Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index

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Record Number: 2783 Author(s)/Creator(s): Green , Monica H. Contributor(s): Title: Books as a Source of Medical Education for Women in the Middle Ages Source: Dynamis: Acta Hispanica ad Medicinae Scientiarumque Historiam Illustrandam 20, ( 2000): Pages 331 - 369. Description: Article Type: Journal Article Subject (See Also): Education Gender Healers and Healing Libraries, Medieval Literacy Medical Manuscripts Medicine Monasticism Physicians Award Note: Geographic Area: General Century: 12- 13- 14- 15 Primary Evidence: Illustrations: Table: One table. Female religious institutions owning medical books from England and Germany. There are just seventeen houses in all with the vast majority in Germany. Most houses have just one or two medical texts. Abstract: The development of philosophical medicine in the high and late Middle Ages brought with it a powerful association of medical knowledge with the written word. To possess books, or at least to have access to books, was both a prerequisite for and a symbol of the kind of theoretical learning that distinguished the learned practitioner from the empiric. This study examines evidence for women’s access to medical books, raising the question of what difference gender made. I argue that, for the most part, women did not own medical books, whether they were laywomen or religious. I suggest that this was largely due to the limits on advanced education for women, a factor that would have effected both laywomen and nuns. Related Resources: Author's Affiliation: Duke University Conference Info: - , - Year of Publication: 2000. Language: English ISSN/ISBN: 02119536

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