MEDICINE - Black Death + Medieval Medicine Flashcards
What year did the Black Death enter Britain?
1348
What type of plague was the Black Death?
Bubonic (Carried by fleas living on black rats bought to the country by traders)
Which medieval town shut its gates to prevent the spread of the Black Death?
Norwich - although it did not work as the plague was already within the city walls, killing 5,000 of the 7,000 population.
What were the main 4 types of treatment for the Black Death?
Humoral treatments used - eg. bloodletting, herbal remedies and purging.
Miasma treatments - creating fires, boiling vinegar
Cutting open buboes + holding bread against them
Prayer and Using Lucky Charms
What was the set isolation period for someone with the Black Death?
40 days
Why were the rules not enforced?
The government had little power and were often over-run by the church who had more power within the country. Hence why there was little progress until the church began to lose its support.
What are flagellants?
Large groups of Christians who walked around the streets whipping themselves as a form of self-reflection and begging for God to allow them to not get the black death.
How many deaths did Britain face from the Black Death?
Around 1/3rd of the population were killed due to the Black Death.
Symptoms of the Black Death?
Swelling of the lymph glands into buboes (lumps filled with pus)
fever and chills
headache
vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal pain.
Preventions of the black death?
Praying and fasting Lighting fires in their room Not letting unknown people in their village (witches) Carrying herbs and spices. Cleaning up rubbish of the streets.
The Theory of the Four Humours was created by an Ancient Greek physician named Hippocrates in which century?
5th century BCE
Claudius Galen, a physician working in Ancient Rome during the 2nd Century CE developed Hippocrates’ theory and called it The Theory of……
Opposites
It was thought by medieval physicians that the best way to check for an imbalance in the four humours was to take a sample of the patient’s
Urine
The physician would carefully check the colour, thickness, smell and even the taste of the urine before making a diagnosis. They also compared it to a urine chart.
“They mainly mixed herbal remedies. They had good knowledge of the healing powers of herbs and plants thanks to studying herbal manuals.”
Apothecaries
Theriaca was a common remedy used in Medieval times that could contain up to how many ingredients?
70
It could include quite common things like ginger, cardamom, pepper and saffron. Also some unusual ingredients like like viper flesh and opium.
