Y.E. Berger

University of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences

This article reviews the problems of the status of surgery in Medieval Europe and the model of surgical education in Italy and France. If in Italy the chirurgery was one of the university-taught disciplines, in France during the 12th century, The College of St. Cosmas was established, which prepared highly qualified surgeons. Although this college was in constant confrontation with the University of Paris, some subjects however, such as anatomy for example, were taught in both educational facilities. The surgeons were unable to obtain university education not only due to lack of understanding the Latin language by the majority of them, but also due to the necessity of having practical training, which the medical faculties did not allot sufficient amount of attention. Familiarization with the sources, repudiates the historiographical myth about the ignorance of medieval surgeons: there were more treatises written on surgery than on therapy and pharmacology.

Keywords: chirurgery, history, The College of St. Cosmas, University of Padua, Ambroise Pare