The Role of the Midwife:
A Sixteenth Century Obstetric Text

HAROLD SPEERT
 

Joist A„i,,„f,,          A far crv from modern standards was the ob¬

stetrics of the 16th century. Undreamed of then were asepsis and
anesthesia, to say nothing of blood replacement and antibiotics.
Reserved to females by tradition was the role of birth helper, or
midwife, a calling considered unsuitable for men. Midwives of that
era received little or no education; most were careless, dirty, med¬
dlesome, superstitious, inebriate.

Training for midwives had been instituted by Hippocrates, in
the 5th century B.C., but for several centuries thereafter efforts
to elevate their standards were sporadic and ineffectual. The large
majority remained ignorant of the simple principles of obstetrics.
Formal regulation of midwives was begun in England in the i6th
century, but during this and the ensuing hundred years the main
and often the only qualification certified by the license was the
good character of the recipient.

The first written guide for midwives was produced in the 2nd
century by Soranus (98-138 A.D.), the leading Greek authority
on obstetrics and gynecology during the reign of the emperors
Trajan and Hadrian. Written in Greek, this treatise included chap¬
ters on the female anatomy, menstruation, fertility, signs of preg¬
nancy, antepartum care, labor, the obstetric chair, the newJjorn,
amenorrhea, dysmenorrhea, uterine hemorrhage, and the vaginal

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