ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author uses some of the approaches put forward by the contributors and shows how far they are useful for a study of perceptions of health and illness in early modern England. He looks in particular at la longue duree and the history of events in relation to the history of mentalite, and also at the usefulness of demographic history for his project. Certainly, without existence of a mentalite, a structure of thought, that produced disease entities, fear would have had nothing to relate to and take specific shape. When considering the history of perceptions of health and illness there are great advantages in not generalising too quickly, in not immediately seeking the structures of thought or cognitive frameworks that influence people. Demographic history gives the qualitative historian valuable insights into the context of illness in the 17th century.
