Henry Daniel, fourteenth-century medical writer, Dominican friar, and contemporary of Chaucer, is one of the most neglected figures to whom we can attribute a substantial body of extant works in Middle English. His Liber Uricrisiarum, the earliest known medical text in Middle English, synthesizes authoritative traditions into a new diagnostic encyclopedia characterized by its stylistic verve and intellectual scope. Drawing on expertise from a range of scholars, this volume examines Daniel’s capacious works and demonstrates their significance to many scholarly conversations, including the history of late medieval medicine. It explains the background for Daniel’s uroscopic and herbal work, describes all known versions of the Liber Uricrisiarum and traces revisions over time, analyses Daniel’s representations of his own medical practice, and demonstrates his influence on later medical and literary writers. Both a companion to the recently published reading edition of the Liber Uricrisiarum and a work of original scholarship in its own right, this collection promotes a wider understanding of Daniel’s texts and prompts new discoveries about their importance.

Henry Daniel’s Liber Uricrisiarum is the earliest known work of academic medicine written in Middle English, presented here for the first time in a complete edition. Working in the late 1370s, Daniel combined authoritative medicine from written sources with his own personal experience, creating a text that stands out for its linguistic originality, intellectual scope, and wide circulation. Extant in over three dozen manuscript witnesses and two early modern print copies, Liber Uricrisiarum describes medieval humoral theory, anatomy, physiology, disease, medical astronomy, reproductive processes, and more, all within the broader context of uroscopic diagnosis. The introduction situates the text and its author in their medical, intellectual, linguistic, and bibliographic contexts, outlining the uroscopic tradition to which Daniel contributes, and describing the relationships among the many manuscripts containing the Liber Uricrisiarum. This edition presents the Middle English text, with a general glossary, glossary of proper names, and explanatory notes that explain obscure words and phrases and identify Daniel’s sources. It also includes the complete set of diagrams contained in the Royal manuscript; appendices providing the Latin and English versions of the prologue and epilogue; an extensive translation from one of Daniel’s important sources, Isaac Israeli’s De urinis; tables relevant to Daniel’s astronomical measurements; and an analysis of the Royal manuscript’s dialect. Cumulatively, the edition and apparatus introduce readers to an important yet understudied text, the details of which will have significant impact on studies of medieval medicine and science, intellectual history, and Middle English language and literature.

Many years ago, a book of fiction was written by a man named Barrie. Many, in fact most, of those who know the story of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy, Hook and the Lost Boys in Neverland have not read this novel. They have probably seen the bastardization of the Barrie story by Disney or seen a similar concoction performed live or on television. It's a shame is all. The Barrie story is dark and creepy. In just the the first few pages Barrie talks of Wendy's mother drawing pictures of babies with no faces. He recounts of how the parents of Michael and John added up the expenses of each newborn to see if they would keep them. He even hinted that Wendy's mother had actually known Peter Pan as a child. Barrie wrote she "just remembered a Peter Pan who was said to live with the fairies. There were odd stories about him, as that when children died he went part of the way with them, so that they should not be frightened. She had believed in him at the time, but now that she was married and full of sense she quite doubted whether he was real." He describes Neverland as an alternate universe which is exactly what it is. He describes it: "Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and there, and coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and a hut fast going to decay, and one very small old lady with a hooked nose." This sounds wonderful on the surface but Barrie didn't know the rest. It is an island, but one that is just slightly out of synch with our world as to make it invisible. And savages, indeed. They are the "lost boys" upon whom Peter's magic does not work, banished to live alone and grow old, outfitted in the special clothing provided by the Tailor Gnomes. Peter tells the ageless Lost Boys the others are Indians and Pirates and there will be many adventures with them. The old lady with a hooked nose has a secret, a dark and deadly secret. Yes, Barrie could only tell his story as fiction but he knew, he knew Peter was real. Nothing has changed. Young boys still go missing, you read the news reports and think could so many disappear and never be heard from or seen again and not a clue to go on. Neverland. Of course, you probably want to hear the whole story now. What happened after Hook died ? Why did TinkerBell leave Peter ? How, and why, is it that Wendy's great grandchild (also named Wendy), ended up with Peter. How does this story end ? Oh yes, there is a battle brewing.

Course language and inappropriate situations have been deleted for young and sensitive readers. Many years ago, a book of fiction was written by a man named Barrie. Many, in fact most, of those who know the story of Peter Pan, Tinker Bell, Wendy, Hook and the Lost Boys in Neverland have not read this novel. They have probably seen the bastardization of the Barrie story by Disney or seen a similar concoction performed live or on television. It's a shame is all. The Barrie story is dark and creepy. In just the the first few pages Barrie talks of Wendy's mother drawing pictures of babies with no faces. He recounts of how the parents of Michael and John added up the expenses of each newborn to see if they would keep them. He even hinted that Wendy's mother had actually known Peter Pan as a child. Barrie wrote she "just remembered a Peter Pan who was said to live with the fairies. There were odd stories about him, as that when children died he went part of the way with them, so that they should not be frightened. She had believed in him at the time, but now that she was married and full of sense she quite doubted whether he was real." He describes Neverland as an alternate universe which is exactly what it is. He describes it: "Neverland is always more or less an island, with astonishing splashes of colour here and there, and coral reefs and rakish-looking craft in the offing, and savages and lonely lairs, and gnomes who are mostly tailors, and caves through which a river runs, and princes with six elder brothers, and a hut fast going to decay, and one very small old lady with a hooked nose." This sounds wonderful on the surface but Barrie didn't know the rest. It is an island, but one that is just slightly out of synch with our world as to make it invisible. And savages, indeed. They are the "lost boys" upon whom Peter's magic does not work, banished to live alone and grow old, outfitted in the special clothing provided by the Tailor Gnomes. Peter tells the ageless Lost Boys the others are Indians and Pirates and there will be many adventures with them. The old lady with a hooked nose has a secret, a dark and deadly secret. Yes, Barrie could only tell his story as fiction but he knew, he knew Peter was real. Nothing has changed. Young boys still go missing, you read the news reports and think could so many disappear and never be heard from or seen again and not a clue to go on. Neverland. Of course, you probably want to hear the whole story now. What happened after Hook died ? Why did TinkerBell leave Peter ? How, and why, is it that Wendy's great grandchild (also named Wendy), ended up with Peter. How does this story end ? Oh yes, there is a battle brewing.