Health and the people Flashcards
Who developed the theory of the 4 humours?
Hippocrates (an Ancient Greek physician). He found that when people got sick, they had one of their bodily fluids coming out of them in excess. Believed illness was from an imbalance in these fluids (‘humour’ is fluid in Greek)
Other than the four humours, what else was Hippocrates known for?
Clinical observations, observe the symptoms of patients and record them. This is what the GP’s swear to do today and they take the ‘Hippoocratic Oath’
Who deloped the Theory of Opposites?
Galen, developed the theory of the four humours, to include the idea of balancing the humours as a way to treat illness. For example, he suggested too much phlegm (linked to water and cold) could be cured by eating hot peppers. Meanwhile a fever (linked to an excess of blood) could be treated by cucumber
What seasons, characteristics and elements blood associated with?
Element - fire
Season - spring
Characteristic - warm and moist
What seasons, characteristics and elements phlegm associated with?
Element: winter
Season: winter
Characteristics: cold and moist
What seasons, characteristics and elements is black bile associated with?
Element: Earth
Season: autumn
Characteristic: cold and dry
What seasons, characteristics and elements is yellow bile associated with?
Element: fire
Season: summer
Characteristic: warm and dry
What diseases/ illnesses would be associated with blood?
Heart disease, angina, nosebleeds, anaemia, diabetes, skin disorders and acne
What diseases/ illnesses would be associated with black bile?
Constipation, shaking and tics, stomach ulcers, will not eat
What diseases/ illnesses would be associated with yellow bile?
Jaundice, gall stones, migraines, joint pain and swellings (arthritis)
What diseases/ illnesses would be associated with phlegm?
Coughs, colds, asthma, bronchitis and disease of the lungs
How did Galen’s work arrive in England?
Arrived via Islamic texts and beliefs. Greek translations made in Salerno, in Italy (the first medical university from around AD900)
What books did Avicenna write?
Kitab ash-Shifa (the Book of Healing) and the al-Quanun fj al-Tibb (Canon of Medicine). The Canon of medicine book was one of the most significant books in history of medicine; printed atleast 60 times from 1516 and 1574. Remained popular for medical students in both the Islamic word and Europe until well into the 1700s
Who was the healer in the medieval era?
usually a village woman who acted as a mid-wife and also had special knowledge of herbs and charms. A healer might accept some small payment or goods in kind.
Who was the barber surgeon in the medieval era?
always a man and most towns had one of these. They pulled teeth and performed simple surgery e.g. amputation. They were identified by a red and white pole.
Who was the apothecary in the medieval era?
always a man who sold wine, herbs and spices. They prepared and sold medicines to physicians and directly to patients. They also offered medical advice and other medical products.
Who was the physician in the medeival era?
always a man who had trained at one of Europe’s medical schools. He would use astrological and urine charts as well as the theory of the Four Humours in deciding the best treatment – often blood letting. They charged high fees.
What did people believe caused illness and disease in medeival times?
- There was a belief in the doctrine of signatures. God had created illness, but in his kindness, he had also created the right herbs or plants with which to treat that illness. All you had to do was identify the right plant.
- Mystery and the supernatural world were used by some to explain illness or death or general misfortune.
- Accidents were as frequent as warfare and famine.
- Witchcraft was feared and many believed the world was full of demons trying to cause trouble and death.
- Most people believed that illness and early death were inevitable. Mortality rates among children were very high, as too for women during childbirth.
- The widest held belief was that people were ill because one or more of their Four Humours were out of balance.
- If society, as a whole, was being sinful (or moving away from the true path of faith and and the directions of the Pope) then an epidemic or plague was a just reward sent by God to remind people of their duties to the Church
- If someone was living a sinful life, then a difficult illness was seen as God’s way of punishing them for their sins.
- Some people thought that bad smells caused disease; the mere act of breathing in this ‘bad air’ (‘miasma’) made people ill. This particularly affected towns where people lived
alongside their animals and their filth
What books/ manuscripts were used in medical schools in the medeival era?
Old manuscripts by the ancient Greek writer Galen will be used, have been translated for a lecturer’s use. In 1230 lecturers will be using Gilbert Eagle‘s newly published Compendium Medicine which is of course based on Ancient Greek knowledge. Lecturers might also use translated manuscripts from the Muslim, Chinese and Indian worlds
Do you get the books and manuscripts yourself in the medeival era?
