In this collection of seven essays (one of them published here for the first time), Monica Green argues that a history of women's healthcare in medieval western Europe has not yet been written because it cannot yet be written - the majority of texts relating to women's healthcare have never been edited or studied. Seen in their original contexts, m

Contents: Introduction; Historical questions and methodologies: Women's medical practice and health care in medieval Europe; Documenting medieval women's medical practice; Identifying the texts: The De genecia attributed to Constantine the African; Obstetrical and gynecological texts in Middle English; The development of the Trotula; Exploring the contexts: 'Traittié tout de mençonges': the Secrés des dames, 'Trotula', and attitudes towards women's medicine in 14th- and early 15th-century France; The possibilities of literacy and the limits of reading: women and the gendering of medical literacy; Appendix: Medieval gynecological literature: a handlist; Bibliography; Indices.