Midwives Part 3

Midwives worked at their chosen profession with little interference from men throughout most of the medieval era. This may have had to do with various taboos surrounding the "secret" parts of female anatomy. However, as the professionalization of medical practitioners began to advance, the women's role as midwife was ultimately pushed aside. Generally, midwives learned their trade from other women and from personal experiences with childbearing. Men were not allowed to view childbearing. Laws aimed at regulating the professions were eventually imposed from the outside by municipal or ecclesiastical authorities to ensure that infants were not delivered by "charlatans". Given the religious tasks of the midwife described by Sam Thomas, particularly baptism, you can bet these so-called charlatans were non-believers or heretics. The church managed to impose itself on everyone's lives. Brussels, Belgium, was the first town to enact regulations on the functions of midwives in 1424. These restrictions contributed to a reduction in the staus and role of the midwife and a more general degradation of attitudes toward women, particularly those with knowledge and power, at the end of the Middle Ages.