Eastern medicine
If the health situation in Medieval Europe was disappointing, then maybe the situation in the East was better? Indeed, adherents of Indian, Chinese, Tibetan and Philippine medicine today undertake to treat many diseases, preferring those that are powerless before the "official" medicine.
Adepts lie. Why should their "traditional" methods work now if they did not work in the past when tradition developed? And then they didn't work. It's a fact. Life expectancy in Asia was even lower than in Europe. Shilajit and acupuncture helped Tibetan monks no more than fasting and prayer helped their European brethren. And more than one Chinese Emperor, who wanted to live forever, died in agony from mercury " tablets of immortality."
Medicine in the Middle Ages
After the collapse of the ancient civilization, the practice of creating sanitary units remained for some time for the Franks and Byzantines. And the latter even had equestrian attendants - despotati. Following the wave of attackers, they tried to pick up the soldiers fallen out of the saddle, before the second line of cavalry trampled them. For each saved despotati was awarded a prize.
But with the establishment of the feudal system, the medics disappeared from the stage for a long time. Only a knight leading his own detachment - a "spear" - could count on the help of the squire. What was it that he was given at the slightest opportunity not so much out of devotion as because the salvation of the master (or at least his body) was considered a plausible excuse to get out of battle. But, of course, the knight himself had no right to leave the suzerain or even weaken the spear by sending one of the servants to help the squire or the knight.
In the camp, the wounded man could have hoped for the help of a barber. Those who had no money for treatment were paid by suzerains or comrades. Later, in the hired armies, the wounded were paid compensation from the general treasury of the regiment.
But the barber could not do so much. Blood was sucked from stab wounds. Stuck arrowheads were removed with a knife. The chopped and lacerated wounds were washed with wine and their edges were sewn together. Skin and muscle fragments were cut off without blood supply. And that's all. Damage to the internal organs the barber did not heal.
In the case of fractures, the bones were set and fixed. Naturally, this only applied to the simplest cases. If the bone was crushed, the barber could not do anything. In general, medieval European surgeons were inferior in skill to their colleagues from ancient Greece, India, Egypt, and Peru. They could not remove cataracts and trepanation of the skull. This is not surprising, because most of the time they performed the duties of hairdressers and bath attendants.
Elixirs bought from the sorcerers should have helped the warrior to recover from the wound. The sorcerers persecuted by the church in the Christian army offered their potions "from under the floor". But in abundance and inexpensive. The main thing, however, is that their medications were really useful to some extent. For, contrary to rumors, fly agaric flies, dried spiders and bat droppings were not included in their composition. Most of the sorcerers sold strong wine, which was based on aromatic herbs.
The wounded person could also purchase medical amulets: prohibited from witch doctors and allowed from monks. The latter, however, was affordable for a few. After all, they allegedly contained a hair, a nail, a bone particle or a tooth of one of the saints. Therefore, the price of the relics automatically included the cost of indulgence for perjury in the price of the relic. For myself.
Having received help in the above-mentioned volume, the wounded man tried to return home to lie down there. But the possibility of this was not always there. The transport was bad, the roads were unsafe, and not all of the wounded were able to travel in a saddle or cart. These poor people had hospitals at their disposal - both stationary ones, usually at monasteries, and field hospitals, also served by monks. There were at least some conditions to gain strength.
The medieval monastery hospital differed from the Roman Jackudinarium in three respects. First, there was no swimming pool or bathtub. As, however, there were no other conditions to maintain purity. On the contrary, the hospital also served as a haven for beggars and tramps, making it a breeding ground for diseases and parasites.
Second of all, there was no treatment. At all. The monks were forbidden to shed blood, so they could not perform surgeries. Herbal treatment was prohibited. After all, the force of the insistence, as they thought at the time, was given not by the herbs themselves, but by the magic of their collection and spell. The monks only provided shelter, some care, and prayed for the sick.