Jews were excluded from most professions in medieval, predominantly Christian Europe. Bigotry was widespread, yet Jews were accepted as doctors and surgeons, administering not only to other Jews but to Christians as well. Why did medieval Christians suspend their fear and suspicion of the Jews, allowing them to inspect their bodies, and even, at times, to determine their survival? What was the nature of the doctor-patient relationship? Did the law protect Jewish doctors in disputes over care and treatment?

Joseph Shatzmiller explores these and other intriguing questions in the first full social history of the medieval Jewish doctor. Based on extensive archival research in Provence, Spain, and Italy, and a deep reading of the widely scattered literature, Shatzmiller examines the social and economic forces that allowed Jewish medical professionals to survive and thrive in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Europe. His insights will prove fascinating to scholars and students of Judaica, medieval history, and the history of medicine.

Joseph Shatzmiller is Professor of History at the University of Toronto and author of Shylock Reconsidered: Jews, Moneylending and Medieval Society (California, 1990).

“Who were these physicians, how and where did they train, how did they practice and why did Christian medieval Europe, prejudiced against Jews not only allow them to practice but hold them in high esteem? The fascination with the Jewish doctor has historic roots.”—Jewish Book World

“Replete with stories found in notarial documents and court records, this study shows how it came to be that by the close of the Middle Ages, in some areas, Jews, who were less than one percent of the population, could account for almost fifty percent of the medical professionals. This book will richly reward any serious reader.”—Religious Studies Review

“Shatzmiller provides an excellent, eminently readable account of Jewish medical practitioners in Spain, Provence, and Italy from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. The author ranges widely over many topics, including the role of women in medical practice; the political and economic value of Jewish practitioners to ecclesiastical, secular and municipal authorities; the social and cultural status of Jews in medieval Christian society; the doctor-patient relationship in medieval medicine; and the economic framework of the translating enterprise undertaken by Jews. Given the range of its interests, this well-written and sympathetic account is a welcome and valuable addition to the literature exemplifying the new interdisciplinary approach to medieval medical studies.”—Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“With its lovely illuminated manuscript–like cover, Joseph Shatzmiller’s Jews, Medicine, and Medieval Society looks as though is belongs behind glass doors, in a gilded case, sitting serenely in the history of medicine section. . . . Shatzmiller makes medieval medicine sound so mystifyingly modern (post-modern?) that it is astounding that the data are from 800 years ago. In this way, and in many other ways, Shatzmiller opens his study to contemporary discussion, and makes for interesting and informative—and well recommended—reading.”—Journal of the History of Medicine

“Shatzmiller provides a lively synthesis, which allows fruitful reflections on the multiple aspects of medical practice and the place of Jews in medieval society.”—Isis

“This richly detailed history provides valuable information about Jewish physicians throughout the Middle Ages.”—Choice