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.

folK heAlerS

In the early part of the medieval period, folk healers were all that
existed to help anyone who was sick or injured. The term empiric
was used as a pejorative by some during the Middle Ages when
referring to folk healers; while the word generally is used to describe
methodology based on experience, it was used by medieval physicians
to describe those who practiced using skills honed through
experience, but without regard to the science or “deep insight” into
the problem. Empirics made up the largest group of health providers
in medieval Europe, and both men and women were included.
Some of these empirics were generalists; others specialized in one
type of care or another. (Midwives, discussed in chapter 5, would
have been included in this category.) Their approaches to treatment
varied widely, from fi rst-aid measures (simple cleaning and bandaging)
to the use of medicinal herbs or prayers and magic.

Medieval healers and hospitals

During the Middle Ages, basic health care and any curative treatments were primarily managed at home by family members, but when needed, outside help was sought. Early on, there was neither a controlling medical elite nor any particular standard for those who practiced healing. Most healers combined their work
with another profession, and few were actually trained in any form of medicine. University training for physicians began to be available to a very few starting in the 12th century.

The Important Science of Gardening

After the collapse of Rome, city life throughout the Roman Empire
broke down and was replaced by a feudal society, with castles
and a ruling class that oppressed the peasant class. Agricultural
life dominated, but Roman farming methods were less effective
in northern Europe where the soil was less fertile and the climate
undependable.