No, you don’t actually get to use the manuscripts or books yourself – they take far too long to copy out to risk a student damaging them. Instead your lecturer will read passages which students will debate. You will need to be careful though in what you say, our sponsors The Church will not let anyone criticise Galen.
Can students carry out dissections in medical schools in the medieval era?
You won’t need to do any dissection yourself, we get all out knowledge from Galen’s writings. We’re hopeful that by the year 1340, we’ll be able to introduce one dissection a year. If this plan goes ahead, the lecturer will read from Galen, whilst an assistant carries out the dissection – students will watch and listen only.
What type of diagnosis do medical students learn in the medieval era?
You will learn to diagnosis illnesses mainly through the theory of the Four Humours.
You will also be taught how to examine a patient‘s urine against a chart. You don’t get to see any patients until you have qualified as a physician
How were astrological charts used in treatments in the medieval era?
You will be taught to use an astrological chart so that you can work out the position of the planets before deciding the best treatment. Astrological charts tell us which parts of the body are linked to which astrological sign and thus dictate what a physician might do to cure an illness. he position of the moon is particularly important since it has a great affect on the Four Humours. Astrological charts will also tell us the best time to treat a patient, and even when to pick the herbs used in medicines.
What was the Baghdad Islamic Library?
Baghdad Islamic Library- translated Greek texts into Islamic and preserved the knowledge
What was the theory of the 4 humours?
Ancient Greek theory
of Hippocrates based on clinical observation - influential for over a thousand years
What was an ‘Asclepion’?
Ancient Greek healing temple (they didn’t have hospitals) - at odds with Ancient Greek scientific theory like the ‘four humours’
What was a ‘bimaristan’?
An Islamic hospital- had emphasis on cleanliness, fresh water and clean air. They trained doctors at these hospitals
What was the ‘Hippocratic Oath’?
Hippocrates (‘father of modern medicine’)- believed in clinical observation in diagnosing illness. Clinical observation and Hippocratic Oath still used today
What was the ‘Cannon of Medicine’?
Set of texts written by Avicenna – went on to be the standard medical text book used by European universities until the 1700s
How did Islamic medicine develop?
Western Europe entered a period known as the ‘dark ages’ when the Roman Empire lost its power
• During this time, the followers of Islam established an enormous Islamic empire
• The Caliph (chief Muslim religious leader) ruled over a unified empire which provided the peace and order needed for medical progress
• In line with the prophet Muhammad‘s teachings, many of Caliph’s followers were interested in science and learning and supported medicine
• Muslim writers played an important role in the following:
– saving much lost knowledge
– translating the works of Ancient Greece and Rome into Arabic
– Translations were eventually passed onto Western Europe
What was al-Rashid known for?
During the reign of Caliph Harun al-Rashid (786-809), the capital city of Baghdad became a centre for the translation of Greek manuscripts into Islamic. In this way, hundreds of Ancient Greek medical books by Hippocrates and Galen were preserved. In 805, Caliph Al-Rashid also set up a major free hospital in Baghdad with a medical school and a library.
Who was Galen?
Galen (AD130-210 therefore Roman times) furthered the ideas of Hippocrates. He practised dissection of animals in order to better understand the human body. He worked for three years as a doctor in a gladiator school where his knowledge and techniques developed. He used the theory of the Four Humours and emphasised the importance of listening to a patient’s pulse. His ideas profoundly influenced Western ideas of medicine for a long time.
Who was Al-Razi?
Al-Razi (865-925) also known as ‘Rhazes’ was a Muslim doctor who stressed the need for careful observation of the patient. He distinguished measles from smallpox for the first time. He wrote over 150 books and although a follower of Galen, he believed that all students should improve upon the work of their teacher.
Who is Avicenna?
Ibn Sina (980-1037), also known ‘Avicenna’, wrote an encyclopaedia of medicine called the ‘Canon of Medicine’. It covered the whole of ancient Greek and Islamic medical knowledge. It listed the properties of 760 different drugs and contained chapters on medical problems. It became the standard European medical textbook used to teach Western doctors until the 17th century.
Who was Hippocrates?
Hippocrates (460-370BC) was the first physician to regard the body as a whole, rather than individual parts. He therefore believed in the importance of observation. He believed that diet and rest were hugely important for a patient’s recovery. He is credited with writing some 60 books and is regarded as the father of modern medicine. Even today, new doctors around to world still take the Hippocratic oath.
Who was Al-Mamun?
