Medieval Bodies

A brilliant book … beautifully illustrated … A triumphant piece of historical writing – Kathryn Hughes * Mail on Sunday *An extraordinary story and a wonderfully rich study of the Middle Ages … Hartnell’s idea of approaching the medieval worldview through the body is inspired … This beautifully illustrated book succeeds brilliantly in bringing this much maligned period to life … A triumph of scholarship. – PD Smith * Guardian *One of the achievements of this splendid book is to make our world view seem more narrow and fragmented than that of the extensive period we place somewhere between the Dark Ages and the Renaissance … at every point you’ll encounter wit, learning and riveting stories. A wonderful read. – Melanie McDonagh * Evening Standard *An erudite, wide-ranging, thoughtfully illustrated book – Laura Freeman * The Times *‘Glorious … makes the past at once familiar, exotic and thrilling.’ Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times – Dominic Sandbrook * Sunday Times *A thick, spicy plum pudding of a book * London Review of Books *

Jack Hartnell is Lecturer in Art History at University of East Anglia. He has previously held positions at Columbia University, the Courtauld Institute, the Max-Planck-Institut and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Wellcome Collection is a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions, events and books explore a diverse range of subjects, including consciousness, forensic medicine, emotions, sexology, identity and death.