What an interesting view of the medicine that was prevalent in the military during the medieval years. While warfare was common, and the horrific practices that were being used, it is not surprising that the medical care could do more damage than the battlefields sometimes.

I enjoyed this read. It was interesting for me to compare what was used in the medival world, to what is currently being used today in our military. Quite a stark difference, and yet, we still have some commonalities of diagnoses.

I’ve been writing my “debut book” since forever and when I saw this title among the books available to request and read I literally jumped with joy because there’s a limit on how much information about this topic you can find online, and my search history can testify for me. Very helpful, would totally recommend!

Brian Burfield tells the tale of battlefield medicine during the Middle Ages. The most vivid impression is of the common soldier and the terror of battlefield medicine yet they still fought, killed and died for their causes.

This is a meticulously sourced and annotated history that contains almost no discussion of actual treatments because it seems so many of them are so sketchily referenced in primary sources. Or at least they are sketchily referenced by the author. Apparently, the medical manuals of the era tend to refer to “as the leeches know” or “in the way that the leeches do it” a lot of the time, so actual techniques are barely discussed, which is a shame. It’s sort of what I came for. But if you have an oral, hands-on tradition, it makes sense that little makes the page.

In addition to availing himself of the known medical manuals, leechbooks and herbals of the period Burfield makes use of Viking sagas, medieval romances, miracle accounts and other secondary sources where wounds and treatments are discussed. It’s clear that in many cases, especially in the miracle tales, that it was actually effective doctoring that saved a person’s life, not a visit to a saintly shrine. And his inclusion of mental illnesses caused by war is a nice touch. These more poetic accounts provide a lot of nuance on that.

It’s a nice round-up of the types of injuries and s fighting men most feared in the era, but if you came looking for detailed discussion of the work of a medieval Leech or surgeon or herbalist, or even a modern medical analysis of what the techniques might have been, you’re going to be greatly disappointed. (For example, there’s a long discussion of St. Anthony’s fire, caused by Ergot poisoning, but no discussion of how it actually effects the body and how it works, just the list of medieval symptoms and how people suffered with it. There’s no comparison of treatment techniques of the period and which might have helped. I was hoping for that sort of a discussion and this book doesn’t have it.)

It seems primarily useful for its truly extensive bibliography and would be a terrific place to start for your own research on this subject.

The Middle Ages, early surgery and military wounds are three topics that probably have a bit of a niche audience, and Brian Burfield’s text – a pandemic-written work with its roots in his parents’ twin interests of history and medicine – provides plenty of gross tidbits for those staunch enough to profess a yen for leeches.

Over eight chapters, the author examines different types of injuries – fear not, there’s plenty of detail about skulls, teeth and STDs! – and the way they were treated. Noted healers, the transmission of texts and the role of both the Church and blacksmiths (!) in the treatment of injury are discussed, as are the mental effects of battle.

There’s a selection of full-colour images, and plenty of supplementary material towards the end of the text, should you wish to examine sources more fully.

I’m conflicted about this text, though. Burfield’s work certainly made me aware of a lot of things I didn’t know – or half knew – and it does provide some real nuggets of interest. But something about it didn’t grab me, and the unevenness of tone (admittedly worked out as the book continues) gave me reason to pause. The writing seems clunkier when it is more personal, and better when the author is at a remove from the text: some chapters talk a bit much about what will be discussed in the chapter rather than, y’know, getting on and discussing it. I wasn’t entirely convinced with some of the bows drawn (see what I did there?) in the final chapter on mental struggles resulting from wars, and it seemed a weaker note on which to end the work.

It’s difficult to see who this book is for: it’s not snappy enough to be pop-history, but it’s also perhaps not specific enough for serious medievalists. There’s some good stuff here, I just couldn’t picture an ideal reader. Again, it’s probably not me, no matter how much I enjoyed seeing images of fake shrine limbs.

Like many non-fiction books, this is about exactly what the title says its about. It is about a 500 year chunk of the history of military medicine. It provides a history of combat related medicine and the different kinds of people/places that would have provided healing from injuries/wounds. It goes over the different kinds of injuries and wounds that a soldier would have encountered or had inflicted upon them during battle and the kinds of treatments for them. It also goes over several diseases and infections that were even deadlier than those wounds. It goes over what life would have been liked for people that have been wounded in combat. It also goes over the mental toll that battle had on the average soldier and officer.

