Healers

• People in the Middle Ages required treatment when they became sick
• The help available for treatment in medieval times largely depended on wealth and location
• Physicians in medieval times were what we would call doctors today
• Physicians were trained at University Medical School for seven years
• Physicians were influenced by ancient doctors like Hippocrates and Galen, as well as Islamic doctors like IBN Cena and al-razzi
• Physicians used a handbook of diagnosis called a Vada maker, the four humors, urine charts, and astrology in diagnosis and treatment
• Physicians were very expensive and only the very richest could afford them
• Physicians based their ideas about illness on the ancient ideas of Hippocrates and Galen, including the theory of the four humors
• Physicians regularly performed bloodletting using cuts and leeches
• Physicians used laxatives, enemas, blistering, and purgatives to balance the humors in the body
• Physicians used the theory of the Opposites, such as using hot ingredients to treat chills
• Despite being the most expensive, physicians were not necessarily the most effective healers
• Apothecaries in medieval times were trained in herbs and medicines but had no medical qualifications
• Apothecaries mixed ingredients to produce medicines for physicians and also made their own mixtures
• Barber surgeons in medieval times were not trained or respected by physicians
• Barber surgeons could perform basic surgery, pull out teeth, let blood, remove tumors, and provide hair and beard trims
• Services provided by Barbers in the past

  • Bloodletting
  • Tumor removal
  • Hair and beard trims
  • Basic surgery such as amputating limbs
• Success of basic surgery like amputations in the past was not guaranteed
• Low success rate for surgery in the past, about 50% was the best hope for any sort of amputation
• Barber surgeons were the cheapest surgery available in the past, mostly available in towns
• The pole displayed outside modern-day Barbershops is of Medieval origin, representing the bloody bandages of the Barbers' work
• Wise Women were accessible healers in the past, often helping with childbirth and using herbal remedies and charms
• Quacks became more prominent in the Renaissance period, offering cure-all remedies, often untrained and unqualified
• Physicians in the past were qualified doctors, based treatments on the work of Hippocrates, Galen, and others
• Apothecaries prepared various medicines of varying effectiveness in the past
• Barber surgeons performed basic surgery in the past, with more ambitious procedures being very risky
• Most people in the Middle Ages relied on remedies at home, with women often taking on the role of healers
• Paying for treatment in the past did not necessarily make it more effective, sometimes the opposite was true
• Barber surgeons performed basic surgery


  More ambitious procedures like amputations were very risky
• Quacks offered cure-all remedies

  Often untrained and unqualified
• Quacks were cheaper than physicians


  People might resort to them if they couldn't afford better options
• Most people relied on remedies at home

  Women often had the role of healers, using skills and treatments passed down through generations