Medicine: Medieval Flashcards
Why did Ancient ideas continue in the Middle Ages?
-CHURCH
- Church was rich and powerful
- if you challenged the bible it was thought you would go straight to hell
- Galen supported the 4 humours theory
- Church protected it because the bible also said the body is sacred
- If you argued against this you were sent to prison
Why did Ancient ideas continue in the Middle Ages?
-EDUCATION
- Church controlled education including how physicians were trained in universities
- Only studied Galen’s work, doctors couldn’t think for themselves
- Church said all Galen’s work was correct
Why did Ancient ideas continue in the Middle Ages?
-LOGICAL IDEAS
-Doctors used logic to develop theories
Why did Ancient ideas continue in the Middle Ages?
-GOVERNMENT
- Gov. didn’t want to fund on research for hospitals
- Spent all money on army instead
- Sticking to miasma and 4 humours theory was cheaper
Four Humours Theory
First used in Ancient Greece
Hippocrates said that the humours must be balanced for a person to be healthy
Was thought that the season affected the humours
Rational theory
Miasma Theory
Developed in Ancient Rome
Clean air meant good health so the Romans invested a lot of money in cleaning up their towns and cities
Rational theory
How did Church teachings on the cause of illness influence communities?
+ At least Galen’s ideas were rational
- No dissection meant no anatomical understanding
- Taught that God caused illness
How did the Church influence medical training?
+ Taught Christians to heal the sick
- Banned books
- Stopped new treatments
- Only taught Galen’s work
What were the medieval beliefs about the cause of disease?
- God’s Punishment
- Four Humours
- Miasma
How was illness treated in the Middle Ages?
-GOD’S PUNISHMENT
- Pray and give money to the Church
- Light candles in churches or fast to show God they were sorry
- Pilgrimage if a bad sin was committed
How was illness treated in the Middle Ages?
-FOUR HUMOURS
- Purged (mixture of herbs and animal fats, giving laxatives)
- Bled (bronze cup, leeches)
- Doctors advised staying healthy (balanced diet, exercise)
- Galen’s opposite theory to restore balance (e.g. Cold bath for fever)
How was illness treated in the Middle Ages?
-MIASMA
- Used herbs or lit fires to get rid of bad smells
- Local governments passed laws to make streets cleaner (e.g. Fines for litter)
- Ring bells or let birds fly inside house to break up bad air
How did town councils and individuals work hard to keep streets clean and stay healthy?
- Having a piped water supply
- People left money in their wills to pay for improvements (e.g. Building latrines or improving piping systems to bring fresh water)
They expected this charity would help them reach heaven sooner when they died
Who cared for the sick in the Middle Ages?
-WOMEN
- Treated most illnesses
- Knew a wide range of remedies, often by heart which had been passed down through generations of women in their family
- Sometimes called local wise woman or lady of the manor for her skills and knowledge
- Midwives were apprenticed, had licenses and were paid
- Could qualify as surgeons via. working as apprentices, but couldn’t attend university to become physicians
Who cared for the sick in the Middle Ages?
-APOTHECARIES
- Mixed ingredients to make ointments and medicines for physicians to use
- Also made their own medicines for anyone who could afford to buy them. Used herbs, animal fats and minerals
- Developed new methods of refining liquids, mixing potions and extracting chemicals so they could prepare increasingly complicated remedies
Who cared for the sick in the Middle Ages?
-NUNS AND MONKS
- Church set up hospitals run by them
- Mainly for elderly who couldn’t look after themselves anymore
- There were over 500 hospitals in the UK but they mainly only had 5 or 6 beds
- Nuns provided food, warmth, good know,edge of herbal remedies to help patients get better
- Monks prayed for patients
Who cared for the sick in the Middle Ages?
-PHYSICIANS
- Had to train at university for 7 years
- Under order of Church only studied work of Hippocrates, Galen and Arab medical writers
- They respected and taught Ancient ideas, though they were actually often incorrect
- Taught that astrology was controlled by God and affected a person’s health
- Used charts (urine, bleeding, zodiac) to treat patients
- Very few patients in UK and only few people could afford them
Who cared for the sick in the Middle Ages?
-SURGEONS
- Trained as apprentices learning basic surgery but didn’t know very much about pain, blood loss and infection
- Used herbs to deal with pain and wine, vinegar and honey to clean wounds
- Tourniquets and hot irons stopped bleeding, however couldn’t stop heavy bleeding or replace blood loss
When was Black Death?
- First arrived in England in 1348
- At least 40% of the population is estimated to have died
- Symptoms included buboes; painful swellings in armpits and groins from flea bites
How did Medieval England deal with the Black Death?
-GOD’S PUNISHMENT
+ Kings and bishops ordered services and processions in every Church at least once a day
+Activities that might insult God ended (e.g. Wrestling in churchyards)
+ Punished themselves and begged for God’s forgiveness (flagellants)
- Lit candles in churches
- Fasted
- Pilgrimages to pray at tombs of saints
How did Medieval England deal with the Black Death?
-MIASMA
+ Butchers punished for remains and blood of slaughtered animals on street
+ Payed teams of rakers to sweep away animal dung
- Carried herbs
- Lit fires
- Kept air moving (rang bells, kept birds to fly around house)
How did Medieval England deal with the Black Death?
-FOUR HUMOURS
+ Galen’s ‘treatment of opposites’ (if they lived long enough)
- Bleeding - Purging
Why was there so little change in medicine in the Middle Ages?
-CHURCH
- Forbidding of dissection
- Encouragement of prayer and superstition
- Insisting on Galen’s theories
Why was there so little change in medicine in the Middle Ages?
-EDUCATION
- Social disorder and war disrupted communication and learning
- Monasteries controlled the ability to read and write
