Dr Piers D Mitchell

Contact Details

Imperial College London

piers.mitchell@imperial.ac.uk

Background

When and where did you initially develop an interest in the history of the crusades and/or the Latin East?

During my MSc course at UCL, as I heard of a crusader period excavation in the Middle East that needed a skeletal remains specialist.

Who or what sparked your enthusiasm for the subject?

The combination of the crusades being an interesting topic and that few other people were studying health and disease in the crusades. That meant there was plenty of material available for me to study.

Education

Please provide details of your Higher Education, including dates, institution(s) and the name(s) of your research supervisors.

  • 1988-95 Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School 
    MB BS (medical degree)
  • 1991 King’s College, University of London                                                                                              
    BSc (Hons) in Nutrition and Basic Medical Sciences.
  • 1992 University College, University of London                                                                                         
    MSc in The Archaeology and Ancient History of Disease.
  • 2002 University of London                                                                                                                     
    Doctorate (MD) entitled Trauma and Surgery in the Crusades.
    Supervised by Professor Vivian Nutton, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at UCL
  • 2005 Imperial College London.                                                                                                                Certificate of Advanced Study in Learning and Teaching.
  • 2006 Royal College of Surgeons of England                                                                                          
    FRCS (Tr and Orth) (specialist surgical exams)

Career History

Please provide details of your academic career history, including confirmation of your current institutional affiliation and contact details.

2003-2008 Lecturer, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London. 

1996-2002 Research Fellow, Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, UCL.

Influences and Methodologies

What ideas and/or methodologies have informed your approach to your research?

1) Combining evidence from archaeology and written texts to investigate the same hypotheses, and 2) comparing specific aspects of life in the Latin East with other populations in the eastern Mediterranean and Europe.

Research Outlook

What do you consider to be the most important avenues for future research in the field of crusader studies?

The archaeological excavation of crusader sites. There are only a limited number of new manuscripts likely to be discovered, but thousands of crusader sites to excavate.

Research Output

Please provide details of your research output, including publications and other media as appropriate.

