ABSTRACT
This chapter first discusses the classical and non-Christian medicinal uses of human blood such as the case of a dying gladiator's blood being used for curing epilepsy. It is possible that the medieval alchemy of blood comprised a tradition of medical cannibalism which was more or less independent of the tradition centred on Egyptian mummy. Evidence suggests that many factors help to make mummy less difficult to swallow as the Middle Ages gave way to the European Renaissance. Next, the chapter highlights an incident about Pope Innocent's treatment which involved being fed with human blood. It examines how far the claim was plausible, by addressing three different areas: was the tale of the Pope's treatment credible ethically, socially or medically. Then, the chapter discusses the practice of corpse medicine in Elizabethan England. Whilst citing various bird medicines, George Turberville makes it clear that mummy was the primary treatment for injured hawks, singling it out as intimately associated with hawking.
