ABSTRACT

During her brief public life, Joan of Arc was treated by members of several health professions: barbers, surgeons, doctors, and matrons. A study of the situations under which she was examined and treated by these diverse professionals is revealing. Not only does it show early uses of some contemporary medical practices but, more important, it illustrates how the four professions either overlapped or were clearly delineated during this period. Doctors and surgeons, for example, were trained in different schools; their practices and even their social positions were different. Long before Joan of Arc's interaction with them , the roles of these professionals had undergone an intricate evolution. The records of Joan of Arc's three trials—Poitiers, the condemnation, and the nullification—reveal some aspects of contemporary medical practice.