Medicine in the Middle Ages

This book is dedicated to the medicine of the Middle Ages — mysterious, strange, and surprising. How did people in that era manage to protect themselves from many ailments, including deadly ones, that befell them? How could medicine exist if all sciences were subordinated to theology? Could a doctor test medicines without risking the stake of the Inquisition? Are we aware of medieval recipes? Can we trust the medicines that existed then? Or would we have died from them at the first sneeze? Would we survive in the hands of a surgeon who had no medical education and operated without anesthesia? Did this surgeon know anatomy? And what if he attempted to relieve us of a headache by drilling a hole in our skull? Would we survive if, during a plague epidemic, we followed a doctor's advice to eat the meat of a toad and drink broth made from it? How long would we live in such conditions? Did medieval medicine stagnate or was it a source of useful knowledge? Nowadays, people again become victims of new, unfamiliar epidemics. The question arises: did the healers of the Middle Ages possess lost recipes that might be useful today? Answering these questions, the book provides a vivid representation of the history of Western European medicine. Open it on any page — you will find curious historical facts, and sometimes even the secrets of medieval healers. We will become acquainted with their recipes for all occasions — both for making someone fall in love and for getting rid of someone who is bothersome. The book is aimed at a wide audience: both those who are interested in or involved with medicine, and those who try to stay far away from doctors.