Understanding the Body in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

In medieval Europe, the body was both a site of sin and the grounds where sin might find redemption in penance or prayer. The health of the medieval body was implicated by the health of the soul (and vice versa). In early modern Europe, the body shed some of its sacred meanings as it became an object of professionalized medical discourse. We trace this “disenchantment” of the body by examining concepts of sickness and health, the roles of gender and racial differences in understanding the nature of the body, and the changing social practices regarding human bodies and mortal remains. P