The Horrifying Life of a Medieval Barber-Surgeon

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Step into the dim, uneasy world of the medieval barber-surgeon — where the same razor that scraped a chin might, moments later, open a vein. In this slow, immersive descent, you’ll live through the life of an apprentice turned master of the trade, where grooming and crude medicine blurred into one grim routine. From sweeping up hair tangled with blood, to sawing through limbs on the battlefield, to returning home scarred and hollow, you’ll discover why the barber’s pole is striped with more than just barbering pride. This is not the neat history of universities and physicians — this is the weary, terrifying reality of the men who shaved, bled, and cut their way through the Middle Ages, only to be forgotten and replaced by the next trembling youth.

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