Al-Rashid’s son, Caliph Al-Mamun (813-833), developed his father’s library into ‘The House of Wisdom’, which was the world’s largest library at the time and a study centre for scholars
What did Islam believe about health and medicine?
- Islam refused to allow dissection of human bodies. This prevented surgeons from studying the human body in order to improve their knowledge and skill.
- Charity and caring for others was important in Islam and, consequently, hospitals were set up to care for the sick. The hospital that was set up in Cairo in AD1283 saw that the patients were given money when they left, so that they did not have to go straight back to work
- The Islamic religion encouraged medical development and a love of learning which meant that Arabic doctors preserved the medical works of people such as Hippocrates and worked to improve upon, and extend, medical knowledge too.
- The Islamic religion encouraged the building of public baths because the Qur’an said hygiene was important for health. Muhammad taught people to ‘keep you house and yards clean. Allah does not like dirt and untidiness. Allah is pleased if you clean your teeth and trim your nails and moustache. Every Muslim must have a bath once a week, when he must wash his head and his whole body.’
- Islamic teaching also taught doctors to try to cure patients: ‘Oh servant of Allah, use medicine. Allah has not created pain without a remedy for it’. Therefore, hospitals were also intended to treat patients, and not simply care for them. Islamic hospitals called ‘Bimaristans’ were built to provide medical care for everyone: men and women, rich and poor, Muslim and non-Muslim. Doctors were permanently present and medical students trained alongside them.
What did Greece believe about health and medicine?
- The Greeks had enquiring minds and they wanted to understand how and why things worked. Wealthy classes spent much time becoming educated and discussing new ideas such as the ‘Four Humours’ theory. Trade also helped to bring knowledge and new methods from other civilisations
- Greek thinkers and doctors tried to understand what caused disease through careful observation of people who were ill. This fitted in with the theory of the ‘Four Humours’ – they saw that when someone was ill there was usually a liquid coming out of the body; for example, phlegm from the nose or vomit from the stomach.
- The Greeks believed in ‘Asclepios’ the God of Healing. From 600BC, Asclepion temples were built in quiet places – these were the nearest the Greeks got to hospitals. They also contained baths, stadiums and gymnasiums. People believed that if they went to sleep in the Asclepion at night, the God and his daughters (Panacea and Hygeia) would come to heal them.
- Greeks believed that the world was made up from four elements: air, water, earth and fire. They said that each of these elements had different qualities – which they could observe from the world around them e.g. water was cold and moist. The Greeks also linked the four elements with the four seasons to explain how and why each was different e.g. water was cold and moist and so, too, was winter. In this way, they were able to explain why phlegm as a ‘humour’ was more likely to become out of balance in the winter.
How important was Christianity to an average person in medeival times?
• People believed that God controlled every part of their lives. (e.g. If they were ill, it was a punishment from God. If they were successful in their work or business, it was God who helped them).
• Everybody had to go to church on Sundays and holy days. All around the village there were shrines and holy crosses.
• Religion shaped what went on during the year. People looked forward to feasts on special holy days such as Christmas and Easter
• The Church was there at the important stages of their lives (Baptisms, weddings, funerals)
• Every villager had to give the Church a tithe, that is, one tenth of everything they produced (as a tax).
• God decided whether you went to Heaven (eternal bliss and happiness) or to Hell (eternal pain and suffering). So pleasing God in your daily life was pretty important!
What were things that hindered the development of medicine in the medieval period?
- The Church also encouraged the belief in miraculous healing. There were many shrines filled with relics of the bones, hair and other body parts of a holy person. These shrines were places that people made pilgrimages to, for help with their illnesses, such as the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket in Canterbury
- The Christian Church approved of Galen’s books because he believed in a single God: this fitted in with Christian ideas. However, this meant that it was difficult to challenge anything that Galen wrote, as it would be seen as a criticism of the church. Church aptitudes to new ideas were shown by what happened to 13th century English monk, Roger Bacon: he was arrested for suggesting that doctors should do original research and should not trust the old books.
- Prayers to God were the most important treatment: ‘to buy drugs or to consult with physicians doesn’t fit with religion.’ said Saint Bernard, a famous twelfth-century Christian monk.
- There was a strong Christian belief that illnesses came from God and curing an illness would be a challenge to God who had sent it as a punishment or a test of faith. So, it was important to care for the patient, not necessarily cure them.
