Undergraduate Course: Medicine and health in the early Middle Ages (HIST10429)
Course Outline
| School | School of History, Classics and Archaeology |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | This course explores the strange and fascinating world of early medieval medicine. Although often stereotyped as an age of ignorance and superstition, the period between the fifth century and the eleventh witnessed a transformation of ancient medical ideas. Drawing on material from across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, this course overturns those persistent stereotypes and provides a new perspective into a world of learning, religion and belief. |
| Course description |
Ideas about health and illness are critically important in all societies, ancient and modern. Yet conventional accounts of the development of medical knowledge have typically given little place to the ideas of the early Middle Ages, often treating them instead as an era in which classical learning gave way to widespread ignorance and superstition. This course seeks to re-examine early medieval medicine on its own terms. Drawing on material from across Europe, the Mediterranean and the Middle East, it follows the fragmentation and evolution of Roman medical knowledge between the fifth century and the eleventh. Ancient medical theories and practices were transformed as they took root in the new Christian and Muslim societies of the early medieval world.
In our seminars, we will follow that process of transformation, discovering a heady mix of science, tradition, religion and magic along the way. You will be reading some of the surviving medieval books of medicine for yourself, and exploring the world which produced them. By the end of the course, you will be in a good position to revisit those stereotypes of early medieval superstition, and decide for yourself whether this really was a medical 'Dark Age'.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | Students MUST NOT also be taking
Medicine and health in Anglo-Saxon England and its neighbours (HIST10398)
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Other requirements | A pass in 40 credits of third level historical courses or equivalent.
Before enrolling students on this course, Personal Tutors are asked to contact the History Honours Admission Administrator to ensure that a place is available (Tel: 50 3780). |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 9 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
400
(
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 44,
Summative Assessment Hours 3,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
345 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
40 %,
Coursework
40 %,
Practical Exam
20 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Two 4,000 word essays, each worth 20% of final mark
One three-hour exam, worth 40% of final mark
Presentation, worth 10% of final mark
Class participation, worth 10% of final mark |
| Feedback |
Students will receive written feedback on their coursework, and will have the opportunity to discuss that feedback further with the Course Organiser during their published office hours for this course or by appointment. |
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Hours & Minutes |
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| Main Exam Diet S2 (April/May) | | 3:00 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- demonstrate, by way of assessed work, command of the history of medicine in the early medieval world;
- demonstrate, by way of assessed work, an ability to read, analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship
- demonstrate, by way of assessed work, an ability to understand, evaluate and utilize a variety of primary source material
- demonstrate, by way of assessed work, the ability to develop and sustain scholarly arguments in oral and written form, by formulating appropriate questions and utilizing relevant evidence;
- demonstrate independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers.
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Reading List
Cameron, M., "Anglo-Saxon Medicine" (Cambridge, 1993)
Conrad, L. et al., "The Western Medical Tradition, 800 BC to AD 1800" (Cambridge, 1995)
Horden, P., 'What's wrong with early medieval medicine?', "Social History of Medicine" 24 (2011), 5-25
Leja, M., 'The sacred art: medicine in the Carolingian renaissance', "Viator" 47 (2016), 1-34
McKeown, J., "A Cabinet of Ancient Medical Curiosities: Strange Tales and Surprising Facts from the Healing Arts of Greece and Rome" (Oxford, 2017)
Nutton, V., "Ancient Medicine" (London, 2004)
Pormann, P., and E. Savage-Smith, "Medieval Islamic Medicine" (Edinburgh, 2007)
Wallis, F. (ed. and trans.), "Medieval Medicine: A Reader" (Toronto, 2010) |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | history,medieval,medicine,magic,religion |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Richard Sowerby
Tel: (0131 6)50 3854
Email: Richard.Sowerby@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Katherine Perry
Tel:
Email: kperry2@ed.ac.uk |
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