c.1250 - c.1500: Medicine in Medieval England Flashcards
Key causes of disease in Medieval times?
- God
- Imbalanced humours
- Miasma
- Astrology
How was the Church important during Medieval times?
Influential throughout Europe and managed the way people thought about different ideas, including medicine
- Did publish the Regimen Sanitatis that helped with cleanliness
How did the Church influence education?
- Made sure people learnt from Galen
- Outlawed dissection
Did the Church help change or continuity?
- Church was a reason for little change
- The Church was so influential that people were unable to question them
Why was outlawing dissection a reason for continuity?
- Doctors couldn’t discover ideas about anatomy for themselves
- They couldn’t check that what they had been taught was true
- They had to believe Galen’s ideas based on animal dissection
Why did the Church support Galen’s ideas?
- His ideas fit the belief that God created human bodies
What is astrology?
The idea that the movements of planets and stars have an effect on Earth and the people
How was astrology used for diagnosis?
- Doctors had a calendar called an almanac which had information about where stars and planets where and how this related to illnesses
How were star signs relevant?
- Different star signs were thought to affect different parts of the body
Who developed the Theory of the Four Humours?
Hippocrates
What were the four humours?
- blood
- phlegm
- yellow bile
- black bile
What did the Theory of the Four Humours say?
All the four humours had to stay balanced in order to stay in good health
What did Galen do?
- Developed the theory of the four humours
What did Galen’s theory say?
- Diseases could be treated using opposites
- Different foods, drinks, herbs, spices had a humour which could balance your own humours
Why did people believe the theory of the four humours?
- It was so old that people saw no reason to change
- It was easy to believe because people could see the effects
Why did people like the theory of the four humours and miasma?
- Gave people a rational theory
- Made people feel more in control against disease
What is the miasma theory?
- Bad air causes disease when inhale
Why were Galen’s ideas about anatomy wrong?
He only dissected animals
Give an example to the theory of opposites?
Someone with a cold, producing lots of phlegm might be encouraged to have wine, chicken or pepper which were considered hot and dry humours
How did people treat disease if they thought it was a punishment from God?
- Prayer
- Pilgrimages
- Flagellation
How did people treat disease if they thought it was due to the Four Humours?
- Bloodletting
- Purging
How does bloodletting show people’s strength in beliefs?
- Bloodletting caused more deaths than it prevented but it remained a popular treatment
Main methods of treatment in Medieval times?
- Balancing humours
- Herbal remedies
- Lucky charms
- Flagellation
- Prayer
- Using theory of opposites to oppose humours
How were remedies used?
- Bought from apothecaries, local wise women or made at home
- Used as treatment
- Also used for supernatural beliefs, lucky charms
What were physicians?
- Male doctors who had trained at university for at least 7 years
- Little practical experience
- Mostly learnt from books
- Very expensive to see
What were apothecaries?
- Prepared and sold remedies
- Gave advice on how to use remedies
- Trained through apprenticeships
- Most common form of treatment as they were accessible to people who could not afford a physician
Who did surgeries?
- Barber surgeons
- Little to no medical training
Why was surgery not done a lot?
- No way to manage blood loss, infection or pain
- Only done for minor procedures
Why were barber surgeons not experimenting with new surgeries?
- They did not have the ability for better surgeries
- No reason to want to do any difficult surgeries
Why were barber surgeons not experimenting with new surgeries?
- They did not have the ability for better surgeries
- No reason to want to do any difficult surgeries
Where did people go when they were sick?
- Very few hospitals
- Most sick people treated at home by the women
What were the few hospitals like?
- Run by monasteries
- Popular
- Highly regarded
- Designed to care for the sick not treat
What did hospitals offer patients?
- Care but not treatments
- Food
- Water
- Clean and hygienic place to stay
What treatments could hospitals offer?
Some monks had access to books on healing and grew herbs to make herbal remedies
Main methods of prevention in medieval times?
- Keeping humours balanced with diet and purging
- Prayer
- Flagellation
- Living life free from sin
- Fasting
- Carrying posies
- Keeping clean to keep bad smells away
- Regimen Sanitatis issued by the Church
When did the Black Death first arrive in Britain?
1348
What were the two types of plague involved in the Black Death?
- Bubonic Plague
- Pneumonic Plague
What was believed to be the cause of the Black Death?
- A judgment from God
- Imbalanced humours
- Astrology
- Miasma
How did they try to prevent catching the Black Death?
- Prayer
- Fasting
- Carrying strong smelling herbs or lighting fires
- Carrying diamond and rubies if they believed in astrology
- Carrying charms
How did they try to treat the Black Death?
- Bloodletting
- Purging
- Prayer
Why did so many people die of the Black Death?
They tried to use existing ideas about causes but these were wrong so they weren’t effective in treating or preventing the disease
What did local governments do to reduce the spread of the Black Death?
They tried to quarantine towns
When was the printing press developed?
1440
How was the factor of the Church important in Medievel England?
- Controlled all education
- Outlawed dissection
- Controlled the publication of books because they had to be hand written by monks
How was the Bubonic Plague spread?
Bites of fleas from rats carried on ships
Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague?
- Headaches
- High temperature
- Pus-filled swellings called Buboes
How was the Pneumonic Plague spread?
Airborne, spread by coughs and sneezes
Symptoms of the Pneumonic Plague?
- Pain when breathing
- Coughing up blood
How was the factor of Respect for Tradition important in Medieval England?
- People assumed that ideas were so old they must be true
- If Doctors did not follow Galen’s teachings they would struggle to find work
How was the factor of Education important in Medieval England?
- Based on the teachings of Hippocrates and Galen
- No practical experience
- Learning based from textbooks
