Medicine and Treatment 1350 - 1750 (Renaissance Era) Flashcards
When did the Black Death arrive in Britain?
1348
What were the main ideas about medicine and treatment in 1350?
- Doctors diagnosed patients by looking at urine and using astrology.
- The most common treatment was bleeding. Doctors were taught the theory of the 4 humours and thought this would balance humours.
- Herbal remedies were popular and treatment often started at home
- Most villages had a healer, usually a wise woman, who could mix up a remedy for an everyday illness.
What was the Black Death and how was it spread?
- Bubonic plague, originated in Asia
- Spread by fleas carried by rats which travelled on trading ships. This meant it spread quickly around Europe and ports were the first to be affected.
- Began like fever with chills and shivering.
- Swellings, called buboes, then began to appear in the groins and armpits, followed by blisters all over the body.
- Victim’s temperature soared, causing a high fever, unconsciousness, death.
- Often accompanied by pneumonic plague which made victim cough blood and struggle to breath.
Did people in the Middle Ages actually know what caused the plague?
No! Hence why they couldn’t cure it. They did, however, have their own explinations and treatments
What were the suggested causes and accompanying treatments for the Black Death?
- Miasma - Burn barrels of tar, candels, or use a worse smell to drive it away. Or overwhelm it with a nice smell.
- Punishment/test from God - Flagellation, prayer
- Jews poisoning wells - Burned + massacred Jews (mostly Germany)
- Imbalance in humours - Bleeding or purging
- Alignment of planets - No solution/prayer
What were the symptoms of the Black Death?
- Shivering
- Sickness + fever
- Spasms
- Buboes filled with black pus in groin and armpits
- Bleeding under skin (bruising)
- Blisters all over body
- Unconsciousness + death
Who cared for the majority of people who needed medical attention in the Middle Ages, what did they use, and where did it take place?
A female member of the family using herbal remedies (possibly mixed by an apothecary or quack) and would’ve taken place in the home.
What were hospitals like in 1350?
- Run by monks/nuns who believed God had sent illness. Therefore, medical care was focussed on praying for souls of patients.
- No medical proffesionals to look after ill, so hospitals did not admit infectious or incurable patients.
- Almost exclusively run as care homes for the elderly.
What were hospitals like between 1350 and 1750?
- Dissolution of monasteries by Henry VIII had huge impact on the way hospitals were run as the monasteries had provided hospital care.
- Instead, local people, charaties, and town councils paid for hospitals.
- By 1750 there had been major changes.
What were hospitals like in 1750?
- Run by trained physicians and nurses (who didn’t have medical training)
- Some hopsitals, especially those in cities, admitted infectious patients
- Herbal remedies and minor surgery was more common, although prayer still featured heavily.
What was the influence of Galen in the 1350s?
- Church liked his ideas because he taught that body fitted together as if it had been made by God. His teachings agreed with Church’s.
- Church also supported theory of 4 humours. Bleeding was common treatment in monasteries
- Medical training was controlled by Church, so all trainee physicians learnt about Galen
- Church controlled libraries. Chose what to translate + copy, so picked Galen
- Church did not allow human dissection. Medical students had to go on what Galen taught because they could not discover anything for themselves.
What impact did the Renaissance have on Art?
- Artists discovered perspective and began to draw + sculp from life. This led to more accurate depictions of the human body.
- Leonardo Da Vinci (amongst others) carried out dissections and produced detailed drawings of them. Many other artisits also shared their work with physicians.
- This allowed physicians to use gain knowledge and improve their own practise, and ultimately fuelled the development of anatomy.
Factor: Science + Technology
What impact did the Renaissance have on exploration?
- Adventurers like Columbus sailed around the word bringing back interesting new plants like potatoes, tomatoes, avocadoes, and tobacco.
- Better ships meant they could do this.
- New land discovered also meant potential new cures + remedies discovered.
- New sea trade routes were established with Asia and Africa, strengthening connection between these continents and Europe.
- This allowed for greater trade + exchange of ideas.
Factor: Communication (+ Science and Tech. for ships)
What impact did the Renaissance have on printing?
- Printing Press invented!
- Now possible to mass produce books cheaply and quickly.
- Knowledge + ideas could be shared + spread easily
- More people learned to read because there were more books availble.
- This meant there was a lot more thinking + exchange + questioning of ideas too…
Factor: Science + Tech. and Communication
What impact did the Renaissance have on machinery?
- New machinery invented (such as printing press).
- Invention of pump helped give people ideas about how body worked. Big inspiration to Harvey when thinking about circulation around the body.
- New techniques in glass making also developed, which led to the invention of the microscope. Allowed for development of anatomy, however not used to discover germs until 19th century.
- Invention of gun powder led to new injuries which needed new treatments.
Factor: Science + Technology (and war)
