Treason to her husband is an effective way to get rid of infertility. This was known to the healers of the Middle Ages, but this information was not available to commoners ...
Medicine of the past centuries seems to be unscientific today and in something even terrifying. For example, in the Middle Ages, the role of the healers was often performed by the barbers-barbers. They were engaged in the preparation of medicinal ointments, corrected joints, amputated limbs and cleared the body of bloodletting. Only a few of them abandoned the work of the bathhouse attendant and concentrated only on the study of medicine. But even they could not come up with really effective methods of treatment. What are only the old ways of healing infertility, which was already quite common then!
Plot for childbirth
Since scientific medicine was poorly developed, women (especially those whose husbands did not have high incomes) were more actively turning to healers and shamans who promised to share with them magic plots for an easy pregnancy. It was suggested that the belly should be stroked clockwise, looking at the full moon, pouring warm water on its head, standing in the lake or in the bathtub, hugging the fruit-bearing trees. The most powerful was the rite with the daily tying of nodules on a red string or cord. It was necessary to begin on the first day of the new moon and after 40 days, according to the promise of the medicine men, pregnancy was to come.
Self-expression as a way to become a mother
An expert on the history of Exeter University, Dr. Catherine Ryder, recently stumbled upon a collection of medical prescriptions of the 13th century under the name Liber de Diversis Medicinis. She found in it quite unusual ways of treating chronic infertility. Particularly interesting is the fact that the author of the book openly says that all of the above methods are designed for self-hypnosis - they have the effect of a placebo, as they say. For example, it can find such tips:
"If a woman wants to endure a child, then it is necessary to take a few sheets of mint and boil them with wine until the mint leaves all her juice. The resulting infusion should be given to a man on an empty stomach for three days. "
"Take the boar's genital organ, dry it and chop it. Eat it on an empty stomach and wash down with wine. "
No medical mechanism of action these recipes to increase the chances of conceiving under themselves do not have. Modern doctors agree with their author: obviously, a woman should have believed that they helped her and heal themselves on their own.
Medieval way to determine who is sick with infertility
In another ancient treatise, doctors tell us that there is a reliable way to determine which couple is not able to become a parent. No laboratory studies: a man and a woman just needed to get rid of the need for a pot and put it in a dark place for ten days. After the necessary time, each of them had to look into his pot: if worms appeared in it, they should be considered a signal that this person can not have children.
How can infertility be cured by sex?
Perhaps, only one effective way of healing infertility existed in the Middle Ages. Even in those days, a woman could divorce a man if he was not able to conceive a child. People who have concluded a political or any other mutually beneficial union, parting for such a reason did not suit. Then the doctors found a compromise: the official method of treating infertility was considered ... sex with the commoners.
A peasant man was invited to the bedroom of a rich wife and made love to her under the husband's vigilant control. When the sexual intercourse was completed, she also entered into a relationship with the faithful. It was believed that this way you can deceive nature and "pass on" to the future child the traits of the one who wanted to become his father, but he could not.