Barbara Traister is the author of The Notorious Astrological Physician of London, and Heavenly Necromancers: The Magician in English Renaissance Drama, as well as former Professor of English at Lehigh University. She joins us today to look at some of Shakespeare’s examples of medicine depicted in his plays and explore where Shakespeare got it right, and some of the hidden messages we can discover in the text by understanding the realities of astrology and 17th century medicine.

In this episode, I’ll be asking Barbara about :

• What kinds of doctors existed in the 16th and 17th century? 
• What role did astrology play in time keeping and individuals knowing how often to take their medicine? 
• Why were people accepting, even respectful and trusting of doctors who mixed herbal medicine, but suspicious of witches by accusing them of mixing potions?
• What was the relationship between the 4 humors and the more bizarre practices of medicine like bloodletting?