- In Europe, the training of doctors began after 1200. The Christian Church controlled the universities e.g., in England, Oxford and Cambridge. Students were taught the medical ideas of the ancient Greeks and Romans. The training was to make the old knowledge clear and understandable; it was not to discover new ideas.
- The hospitals depended on charity for money and were mainly financed by the Christian Church or by a wealthy patron. Many hospitals did not have doctors but a chaplain (a priest) and were run by monks or nuns to a strict pattern of diet and prayer. The Church saw the role of the doctor not as a healer, but as someone who could predict the symptoms and duration of an illness and provided the reasons why God might inflict the illness on the person.
What were things that helped the development of medicine in the medieval period?
- The Christian Church believed in following the example of Jesus, who healed the sick. For this reason, Christians believed that it was good to look after the sick, and so they founded many hospitals.
- The Church also valued the traditional medical knowledge of the Ancient World because it thought Hippocratic and Galenic ideas were correct. Monks preserved and studied these ideas: they copied out the books by hand
- There were different types of hospital, for example, there were hospitals or asylums for the mentally ill, such as Bedlam in London. Whilst Lazar houses dealt with people who had leprosy. These were set up outside towns to prevent people catching the contagious disease of leprosy. There were also monasteries with infirmaries (small dormitory wards) that could provided free care to the poor
- Between 1000 and 1500, more than 700 hospitals were started in England. Many hospitals were centres of rest where sick people might recover in quiet and clean surroundings.
What was trepanning?
Drilling a hole in the skull- a common surgical intervention in the medeival era. It was thought that epilepsy was caused by demons in the brain - so a surgeon might cure an epileptic patient by drilling a hole into the skull to let the demon out
What were common medeival surgeries?
- bloodletting - small cut on inside of arm, blood allowed to run out
- amputation- cutting off a painful or damaged part of the body. Successful in cases of breast cancer, bladder stones, and haemorrhoids
- trepanning also very common
What were the main problems during medeival surgery?
- Pain
- Blood loss
- Infection
How was pain reduced in medieval surgery?
Used natural substances such as mandrake root, opium and hemlock, but too strong a dose could kill the patient. More often they not, patients had to be held or tied down during surgery.
How was blood loss reduced/ stopped in medeival surgery?
Cauterisation was a common technique of burning the wound to stop the flow of blood: it was usually done with a heated iron and was immensely painful
What kind of tools did a medieval surgeon have?
Saws for amputation, arrow pullers, cautery irons and bloodletting knives
What were some common hospital rules in the medeival times for patients?
•There shall be a master to take good care at the hospital, and to work for the
remission of Bishop Suffield’s sins •There shall be at least three or four women, aged over fifty, who are to
change the sheets and take care of the sick
•Everyone must rise at the crack of dawn to pray
•There will be thirty beds or more •There will be weekly mass in honour of St
Giles
•There will be a poor box from which poor
people passing by can receive alms and charitable assistance
•The sisters are to sleep in a separate dormitory
•No women are allowed to stay in the hospital as patients
Who was the only person allowed to have their own bed in medeival hospitals?
A dying woman
What was expected of women, with sick relatives and dependents?
Care for them when needed, involved making the patient comfortable, preparing restorative foods and mixing herbal remedies. Also responsible for the garden, in which they were expected to grow various plants known for their healing properties, such as marigolds and clover.
How did hospitals get their names?
Many hospitals didn’t actually treat the sick. Instead, they offered hospitality to travellers and pilgrims, which is how hospitals got their name
Who funded and ran the hospitals in medieval hospitals?
Bout 30% of the hospitals in England were owned and run by the church in the Middle Ages. Run by monks and nuns who lived in nearby monasteries. The rest were funded by an ‘endowment’ ( where a wealthy person had left money in their will for the setting up of a hospital. Since charity was the foundation of religion and the church taught that charitable donations could help heal disease, it’s not surprising there were so many. The church was in charge of running many of these hospitals too.
How was cleanliness maintained in medieval hospitals?
They were good places to rest and recover. The space would have been kept very clean and the bed linens and the clothing of the patients changed regularly. It was large Peary of the nuns’ duties to do the washing and make sure everywhere was kept clean. This meant that, for people not suffering from terminal disease, hospitals were probably quite successful
Who was rejected from hospitals?
Insane and pregnant patients were often rejected, though some hospitals had special beds reserved for unmarried mothers. No lepers, no lunatics, no people with contagious disease, no sucking infants, no intolerable infants
What would happen when you rang the doorbell in a medieval hospital?
