Cause Of Disease And Illness

Question 1

Super natural and religious explanations

Answer 1

• god was punishing those who committed sin(provided evidence,why church supported it)
• Devil testing someone’s faith

Question 2

Astrology

Answer 2

• alignment of the planets and stars was also considered important when diagnosing illness
• church frowned upon astrology
• after Black Death arrived,astrology became more popular and church accepted it
• supernatural
• influence of hypocrates

Question 3

Four humours

Answer 3

• universe made up of 4 elements -fire,water,earth and air
• 4 humours - blood,phlegm,Black bile and yellow bile
• humours must be balanced,if unbalanced you became ill
• linked to astrology-humours connected with star signs and seasons ,had its own ruling planet
• linked to personality traits
• created by Hippocrates,developed by Galen

Question 4

Galens influence :

Answer 4

• church-believe in idea of the soul,church promoted Galens teachings.church controlled texts,books and libraries
• book learning-many people couldn’t read,being widely read was a sign of intelligence.people strongly liked Hippocrates and Galen for this,even believed them when they were proved wrong
• lack of alternatives-lack of scientific evidence to support any other theory.dissections were illegal due to the church

Question 5

Miasma

Answer 5

• miasma was bad air that was believed to be filled with harmful fumes
• Galen and Hippocrates both suggested swamps,corpses etc could transmit disease through miasma
• associated with god

Question 6

Urine charts

Answer 6

•examined urine to make diagnoses

Question 7

Influences on ideas - church

Answer 7

• wanted to keep tradition
• controlled medical learning -chose which books were copied and distributed
• Galen was popular within the church

Question 8

Influence on ideas - science and technology

Answer 8

• lack of scientific understanding meant new knowledge was limited
• printing press-led to much faster and easier sharing of medial texts,didn’t have much impact in medieval period

Question 9

Influences on ideas-attitudes in society

Answer 9

• people had strong belief in god

* physicians who didn’t follow old ideas found it hard to get work