Medieval Medicine

Question 1

Give 3 ways god effected people’s knowledge of medicine

Answer 1

• they believed that god created illness and created the right herbs/plants to treat them (called the doctrine of signatures)
• believed that illness was a punishment from god
• believed that if society as a whole was sinful, then an epidemic or plague was a reward to remind people their duties to the church

Question 2

Give 1 way mad smells effected people’s knowledge of medicine

Answer 2

People thought bad smells caused disease especially in towns where people lived aside animals and filth

Question 3

Give 1 way everyday life effected people’s knowledge in medicine

Answer 3

-most believed illness and early death in everyday life was inevitable due to high mortality rates in women during child birth and childeren

Question 4

Give 2 ways the supernatural effected people’s knowledge of medicine

Answer 4

• many believed the world was full of demons trying to cause trouble and death
• supernatural was used by some to explain illness, death or general misfortune

Question 5

What were the four humours? Who came up with the idea?

Answer 5

They are Hippocrates idea that the body is made up of 4 elements; blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile, and each one had to be in balance or else you’d become ill

Question 6

When were medical schools set up?

Answer 6

During the 12th century

Question 7

Which individual’s ideas where very influential over medieval medicine and why?

Answer 7

Galen as his teachings aligned with Christian ideas

Question 8

What methods of treatment were used?

Answer 8

bloodletting and purging the balance

Question 9

What did doctors do to treat patients overcome by the ‘supernatural’

Answer 9

They checked the position of starts and recommended charms and prayers

Question 10

What methods of diagnosis did medieval doctors use?

Answer 10

Urine testing and astrological info

Question 11

Who treated patients?

Answer 11

Physicians and barber surgeons

Question 12

What was the role of my women in medieval medicine?

Answer 12

They were mainly midwives and female physicians were very rare

Question 13

What hindered the development of medicine?

Answer 13

The belief in galen’s ideas, the Christian church,

Question 14

What did medieval medical students study in textbooks, how did they do this and what were the limitations?

Answer 14

• Studied old manuscripts from Galen
• studied through a lecture after undergoing translation
• limited as you couldn’t use the manuscripts yourself and you couldn’t criticise Galen as that went against the church

Question 15

What did medieval medical students learn from dissection, how did they do this and what were the limitations?

Answer 15

They learnt about dissection from Galen’s writings by watching and listening only.
Limited because students don’t actually do anything

Question 16

How were they hoping to improve students learning from. dissections?

Answer 16

By hoping to introduce one dissection a year in 1340

Question 17

How did medieval medical students learn about diagnosis, what did they actually learn and what were the limitations?

Answer 17

They learnt the theory of the four humours and how to study urine charts by studying books.
Limited as it’s only theory and you can’t actually see real patients

Question 18

How did medieval medical students learn about the four humours, what did they actually learn and what were the limitations?

Answer 18

Studied books to learn that each humour is strongest in a specific season and how an in balance leads to illness
Limited as it was mainly theory and this evidence hasn’t been backed up since the ancient Greeks

Question 19

How did medieval medical students learn about treatments, what did they actually learn and what were the limitations?

Answer 19

Studied the astrological charts due to the moon having an effect on the humours and learnt how to study the astrological chart, and were taught to bleed with a bleed cup and leeches
Limited as there’s not much evidence confirming it works and it’s linked to the four humours

Question 20

Give a positive and a negative about medieval medical school

Answer 20

+ students learnt about various areas of medicine

- it was mainly just theory

Question 21

who was a healer? What did a healer do?

Answer 21

Usually a village woman who acted as a midwife. Treated people through the special knowledge of herbs and charms and accepted some kind of small payment

Question 22

Who was a barber surgeon, what did they do?

Answer 22

A man present in most towns who pulled out teeth and performed simple surgeries like amputation

Question 23

Who was an apothecary and what did they do?

Answer 23

A man who sold wine herbs and spices. They prepared and sold medicines to physicians and directly to patients. They also offered medical advice

Question 24

Who was a physician, what did they do?

Answer 24

A man who was trained in one of Europe’s medical schools. He would use astrological and urine charts plus knowledge of the humours to treat the patient

Question 25

What kind of person would have gone to a physician?

Answer 25

Someone with a lot of money as they charged high fees e.g. a king

Question 26

What treatment did physicians usually use in the end?

Answer 26

Bloodletting

Question 27

Who would ill people go to if they couldn’t afford a physician?

Answer 27

Healers, barber surgeons or apothecaries

Question 28

Give 3 ways Christianity affected medieval people

Answer 28

• every villager had to give the church a tithe (1/10 of everything they produced)
• people believed god controlled their health and success
• god decided if you went to heaven or hell so you would have acted accordingly

Question 29

Give 3 positive impacts Christianity had on medicine

Answer 29

• the church believed in following Jesus’ example of healing the sick so people believed it was good to look after the ill
• there were different hospital types, lazar houses dealt with leprosy and were set up outside towns to prevent others catching the disease
• between 1000 and 1500, <700 hospitals started in England

Question 30

Give three negative impacts Christianity had on medicine

Answer 30

• the church made sure medical students only learnt Galen and Hippocrates knowledge
• there was a strong Christian belief curing illness was like challenging god so patients were cared for but not cured
• people who criticised medical knowledge backed up by the church were arrested

Question 31

Give an example of someone who was arrested for critiquing old ancient medicine backed up by the church

Answer 31

Roger Bacon, the thirtieth century English monk after he suggested doctors should do original research and not trust old books