Health and the People: 1000-1500 Medieval Flashcards
When was the Medieval Period (dates)?
500-1500AD
What key factors influenced health in the Medieval Period?
war, superstition, religion, ideas, individuals
What were the main killers of the medieval period?
famine and war
What was the average life expectancy for a medieval British man?
35
Which Arab Physician wrote the canon of medicine?
Avicenna
Who was Hippocrates?
The father of modern medicine an Ancient Greek doctor born 460 BC
What were Hippocrates’ contributions to medicine?
- He regarded the body to be treated as a whole rather than individual parts
- He believed in the importance of observation, diagnosis and treatment
- He rejected the supernatural and believed in natural causes and treatments
- He develops the theory of the four humours
- He believed that and rest were important
- He introduced the Hippocratic oath to make people trust doctors
What are the four humours and their associated elements?
blood (Air), yellow bile (Fire), black bile (Earth), phlegm (Water)
Hot & wet, Hot & dry, dry & cold, cold & wet
How did the four humours control health?
to keep a healthy body the four humours needed to be in balance, pain or deceive occurred when there was more or less of one of the humours
Who was Galen and what contributions did he make to medical progress?
A Greco-Roman Doctor AD130-210, extended the ideas of Hippocrates including the four humours and the theory of opposites, he practised dissection of animals and worked in a gladiator school
Where was one of the first European medical schools universities?
Salerno, Italy
Why did few people question the ideas of Hippocrates and Galen?
it was taught as medical orthodoxy, the church controlled learning and was the authority, Galen’s works mentioned a ‘creator’ so it was accepted as truth
What was the doctrine of signatures?
God had created illnesses but had also created the right herbs and plants to treat them. If you matched them to parts of the human body.
What were the supernatural causes of disease?
witchcraft, bad spirits, God, astrology
What was a barber-surgeon?
somebody who carried out minor operations; pulling teeth, bleeding, performing enemas, trepanning schools, lancing boils, and cutting hair. Mostly found in towns and cities some travelled the country. They served apprenticeships and joined guilds with surgeons.
What was an apothecary?
somebody who prepared and sold medicines herbs and spices from the shop. They served apprenticeships and joined guilds with physicians.
What was a wise woman?
A local woman with wisdom and skills handed down by her family.
What treatment would be used to remove blood and restore balance in the four humours?
bleeding/cupping or by using leeches
What bodily fluid would a physician look at, smell, and sometimes taste to diagnose sickness?
urine
What is astrology?
The belief that the movement of the stars and planets can affect people’s lives and health
What is a zodiac chart?
A chart that would tell a physician which parts of the body were linked to which astrological sign. It would tell what to do, or what not to do, and when.
What is a surgeon?
A Doctor who operates on people
What is a physician?
A Doctor who diagnosed as patients and recommends further treatment with medicines or lifestyle changes
What is cauterisation?
Burning a wound with a heated instrument to stop bleeding and prevent infection
What supernatural cures did the church encourage?
prayer, indulgences, pilgrimage, relics, holy water, holy oil
What was one way that the church helped medical progress?
- Care of the poor and sick through hospitals, 160 were set up on the 12th and 13th centuries many attached to monasteries
- Set up University schools to train doctors in the texts of Hippocrates and Galen
- Hand copied ancient texts in monasteries
What was one way that the church limited medical progress?
- made it difficult to do dissections
- Insisted on ancient ideas of Galen and Hippocrates
- Focus on supernatural causes and cures
Which Italian doctors recommended using wine as an antiseptic to clean wounds and disagreed with the idea of ‘praiseworthy pus’?
Hugh and Theodoric of Lucca
What dangerous drugs were used as painkillers in the Medieval Period?
Opium and Hemlock
What was an arrow cup?
A new tool designed to slide into a deep wound and surround the arrowhead so it can be removed without causing more damage
Why was mortality higher in medieval towns than in the countryside?
crowded, limited sanitation, cesspools leaking into wells, contaminated streams, little access to clean drinking water, industry and housing together, no waste collection, animal dung, butchers waste, few public toilets, dirty clothes, no sewers
How did monasteries help the sick?
cleaner environment, better access to clean water, waste water to remove waste, garden to grow plants and herbs, more money to spend on luxury goods, educated and skilled medical personnel (monks and nuns)
When did the Black Death arrive in England?
1348
What percentage of people were killed by the black death in England?
1 in 3 people, some whole villages were wiped out
What did people think caused the Black Death?
Bad smells, four humours out of balance, and angry God, astrology, the Jews poisoned wells, bad spirits, blocked digestion
What did people think would prevent infection by the Black Death?
prayer, avoid excess eating, avoid baths, avoid plague victims, clean streets, a posy of sweet smelling herbs and spices to keep away smells, bathe in or drink urine, lucky charms
What are buboes?
swellings of the lymph nodes in the groin, under the armpits, on the neck
What did people think would cure the Black Death?
pop the buboes, use a live chicken on the buboes to drive away the diseases, drink a mixture of vinegar and mercury, flagellation, bleeding, hot drinks, rub buboes with figs and onions then cut them
What surgical technique used from prehistoric times was used to drill a hole in the patient’s skull?
trepanning
What is pneumonic plague?
plague affects the lungs and is highly contagious, 100% mortality
What do the words in endemic and epidemic mean?
Endemic - disease is regularly spread across a population in area or time (always there)
Epidemic - A widespread infectious disease across a specific time and area
How did the Black Death spread across Europe?
It moved from central Asia where it is endemic in local rodent populations along the Silk Road and was thrown into the besieged city of Caffa by the Tarta army. From there it moved along Mediterranean trade routes by boat.
What was the contribution of medieval surgeon John Arderne (1307-1392) to medical progress?
A 50% survival rate for surgery removing growths from inside a patient’s anus
Experience in amputations and battle wounds during the Hundred Years War.
He developed a pain relieving ointment from opium, Hemlock and Henbane rather than using cauterisation.
He wrote the surgical textbook, the practice of surgery in 1350 recommending calm practice and experience
Which Arab physician wrote the first authentic description of the symptoms of smallpox?
Rhazes
