Urban Bodies: Communal Health in Late Medieval English Towns and Cities

The idea of English medieval towns and cities as filthy, muddy and insanitary is here overturned in a pioneering new study.

Carole Rawcliffe continues with her mission to clean up the Middle Ages. In earlier work she has already given us scholarly yet sympathetic portrayals of English medicine, hospitals, and welfare for lepers. Now she widens her scope to public health. Her argument is clear, simple and convincing. Through the efforts of crown and civic authorities, mercantile élites and po...