Book contents
- Medieval Science
- Series page
- Medieval Science
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- General Editors' Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Islamic Culture and the Natural Sciences
- 2 Islamic Mathematics
- 3 THE MIXED MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
- 4 Islamic Astronomy
- 5 MEDICINE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM
- 6 Science in the Jewish Communities
- 7 SCIENCE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
- 8 Schools and Universities in Medieval Latin Science
- 9 The Organization of Knowledge
- 10 SCIENCE AND THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
- 11 Natural Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages
- 12 Early-Medieval Cosmology, Astronomy, and Mathematics
- 13 EARLY-MEDIEVAL MEDICINE AND NATURAL SCIENCE
- 14 Translation and Transmission of Greek and Islamic Science to Latin Christendom
- 15 THE TWELFTH-CENTURY RENAISSANCE
- 16 MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY
- 17 Change and Motion
- 18 Cosmology
- 19 Astronomy and Astrology
- 20 THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT AND COLOR, SEEING AND KNOWING
- 21 Mathematics
- 22 Logic
- 23 GEOGRAPHY
- 24 Medieval Natural History
- 25 ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND MEDICAL THEORY
- 26 Medical Practice
- 27 TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE
- Index
26 - Medical Practice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2013
Book contents
- Medieval Science
- Series page
- Medieval Science
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Illustrations
- Notes on Contributors
- General Editors' Preface
- Introduction
- 1 Islamic Culture and the Natural Sciences
- 2 Islamic Mathematics
- 3 THE MIXED MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
- 4 Islamic Astronomy
- 5 MEDICINE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM
- 6 Science in the Jewish Communities
- 7 SCIENCE IN THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
- 8 Schools and Universities in Medieval Latin Science
- 9 The Organization of Knowledge
- 10 SCIENCE AND THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
- 11 Natural Knowledge in the Early Middle Ages
- 12 Early-Medieval Cosmology, Astronomy, and Mathematics
- 13 EARLY-MEDIEVAL MEDICINE AND NATURAL SCIENCE
- 14 Translation and Transmission of Greek and Islamic Science to Latin Christendom
- 15 THE TWELFTH-CENTURY RENAISSANCE
- 16 MEDIEVAL ALCHEMY
- 17 Change and Motion
- 18 Cosmology
- 19 Astronomy and Astrology
- 20 THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT AND COLOR, SEEING AND KNOWING
- 21 Mathematics
- 22 Logic
- 23 GEOGRAPHY
- 24 Medieval Natural History
- 25 ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, AND MEDICAL THEORY
- 26 Medical Practice
- 27 TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE
- Index
Summary
This chapter deals with medical practice in Western Europe, the institutions and circumstances that shaped it, and their evolution during the period from about 1050 to 1500. Only studies of medical profession can provide an accurate sense of the dynamics that shaped medieval health care and the enormous geographical and chronological variety of the institutions, laws, and practices that constituted it. Health care is formed, in which patients and their families moved back and forth between secular and saintly healers: 'between doctors and holy shrines', as the account of another of Gilbert's miracles specified. The effect of urbanization was to support a larger, more diverse, and more specialized community of medical practitioners. The chapter focuses on two principal kinds of medical institutions elaborated in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries: those concerned with regulating practice and defending the interests of practitioners, and those concerned with mobilizing medical expertise.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Science , pp. 611 - 629Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2013