What Was A Medieval Doctor?

Most people thought of as medics in the 11th or 12th century were not dedicated solely to medicine. They dabbled in it, along with a range of other jobs they had to undertake. Put another way, the great thinkers of the day who claimed some kind of expertise in medicine (the learned scholars who were often priests or monks) would dabble in medical stuff but it wasn’t their day job. However it should be stressed that at this stage in the mid medieval period there were many other people providing basic medical services, not just a few of the more educated members of society.

There was no formal medical training and whilst the wealthy would have been attended to by learned scholars or members of the clergy who were thought to have medical expertise, the ordinary people would have had to rely on the local ‘healer’ who had developed a reputation as an expert, who may well also have had a variety of other non medical jobs in order to make ends meet. There are even records of serfs providing medical services and serfs were pretty much the lowest rung on society’s ladder. These local healers were most likely to be known as a medicus rather than a physician as the latter implied formal medical training after the 14th century.

Gradually over the centuries people offering occasional medical help began to specialise more and more until it became their full time job i.e. the idea of a doctor, whose sole profession was curing people, came into existence in the late medieval period. As the first formal medical training was offered at Universities from the 14th century onwards, so the idea of being a doctor, or as they were called then, a physician, was born. Similarly as the centuries progressed, surgeons would gradually drop the other jobs they might previously have done like barber or often an ironmonger, to specialise only in surgery.

Those wealthy enough to be able to afford a University education after the 14th century would have been referred to as physicians and have tended to treat the wealthier members of society who could afford their fees. But the majority would either have been self taught or more likely, have learnt basic medical training as an apprentice to a master surgeon or physician who passed down their knowledge.

The earliest doctors were not known as doctors or physicians. People providing medical services were referred to as a ‘medicus’ i.e. a medic. After the 14th century those who attended University and were medically trained tended to be known as physicians, that is why this book will refer to formally trained medical practicioners as physicians for the first half of the book. It was not until the 18th century that medical professionals began to use the title of Doctor.