Were Medieval People Healthy?

Michie · May 18, 2025

The popular image of the medieval peasant hovelling about in a frantic search of the remaining slop from the bottom of a trough is not very accurate, to say the least.

Health is often interpreted as pertaining exclusively to the body, yet in the Middle Ages it also referred to the spirit and soul—an aspect thoroughly explored by the Substack Via Mediaevalis. Nevertheless, the bodily health of medieval people was also a concern at that time.

The development of medical faculties at European universities occurred during the 11thand 12th centuries, whereas much of the medical research had previously been conducted by the monasteries for hundreds of years beforehand. In addition to these works, the medieval medical practitioners—as not everyone had the title of medical doctor—relied heavily upon the works of the Greeks and Romans; particularly Hippocrates, Lucretius, and Galen.

Bodily health was certainly considered less important than that of the spirit (i.e. the mind), and of the soul, but it was still important. After all, a physically healthier society could only benefit the pursuit of the higher faculties. But how do we know if they were actually healthy? How long did they live? What did they eat?

When approaching the topic of health in the Middle Ages, there are a few different avenues that one could take:

Examine the historical charters for trends in life spans.
Explore the medical / herbal texts in use at the time and research their authors.
Conduct / review archaeological forensic studies of cemeteries.

In today’s offering, we will take a look at all three, focusing upon the lifespan of a select individual from the 12th and 13th centuries, an introduction to some of the work of St. Hildegard of Bingen, and a review of three archaeological investigations of cemeteries within the former Holy Roman Empire (HRE).

Life Spans

Continued below.