Patients, prayers and pilgrims

“Patients, prayers and pilgrims” is the third edition of the “Maladies, Miracles and Medicine’ conference organised by the University of Reading on April 1, 2022.

Healthcare in the Middle Ages covered a broad range of practices, influenced by religious and scholarly theories of the body. Patients might look to a range of restorative practices from herbal remedies, to more invasive procedures, not to mention charms and prayers. In their search for cure, they might also turn to various healers with practitioners ranging from high-end university-trained physicians, to local wise women, and even the ‘saintly physicians’ whose form of miraculous care emanated from the shrines. Healing could thus be sought through a variety of channels that both complemented and competed against one another. What can we learn about those who engaged with medieval healthcare? Where do the various forms of healthcare sit in relation to each other and in relation to religious and/or academic understanding of corporeal health? In what ways were the ill and impaired able to access healing, and what form did this take?

Deadline call for papers: January 10, 2022.
All information is found here.