I really liked this quite a bit. It provides as good a background as it can considering that many of the texts from this age do not survive to the modern age. Some parts of the book can be frustratingly vague but that is because the source material used can be frustratingly vague. It goes into fascinating depth as to the history of the healing arts and warfare without getting too bogged down and getting stale. Much of the information in here was new to me and it was fascinating to learn about. I loved how in depth each chapter was without being overly long. The source materials that were used were well explained at the start of the book and that helped a great deal when they were referenced in further chapters. And it is highly appreciated that an attempt was made to show the mental side effects of the horrors of war.

Overall I really recommend this book for history fans and fans of military history. Some sections can get quite graphic so I do not recommend this for younger readers. It is still quite a good book though and I really hope more people read this.

I am not completely sure what this book was going for. Sometimes it assumes a fair amount of background in the topic, while other times it talks very simplistically about it.

The strength here is bringing together disparate examples of various types of wounds, writ large. Yet, the sources come from a few main groups - miracle stories, represented by two main collections, Viking sagas in translation, medical texts (European and Islamic), and poetry.

Another strength is drawing attention to the universality of many of the plights of medieval people that are reflected in the sources. Burfield draws most of his parallels between medieval sources and those from World War I. Some of this could have been done more effectively, but the spirit is a good one.

However, there are so many issues of interpretation that I wouldn't recommend this work. The beginning is especially cringeworthy. The author's tendency to remain firmly planted in examining sources from our current perspective mars large amounts of the interpretations. Few scholars of medieval medicine would denigrate medieval understanding the way Burfield does. He does not seem to share empathy or understanding of his subjects.

Later chapters that are firmly rooted in textual analysis do a little better. But the shortcomings in interpretation also result in many different types of examples being grouped together that dont quite fit. The best example of this is where suicides are all grouped together in the context of depression when some examples reflect medieval concepts of honor and others reflect avoidance of violence at the hands of enemies.

There are a few chapters toward the end where the author lets the examples speak for themselves, adding little of his own perspective. These are, by far, the strongest pieces. I could see using this in an exercise in class for them to interpret and compare with Burfield and others. I would generally just use primary sources themselves for such an exercise.

Thank you to Brian Burfield, Pen & Sword Press, and Netgalley for an advanced ecopy of the book.

A well researched monograph on medieval medical military practices. The writing style was readable and enjoyable. The inclusion of primary sourced was well used to support conclusions. Definitely recommend.

Medieval. Military. Medicine. Three words guaranteed to capture my attention and garner my interest. I have always been fascinated by all three topics, so when all three were put together in ONE title, I had to know more. Brian Burfield has done his research and expertly shared his learnings in an enlightening and engaging format. Each chapter felt like a lecture, with personal touches, to better help me understand the topic. You know the class I am talking about, the one you can’t wait to get back to in order to find out more. The kind where the professor is passionate and knowledgeable and it just spills over into the discussion, igniting your own excitement for learning more. The subjects were brought to life and explained in ways that a textbook could not do justice. The poems and text inserts provided amazing details and opened the discussion in new ways. There is so much content from actual historical documents! I especially enjoyed the chapter on psychological trauma, as this was just not openly acknowledged back then. A detailed glossary was a helpful tool in the reading as well. I can tell that this writing is truly a passion and labor of love, so I thank you for your willingness to put it all together and your willingness to share with others. I have benefited from your hard work and diligence.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

3 stars. I found the concept of this book really interesting. I really enjoyed the references made to poetry and literature published at the time and now and it’s encouraged me to read more arthurian and medieval literature in the future. I also liked the chapter about mental health in the medieval times and the different outlooks on it throughout the medieval period. However I had two main things I didn’t like in this book. Firstly, this book mainly covered european medieval history and rarely covered asian or american medieval history. As well as this in the introduction the author stated it was not the most expert of books in its field but this made the book limiting as it ended up falling half way between a beginners guide and an academic book. It took up a middle ground as if it was difficult and slow to read as an intermediate reader in this topic but it was not analytical enough to be of academic

I have been. A soldier and now I am a paramedic for the NHS and I loved this book, there is a surgical museum in a hospital in london and this book reminded me greatly of that, I loved it recommend it anyone be they ex military or not f you have any interest in history and medicine you will enjoy