Women, Medicine, and the Inquisition: What History Really Shows

 


Women, Medicine, and the Inquisition: What History Really Shows

For centuries, a powerful story has circulated: that the Inquisition hunted down women healers, burned all female doctors, and wiped out ancient sacred knowledge held only by women.
This story carries deep pain and parts of it are rooted in real historical suffering. But much of it has also been simplified, exaggerated, or mixed with myth.

To understand what truly happened, we must separate documented history from later symbolism. The truth is less mystical but no less tragic.

Women and Medicine Before the Inquisition

In medieval Europe, women were deeply involved in healthcare, especially at the community level.

Women served as midwives, herbal healers, caregivers, and nurses.

They treated wounds, childbirth complications, fevers, and everyday illnesses.

Much medical knowledge was passed orally, from mother to daughter.

However, it is not accurate to say women dominated all branches of medicine.
Universities where advanced medical theory was taught were largely closed to women. Learned physicians were mostly male, trained in Latin medical texts.

Still, women were essential to practical medicine, especially among the poor. 

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The Inquisition and the Myth of Mass Female Extermination

One of the most common claims is that the Inquisition systematically burned women healers to eliminate their knowledge.

Historical records do not support this claim.

Here is what the evidence shows:

The Inquisition (from the 13th century onward) primarily targeted heresy, not medicine.

The major witch hunts happened later, mostly between 1450 and 1650, and were often carried out by secular courts, not the Inquisition.

Both women and men were accused of witchcraft, though women made up the majority (about 70–80%).

Some villages suffered severe losses, but there is no verified evidence that entire communities were emptied of all women.

Were Women Burned for Medical Knowledge?

Sometimes but not usually for that reason alone.

Women could be accused if:

Their healing failed and a patient died

They challenged male doctors

They were socially isolated, poor, or outspoken

They were linked to superstition rather than accepted religious practice

Herbal knowledge itself was not illegal. Many monasteries and churches used medicinal plants.
But when healing was associated with magic, charms, or non-Christian rituals, it became dangerous.

In short:
Women were not burned because they healed but healing could make them visible, vulnerable, and suspect.

Education and Exclusion: A Real Historical Shift

What did happen and this is well documented is a gradual removal of women from formal power and learning.

Medical licensing became controlled by male-dominated institutions.

Universities excluded women for centuries.

Religious authority became centralized under male clergy.

Midwives were increasingly regulated, monitored, and punished.

This process did not require mass executions.
It worked through laws, exclusions, and professional barriers.

By the early modern period, women were pushed out of recognized medicine not by fire alone, but by systematic marginalization.

High Priestesses, Serpents, and Sacred Knowledge: History vs Symbol

Claims about universal female High Priestesses, serpent temples, and ancient initiations belong more to symbolic or spiritual traditions than to verifiable history.

There is:

No archaeological or textual evidence of a Europe-wide female priesthood exterminated by the Church

No proof that serpent religions were directly copied into Christianity in the way often claimed

However, symbols like snakes, healing, and female wisdom are ancient and widespread across cultures.
They reflect how later generations tried to make sense of loss and exclusion, not necessarily what happened in one unified campaign.

Torture, Fear, and Control

Torture was real.
Executions were real.
False confessions were extracted.
Fear ruled many communities.

But history shows complex causes:

Religious anxiety

Social instability

Plagues and famine

Gender expectations

Legal systems seeking scapegoats

Reducing this tragedy to a single gender war oversimplifies and weakens the real lesson.

Women in Medicine Today: A Return, Not a Revenge

Women becoming doctors again is not a recent miracle, but a slow correction.

Women re-entered universities in the 19th and 20th centuries

Today, in many countries, women make up over half of medical students

This is not a recovery of lost mystical power but the reclaiming of rights once denied.

Why This History Still Matters

The danger of the witch hunts was not women’s knowledge.
It was fear mixed with authority, and belief mixed with power.

When societies:

Silence healers

Punish difference

Restrict education

Turn belief into law

History shows who suffers first.

Remembering the truth without exaggeration honors the real victims far more than myth ever could.

Sources & Historical Basis

Brian Levack, The Witch-Hunt in Early Modern Europe

Lyndal Roper, Witch Craze

Monica Green, medieval women and medicine studies

European court and Inquisition records (14th–17th centuries)


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