Dr. Kymer went to the west of England in 1428, and became Dean of Salisbury in 1449. He continued, however, to practise medicine, 'for in June 1455 he was summoned to Windsor to attend Henry VI. in the fit of imbecility which attacked him after the first Battle of St. Albans.'[136] Little is known of the action of the physicians from 1427 until the College of Physicians was founded by Linacre in 1518.
_Surgeons._--Barbers were of old humble practitioners in the art of surgery and performed minor operations such as bleeding, tooth-drawing, and cauterization. They largely assisted the clergy, in whose hands the practice of surgery and medicine was almost wholly confined. The action of the Popes, already alluded to, in forbidding the clergy to interfere in any matter connected with the shedding of blood as incompatible with the holy office caused the clergy to devote themselves specially to medicine, and the duties of the barbers were thereby largely extended.
Mr. D'Arcy Power has drawn attention to a matter which is of the greatest interest in the history of the profession, viz., that two types of surgeons flourished side by side in London during the Middle Ages--the military surgeons who formed the aristocracy of the profession, and the barber surgeons. As early as the Third Crusade (1189-1192) military surgeons 'were in attendance upon the kings and nobles, often in a purely personal capacity, but in the thirteenth century they had formal gradations of rank and were known as "the Royal Surgeon," the "Common Surgeon," etc.'[137]
In 1308 Richard le Barber, the first master of the Barbers' Guild, who dwelt opposite the Church of Allhallows the Less, in Upper Thames Street, was sworn at Guildhall, and in 1310 barbers were appointed to keep strict watch at the city gates, so that no lepers should enter the city.
John Arderne was an early surgeon of mark who is worthy of special notice as one of the first English writers on surgery. He had an extensive experience in the treatment of wounds, and it is supposed that at one time he was attached to the English forces during the French wars in the capacity of field surgeon. He was born in 1307, and practised at Newark from 1349 to 1370, when at the age of sixty-three years he settled in London.[138]