Medieval Medicine Flashcards
What is meant by the word ‘astrology’?
The alignment of the stars and planets
What institution controlled knowledge and education in the Medieval Period?
The Church
Whose ideas did the Church support in the Middle Ages?
Galen and Hippocrates
What are the Four Humours?
- Phlegm
- Black Bile
- Yellow Bile
- Blood
What is ‘miasma’?
The belief that disease and illness was spread through ‘bad air’.
Who developed the Theory of Opposites?
Galen
What was the Theory of Opposites?
The belief that your humours could be balanced out, and your disease could be cured, by giving a patient the opposite of their symptoms. Eg eating hot peppers, to combat a cold.
Identify two rational treatments associated with the Four Humours.
Bloodletting and purging.
What were the most common remedies for disease in the Middle Ages?
Traditional herbal remedies, as well as foods to balance out humours.
Identify as many religious preventions and treatments as you can that were in use in the Middle Ages.
Obeying the Ten Commandments (prevention) Carrying lucky charms (prevention) Chanting incantations (prevention) Self-flagellation (prevention) Pilgrimage (treatment) Prayer (treatment) Fasting (treatment) Paying for a special church service (Mass) to be held (treatment)
Identify as many rational methods of preventing disease that were in use in the Middle Ages as you can.
Keeping the streets clean Purifying the air Bleeding and purging Not overeating Exercising Bathing and washing
Identify the four kinds of people who might have treated the sick in the Middle Ages.
Barber-surgeons
Apothecaries
Physicians
Female family members
What was a barber surgeon in Medieval England?
- No training
- Carried out small procedures (bloodletting, pulling teeth)
- Basic surgery eg amputation (but very low success rate)
- Cheaper than a physician
What was an apothecary in Medieval England?
- Received training but had no medical qualifications
- Mixed medicines and ointments based on their knowledge, or the directions of a physician
- Cost money (but less than a physician)
Identify key features of a Medieval physician.
- Medically trained at university and passed exams
- Diagnosed illnesses and gave treatments or sent patients to an apothecary or barber surgeon.
- Expensive, so mainly used by the wealthy
- Very few physicians
What might a Medieval physician do when a patient visited them?
- Observe symptoms, check pulse skin colour and urine
- Consult urine charts
- Consult star charts
- Usually would sent patient to apothecary or barber surgeon for treatment
What were hospitals like in Medieval England?
- Provided a place for travelers and pilgrims to rest on their journey
- Run by the Church, the emphasis was on God healing souls
- Very clean
- Patients with infectious diseases not admitted
When did the Black Death arrive in Britain?
1348
What was the astrological explanation for the Black Death?
The unusual position of Mars, Jupiter and Saturn
What was the Regimen Sanitatis?
A set of instructions issued by the Church on how to keep clean and avoid disease.
Who controlled the publication of books in the Middle Ages?
The Church
What was training for physicians like in the Middle Ages?
Theory based. Reading from the works of Galen and Hippocrates. Limited practical exposure. No dissection..
