The Effects of a Sword Wound to the Side and Dagger to the Back of the Shoulder

[rhapsody89]

The setting is in Nottingham Castle, England, in 1196 during a siege. A character receives a slash to the side, just below the ribs, with a sword and has a dagger thrust into the back of his shoulder nearly simultaneously. Is it possible to survive an attack like this and if so how would the wounds be treated? What would the damage be

Comments

[benbenberi]

The wounds you describe can be as deadly or minor as you need them to be. Either could potentially cause direct damage to organs if they're deep enough, or merely cut into superficial muscle & fat without doing any serious damage at all. Penetrating wounds to the abdomen that pierce the viscera would be fatal in 1196. A punctured lung might be, but not inevitably. If major blood vessels are cut, he bleeds to death (with or without a lot of visible blood, depending on which blood vessels). Heavy bleeding that's not immediately fatal could be survivable if he gets good care & rest. Infection is a major threat, and a serious infection is likely to be deadly (in a timeframe of days to weeks) if it occurs -- treatment options were pretty limited in 1196 (cauterization a favorite, also "pus about,let it out").

Treatment would probably be what is now termed "supportive" -- clean obvious debris/bits of cloth from the wounds (water is optional), stop the bleeding, apply dressings, pray. To rebalance the patient's humors after all the blood loss, feed him hot & moist food -- red meat & meat broth, red wine, etc. (Mutton is more warming that beef, so a better restorative.)