15th-century autopsy. Woodcut of an autopsy, from Chirurgia (surgery), a book written by the German physician Hieronymus Brunschwig (1450-c.1512), and published in Strassburg in 1497. The book describes surgical techniques. Autopsies are dissections carried out to determine a cause of death. Here, a cadaver has been dissected to reveal the abdominal organs. In medieval Europe, the dissection of human bodies was considered a crime by the Catholic Church. It was not until the late 1400s that edicts were issued that allowed medical students to carry out dissections. This allowed greater understanding of human anatomy, and led to great improvements in medical science.