Health, disease and society in Europe, 1500-1800 A source book

The period from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment constitutes a vital phase in the history of European medicine. Elements of continuity with the classical and medieval past are evident in the ongoing importance of a humor-based view of medicine and the treatment of illness. At the same time, new theories of the body emerged in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to challenge established ideas in medical circles. In recent years, scholars have explored this terrain with increasingly fascinating results, often revising our previous understanding of the ways in which early modern Europeans discussed the body, health and disease. In order to understand these and related processes, historians are increasingly aware of the way in which every aspect of medical care and provision in early modern Europe was shaped by the social, religious, political and cultural concerns of the age.

Peter Elmer is Senior Lecturer of History of Science, Technology and Medicine, The Open University.

OlT Peter Grell is Lecturer in Early Modern History, The Open University.