OF SIX MEDLEVAL WOMEN 



famous in the Middle Ages, and ask of her 

 kinswoman there, who was well practised in 

 medicine, a draught to give him the needful 

 strength for his task. Returned with this 

 potion, he makes the attempt, but so great is his 

 desire to reach the goal quickly, that he will 

 not slacken his speed to drink from the phial 

 carried by his Love, but hastens forward, only 

 to fall dead as he reaches the summit of the 

 hill. 



ninth century, when the names of certain Salerno physicians appear 

 in the archives, that we get any definite information with regard 

 to it. It seems to have been a purely secular institution, but it is 

 quite possible that its development was aided by the Benedictines, 

 who became established there in the seventh century, and who 

 made medical science one of their principal studies. Before the 

 middle of the eleventh century there were many women there 

 who either practised medicine or acted as professors of the science, 

 and some of the latter even combined surgery with medicine in 

 their teaching and treatises. These women doctors were much 

 sought after by the sick, and were much esteemed by their brother- 

 professionals, who cited them as authorities. That the sexes were 

 on an equal footing we infer from the fact that the title of " master" 

 (Magister) was applied to men and women alike, the term "doctor" 

 not having come into use, apparently, before the thirteenth 

 century. Besides the general practitioners and the professors, 

 there were others who fitted themselves specially for military 

 service, as well as priests who added medical knowledge to their 

 holy calling. The teaching followed that of Hippocrates and Galen, 

 and the Salerno school was world-renowned in the art of drug 

 preparation. In the thirteenth century, however, Arab medical 

 writings began to be known in Europe through Latin translations, 

 and Arab practice in medicine, though based on Greek teaching, 

 initiated a new departure. As a result of this, the glory of Salerno 

 waned. Another cause of its decline in fame and popularity was 

 the founding by the Emperor Frederick the Second of a school of 

 medicine at Naples, which he richly endowed, and the rise, un- 

 encumbered by old traditions for medicine, like scholasticism, 

 could be hampered by dialectical subtlety of the school of 

 Montpelier. 



44 



