Forensic Medicine and Death Investigation in Medieval England

Description

England has traditionally been understood as a latecomer to the use of forensic medicine in death investigation, lagging nearly two-hundred years behind other European authorities. Using the coroner's inquest as a lens, this book hopes to offer a fresh perspective on the process of death investigation in medieval England. The central premise of this book is that medical practitioners did participate in death investigation – although not in every inquest, or even most, and not necessarily in those investigations where we today would deem their advice most pertinent. The medieval relationship with death and disease, in particular, shaped coroners' and their jurors' understanding of the inquest's medical needs and led them to conclusions that can only be understood in context of the medieval world's holistic approach to health and medicine. Moreover, while the English resisted Southern Europe's penchant for autopsies, at times their findings reveal a solid understanding of internal medicine. By studying cause of death in the coroners' reports, this study sheds new light on subjects such as abortion by assault, bubonic plague, cruentation, epilepsy, insanity, senescence, and unnatural death. List of Figures vii List of Tables ix Table of Royal Statutes xi List of Abbreviations xiii Acknowledgments xv Introduction 1 1. The Coroners 32 2. The Jurors 75 3. The Process of Investigation 125 4. The Medical Dimension of a Coroner’s Inquest 176 5. Health and Healthcare in the Coroners’ Rolls 218 Conclusion 266 Glossary 275 Bibliography 279 Index 301