Scanning Saint Amandus: Medical technologies and medieval anatomies

Anatomy -- the practice of stripping back the body and revealing it, part by part, for discussion and debate -- is a process much explored by the medical humanities, and it presents rich intellectual and practical potential for medieval studies. Tracing anatomical tendencies in the actions of both modern practitioners and inhabitants of the medieval past, this article advocates for anatomy’s addition to the rostra of bodily discourses at the disposal of historians of medieval culture. Posited as a critical framework in its own right, notions of anatomy, autopsy, and a literal bodily reading offer us new ways of opening up medieval studies today in much the same way as medieval bodies were once opened on the slab.