- Went to the chapel
- Bath, nuns and sisters would take your clothes, boil them and bake them in the oven. Went into clean sheets overnight
- very few hospitals employed surgeons and physicians, most care carried out by nuns or elderly women
- prayer and contemplation was was expected to bring about recovery
What is the definition of public health?
refers to the health and well being of the population as a whole
What were monasteries like in the medeival era and how were they funded?
- Many people gave monasteries money and valuables as signs of their ‘charity’
- Monks were educated and disciplined with access to books and manuscripts.
- Monks produced wool and traded this. This meant they needed large rural for sheep grazing
- Monks believed lay people (townsfolk) were sinful so they tended to build their monasteries well away from them in rural areas
- Rich people often gave money, resources and land to monasteries in return for prayers to be said for them once they died (safe passage to heaven).
- Isolation in rural areas meant the monks did not interact with lay people (townsfolk)
- Monks followed the ancient Roman ideals of a simple routine and regimen for life (moderation in diet, sleep and exercise).
- Monks followed the ancient principles of good sanitation
- Monks believed that water was either clean or dirty and that there was a need to separate these.
What was access to water like in Fountain Abbey?
Fountains abbey, as so other abbeys, is situated in an isolated, out of the way place but it is very important that it sited near to a (or in our case on) a river. I hear that the monks at Rievaulx Abbey actually diverted a river to ensure a reliable supply of water. We need water to supply our mill as well as to deliver water to our kitchens, bakeries and brew house.
At Fountains abbey, the river flows from west to east and takes dirty water away from the toilets which are positioned over the river. We don’t actually use the river for drinking water, instead fresh water is provided from a number of local wells.
Did the monks wash themselves often in Fountains Abbey?
All monasteries have an elaborate system of pipes to deliver water to wash basins (lavers). Filtering systems are also installed to remove impurities by allowing dirt to settle out of the water. As you can see, we have excellent facilities for the monks to wash themselves. We call this our lavatorium room and from here waste water can be emptied into the river.
What were the privies like in Fountain Abbey?
We have toilets, or privies which have potties underneath to collect urine. We use the urine for tanning and bleaching cloth produced from our sheep. Other products from our toilet are emptied into a pit, from which the waste is dug out and carted away as manure. We flush the privies and cess pit clear from time to time by diverting local river water through them.
What were the routines like for monks/ nuns in Fountain Abbey’s?
We have religious routines that we have to follow and which help keep us healthy. Baths are a rare luxury for most but we are ordered to use them since cleanliness is a sign of piety and celibacy (abstaining from sex). Some monks are have a bath as often as once a month; as Benedictine monks we have two per year – one at Christmas and one at Easter. We bathe in the bathhouse, which is connected to the drainage system.
We also wash our clothes regularly, as well as our heads and faces. We wash our feet twice per week in a religious ceremony.
What were the Physic gardens in Fountains Abbey?
We also have an infirmary with a good supply of water so that patients can be bathed and their clothes boiled clean. Finally thee is our physic garden where we grow plants for the treatment of patients. We make sure we always herbs such as peony, ginger, cinnamon and balsam available. We also spend money on aniseed, wine, cassis, cloves, saxifrage, liqourice, olive oil and vinegar for the care of others.
What was public health like in medeival towns?
- There was a lack of knowledge regarding germs and disease at this time. Aside from the religious causes of disease, many people at the time believed that smelly or bad air caused illness so they were keen to remove bad smells
- Some town authorities took action against local butchers and ordered them to use a separate and identified area to dispose of their waste products. It became illegal in these areas to throw it in the street
- The open drains that ran down the streets themselves would often overflow as there was no system of this included in street design
- Some towns employed specific ‘rakers’ who would be paid to remove animal dung and rubbish from the streets
- Most people got their water from local spring, wells or rivers. These were often polluted by nearby cess pits
- Most medieval people tended to drink beer as this could not be polluted in the same way that natural water sources could be
- Fines were introduced in some towns for anyone caught throwing rubbish into the street. You could also be fined for having filth outside of your house that was not cleaned up
- Some towns installed pipes made of wood or lead to carry clean water into the heart of the town itself
- Local businesses were based in the heart of towns. This often meant that the ordinary townsfolk were exposed to danger. For example, leather tanners used dangerous chemicals which smelled awful, whilst butchers threw the waste products of their meat (blood and guts) into the river or street
- Some medieval streets were paved but the vast majority were dirt tracks. The weather impacted accessibility- in the summer, they were dry and rutted and in the winter, they froze. When it rained, they became muddy and unusable
- On occasions, deceased wealthy townsfolk left money in their wills to be used for the upkeep and maintenance of the town. For example, the repairing or paving of roads
- Most towns had open drains everywhere to take away waste and water. However, they would often overflow
- Rivers and streams were where the majority of rubbish and waste was dumped. Often chamber pots (pots that people used in their houses to urinate into) were emptied out onto the streets along with any other household rubbish and waste food
- Some towns used money acquired to build a ‘town privy’ (public toilet) that was then regularly emptied by gong famers who need manure for their fields
- Many houses started to be built with latrines (toilets) over fast flowing streams. New town privies were also built in this way; therefore, removing the need for a cess pit in the heart of the town
How did the Black Death reach England and how significant was it?
