The role of the midwife can be traced back to early hunter-gatherer societies of prehistoric times. They were healers who assisted mothers with child delivery. Despite the professionalization of the role, over the years during the Biblical Era (2,200 BC - 1,700 BC) and the Greco-Roman period, midwifery became a profession under the hierarchy of male-supervised medicine. By the arrival of the High Middle Ages (1,000-1,250 AD), female midwives or healers were considered heretics or witches, especially by the Catholic Church, and would therefore be hanged or burned to death.
A bairn is a term used in Northern England or Scotland, and refers to a small child.