Medical Practitioners in Early Modern Wrexham and Cardiff

Abstract

Little is yet known about either the numbers or structure of early modern Welsh medical practitioners, or their broader place within urban life. Through case studies of seventeenth-century Cardiff and Wrexham, this article explores the nature of medical practice in Welsh towns. It argues that even small towns sustained a range of medical occupations and businesses. There were strong links between towns and hinterlands. Despite the lack of medical guilds and companies, training was available through apprenticeship. Welsh practitioners were part of trading networks both within and outside Wales and active in office-holding and urban governance.