Religious Healing

Medical knowledge of the day was inadequate for solving many
health problems, so healing through prayer and divination seemed
like a logical option. Since physicians and healers could be expensive
and were not available in some communities, faith healing
offered advantages. Anyone could pray for help at any time, and
every community had religious leaders to whom they could turn
for this type of healing.

Medieval Hospitals

Hospitals in medieval times were not really hospitals in the modern sense of the word. While some offered minor medical care, they were primarily created to offer food and shelter to travelers (“hospital” is derived from the Latin word hospes, which means guest or foreigner). Religious entities were the primary sponsors of
these facilities. A Christian organization, the Knights Hospitaller (later known as the Knights of Malta), established many hospitals during the 12th century in areas through which people traveled on the Crusades so that soldiers and pilgrims would have a place to rest and get food. Over time, the Knights of Malta began to expand its offerings, establishing facilities elsewhere in Europe.

Other Healers: Apothecaries

Healers tended to rely on herbs and common ingredients that
they could grow or easily gather. More advanced medical professionals
often requested ingredients that had to be imported,
and for which they turned to apothecaries, the forerunner of
today’s pharmacist. Apothecaries always maintained full stocks
of the more popular herbal cures and spices, such as saffron,
"background made him attractive enough that he was invited
to base himself in Italy at the Schola Medica Salernitana
(Salerno). Many of the works of Greek and Roman philosophers
and physicians, including Galen and Hippocrates, had
been preserved by the Islamic countries and translated into
Arabic.

“The Articella” as a Basis for University Teaching

The Eastern Roman Empire preserved a good number of medical texts from Greek and Roman times, where they had been rewritten in Arabic in order to make them more widely available throughout the Islamic Empire.

University-Trained Physicians and Others Who Learned from Books

The creation of medical training programs in a university setting
was one of the most important developments in medicine
during the Middle Ages, and the men who trained at universities
became the elite of the medical profession. The university movement
began in the 12th century with the founding of universities
in Paris (1150), Bologna (1158), Oxford (1167), Montpellier (1181),
and Padua (1222). In Oxford and Paris, medical instruction was
informal at first. By the 15th century (1436), Padua had become
the most highly respected of the medical schools, with fifteen medical
professors.

Religious Leaders as Healers

Medieval people were taught that some illnesses were sent by God
to punish individuals or communities, and therefore, it only made
sense to turn to church leaders for help. While the medical background
and methodology of priests varied greatly, these religious
leaders offered great comfort to many who were ailing.