Chapter 1 - Medicine Stands Still Flashcards
Tell me about different people being ill in medieval time
Rich more likely to survive - could afford treatment by a doctor, towns had more practitioners but were more deadly than villages and young were more at risk than adults
Winter brought its own problems and so did summer
What were the main killers of medieval times
Famine and war - a bad harvest due to drought or flood, too hot or too cold - meant malnourishment for many so it made it easier to get disease
Dysentery, typhoid, smallpox and measles are widespread, childbirth, 30% of children died before 7
Accidents common too
Tell me about the influence of Arab medicine
In 900s AD Islamic hospitals were sites of education and healing - contained lecture rooms, pharmacies and libraries
Many students received training in hospitals
Cleanliness encouraged and hospitals centred around fountains and cool breezes circulated the wards
Arabic (Islamic) medicine was far ahead of Western European
Who were Hippocrates and Galen
Two men who contributed the most to the western view of medicine in this time
Tell me about Hippocrates
First physician to regard the body as a whole and be treated as a whole rather than parts
Based thinking around 4 humours
Believed diet and rest were very important to recovery of a patient
Regarded by many as father of modern medicine
Even today - new doctors still take the Hippocratic oath
Tell me about Galen
Studied medicine in Egypt before moving to Rome
Took Hippocrates ideas further
Practised dissection of animals to understand human body
Used theory of four humours and emphasised importance of listening to a persons pulse
Ideas profoundly influenced western ideas of medicine for a very long time
What did Hippocrates write about the 4 humours
“The human body contains blood, phlegm, yellow and black bile. These are the things that made up its constitution and cause it’s pains and health. … Pain occurs when one of the substances presents either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixed with others”
Tell me about the four humours theory
To remain healthy the humours must be balanced - some humours are “hot” - blood and air and Create sweating illness
Some humours - phlegm and black bike are cold - creating illnesses such as melancholia
Tell me about the influence of Hippocrates and Galen
Galens work arrived in Europe via Islamic texts and beliefs
Church looked at galena ideas and decided it fitted with Christian ideas Becuase it referred to “the creator” - doctors believed ideas were correct and was nearly impossible to improve or disprove it
Galens ideas rapidly spread throughout Europe and became accepted as medical orthodoxy
Why did people think God made them ill
If someone was living a sinful life, then a difficult illness was gods way of punishing them for their sins
If a society was sinful - or moving away from religion then an epidemic or plague was sent to remind people of their duties of the church
Belief in doctrine of signatures that God created illness but also herbs or plants to treat it but you had to identify it
Tell me how bad smells made people ill in medieval times
Some people made link between disease and bad air and or smells
Morality higher in towns and cities than in countryside - people lived closer together, alongside their animals and their filth
Travellers said you could smell a town before you saw is and so many thought it was through miasma infecting neighbours and friends
How did everyday life cause disease in medieval times
Believed illness and early death was inevitable
So many children died before 7.
Childbirth very dangerous and expected a man would need to remarry to provide children a new mother
Warfare and famine were frequent - everyday life was uncertain
How did the supernatural cause disease
Mystery and magic is used to explain unexpected happenings
Which craft was feared and many believed the world was ful of demons trying to cause trouble and death
Sudden diseases or misfortunes could easily be blamed on the supernatural - especially as church painted a picture of life where good fought evil
How did the four humours make people ill in medieval times
The widest held belief as that people were ill Becuase of four humours were out of balance
Every doctor agreed it was caused by a loss of equilibrium.
Every doctor had a chart showing illness being caused by each humour - use along side a zodiacal chart
Tell me about barber surgeons treating sick
Most people who had the money went to a barber surgeon who carried out minor operations, set broken bones or pull teeth
To become a barber surgeon you would need to serve an apprenticeship and most of these practitioners were found in towns and cities, although some travelled around countryside or with visiting fairs
Tell me about apothecarys treating the sick
Ordinary people depended on apothecary - who would sell medicines as well as herbs and spices from his shop in a town
Probably served an apprenticeship for 7 years with an existing apothecary to learn the trade
Sold simples - made of plant plant or herb
Sold compounds - combination of ingredients made to deal with a specific illness
Tell me about wise women treating disease
Visit local wise woman for wisdom and skills handed down by family that were probably as effective as anyone else’s
She was reasonably priced and would usually already know the patient
Many of women also acted as midwives, looking after women in labour
Tell me about the lady of the house treating the ill
Would be expected to provide medical care for family and on an estate or farm for labourers too
Tell me a medieval remedy for headaches
Warm camomile tea and then lie down on rosemary and lavender Scented pillows for 15 minutes
Tell me a medieval remedy for aching joints
Take equal amounts of radish, bishopwart, garlic, wormwood, helenium, cropleek and hollowleek - pound them up and boil them in butter with celandine and red nettle
Keep mixture in a brass pot until it’s a dark red and strain is through a cloth and smear on forehead or aching joints
What was the preferred way to fight illness
Restore the balance of the four humours was by blending, done by cupping or using leeches
Monastery records show monks bled up to 8 times a year
Illness said to be caused by having to much blood - leeches still used today
How did doctors diagnose illness
Using a urine and zodiac chart - urine is a vital diagnostic tool - compare it
Smell it and taste to decide what was wrong with patient
