Apothecaries Crafts

Text

The apothecary prepared medicines according to carefully studied prescriptions that were passed down through generations. It was one of the few professions that were not organized into guilds.
Making medicines was a difficult job and carried a lot of responsibility. An apothecary had to be university-educated and knowledgeable not only in Latin but also in Greek, and had to be able to carefully measure exact doses of medicines and ensure that ingredients were always available.
If there was no apothecary in town, a monastic hospital would be available. And if neither was available, people would use the services of wise women, folk herbalists, and lay healers or ointment makers, who were called charlatans. Their methods of treatment were controversial because, in addition to making elixirs and ointments, they used not only herbs but also spells, amulets, and sometimes very unusual ingredients such as “frog venom” or “a hanged man’s finger.”

Artwork