Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

14th Century

The record of a ‘physick hall’ [physick being the term for the practice of pre-modern medicine] in the University Chancellor’s Book for the early 1300s attests that medical sciences have been taught at the University of Oxford for more than seven centuries.

Black and white drawing depicting 6 men surrounding a cadaver being dissected on an operating table. © Wellcome Trust

^{14th century dissection}

In c. 1310, the Oxford doctor John of Gaddesden published the "Rosa Anglica", Britain’s earliest surviving medical textbook. Gaddesden is believed to have been the model for Chaucer’s ‘Doctour of Phisik’ in "The Canterbury Tales".

^{Rosa Anglica}

16th century >