Medieval Medicine

Question 1

Give two ideas of Hippocrates

Answer 1

Four Humours. Hippocratic Oath. Hippocratic Corpus (books)

Question 2

Give two ideas of Galen.

Answer 2

Treatment of Opposites. Brain controls the body. Anatomy based on monkeys.

Question 3

Give three reasons why Galen and Hippocrates were so important.

Answer 3

Church promoted them. Basis of medicine. People were reluctant to embrace new ideas.

Question 4

When did the Black Death first arrive in England?

Answer 4

1348

Question 5

Give two Medieval causes of the Black Death.

Answer 5

God sent it as a punishment. Miasma. Movement of planets and stars.

Question 6

What is the difference between bubonic and pneumonic plague?

Answer 6

Bubonic plague has swelling (buboes). Pneumonic plague attacks the lungs and is passed from person to person.

Question 7

Roughly what percentage of the population died during the original Black Death outbreak?

Answer 7

Around 40% (around 60% in London)

Question 8

Give three Medieval treatments for the plague.

Answer 8

Bleeding. Purging. Herbal remedies. Praying.

Question 9

What is a physician?

Answer 9

A university-trained doctor. They use the Four Humors theory to treat patients.

Question 10

What does a ‘Barber-Surgeon’ do?

Answer 10

Stitch wounds, amputate limbs and carry out bleeding as well as some simple operations like tooth extraction.

Question 11

What is an apothecary?

Answer 11

A medieval chemist.

Question 12

What is a wise woman?

Answer 12

A local woman with knowledge of plants and herbs.

Question 13

How did monasteries help the sick?

Answer 13

Most treatments were centered on religion and prayer. They helped the old and young, but would not help the contagious.

Question 14

When was St. Bartholomew’s hospital first opened?

Answer 14

1123

Question 15

Give three Medieval treatments for illness.

Answer 15

Bleeding and purging. Herbal remedies. Prayers and Holy relics. Simple Surgery.

Question 16

Give three ways in which the Church was important to Medieval medicine.

Answer 16

Controlled education. Promoted Galen. Believed that God could cause and cure illness.

Question 17

Give three examples of progress during the Medieval period.

Answer 17

Some effective herbal treatments. Invention of the printing press. Help provided for ordinary people in monastic houses.

Question 18

Who were the Flagellants?

Answer 18

People who would whip themselves during outbreaks of Black Death to show repentance to God.

Question 19

How did the Crusades help medicine to develop?

Answer 19

New techniques like using wine as an antiseptic New books A Canon of Medicine written by Avicenna

Question 20

When was Bald’s Leech Book (A collection of herbal remedies) written?

Answer 20

800

Question 21

What was ‘Theriaca’?

Answer 21

A common herbal remedy. It contained over 70 ingredients including ginger, saffron, and viper flesh.

Question 22

What was Regimen Sanitatis?

Answer 22

A set of instructions provided by physicians to help maintain good health. It was created by Hippocrates.

Question 23

Where were the vast majority of sick people cared for?

Answer 23

Their home (by a female family member?

Question 24

What did medieval people believe caused the Black Death?

Answer 24

They believed God had deserted humanity because of the sins they had committed.