Arabic science

As Achille Luchaire has adeptly argued with respect to the French situation, “the university was a brotherhood almost entirely composed of clerics; masters and students had the tonsure; collectively they constituted a church institution”. Luchaire points out that to perceive them as centres of free-thinking “is a gross error. Universities were ecclesiastical organisations and were organised accordingly”.

Underlying the attempt by university-trained physicians to exclude women—and along with them Jewish and Muslim healers—from the practise of medicine, were sexist and racist theologically based ideologies and a desire among Christian male physicians to stop others, and in particular clinically experienced female healers, encroaching on their territory. (Whaley 2011)

After the Black Death, in 1363, the Cortes de Monzón (Catalan Courts of Aragon) provided an alternative licensing procedure for Jews and Muslims who, like women, were barred from Christian universities. Female Muslim women practitioners practised midwifery, surgery, and general medicine. A Muslim healer named Cahud practised medicine in the royal household of Valencia, while other Muslim women performed surgery in Barcelona. The king ruled that these women could sit an examination set by licensed surgeons and, if they passed it, they were permitted to practise.

A considerable contribution was made by Arab female healers throughout Europe in the Middle Ages—and arguably most of this knowledge came through Spain. Spain had a considerable Muslim as well as Jewish minority population. Jewish physicians, both male and female, made substantial contributions to medicine in the mediaeval period. They became particularly skilled in treating diseases of the eyes and ophthalmology was often their speciality. Indeed, there were many female Jewish doctors who treated diseases of the eyes.

The Jews were also often proficient in many languages—Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew—and thus were able to read and translate a wide range of medical texts. This meant that they tended to be a more educated group of physicians than their Christian counterparts. In spite of their skill and expertise, Jews suffered from persecution and prejudice. (Whaley 2011 22-23) Many women in both Arab and Jewish communities practised medicine in some form, and were not strictly confined to practising within their own communities.