ABSTRACT
This study of the medical diagnosis and treatment of British women, circa 1590-1740, focuses on the relationships that existed between women and their male medical practitioners, with a specific emphasis upon women as patients.1 In addition to identifying the ages and social backgrounds of female patients who appear amongst the medical records, and the health conditions that prompted them to obtain professional advice, close attention is assigned to the diagnostic and therapeutic approaches applied by their male practitioners and the nature of the consultative relationship. Of particular interest to this examination is the extent to which women’s health was, or was not, subsumed within a restricted range of female-specific complaints that were predominantly of a gynaecological and psychological character. The aim is to identify the distinctive sex-and genderspecific qualities found within the medical treatment of early modern British women and to determine if such qualities were applicable to all types of ailments and injuries, including those which afflicted both sexes.
