Astrology as Part of Early Modern Medical Consultation

Astrology could form part of learned medical consultation in early modern England. Simon Forman and Richard Napier used horoscopes in diagnosis while clients also supplied symptoms and, in some cases, bodily evidence such as urine.

The practice demonstrates why modern categories cannot simply be projected backwards. A practitioner could be literate, medically engaged and religious while accepting astrological assumptions now rejected by science.

Source trail: University of Cambridge Casebooks Project and research on early modern medicine.

Related Journal record: Wise Women and Cunning Men.