice in fourteenth-century England: the judgement against J ohn le Spicer, Ian Naylor; The
medical crossbow from J an Yperman to Isaack Koedijck, Maria Patijn. Part VI The Modern Imagination: The bright side of
the knife: dismemberment in medieval Europe and the modern imagination, Lila Yawn. Index.
About the Editor
Dr Anne Kirkham is a research associate at the University of Manchester. She obtained her PhD in 2007 and has
published an article on St Francis of Assisi in Revival and Resurgence in Christian History (Studies in Church History, vol.
44, 2008). Since 2008, she has taught in the department of Art History and Visual Studies and researched, with Cordelia
Warr, medieval wounds and has also co-supervised medical students researching dissertations in the history of medieval
medicine.
Dr Cordelia Warr is senior lecturer in Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Manchester. She has published on
Dressing for Heaven (2010), has co-edited two books on art in Naples with J anis Elliot (The Church of Santa Maria Donna
Regina, 2004, and Art and Architecture in Naples, 1266-1714, 2010), and is currently working on the representation of
stigmata between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries.
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