13. Wounds were a common problem encountered by medieval doctors
Wounds in the medieval period were common, and in the absence of antibiotics, with no knowledge of the causes of infection, were as likely to be fatal as not. Even an infected tooth, also relatively common, could easily be fatal. Although doctors understood the need to clean wounds before bandaging them to prevent further loss of blood, neither the bandages nor the doctor’s hands were likely to be clean. Soap was rare. Vinegar was often used as a cleansing agent for wounds, in the belief that it would help the wound heal more quickly. If there was no vinegar available brine might be substituted. Myrrh, rare and expensive, was another agent used to clean wounds, but only the wounds of the wealthy.
Yarrow, a group of common flowering plants, was used in Greek legends to treat the wounds of soldiers serving with Achilles, (hence the name Achillea for some varieties) and was often resorted to by medieval doctors for the same purpose. Regardless of how any wound was treated, healing was a hit-and-miss proposition. The overwhelming majority of wounds never saw the ministrations of a physician at all, and were instead treated, as they are today, by the sufferer on his or her own, applying whatever remedy was on hand and deemed suitable, and going on about their business.