Cultural Perceptions of Health, Illness and the Body in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Cultural Perceptions of Health, Illness and Medicine in Medieval and Early Modern Europe explores the rich cultural history of bodily experience through diverse case studies spanning from Italy to Sweden and from England to the Levant.

How did medieval and early modern Europeans experience and understand sickness and health? How did they interact with health professionals and authorities, and which cultural and social networks shaped their understanding of wellness and illness? Drawing from extensive primary sources, this book examines how people of the past navigated their bodies' vulnerabilities both at home and abroad. It reveals how they consulted and challenged medical and civic authorities while seeking both physical and spiritual healing through religious practice.

Covering a broad temporal span from the fourteenth to the nineteenth century, this collection of essays reimagines the role of material bodies and their social and emotional significance in medieval and early modern cultural history. The work offers fresh insights into the intersection of medicine, culture, and society across five centuries of European experience.

Anni Hella is a postdoctoral researcher at the department of Cultural History, University of Turku, Finland. Her primary research interests include medieval and Byzantine history, cultural and religious relations between East and West, and the cultural history of books.

Anu Korhonen is a senior lecturer in European Area and Cultural Studies at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her research interests include gender and the body, humor and laughter, and popular culture in early modern England and Europe. She has also published on cultural and historical theory.