Medicine- medieval Flashcards
What was life like in medieval Britain? Link to medicine
Nasty, hard and short
Life expectancy depended on whether you were rich or poor as the poor couldn’t afford doctors
Towns were dirtier and deadlier than villages but more chance of finding medicine
What were the main killers in previous medieval Britain ?
Famine and war
Poor harvest due to flooding led to malnourishment
What were common diseases in the background of medieval Britain and what percentage of the population died from these?
Saint Anthony’s disease- caused by fungus that grew on rye caused rashes and death
Typhoid , smallpox, measles
10% population died from these
How many kids died before the age of 7?
30%
What were different things medieval people thought made them Ill ?include important facts
1) punishment from good- he left the right plants/ herbs to treat the illness in the doctrine of signatures
2) bad smells (miasma) - began to notice link between bad air and illness
3) four humours - loss of equilibruim
What theory did Hippocrates make and what does it mean ?
The four humours theory
Body made of 4 humours that were linked to the seasons- yellow bile and summer, black bike and autumn, phlegm with winter and blood with spring
They had to remain balanced to stay healthy
To cure e.g if someone had a fever they thought they had too much blood so would bleed the patient
What did doctors use to diagnose illness?
Urine charts
Zodiac charts - showed which parts of the body linked to which astrological sign so showed how to treat it
Who else except doctors where medieval people treated by ?
Barber surgeon- used by people with money as trained as an apprentice and would carry out minor operations e.g set broken bones and pull teeth
Apothecary- sell medicines + herbs/spices
7 year apprenticeship for training
Sold cures e.g red rose and bamboo juice for smallpox
Wise women- wisdom handed down by family
Reasonably priced+ acted as midwives
Lady of the house- provide care for family and her workers
Common treatment examples in medieval health?
Asthma- swallow young frogs 🐸
Rheumatism- wear donkey skin
Bleeding by cupping or leeches
Facts about John Aderne
Born 1307 + trained as surgeon in London
50% success rate at removing growths from patients anus
Developed painkilling ointments on war fields of Hemlock, Optimus and Henbane which stopped need for cauterisation
Wrote practice of surgery in 1350
Believed in good bedside manner
How did Greeks influence medieval medicine?
Hippocrates 4 humours
He realised diet was important
Wrote about 60 books called Hippocrates corpus
Doctors still sign Hippocrates oath
How did Romans influence medieval medicine?
Galen worked at gladiator school where he learnt lots about anatomy
His books accepted as university texts and taught about dissection to better understand the body
He realised observation was important
How did Arabic influence medieval medicine?
Invented distillation to make drugs and anaesthetics
Set up hospitals to cure patients and train doctors
Rhazes wrote El Hawi and further 200 textbooks
Discovered fever was body’s natural way of healing
Avicenna wrote cannon of medicine
How did the Catholic Church help medicine progress?
Played large part in developing hospitals in 12th and 13th century
Set up university schools of medicine who were trained using texts of Hippocrates and Galen
How did the church limit progress?
Made it difficult for human dissections to happen
Scientists who tried to challenge Galen were arrested E.g Roger Bacon 🥓
Why were hospitals more like care homes ?
St Bartholomews hospital , London 1123
Specialised in treatment of poor pregnant women
St Mary of Bethlehem 1247
Specialised in ‘poor and silly people’
Alms houses set up to provide homes for old and those unable to work
St Giles Hospital case study
Set up in Norwich by Bishop Walter de Sufflied in 1249
Set up to care for the poor but also help the bishop be forgiven for his sins to get to heaven quicker
Funded by income from several churches around Norwich
No women allowed
How did war impact medicine?
Led to advances in surgery and treatment of wounds
Cauterisation of wounds reduced as often fatal and replaced by wine as antiseptic and john adernes pain relieving ointment
Opium used as painkiller
Tools such as arrow cup
Wound man produced to help surgeons
How did science impact medicine?
Robert Grosseteste encouraged scientific enquiry and experiment
This led to development of spectacles
Roger Bacon opposed Galen and people started to oppose old texts
Reasons for poor public health in towns?
Cramped housing
Cesspits for human waste near wells
Water drawn from waste contaminated waters
Live animals everywhere
Leather making no zoning
Few regulations about waste disposal
How did Coventry take action for health?
In 1421 Mayor proclaimed ordering men to clean outside houses or 12 penny fine
Waste collection started in 1420
In 1427 designated waste disposal areas outside town appeared
Between 1421-75 nine laws passed banning Easter disposal in river Sherborne
What did people believe were the causes of the Black Death ?
Miasma - bad air
God was angry for sinful people
Planets in conjunction
Jews poisoned water
4 humours out of balance
A huge earthquake in china in 1347 sent demons
What were treatments at the time to avoid Black Death?
March through streets praying by kings order
Avoid baths as opens pores
Avoid sex
Clean filth
Carry posy of sweet smelling herbs
Bathe in urine 3 times a day and drink once a day
Treatments to cure Black Death?
Pop buboes
Pluck a chickens bum and put on buboes
Drink vinegar+mercury
Flagellation
Bleeding