• The Black Death was an epidemic disease in the Medieval period; it began in Asia and travelled rapidly along the trade routes to Western Europe
• It reached Constantinople (in modern day Turkey) in 1347 and arrived in England in 1348
• The Black Death’s arrival in England has been traced to two ships docking in Melcombe harbour in Dorset
• The Black Death killed nearly half of Europe’s population
• In Britain, at least 1.5 million people died, at the time this was close to a third of the population
What were the medieval beliefs for causes of the Black Death?
- Bad smells, from an overflowing privy or rotting food, corrupt the air.
- The Four Humours are out of balance in each victim.
- All the victims have been possessed by evil spirits
- Victims have had too much sex, it has corrupted their blood.
- It was caused by a huge earth quake in China in 1347
- Invisible fumes are spreading across the country
- The planets can explain it. Saturn is in conjunction with Mars and Jupiter and that always means something bad happens.
- God is angry with us – not enough people have been going to church or behaving properly.
- People have been wearing fancy new clothes and showing off their wealth. This has made God very angry and therefore he has sent a plague, like he did in Biblical times, to teach us to behave better.
- The Jews have poisoned the wells and springs.
- The Saints have cursed us all for our sins.
What were the medieval beliefs of avoiding the Black Death?
- March through the streets praying to God to spare us from the Plague: by order of the King.
- Avoid eating too much
- Stop people from entering and leaving your village.
- Clean all filth from the streets: by order of the King
- Attend church and pray for your soul everyday
- Avoid taking a bath, as opening the pores of the skin will let in the disease.
- Bathe in urine three times a day or drink it once a day.
- Burn the clothes of plague victims.
- Limit the number of mourners at a funeral.
- Avoid all plague victims
- Carry a posey of sweet- smelling herbs and spices to keep away the evil smells.
- Make butchers responsible for cleaning up animal blood and intestines.
- Make candles as tall as yourself and burn them in the church.
What were the medieval beliefs of treating the Black Death?
- Take laxatives to make you go to the toilet.
- Have yourself bled to release the evil spirits from your body.
- Attach a live chicken (or pigeon) to the buboes to drive away the disease.
- Carry out flagellation – walking through the streets praying for God’s forgiveness and whipping yourself.
- Pop open the buboes to release the disease
- Drink a mixture of vinegar and mercury
- Plaster the plague sores with a paste made from cooked onions and yeast.
When did the Black Death finish?
• By the end of 1350 the Black Death had subsided, but it did not die out completely
• There were further outbreaks in 1361-62, 1369, 1379-83, 1389-93 and throughout the first half of the fifteenth century
• The plague is thought to have returned at intervals with varying degrees of deadliness until the eighteenth century
• It was eventually replaced, in significance, by cholera
What were the political effects of the Black Death?
- As a result of the increased powers of the peasantry and their new economic freedom, the Feudal System broke down. The government, terrified of losing control, introduced a law called the ‘Statute of labourers’ which capped wages at pre-1346 levels and tied peasants to the Lord of their Manor again.
- The anger created by the ‘Statute of Labourers’, along with increased taxes that peasants now had to pay (this was due to the fact that there were fewer of them now to pay for the King’s wars abroad) caused the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381.
What were the economic effects of the Black Death?
- Inflation occurred in the years following the Black Death as a result of the food shortages. The price of food went up because there was less of it around and demand was high. For some families, food
became unaffordable. - Eventually, when things stabilised, the prices of everyday items fell. This meant that villagers could now afford to buy products that they would not have had the opportunity to buy before 1349.
