Medieval Medicine Flashcards
What are the 4 humours?
Blood, black bile, yellow bile, phlegm
Who first theorised the 4 humours?
Hippocrates
What did the Catholic Church teach?
God controlled everything that happened in the world, including disease and illness
What are all the causes of disease that people believed in the Medieval era?
An imbalance of the 4 humours, God, astrology, miasmas
What ancient physicians did the Church rely on for medical teachings?
Galen, Hippocrates and Ibn Sina
What was Galen’s theory of opposites?
The theory that the humours could be balanced by opposites (e.g. if the patient is hot and dry then they can be treated by something cold and wet)
Why were Galen’s ideas accepted in the Medieval era?
His ideas fitted with the teachings of the Church, who controlled education
How was disease prevented in the Medieval era?
Religious actions (e.g. fasting and flagellation)
Purifying the air (e.g. carrying sweet flowers and herbs and ringing bells)
Wash regularly, exercise and rest
Who did people who could not afford physicians. go to when they were ill?
People in the community such as:
Women using herbal remedies
Barber surgeons
Apothecaries (people who sold herbal remedies)
What were some traditional beliefs to treat disease?
Bloodletting
Purging the stomach
Theory of opposites
Herbal remedies
Physician’s advice
What organisation owned most of the hospitals in England?
The Church- they were often linked to monestaries or convents
How were the sick cared for in hospitals?
Prayer, rest and recovery, changing bedding regularly, clean environment
How did physicians train at univerity?
Studying the books of Hippocrates and Galen
Studying for 7 years
Learnt to diagnose disease and provide corresponding treatments
Name a drawback of physicians
They were expensive so only the rich could see them
How did authorities attempt to stop the spread of the Black Death?
40-day quarantine laws in areas of outbreak
Strangers were not allowed to enter a village
Large crowd events were banned
Stopped cleaning the streets
Huge burial sites created
