The medieval English surgeon was subject to a huge variety of cultural perceptions, ranging from that of pitiless butcher to sanctified healer. The bloody craft of surgery served as a uniquely encompassing metaphor for later medieval Christian identity, as defined by the urgent struggle between damnation and salvation articulated so vividly in Middle English poetry and prose. Citrome employs a variety of critical approaches to explain how surgical metaphors became an important tool of ecclesiastical power in the wake of the Fourth Lateran Council of 1215. Pastoral, theological, recreational, and medical writings are among the texts discussed in this wide-ranging study.