Privilege, Patronage, and Avoidance

: A Comparative Study of Healthcare Provision in Coastal, Urban, and Rural Hampshire, 1475 – 1575

Abstract

Despite more recent holistic approaches to the history of health, disease, and medicine references to the Dissolution of the Monasteries and the introduction of acts and charters as pivotal points of change within healthcare remain pervasive. This thesis is a comparative study which examines a wide variety of sources to provide a ‘thick description’ of the pluralistic healthcare available in a region. It considers the influencing factors leading up to the period of study and examines the port towns of Southampton and Portsmouth, the city of Winchester and the surrounding rural area to identify the healers and healthcare provision available for local communities. By doing so it makes an original contribution to knowledge in this field in four ways: firstly, it provides an exploration of the distinct cultures of the three urban areas and their rural hinterland through the prism of healthcare provision. The analytical model developed comprises of the environment, social context and individual, and it can be implemented in other locales, thus providing a framework for considering diverse sources. Secondly, it recognises that healthcare provided within this region was privileged and unequal, both before and after the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and that those of the lowest socio-economic means including women were affected most. Thirdly, urban and coastal areas within this region with strong trading links and diverse communities coped better during this turbulent time. Finally, that the introduction of acts and charters was often ignored especially if healers could provide much needed skills, and that, when they were acted upon, it affected the popular sphere of healing detrimentally. Overall, this deeply contextual approach reveals the teleological, privileging and exclusive bias in many historical narratives of healthcare provision.

Date of Award	24 Jul 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Winchester
Supervisor	Simon Sandall (Supervisor) & Sam Scallan (Supervisor)