What Is the Difference Between a Midwife and a Physician?

There was no equivalent of antonatal care in the era. Nearly all women were delivered by a midwife. You had your trained midwife and she was trained by apprenticeship, not by nowadays. To go before the bishop for for licensing as a midwife, you needed testimonials of about six women you successfully delivered. The other kind of midwife who was around was called a hand woman. Hand women wern't trained in the same way the midwives. They might have worked alongside a midwife but between them, handwomen and midwives delivered the vast majority of babies.