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The archaeology of monastic healing: spirit, mind and body
The next seminar in the 2017–18 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 21 November. Speaker: Professor Roberta Gilchrist (University of Reading), ‘The archaeology of monastic healing: spirit, mind and body’ This paper highlights the potential of archaeology to… Continue reading
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Reading and health in the medieval convent
Medieval medicine, based on the writings associated with Hippocrates and Galen, held that health depended on keeping the body’s humours (blood, choler, phlegm and melancholy) in equilibrium. The regulation of the ‘non-naturals’, influences on the body such as the consumption… Continue reading
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New digital and critical tools for the history of medicine and religion
The next seminar in the 2016–17 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 17 January. Speaker: Dr Michael Stanley-Baker (Max Planck Institute, Berlin) New digital and critical tools for the history of medicine and religion Abstract: Historians of medicine in… Continue reading
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History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series, Spring 2017
The History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series returns this month. The 2016–17 series – organised by a group of historians of medicine based at London universities and hosted by the Wellcome Library – will conclude with three seminars. The series… Continue reading
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The Apocalypse arrives in America!
The Wellcome Apocalypse (MS. 49) is currently on loan to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and features in their latest exhibition, ‘A feast for the senses: art and experience in medieval Europe’. The Apocalypse is a beautiful, richly… Continue reading
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Early medicine: new on the shelves
This post marks the first of a series of quarterly roundups of new publications of interest to researchers of early medicine that have recently been added to the shelves of the Wellcome Library. The bulletin will highlight monographs and collections… Continue reading
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Miraculous medicines and exotic rituals
The next seminar in the 2016–17 History of Pre-Modern Medicine seminar series takes place on Tuesday 8th November. Speaker: Dr Tara Alberts (University of York) Miraculous medicines and exotic rituals: European healers in southeast Asian royal courts in the 17th century Abstract: In a… Continue reading
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Deciphering a central European plague amulet
From the ancient world to the present, people have turned to powerful words, symbols and images as magical shields against bad luck, evil spirits, debilitating illness and sudden death. In medieval and early modern Europe, textual amulets on parchment and… Continue reading
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Disability and religion: call for papers
This three-day conference marks the 10th Anniversary Annual Meeting on ‘Disease, disability and medicine in medieval Europe’. It will be hosted by Swansea University at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea, 2–4 December 2016. The conference aims to explore the interactions between disability… Continue reading
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Bishops and medicine in medieval England
Many bishops in medieval England possessed medical knowledge, but that did not mean that such knowledge was always viewed as a desirable quality in a bishop. In 1114, King Henry I of England decided that Faritius, abbot of Abingdon, should… Continue reading