Healing hands, hidden names: the forgotten women of medieval surgery in France

This editorial explores the marginalization of women in medieval French surgical practice through a prosopographical analysis of guild records, tax rolls, and legal texts. While women were present in various medical roles-such as barbers and "miresses"-their visibility declined as surgery became a formalized and male-dominated profession. By examining documents like the Livre de la Taille and Livre des Métiers, as well as royal ordinances, the study highlights how linguistic shifts and guild regulations gradually excluded women from professional recognition. The trial of Perette la Pétone in 1410 serves as a case study of this exclusion, marking the transition from informal acceptance to institutional rejection. Although some women maintained workshop privileges, especially as widows, the broader trend reflects a tightening of gender boundaries in the medical field. This study underscores how prosopography can illuminate structural changes in professional identity and reveal the gendered dynamics underlying medieval medical history.