- The Lords were forced to pay higher wages which they did not like. They were used to paying low wages and charging high rents to their labourers and found that they could no longer do this after the Black Death as they needed the labourers. As a result, the Lords had to spend more money which they did not like!
- As many died in the villages of Medieval England, the Lords had to reduce their rents or they would have no one left to work on their land and farm their crops! Before the Black Death they charged high rents and made a lot of money but they had to force down their prices after 1349 if they wanted people to stay on their manor. This meant that they did not earn as much money as they used to.
- The shortage of labourers on the land in England meant that wages went up for Peasants in the mid-1300s. This was because their services were now in demand- they, in turn, could then demand higher wages from their Lords or threaten to move to another village!
What were the social effects of the Black Death?
- Before the Black Death, most Peasants were ‘villeins’ which meant they were forced to work on the Lord’s land and ask his permission for everything. In this sense they were not free men. After the Black Death, villagers became free men because there were so few of them that they were now able to bargain with their Lords!
- Misunderstanding of the causes of the Black Death meant there was widespread persecution of minorities such as foreigners,
beggars and lepers. - Between 1348 and 1350, the disease killed at least a third of England’s population. Older age groups were most affected and experienced higher numbers of deaths.
- The medieval lords who lost their farmer peasants to the disease changed to sheep- farming because it required fewer workers. This further reduced the supply of basic foods that were needed such as bread.
- In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, fields went unploughed as the majority of the peasant farmers had died. Those that survived found there were food
shortages as a result.
What were the religious effects of the Black Death?
- Opinions towards the Catholic Church changed. Some of the churchmen were criticised or cowardice when they deserted their villages. The church also lost a great number of experienced clergy who had themselves died in the pandemic.
What was the Renaissance?
- The ‘Renaissance’ is a period in history which flourished in the late 1400s.
- The ‘Renaissance’ began in Florence in Italy, amongst wealthy businessmen and traders. They used their money to pay educated people to translate the works of ancient Greece and Rome in order to satisfy their renewed interest in this era.
- At the same time as the ‘Renaissance’, the Reformation of the Catholic Church began to challenge accepted religious ideas as well. Many turned to Protestantism.
- they also became critical of the old ancient texts that had been used for centuries.
- People now did not just accept what they were told but they began to ask questions, look for evidence and experiment with new ideas.
- People began to believe that being educated in areas such as art, music, science and literature could improve people’s lives.
- Since people’s interest in ancient knowledge began to grow again the ‘Renaissance’ is considered a period of ‘rebirth‘ of learning ‘old’ learning
- For centuries people had accepted the idea that the church had all the answers but now
- people began to challenge these and wanted to find the right answers out for themselves.
What new discoveries did Vesalius make?
My name is Andreas Vesalius. I was a surgeon and carried out my own dissections on humans.
I believed that anatomy was key to understanding how the human body worked. Through practicing human dissection, I was able to construct detailed drawings of the inside of the human body for surgeons to understand. I used this to create the first detailed textbook on human anatomy.
How did Vesalius challenge previous knowledge?
proved that animal anatomy was very different from a human being.
What new discoveries did Pare make?
My name is Ambroise Paré. My background is in surgery and I learned most of my skills as an army surgeon. Most soldiers I treated had experienced gunshot wounds which has traditionally been cauterized (sealed off) with hot oil because people believed that such wounds were poisonous)
How did Pare challenge previous ideas about medicine?
One day, my supply of oil ran out and I created an ointment of rose oil, egg white and turpentine. I found that this ointment worked better and wounds healed more effectively.
I also developed Galen’s suggestion of using ligatures (silk threads) to tie blood vessels during an amputation in order to stem bleeding in surgery.
What new discoveries did William Harvey make?
My name is William Harvey. A group of us questioned Galen’s original ideas that new blood was constantly being made in the liver (and was subsequently used as a fuel that was burned up in the body).
A friend of mine, Columbo, put forward an idea that blood moved along the veins and arteries.
How did William Harvey change old ideas about medicine?
I spent a long time studying the movement of blood through dissection and my own experiments and I became the first person to prove that blood circulated the whole of the body in a system and was driven by the heart.
What discoveries did Edward Jenner make?
I am Edward Jenner. I was a surgeon who was trained under John Hunter. I became his apprentice at St George’s Hospital and learned lots about dissection and experimentation from him.
I eventually found that infecting a person with a small dose of cowpox (a milder form of smallpox) vaccinated them against smallpox. This was a deadly disease which killed 30% of the people who caught it.
