Wounds and Repair in Medieval Culture

Description

The spectacle of the wounded body figured prominently in the Middle Ages, from images of Christ’s wounds on the cross, to the ripped and torn bodies of tortured saints who miraculously heal through divine intervention, to graphic accounts of battlefield and tournament wounds—evidence of which survives in the archaeological record—and literary episodes of fatal (or not so fatal) wounds. This volume offers a comprehensive look at the complexity of wounding and wound repair in medieval literature and culture, bringing together essays from a wide range of sources and disciplines including arms and armaments, military history, medical history, literature, art history, hagiography, and archaeology across medieval and early modern Europe. Contributors are Stephen Atkinson, Debby Banham, Albrecht Classen, Joshua Easterling, Charlene M. Eska, Carmel Ferragud, M.R. Geldof, Elina Gertsman, Barbara A. Goodman, Máire Johnson, Rachel E. Kellett, Ilana Krug, Virginia Langum, Michael Livingston, Iain A. MacInnes, Timothy May, Vibeke Olson, Salvador Ryan, William Sayers, Patricia Skinner, Alicia Spencer-Hall, Wendy J. Turner, Christine Voth, and Robert C. Woosnam- Contents Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables List of Abbreviations List of Contributors Introduction: Penetrating Medieval Wounds The Medieval Body Historiography The Physicality of Wounds Surgery Law Spiritual Wounds Literature part 1 section 1 Chapter 1 Battle Trauma in Medieval Warfare: Wounds, Weapons and Armor Robert C. Woosnam-Savage and Kelly DeVries Chapter 2 “And describe the shapes of the dead”: Making Sense of the Archaeology of Armed Violence M.R. Geldof Chapter 3 Visible Prowess?: Reading Men’s Head and Face Wounds in Early Medieval Europe to 1000 CE Patricia Skinner Chapter 4 Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes: Injury and Death in Anglo-Scottish Combat, c. 1296–c. 1403 Iain A. MacInnes Chapter 5 “…Vnnd schüß im vnder dem schwert den ort lang ein zů der brust”: The Placement and Consequences of Sword-blows in Sigmund Ringeck’s Fifteenth-Century Fencing Manual Rachel E. Kellett section 2 Chapter 6 The Diagnosis and Treatment of Wounds in the Old English Medical Collections: Anglo-Saxon Surgery? Debby Banham and Christine Voth Banham and Voth Surgical Treatments in the Old English Medical Corpus Why is There so Little Surgery in the Old English Medical Texts? Surgical Practice in Anglo-Saxon England Professional Boundaries Disciplinary Boundaries Explicit and ‘Tacit’ Knowledge Conclusions Chapter 7 Spitting Blood: Medieval Mongol Medical Practices Timothy May Chapter 8 The Wounded Soldier: Honey and Late Medieval Military Medicine Ilana Krug Chapter 9 “The Depth of Six Inches”: Prince Hal’s Head-Wound at the Battle of Shrewsbury Michael Livingston Nature of the Wound Treatment of the Wound Ramifications of the Wound section 3 Chapter 10 Wounds, Amputations, and Expert Procedures in the City of Valencia in the Early Fifteenth Century* Carmel Ferragud A Conservative Attitude to Risk Amputations and Medical Expertise in the Criminal Court of Justice of Valencia Amputation in Late Medieval Surgical Texts Conclusions Chapter 11 The Mutilation of Derbforgaill Charlene M. Eska part 2 section 4 Chapter 12 “The Wounded Surgeon”: Devotion, Compassion and Metaphor in Medieval England Virginia Langum Chapter 13 “Scarce Anyone Survives a Heart Wound”: The Wounded Christ in Irish Bardic Religious Poetry Salvador Ryan Chapter 14 Penetrating the Void: Picturing the Wound in Christ’s Side as a Performative Space Vibeke Olson Chapter 15 Wandering Wounds: The Urban Body in Imitatio Christi Elina Gertsman section 5 Chapter 16 Ascetic Blood: Ethics, Suffering, and Community in Late-Medieval Culture Joshua S. Easterling Chapter 17 Christ’s Suppurating Wounds: Leprosy in the Vita of Alice of Schaerbeek (†1250) Alicia Spencer-Hall* Chapter 18 Wounding the Body and Freeing the Spirit: Dorothea von Montau’s Bloody Quest for Christ, a Late-Medieval Phenomenon of the Extraordinary Kind Albrecht Classen Chapter 19 In the Bursting of an Eye: Blinding and Blindness in Ireland’s Medieval Hagiography Máire Johnson part 3 Chapter 20 The Laconic Scar in Early Irish Literature William Sayers Chapter 21 “Into the hede, throw the helme and creste”: Head Wounds and a Question of Kingship in the Stanzaic Morte Arthur Larissa Tracy Chapter 22 “They … toke their shyldys before them and drew oute their swerdys …”: Inflicting and Healing Wounds in Malory’s Morte Darthur Stephen Atkinson Chapter 23 Women’s Wounds in Middle English Romances: An Exploration of Defilement, Disfigurement, and a Society in Disrepair Barbara A. Goodman Afterword: The Aftermath of Wounds Wendy J. Turner Physical Wounds Healing Wounds Disabling Wounds Sacred Wounds A Conclusion Bibliography Index