[Nursing care and medicine in medieval nunneries]

If one looks for medical knowledge in medieval monasteries ("Klostermedizin"), the name of Hildegard of Bingen immediately comes to mind. However, it is rarely considered that medieval nunneries had very different social conditions compared to those of their male counterparts: they had different rules, stricter enclosure and fewer opportunities for education. Therefore we cannot assume that medicine had the same significance in women's as in men's monasteries. A look at the libraries and surviving manuscript collections of nunneries shows that there was very little interest in medical topics. An examination of the few known sources on medically active nuns reveals similar problems. Although some communities supported their own hospitals, the nuns did not generally nurse the ill and poor themselves. This holds also true, in general, for beguines and sisters of the hospitallers. Most of the monasteries had an infirmary for sick and aged sisters of their own communities, but in serious cases a male doctors was usually called. In sum, there is little evidence that medieval nuns were occupied with medical studies. Hildegard of Bingen has to be regarded as an exception.