The Historical Mystery From 1200’s Absolutely Needs An Autopsy
Autopsies By the Area
I might have mentioned that the world is a big place, and anyone who claimed that ‘back in the days’ a uniform thing happened is full of the nonsense. Nowhere is this more true than in the case of whether an autopsy would be performed.
While English folks were squeamish about calling in medical professionals or to even hold autopsies for centuries, Continental Europe was all about them. There were places that mandated that doctors report a suspicious death to authorities, and physicians were the go-to forensic expert called in cases of suspected murder.
Italy was particularly gung-ho about autopsies because authorities there believed that the soul immediately departed after death. Northern Europe was less eager because they thought the soul left gradually with decomposition. An autopsy might mess that up.
However, they were still keen to call on doctors to observe the body and testify to what they found.
The country that systematized the forensics field was China. Famously, Song Ci wrote the definitive book on performing autopsies around 1250 AD. He even did some Body Farm-style descriptions of how bodies decomposed.
Autopsies Go Way Back
The earliest recorded autopsies could be from the 3rd millennium BC. The Greeks were hot to record what they knew about it and the Romans copied their methods. Even Julius Ceasar was subjected to an autopsy after he was assassinated in 44 BC.
These are important considerations when writing your historical mystery.