Please note I was not paid to write this review but was sent a review copy of the book. You can buy the bookВ here from Pen and SwordВ books. It also has a section on tormented minds вЂ“ so how early doctors looked at combat fatigue and PTSD treatment. The book also includes treatments for head injuries вЂ“ the most common injury in combat according to courses. Salves written in a book transcribed in 950AD were recently recreated and were powerful enough to kill MRSA. How knew there were actually leechbooks? Every day is a school dayвЂ¦ Also I never realised that some of the medieval medicine is just as useful and potent today. There are also so many good examples and references in this book. I set out to learn what light her project will shed on this important subject. Diane is currently undertaking a project funded by the Leverhulme Trust called WomenвЂ™s Literary Culture Before the Conquest. Sadly, a long period of warfare tends to generate advances in medicine вЂ“ and the period covered in the book is no exception. And so, I interviewed Diane Watt, professor of medieval literature at the University of Surrey. The chapters are not simply broken down by time period but by types of injury and types of treatment.ДЄnyone doing any kind of reenactment or living history as well as historical combat students should read this book to give them a better understanding of how medicine at the time was delivered. The way it is laid out and easy way it is read makes it a fun yet very detailed read. This book has arrived just at the right time and covers the period which we train and study. Infections can kill just as much as anything else as can a lack of triage. Yet one thing I always say is we have to be careful when fighting вЂњin the periodвЂќ as we donвЂ™t have access to quality medicine and doctors. If you wish to continue your study of paleography, consult the relevant resources. This page offers a very brief introduction to this discipline, to allow you to complete the exercises in Platform 3. One thing we donвЂ™t really consider is medicine. The discipline of reading medieval handwriting is called paleography (also spelled palaeography). We spend most of our time working out what the manuscripts tells us about self defence and combat in terms of injuring or killing each other.

I was excited when this book arrived, so much so that it jumped the review queue.

Salves in medieval manuscripts