THE MIDDLE AGES

By the ninth century, women's ability to inherit property strengthened their position within the family and influenced society at large. The Carolingian rulers reinforced the church's policy of the indissolubility of marriage, thus protecting women against repudiation for childlessness.
Property and marital security enabled women to play more active roles in the early Middle Ages. From the eleventh century on, however, women's freedoms were steadily restricted, first by the church, and later by lay society. The rise of monarchies strengthened male control of families and increased male opportunities in the public sphere. The rise of courtly love, which simultaneously idealized women as objects of male devotion and drew them from religious devotion to romantic love of men, provided cultural compensation for declining female independence.

The effect of the Crusades on women left behind to fend for themselves was dramatic. The absence of a husband, son or guardian could be as long as 10 years. Then there were the men who never returned. It is reported that in the second and third crusades perhaps 500,000 were lost, a significant drain on the male Christian population.



Health and Medicine

Medical knowledge was very limited during the Middle Ages. No one knew about germs or how disease was spread. In towns, an open sewer ran down the middle of the street and people tossed garbage, dead animals, and human waste into it every day. No one bathed on a regular basis, contributing to skin diseases and further spreading of germs. Illness was surrounded by mystery and superstition. Doctors possessed little real knowledge to help cure people and there were no hospitals for the sick. When someone was sick, their friends and relatives prayed to the Saints to heal them and provided the sick person what comfort was available.
There were many plagues and epidemics in medieval Europe. Many people died very young of illnesses like cholera, dysentery, influenza, measles, and mumps. Leprosy was especially prevalent in Europe, and lepers were shunned wherever they went. The most famous plague was the Bubonic Plague or Black Death, that struck Europe in 1348 and killed 25 million people in one year.
Medical science did make some advances however. At Bologna University, doctors made the first human dissection in an attempt to understand how the body works. Two medical schools, on in Salernum, Italy and one in Montpellier, France, gave serious instruction in medicine, and their graduates were highly trained in the treatment of wounds.