SOURCE: “The Medicines of Medieval and Renaissance Europe as a Source of Medicines for Today,” in Prospecting for Drugs in Ancient and Medieval European Texts: A Scientific Approach, edited by Bart K. Holland, Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1996, pp. 19-37.

In the essay below, Van Arsdall provides an overview of medical knowledge from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, arguing that the historical texts represent the sum of what was known about disease and the body at the time.

Introduction

This chapter outlines the practice of medicine and the use of medicinal remedies from the early Middle Ages through the Renaissance in Western Europe, from approximately a.d. 450 to 1600. It begins with a very brief historical overview, in a section aimed at orienting the reader to more than a thousand years of human history. Medical training during these two periods is summarized, and a short section is included on...