Medieval medicine

Question 1

How long is the Medieval period?

Answer 1

From 1250- 1500

Question 2

Who was Hippocrates?

[2]:

Answer 2

• Greek doctor and teacher of doctors

- Came up with the theory of the four Humours

Question 3

What where the 4 Humours?

Answer 3

• Blood
• Phlegm
• Yellow bile
• Black bile

Question 4

Who Was Galen?

[2]:

Answer 4

• Roman doctor

- Came up with the theory of opposites

Question 5

The Black death/ The Pestilence [3]:

Answer 5

• 1348-49
• 40% of the country’s population died because of the plagues
• It arrived in a port called Melcombe in Dorset

Question 6

Causes of The Black death [3]:

Answer 6

• It was mostly believed that God had sent the Pestilence to punish for their sins
• Many also believed the cause was Miasma or bad-smelling air
• Others turned to more supernatural and astrological explanations like the planets aligning in the wrong order

Question 7

Prevention of The Black death [3]:

Answer 7

• The King and Bishops ordered services and processions in every church at least once a day for religious cleansing
• Prayer
• Public displays of forgiveness and remorse

Question 8

Treatments for The Black death [6]:

Answer 8

• Some people self-flagellate to appease the angry God
• Holy charms around the neck of sufferers
• Bleeding
• Purging
• Cut open buboes to let out puss and tried putting bread around the buboes, they would then remove the bread and bury it
• Herbal remedies

Question 9

Wisewomen [4]:

Answer 9

• Treated most illnesses and knew a wide range of remedies
• They had licences and were paid
• Local women acted as midwives
• Women could qualify as surgeons but were not allowed to become Physicians

Question 10

Hospitals [5]:

Answer 10

• First hospitals first appeared in the 11th century
• Where run by monks and nuns
• They offered food warmth and prayers
• Mostly cared for older people who couldn’t take care of themselves
• They weren’t really about treating the illnesses but making the patients comfortable in their final moments

Question 11

Barber-Surgeons [3]:

Answer 11

• Didn’t go to university by learnt by watching others
• They honed their skill through practice and reading books about surgery
• They carried out procedures such as bleeding, removing surface tumours, sewing up wounds and making splints for broken bones

Question 12

Apothecaries [2]:

Answer 12

• Mixed ingredients to make ointments and medicines for Physicians
• Also made their own medicines to sell

Question 13

Physicians [3]:

Answer 13

• Most expensive type of medieval doctor
• Trained at university for 7 years
• Read books by Hippocrates, Galen and Arab medical writers

Question 14

Preventing disease and illness [4]:

Answer 14

• Keeping towns clean
• Cleaning teeth, combing hair
• exercise in fresh air
• bathing in hot water

Question 15

Why were there problems keeping towns clean?

[3]:

Answer 15

• Water supplies were dirt because of industrial and human waste
• Animals left trails of dung on streets
• Latrines and cesspits sometimes leaked into rivers used for waters supplies and washing

Question 16

Solutions to keeping towns clean [3]:

Answer 16

• Laws were passed to punish people if they throw waste
• A small number of rakers were employed to clean the streets
• Monasteries and the townspeople collaborated to bring fresh water to public wells through lead pipes

Question 17

The church and its support of Galen’s ideas?

Answer 17

• The church was in control of education and medical developments during this era
• They supported Galen’s theories as it agreed with the fact that there was only one God and that all body parts were made for a specific function God wants them to carry out

Question 18

When did the printing press come to England?

Answer 18

1470

Question 19

What were 3 services barber-surgeons administered?

Answer 19

• Cutting hair
• Amputating limbs
• Bloodletting

Question 20

What was the name for the procedure involving drilling a hole into a human’s skull?

Answer 20

Trepanning

Question 21

What does cauterisation involve?

Answer 21

Burning a wound to stop blood flow

Question 22

Where did the bacteria that caused the plague come from?

Answer 22

Fleas’ stomachs

Question 23

How many days were ships arriving in Britain quarantined for during the Black Death?

Answer 23

40

Question 24

Why could Galen’s mistakes anatomical mistakes not be corrected and why was this an issue for medical progress? [2]:

Answer 24

• The church did not allow dissection
• This meant that scientist could not actually prove their knowledge of the human anatomy and so medical progress was hindered

Question 25

How many years did Galen’s years remain popular?

Answer 25

1400

Question 26

What is the way in which the church helped medicine progress?

Answer 26

After the fall of the Roman empire, monks tried desperately to copy and preserve medical texts

Question 27

What caused public health conditions to worsen in medieval times than in Roman times? [4]:

Answer 27

• Population growth
• urbanisation
• Lack of understanding of disease
• Rivers were used as both drinking water and sewage disposal

Question 28

What are the factors that impacted the little change in medieval medicine? [5]:

Answer 28

• The church
• Individuals
• Education
• The government
• Respect for tradition

Question 29

Education in the field of medicine [3]:

Answer 29

• Was lead by the church as they had the largest influence on medical training
• This meant that medical progress was severely slowed down as the church did not have any experimental methods of learning and teaching
• They refused to even question Galen’s theories as they aligned with their basic principles

Question 30

How many physicians were in London in the 1500s and why? [3]:

Answer 30

• Fewer than 100
• Their training was 7 years long
• Very few people could afford the cost of Physicians for them to receive a stable income

Question 31

What is another reason as to why Galen’s beliefs remained unchallenged in the medieval era? [4]:

Answer 31

• Dissections: Doctors attended dissections of deceased human bodies (as recommended by Galen), but they did not attempt to make new discoveries
• In these, the trainee surgeons would watch a surgeon carry out a surgeon dissect the body while Galen’s works were read aloud
• These dissections were a form of demonstrating that Galen’s descriptions were correct as they did not delve deeper in the bodies
• This meant that there was no medical change as doctors did not try to disprove Galen

Question 32

Key individuals in medieval medicine [2]:

Answer 32

• Hippocrates

- Galen

Question 33

Why did the Church believe that God caused diseases?

[2]:

Answer 33

• The bible said that God controlled every aspect

- This means that they attributed illness and disease as a punishment from God

Question 34

Kings and queens as a cure:

Answer 34

People believed that the ‘Royal touch’ could cure disease