'… this remarkable pioneering monograph … fused with occasionally unknown literary and historical texts (Vivian Nutton's translation of the Frankish Medical Licensing and Negligence Regulations will be new to almost all students of the crusades … Mitchell's careful and cautious assessment of wounds, disease, diet and life spans as revealed through pollen, insect-parts, soil analysis, drug jars and osteology, reveals a vibrant medical and surgical activity throughout most of the era of the crusades … His chapter on anaesthesia is essential reading for anyone interested in the mystery of why earlier and successful surgeries seemed to fade from view by the late Middle Ages.' The Times Literary Supplement