Pox and Paranoia in Renaissance Europe
J.S. Cummins considers the impact of syphilis on the 16th-century world – a tale of rapid spread, guilt, scapegoats and wonder-cures, with an uncomfortable modern resonance.
Medicine & Disease
Quack Medicine in Georgian England
Roy Porter looks into medicine in Georgian England where sufferers from the 'Glimmering of the Gizzard' the 'Quavering of the Kidneys' and the 'Wambling Trot' could choose their cures from a cornucopia of remedies.
Droitwich's Spa Revival
Tony Aldous on a Worcestershire town whose natural resources brought the Romans there.
Spas: Pleasure or Penance?
Taking the waters became a Victorian passion and spa towns flourished. In this article the first prize winner in History Today's Essay Competition Pamela Steen, a student at the Open University, describes the pleasure and the pains of this fashion.
The Plague in England
Anne Roberts explores the incidence of plague in England from 1348 to 1679.