A zodiac chart would show which parts of body were linked with astrological signs - dictate what a physician may do
Zodiac chart also shows best time to carry out a treatment and even when to pick herbs
Eg picking herbs at wrong time in moon cycle could harm patient
Why was the churches role in the progress in medicine in medieval times
Church was central to most people’s lives so attitude to medicine has a profound influence on medical progress
Church encouraged people to pray for deliverance from illness
As well as prayer, offerings could buy indulgences and going on a pilgrimage to holy shrine might bring about a cure
Pilgrims often leave a miniature copy of each infected body part at the shrine and hope prayer and belief would bring a cure
Tell me about St. John of Bridlington
The most famous pilgrimage was to the holy land, in England you could visit Canterbury, walsingham, Glastonbury or the priory at Bridlington where St. John of Bridlingtons grave was a source of miracles
Renowned for holiness and miracles were attributed to him when he was still alive. He was canonised (made a saint) in 1404 barely 30 years after death
How did the church help medical progress
Regarded that Christians had a duty to look after poor and sick so church played a large part in developing hospitals - over 160 set up in twelfth and thirteen centuries
Church also set up university schools of medicine throughout Europe where physicians were trained using texts of Hippocrates and Galen, a lot of universities were attached to monasteries so monks were there
We have most of the text about Galen and Hippocrates Becuase monks copied them and arrived in the west on Arabic translations
How did the church limit the process of the development of medicine
It made it difficult for scholars to dissect human bodies - although there is evidence of autopsies taking place
Galena dissection work was based on animals so church’s insistence of using galens work limited progress of understanding the workings of the human body
How did war affect progress of medicine
War was endemic in medieval times
Led to advances of surgery and the treatment of wounds
Tell me about cauterisation
Cauterisation of wounds are applying great heat to the edges of affected areas to stop bleeding - extremely painful and often as not fatal
Les to some surgeons using wine as an antiseptic to clean wounds and develop relieving ointments to apply to wounds instead
Opium began to be used a painkiller - used to knock out patients to allow surgery. But sometimes opium and hemlock based liquids were too strong and killed the patient instead
Tell me about army surgeons and amputations
Carried out amputations with a saw and knife which was very painful and without effective anaesthetic - new tools developed like the arrow cup designed to slide into a deep wound, surround an arrowhead and gently remove it from body without causing any more damage
Manuals helped to spread knowledge, many would feature a diagram showing kinds of wounds expected to treat in an army surgeons career
How did science leave to development of medicine
Robert grosseteste teacher at university of Oxford was a leading advocate of Enquiry and experiment
Work optics eventually led to development of spectacles
Roger bacon - impossible for challenging church’s views on Galen and importance of scientific method and close observation - people began to question old text and the church’s insistence on agreeing with them
How safe were you in hospital
“No lepers, no lunatics, no people with a contagious disease, no pregnant women, no sucking infants, no intolerable infants”
Many towns had leper houses outside their walls or hospitality places for travellers
Many small houses were almshouses set up to provide a home for old and those unable to work
Early hospitals were in some ways a safe lodging house of the medieval period
Many funded by the church or by rich people leaving endowments to pay for a certain number of beds
Basically care homes where those in need could receive warmth, fold and rest until they feel better
Tell me about the care within a hospital
First you went to a chapel and then the bath where your clothes were boiled and baked in oven
Then went into clean sheets over night - very few hospitals employed physicians or surgeons - most care carried out by nuns or elderly people
What treatments were given in the hospitals
Was prayer, a priest would say mass every day and occupants were expected to confess their sins. Prayer and contemplation was expected to bring about recovery
Most sisters or monks if hospital attached to a monastery would know a lot about herbal remedies
Evidence found at hospital sites suggests medieval Augustine monks knew how to amputate limbs, fashion surgical instruments, induce birth, stop scurvy and even create hangover cures
Evidence of them growing non native Herbs and plants to use in medical recipes
Tell me about st Giles hospital
St Giles hospital in Norwich, named after st Giles who was the patron saint of lepers, crippled and nursing mothers. Was established to care for the sick but also for remission of bishops sins so that when he died he would spend less time in purgatory
A priest was to say a prayer for his soul every day and to make the patients pray for him too
Hospital funded by income of several churches
Strict rules about who can be looked after
Tell me some the st Giles hospital rules
There must be a master to take good care of the hospital, and to work for the remission of bishop suffields sins
There shall be at least 3 or 4 women, aged over 50, who are to change the sheets and take care of the sick
Everyone must rise at the crack of dawn to say prayers
There will be weekly mass in honour of st Giles
There will be 30 beds or more
There will be a poor box from which poor people passing by the receive alms and charitable assistance
The sisters are to sleep in a seperate dormitory
No women are allowed to stay in hospital as patients
Summarise medical process in medieval times so far
There was some progress in looking after sick people at this time
Church believed prayer and pilgrimage was best cure for illness
Church played an important part in providing hospitals and monasteries to look after the old, the infirm and the sick
The establishment of the first hospitals saw the beginnings of treating people in specific settings
Herbal treatments still remained the usual form of medicine
The church resisted some progression in medicine such as practice of autopsies
Texts, many arriving by the Arabic world, helped spread some good practice among those prepared to listen to new ideas
