England has traditionally been understood as a latecomer to the use of forensic medicine in death investigation lagging nearly two-hundred years behind other European authorities. Using the coroner's inquest as a lens this book hopes to offer a fresh perspective on the process of death investigation in medieval England. The central premise of this book is that medical practitioners did participate in death investigation â although not in every inquest or even most and not necessarily in those investigations where we today would deem their advice most pertinent. The medieval relationship with death and disease in particular shaped coroners' and their jurors' understanding of the inquest's medical needs and led them to conclusions that can only be understood in context of the medieval world's holistic approach to health and medicine. Moreover while the English resisted Southern Europe's penchant for autopsies at times their findings reveal a solid understanding of internal medicine. By studying cause of death in the coroners' reports this study sheds new light on subjects such as abortion by assault bubonic plague cruentation epilepsy insanity senescence and unnatural death. . Language: English