# ‘An experiment pervyd for a thynge y lost’: ‘Non-medical’ Charms and experimenta in Medieval Medical Manuscripts

## TL;DR

This paper explores medieval medical manuscripts that include non-medical charms, showing how they reflect broader medical practices and patient needs.

## Contribution

The paper introduces a new perspective on medieval medical manuscripts by analyzing their inclusion of non-medical charms and experimenta.

## Key findings

- Medieval medical manuscripts often included charms and experimenta beyond healing.
- These manuscripts suggest a blend of text-based medical practice and non-medical concerns.
- They reflect medical practices within a specific societal stratum.

## Abstract

This essay conducts a close examination of manuscripts of English provenance from the late Middle Ages which, while predominantly medical in nature, also contain non-medical charms and experimenta. It considers how these manuscripts might provide evidence for a particular type of medical practice, one which was founded in text-based learning, but which also sought to address the non-medical concerns and anxieties of medieval patients through the application of charms and experimenta not exclusively related to healing. This enables a more detailed picture to be drawn of medical practice in the Middle Ages but, more specifically, of medical practice within a particular stratum of society, whereby patients or clients may have looked to engage the services of a practitioner whose literacy and text-based knowledge afforded him status, but who also addressed issues that were perhaps more commonly treated by humbler diviners and healers.