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Limitations:
» Religious beliefs, lack of scientific knowledge, and virtually no training of traditional medical practice were just some of the factors that limited medieval medicine. The Bible taught that God made man in image of himself, so the church severly frowned upon autopsies and dissections of the human body. Another belief was that sickness was god punishing a person for a sin they had commited. Instead of medicine, people looked for the touch of royalty to cure thir sickness. The medical knowledge that did exist was based solely on the learnings of the ancient Greeks, like Hippocrates, and what they believed the human body to be like, not scientific proof. The existence of germs and the need for a healthy diet were far-off concepts to the medieval practitioner. These factors lead to a high infant mortality rate. Unknowingly, the doctor would become infected from the patient through airborne contagions. Amazingly, the medieval doctor was still able to perform complicated operations.
Quasi-surgeons:
» Pain killers had not yet been developed, and the doctor mostly did not was his hands. It was astonishing that the any patient not only survived his sickness, but the 'cure' for it too. However, international trade routes were bieng developed, which made medical information much more accessible. Institutes like the Faculty of Medicine in Paris or The School of Salerno appeared to have internship-like training, doctors picking up information as they went. Barbers sometimes used their knowledge of precision cutting to perform surgeon-like operations on people. Magic also had it's part in medieval medicine. Home made remedies and spells were common 'medical' practice.