  • Mitchell, PD, Tepper, Y (2007) Intestinal parasitic worm eggs from a crusader period cesspool in the city of Acre (Israel). Levant 39: 91-5.
  • Mitchell, PD, Millard, AR (2007) Migration in the crusades to the medieval Middle East. British Academy Review 10: 24-5.
  • Mitchell, PD Challenges in the study of health and disease in the crusaders. In: Faces from the Past: Diachronic Patterns in the Biology and Health Status of Human Populations of the Eastern Mediterranean. Ed M Faerman, LK Horwitz, T Kahana, U Zilberman. BAR international series 1603. Oxford: Archaeopress, 2007 p 205-12.
  • Mitchell, PD, Nagar, Y, Ellenblum, R (2006) Weapon injuries in the 12th century crusader garrison of Vadum Iacob castle, Galilee. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 16 (2): 145-55.
  • Mitchell, PD (2006) Child health in the crusader period inhabitants of Tel Jezreel, Israel. Levant 38: 37-44.
  • Mitchell, PD (2006) Trauma in the crusader period city of Caesarea: a major port in the medieval eastern Mediterranean. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 16: 493-505.
  • Mitchell, PD The infirmaries of the Order of the Temple in the medieval kingdom of Jerusalem. In: The Medieval Hospital and Medical Practice: Bridging the Evidence. Ed B Bowers. Aldershot: Ashgate 2006 p 225-34.
  • Mitchell, PD The torture of military captives during the crusades to the medieval Middle East. In: Noble Ideals and Bloody Realities: Warfare in the Middle Ages, 378-1492. Ed N Christie and M Yazigi. Leiden: EJ Brill 2006 p 97-118.
  • Mitchell, PD Disease. Encyclopedia of the Crusades. Ed AV Murray. 4 vols Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2006, vol 2, p 358-60.
  • Mitchell, PD Warfare Injuries. Encyclopedia of the Crusades. Ed AV Murray. 4 vols Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2006, vol 4, p 1254-5.
  • Mitchell, PD Medicine in the Crusades: Warfare, Wounds and the Medieval Surgeon. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2004.
  • Mitchell, PD (2004) The palaeopathology of skulls recovered from a medieval cave cemetery at Safed, Israel (thirteenth to seventeenth century). Levant 36: 243-50.
  • Mitchell, PD Evidence for elective surgery in the Frankish states of the near east in the crusader period (12th-13th centuries). In: Gesundheit–Krankheit: Kulturtransfer Medizinischen Wissens von der Spätantike bis in die Frühe Neuzeit. Ed KP Jankrift and F Steger. Cologne: Böhlau-Verlag 2004, pp 121-38.
  • Mitchell, PD (2003) Pre-Columbian treponemal disease from 14th century AD Safed, Israel and the implications for the medieval eastern Mediterranean. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 121(2): 117-24.
  • Mitchell, PD The myth of the spread of leprosy with the crusades. In: The Past and Present of Leprosy. C Roberts, K Manchester, M Lewis (eds). Oxford: Archaeopress. 2002 pp 175-81.
  • Mitchell, PD, Stern, E Parasitic intestinal helminth ova from the latrines of the 13th century crusader hospital of St John in Acre, Israel. In: Proceedings of the XIIIth European Meeting of the Paleopathology Association, Chieti Italy. Ed M La Verghetta, L Capasso. Teramo: Edigrafital S.p.A. 2001 pp 207-13.
  • Mitchell, PD An evaluation of the leprosy of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem in the context of the mediaeval world. Appendix in: B Hamilton, The Leper King and his Heirs: Baldwin IV and the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2000 pp 245-58.
  • Mitchell, PD (2000) The evolution of social attitudes to the medical care of those with leprosy within the Crusader States. In: Lépreux et Sociabilité du Moyen Âge et Temps Modernes. Ed B Tabuteax. Cahiers du GRHIS series no 11, Rouen: University of Rouen, p 21-8.
  • Mitchell, PD (1999) The integration of the palaeopathology and medical history of the crusades. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology  9(5): 333-343.
  • Mitchell, PD Tuberculosis in the crusades. In: Tuberculosis: Past and Present  ed G Palfi, O Dutour, J Deak, I Hutas. Golden Book-TB Foundation: Budapest-Szeged, Hungary  1999 p 43-9.
  • Mitchell, PD The archaeological approach to the study of disease in the Crusader States, as employed at Le Petit Gérin. In: The Military Orders. Volume 2. Welfare and Warfare   ed H Nicholson. Ashgate: Aldershot 1998 pp 43-50.
  • Mitchell, PD (1997) Further evidence of disease in the Crusader Period population of Le Petit Gérin  (Tel Jezreel, Israel)  Tel Aviv   24(1): 169-79.
  • Mitchell, PD (1994) Pathology in the Crusader Period: human skeletal remains from Tel Jezreel  Levant   26: 67-71.
  • Mitchell, PD (1993) Leprosy and the case of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem: mycobacterial disease in the Crusader States of the 12th and 13th centuries. International Journal of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases  61(2): 283-91.

Publications in Press

  • Mitchell, PD, Stern, E, Tepper, Y Dysentery in the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem: an ELISA analysis of two medieval latrines in the city of Acre (Israel). Journal of Archaeological Science (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD The spread of disease with the crusades. In: Between Text and Patient: The Medical Enterprise in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Ed B Nance and EF Glaze. Aldershot: Ashgate (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD Military Medicine. Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. Ed RE Bjork. Oxford: Oxford University Press (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD, Huntley, J, Sterns, E Bioarchaeological analysis of the 13th century latrines of the crusader hospital of St John at Acre, Israel. In: Zajac, W (ed) The Military Orders: volume 3. Their History and Heritage. Aldershot: Ashgate (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD Combining palaeopathological and historical evidence for health in the crusades. In: Smith M, and Brickley, M (eds) Proceedings of the 8th Conference of the British Association for Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology. Oxford: Archaeopress (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD Contrasts in the standard of health in different communities in the medieval Kingdom of Jerusalem. In: Upton-Ward, J (ed) The Military Orders: volume 4. On Land and by Sea. Aldershot: Ashgate (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD Medical and nursing care. In: Reich, WT, and Riley-Smith, JSC (eds) Chivalry, Honor and Care. Washington: Georgetwon University Press (accepted).
  • Mitchell, PD Medical treatment. Medieval Warfare and Military Technology: an Encyclopedia. Ed C Rogers. Oxford: Oxford University Press (accepted).
  • Syon, D, Stern, E, Mitchell, PD Water installations at Crusader ‘Akko. ‘Atiqot (accepted).

 

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