John Aberth holds a PhD in medieval history from the University of Cambridge and is the author of numerous books on disease and the Middle Ages, including Plagues in World History. He lives in Roxbury, Vermont.

• List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction The Challenge of Interpreting Plague Treatises The Poison Thesis: A New Paradigm for Plague Medicine? 1 Causes Origins of the Poison Thesis The Poison Orthodoxy The Artificial Poison Conspiracy Universal and Remote Causes Particular and Near Causes Contagion Conclusion 2 Signs Environmental Signs Bodily Symptoms—Fever Bodily Symptoms—Bubonic Plague Bodily Symptoms—Pneumonic Plague Bodily Symptoms—Septicemic Plague Predispositions to Plague Conclusion 3 Prevention The Non-Naturals Preventative Medicines Prevention as a Public Good Prevention by Social Class Flight Conclusion 4 Cure Principles of the Plague Cure Surgical Procedures Drug Therapies Doctors Who Treated Themselves Bedside Manner Religious Responses Magical Healing Audience and Reputation of Plague Doctors Conclusion Epilogue: Plague’s Verdict on Medieval Medicine Appendix: Table Sources Notes Selected Bibliography Index About the Author

Aberth, author of several books on the Black Death, including Plagues in World History, here explores the world of plague doctors through 240 plague treatises written by Christian, Jewish, and Muslim doctors dating from 1347 to 1450. He lays out the works' structures and contents, using tables to display data such as the authorities authors explicitly relied upon, including their own experiences. The four main chapters echo the structure of many treatises, detailing causes, environmental signs, and individuals' symptoms, prevention, and treatments. Aberth's aim in doing so is partly to correct some popular and even professional misconceptions about the era's medical understandings and practices. For example, he reduces medieval humoral theory to one of several physiological paradigms physicians applied and explicitly avoids ahistorical judgments. In concluding, he highlights the societal impacts of medical advice, such as to flee stricken areas. This volume is aimed at informed readers not seeking an introduction but rather a detailed explication of the first century of Western medical theories and practices dealing with the second plague pandemic. Given the current COVID-19 pandemic, interest in this work may extend beyond academic or medical circles. Recommended. General readers, advanced undergraduates through faculty, professionals.