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The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack: How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England
Discover the remarkable birth of modern medicine... and how not to die in the Renaissance
'An entertaining history of medicine… Skuse brings a deep familiarity with the contemporary sources and a dry wit.' Dan Jones, The Sunday Times
The cliched view medicine in the Renaissance world is gore-splattered hacksaws, arsenic concoctions, the four humours and all those leeches…
Reality, however, proves somewhat different.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a medical revolution was afoot. Physicians’ education was being formalised. Surgeons were documenting the intricacies of the human body with ever-greater skill. And, as European powers expanded into the New World, novel medicines and treatments were being discovered.
Alanna Skuse ventures into the bustling medical marketplace of Renaissance England – a world of travelling surgeons, prosthetics craftsmen, faith healers and snake oil merchants.
Discover domestic healers like Elizabeth Freke, a doyenne of folk remedies, always ready to dole out tonics and elixirs to her ailing neighbours. Browse the shelves of the early modern apothecary with Nicholas Culpeper as he lays the groundwork for the modern pharmacy. Meet the expert midwife Jane Sharp, successful author and pioneer of women's health. Join the intrepid plague doctor George Thomson as he braves London's Great Plague.
Humane and entrancing, The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack reveals the people and stories behind a scientific revolution.
'Fascinating.' Daily Mail
'Meticulously researched and deliciously detailed.' Victoria Shepherd, author of A History of Delusions
'An entertaining history of medicine… Skuse brings a deep familiarity with the contemporary sources and a dry wit.' Dan Jones, The Sunday Times
The cliched view medicine in the Renaissance world is gore-splattered hacksaws, arsenic concoctions, the four humours and all those leeches…
Reality, however, proves somewhat different.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a medical revolution was afoot. Physicians’ education was being formalised. Surgeons were documenting the intricacies of the human body with ever-greater skill. And, as European powers expanded into the New World, novel medicines and treatments were being discovered.
Alanna Skuse ventures into the bustling medical marketplace of Renaissance England – a world of travelling surgeons, prosthetics craftsmen, faith healers and snake oil merchants.
Discover domestic healers like Elizabeth Freke, a doyenne of folk remedies, always ready to dole out tonics and elixirs to her ailing neighbours. Browse the shelves of the early modern apothecary with Nicholas Culpeper as he lays the groundwork for the modern pharmacy. Meet the expert midwife Jane Sharp, successful author and pioneer of women's health. Join the intrepid plague doctor George Thomson as he braves London's Great Plague.
Humane and entrancing, The Surgeon, The Midwife, The Quack reveals the people and stories behind a scientific revolution.
'Fascinating.' Daily Mail
'Meticulously researched and deliciously detailed.' Victoria Shepherd, author of A History of Delusions
384 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 16, 2025
31 people are currently reading
221 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 25, 2026
This was an interesting read — a lively, fact‑packed dive into a variety of medical practices and professions in Stuart England. Skuse’s writing is incredibly engaging and surprisingly funny in places, making the history feel vivid rather than academic. It’s accessible to any reader curious about everyday life in the period, and never once drags or feels dry.
If you’re after a more scholarly deep‑dive, Skuse has other academic texts, but this one is perfect for anyone who wants to learn about life in the past and wants an entertaining narrative while doing so.
If you’re after a more scholarly deep‑dive, Skuse has other academic texts, but this one is perfect for anyone who wants to learn about life in the past and wants an entertaining narrative while doing so.
February 24, 2026
Highly accessible, often entertaining, with companionable narration by Danielle Cohen. With an abiding interest in the topic, there was little new here for me, but i enjoyed it anyway.
What was new will certainly stick with me—like the 14th-century practice of slicing open tiny animals and applying them to the body to “draw out” cancer by luring it to fresh meat. Not every practice is so shocking, but there are, of course, several. I appreciated that the author situates this lay-level history of medicine in the context of time, place, and circumstances.
Imagine... the things we think we know that will prove primitive or barbaric in the future.
What was new will certainly stick with me—like the 14th-century practice of slicing open tiny animals and applying them to the body to “draw out” cancer by luring it to fresh meat. Not every practice is so shocking, but there are, of course, several. I appreciated that the author situates this lay-level history of medicine in the context of time, place, and circumstances.
Imagine... the things we think we know that will prove primitive or barbaric in the future.
January 18, 2026
A very surface level introduction to the 16-18c medical marketplace. Some chapters had great potential to be interesting (e.g mental illness), but lacked engaging content.
February 22, 2026
I enjoyed this book. the level of research and detail is high. at some points my partner and I laughed out loud and will honour the book by getting a plaque made for our "Room of Easement".
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews