Renaissance Medicine: healthcare and disease in early modern England
You're Dead to Me
BBC
4.7 • 11.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2026
⏱️ 58 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Greg Jenner is joined in the 16th century by Dr Alanna Skuse and comedian Ria Lina to learn all about medicine and medical professionals in Tudor and Stuart England.
In Renaissance-era England, medicine was still based on the theory of the four humours, passed down from ancient Greek and Roman physicians like Hippocrates and Galen. But from the reign of Henry VIII, there were signs of change. The invention of the printing press led to an explosion in medical and anatomical books, and the circulation of ideas from across Europe. The College of Physicians was founded in 1518, and the Company of Barber-Surgeons in 1543. Medicine became a real business, with a range of specialists, professional bodies overseeing different kinds of healthcare, and an explosion of medical providers advertising their services to the general public.
This episode explores the landscape of healthcare in 16th- and 17th-century England, looking at everyone from physicians, surgeons and apothecaries to domestic healers and midwives, and even taking in quacks and frauds. Along the way, it examines the sensible social distancing measures taken during the Great Plague, the cures both sensible and dangerous offered for all kinds of diseases, and the cutting-edge experiments men like William Harvey and Christopher Wren were carrying out on the circulation of the blood. If you’re a fan of the history of everyday life in Tudor England, petty professional rivalries, and the whacky wellness trends of the past, you’ll love our episode on medicine in Renaissance England. If you want more from Ria Lina, listen to our episodes on pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao and medieval traveller Marco Polo. And for more on the history of health and wellness, check out our episodes on Ancient Medicine, Renaissance Beauty and the Kellogg Brothers. You’re Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past. Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Katharine Russell Written by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.2 | This is Radio One's All Day Breakfast with Greg James. |
| 0:12.1 | That sounds awesome. |
| 0:13.3 | Breakfast show highlights with an extra serving of silly stuff. |
| 0:16.6 | I'm going to eat six bags of crisp. |
| 0:18.2 | Hey! |
| 0:19.2 | Featuring the biggest guests on the planet. It's Tyler Swift. I was like we got to call Greg. It's been too long. Dr. Johnson. What's up, brother? And all the important questions. What's the length of my FEMA? What? Get Greg Energy anytime. With Radio 1's All Day Breakfast. New episodes, weekdays on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:39.2 | You're about to listen to the latest series of You're Dead to Me. |
| 0:42.3 | Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:45.5 | But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes 28 days earlier than anywhere else, first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:54.8 | Hello and welcome to You're Dead to Me, the Radio 4 comedy podcast that takes history |
| 0:58.9 | seriously. My name's Greg Jenner. I'm a public historian, author and broadcaster. And today, |
| 1:03.9 | we're putting on our plague masks and rummaging in our doctor's bags as we head back |
| 1:07.3 | to 16th century England to learn all about Renaissance-era medicine. |
| 1:11.7 | And to help us, we are joined by not one, |
| 1:13.8 | but two esteemed doctors. |
| 1:15.9 | In History Corner, she's an associate professor |
| 1:17.6 | in the Department of English Literature |
| 1:19.2 | at the University of Reading, |
| 1:20.8 | where her research focuses on medicine and the body |
| 1:22.9 | from the 16th to 18th centuries. |
| 1:25.0 | And luckily for us, |
... |
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