Medieval Medicine

Question 1

When was the medieval time period?

Answer 1

c.1000 - c.1500

Question 2

When was the renaissance time period?

Answer 2

c.1500 - c.1700

Question 3

When was the industrial time period?

Answer 3

c.1700 - c.1900

Question 4

When is the modern time period?

Answer 4

c.1900+

Question 5

Name a treatment before Hippocrates

Answer 5

Drilling holes into the head (prescribed by Shaman/witch doctors) to alleviate evil spirits.

Question 6

What time period was Hippocrates from?

Answer 6

Ancient Greece

Question 7

Name the 4 humours

Answer 7

Phlegm, blood, yellow bile (urine) and black bile (faeces)

Question 8

How did Hippocrates spread his ideas?

Answer 8

He wrote 60 books which were translated and spread across the globe

Question 9

How did Galen develop the 4 humours?

Answer 9

By creating the theory of opposites

Question 10

Why did Galen’s work contain mistakes?

Answer 10

He conducted experiments on animals- not humans.

Question 11

Name 4 symptoms of the black death

Answer 11

Headache, swollen glands (buboes), coughing up blood and a fever

Question 12

When did the black death first start?

Answer 12

1346

Question 13

Name 3 “causes” of the black death of 1346

Answer 13

Punishment from god
Alignment of the planets (bad things to come)
Bad air/miasma

Question 14

Name 3 treatments of the black death of 1346

Answer 14

Bleeding and purging
Lancing buboes
A pilgrimage to a holy site

Question 15

Name 3 preventions of the black death of 1346

Answer 15

Lighting a fire and boiling vinegar (to ward off bad smells)
Avoid bathing (it will open pores and allow impurities to enter)
Clearing dung and rubbish from the streets

Question 16

What is the regimen sanitatis?

Answer 16

A book providing information on how to live healthy

Question 17

Other than the church, what was one reason many people died from the black plague?

Answer 17

A lack of understanding of germs meant they couldn’t find a cause, and therefore couldn’t find a treatment.

Also, a lack of technology meant that people weren’t able to create vaccines, or use microscopes to understand these germs.

Question 18

What were some features of hospitals in the medieval period?

Answer 18

-Only offered hospitality
-Rejected infectious or terminally ill patients
-Most required shared beds unless someone was dying

Question 19

Explain the role of wise women in the middle ages

Answer 19

They helped women give birth, relied on herbal treatments , carried out minor surgery

They had no training and weren’t very effective

Question 20

Explain the role of physicians/clergymen in the middle ages

Answer 20

To diagnose and recommend treatments, and to examine the humours

They were expensive and couldn’t cut a patient

Question 21

Name the role of apothecaries in the middle ages

Answer 21

They mixed herbal remedies, studied herbal manuals and were cheaper than physicians

They went against the Hippocratic oath and used supernatural theories

Question 22

Name the role of surgeons in the middle ages

Answer 22

They had a steady hand to remove rotten teeth and stop bleeding and were trusted with sharp tools

Only a few were fully trained

Question 23

Name 2 natural and supernatural treatments in the medieval period

Answer 23

Natural:
Bleeding and purging
Herbal remedies

Supernatural:
Prayer
Self flagellation