What discoveries/ breakthroughs did Thomas Guy make?
Up until the 17th century, hospitals were considered a place for the sick to rest, receive simple remedies and to pray. However, by the early 18th century, modern hospitals were set up which were founded and supported by private people. I was originally a Governor at St Tomas’s Hospital in London.
I originally set up my own hospital to treat ‘incurables’ from St Thomas’ hospital. Here, patients were cared for, doctors received training and a medical schools was attached to us to further develop staff.
How did Andreas Vesalius improve medicine (in depth)?
- Through careful observation, Vesalius found that sometimes Galen’s findings were wrong because they were based on animal dissection
- Vesalius’ work was soon appreciated in England. Within 2 years of being published, an Italian printer (Thomas Geminus) published ‘Compendiosa’, a book which copied all of Vesalius’ illustrations. This book was used as a manual for barber surgeons in London to learn their trade.
- Vesalius faced heavy criticism for daring to say Galen was wrong. Vesalius was correcting errors made by greatly respected anatomists and doctors; some of these ideas had been accepted and followed for thousands of years. He eventually left his job in Padua as a result.
- Although Vesalius’ work did not lead to any medical cures, it was the basis for better treatment in the future.
- Vesalius’ dissections were popular. He promoted human dissection as a way to discover more about the
body and as a way that students could learn about the body. - Vesalius also dissected animals to show how Galen had gained his knowledge: the breastbone in a human
had 3 parts, not 7 like the ape. - Vesalius wrote/illustrated his textbook – The Fabric of the Human Body in 1543. His illustrations were very
precise and, unlike previous medical books, which focused on individual organs, he focused on different
systems within the body such as the skeleton, muscles, nerves, veins, digestion and reproduction. - Many doctors believed that Galen had given the correct description of anatomy and simply carried out dissections to prove he was right. When other doctors observed the same differences as Vesalius, they
simply blamed that particular body they were dissecting or said human anatomy had changed since Galen. - Vesalius showed others how to do proper dissections. Fabricius, Columbo and Fallopius all followed his ideas
and used dissection to find out more about specific body parts. - In the latter half of the 16th century, many copies of Vesalius’ original book came to England, where they
influenced and inspired many English surgeons
How did Ambrose Paré improve medicine (in depth)?
- During a French battle, Paré ran out of hot oil (which he was using to seal the wound, since surgeons believed that gunshot wounds spread poison in the body) and instead, used a cream of rose oil, egg white and turpentine to smear over gunshot wounds.
- Paré challenged accepted practice based on observation and experimentation and wrote a book about treating wounds in new and better ways.
- Paré’s patients that had been treated with the rose ointment slept well and their wounds healed quickly in comparison to those who had their wounds treated with hot oil who suffered pain and inflammation.
- Due to the number of amputations Paré had to do, he quickly moved on to designing and making false limbs for soldiers and included drawings of them in his books.
- Paré also revived an old method to stop bleeding. Instead of cauterising a wound he used ligatures (string or thread). He did this by tying the ligature around individual blood vessels, recommended by Galen.
- Paré admired, read and learned from the work of Vesalius. He also believed in the importance of human dissection to learn more about anatomy.
- Paré also designed the bec de corbin (‘crows beak clamp’) to halt bleeding while the blood vessel was being tied off with a ligature.
- The use of ligatures could, however, introduce infection to the wound; they also took longer to implement than cauterising and speed was crucial during battle surgery
How significant was Pare in terms of medicine?
- Paré translated Vesalius’ writings into French which increased surgeons’ understanding as most surgeons were not taught Latin. His books were circulated around Europe.
- In 16th century England, there were a number of surgeons who followed Paré’s renaissance approach to surgery: they observed, questione
- Paré’s book, Works on Surgery, was widely read by English surgeons and an English hand-written one was given to the Library of Barber-Surgeons of London in 1591. This was long before it was printed in English in 1634.
- surgical knowledge?
Paré’s book, Works on Surgery, was widely read by English surgeons and an English hand-written one was given to the Library of Barber-Surgeons of London in 1591. This was long before it was printed in English in 1634.
Impact for the development of surgical knowledge?William Clowes, a surgeon to Queen Elizabeth, greatly admired Paré. He gained most of his experience on the battlefield and was talented at stopping bleeding from wounds and carried a vast amount of heeling potions. He agreed with Paré that gunshot wounds were not poisonous. Clowes acknowledged Paré as the source for his treatments of burns using onions in 1596.
