HI4326 Medicine and Society in Early Modern Europe,1500-1750

Module Coordinator: Professor Susan Flavin
Duration: Hilary Term
Contact hours: 2 hours per week
Weighting: 10 ECTS
Assessment: 20% essay, 80% examination

The module explores the changing nature of health, disease and medical practice in early modern Europe. It examines key issues in the history of western European medicine, such as the role and influence of religion on medical theory and practice and the legacy of classical scientific and medical knowledge. It focuses on specific topics such as government policy, diet and nutrition, reproduction and childbirth, plague and epidemic disease, death and dying, venereal disease, military medicine, the care of sick animals, the scientific revolution and the development of pharmacology. In addition to introducing students to the main changes and developments in the knowledge and practice of medicine, this module also examines a wide variety of sources and explores methodological issues relating to researching and writing the history of medicine in this period.

The aim of this module is to analyse key developments in the history of medicine in early modern Europe, through the study of primary and secondary sources

Bibliographical advice will be provided in the module handbook

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:

• Analyse developments in the history of medicine in early modern Europe
• Identify and search for relevant secondary literature
• Engage with relevant theoretical and critical approaches to the history of medicine in this period
• Apply different techniques of evaluation and interpretation to relevant primary sources
• Critique relevant historiography in the light of primary sources and explore methodological issues relating to researching and writing the history of medicine
• Present and discuss analysis of questions relating to the history of medicine during this period
• Analyse the impact of different aspects of changes in medical thinking and practice on early modern Europe