280. Stop Calling Renaissance Doctors Stupid with Alanna Skuse

Renaissance medicine wasn’t ignorant—its cures were stranger and smarter than you think.Step back into a world of blood, bones, bile, and groundbreaking innovation as Dr Alanna Skuse dismantles the biggest myths about Renaissance medicine. From battlefield surgeries and prosthetics, to midwives, quacks, toads, and the four humours, this episode reveals a medical world far more logical, experimental, and effective than popular history suggests.Discover why Renaissance surgeons weren’t reckless, why quacks sometimes worked wonders, and why patients were far from naïve. Packed with bizarre cures, pioneering breakthroughs, and the surprising origins of modern treatments, this is the ultimate guide to the misunderstood world of 16th and 17th-century healing.Whether you're into medical history, social history, early modern England, quackery, midwifery, apothecaries, or surgical innovation, this episode of History Rage delivers deep insight, dark humour, and a fresh perspective.What You’ll Learn in This EpisodeWhy Renaissance medical practitioners were not ignorant or cruelHow surgeons made astonishing breakthroughs long before modern medicineWhy patients demanded treatments like bloodlettingThe strange power of quacks—and why some were surprisingly effectiveHow apothecaries, midwives, and women healers shaped everyday healthcareThe bizarre logic behind cures involving toads, spiders, and boiling puppiesThe truth about syphilis nose reconstruction, battlefield prosthetics, and chemical medicineWhy the four humours actually made intuitive senseWhat Renaissance medical thinking still influences todayWhat future historians will find horrifying about modern treatmentsAbout Our Guest: Dr Alanna SkuseDr Alanna Skuse is a literary scholar, medical historian, and author specialising in early modern disease, surgery, and the cultural history of the body. Her latest trade book uncovers the real experience of staying alive in Renaissance England.📚 Buy Her BookThe Surgeon, the Midwife, the Quack: How to Stay Alive in Renaissance England👉 https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781836430773📨 Contact / Follow Dr Alanna SkuseWebsite: https://www.dralannaskuse.co.uk/Twitter / X: @alanna_skuseInstagram: @historian_alannaExplore More Medical History EpisodesIf this episode left you hungry for more medical history:Ep 161 – Karen Bloom Gevirtz on 17th-century healer-womenEp 56 – Louise Wilkie on Robert Liston & Victorian surgeryFollow & Support History Rage🎙 Follow History Rage:Twitter/X: @HistoryRageInstagram: @historyragepod💥 Support the Show & Get Bonus Content£3/month – Ad-free listening on Apple & Patreon£5/month – Monthly livestreams + the coveted History Rage MugJoin Here: patreon.com/historyrage❤️ Best way to help?Tell a friend about the podcast and get them raging too. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.