s certain that St.
Hildegarde knew many things that were unknown to the physicians of her
time."

When such books were read and widely copied, it shows that there was an
interest in practical and scientific medicine among women in Germany
much greater than is usually thought to have existed at this time. Such
writers, though geniuses, and standing above their contemporaries,
usually represent the spirit of their times and make it clear that
definite knowledge of things medical was considered of value. The
convents and monasteries of this time are often thought of by those who
know least about them as little interested in anything except their own
ease and certain superstitious practices. As a matter of fact, they
cared for their estates, and especially for the peasantry on them, they
provided lodging and food for travellers, they took care of the ailing
of their neighborhood, and, besides, occupied themselves with many
phases of the intellectual life. It was a well-known tradition that
country people who lived in the neighborhood of convents and
monasteries, and especially those who had monks and nuns for their
landlords, were much happier and were much better taken care of than the
tenantry of other estates. For this a cultivation of medical knowledge
was necessary in certain, at least, of the members of the religious
orders, and such books as Hildegarde's are the evidence that not only
the knowledge existed, but that it was collected and written down, and
widely disseminated.

Nicaise, in the introduction to his edition of Guy de Chauliac's
"Grande Chirurgie," reviews briefly the history of women in medicine,
and concludes:

"Women continued to practise medicine in Italy for centuries,
and the names of some who attained great renown have been
preserved for us. Their works are still quoted from in the
fifteenth century.

"There was none of them in France who became distinguished,
but women could practise medicine in certain towns at least on
condition of passing an examination before regularly appointed
masters. An edict of 1311, at the same time that it interdicts
unauthorized women from practising surgery, recognizes their
right to practise the art if they have undergone an
examination before the regularly appointed master surgeons of
the corporation of Paris. An edict of King John, April, 1352,
contains the same expressions as the previous edict.