Middle Ages Flashcards
What was the general understanding of the causes of illness in the middle ages?
- Noone had a clue
- Illness was seen as a punishment from God
- Distinct lack of scientific knowledge
What were the key treatments in the middle ages?
- Supernatural:
- Doctrine of signatures which taught God could cause and cure disease
- Zodiac charts and space
- Natural:
- Herbs were used to treat illnesses as well as vegetables (Varying degrees of success)
- Urine charts as diagnosis
How did Hippocrates influence medicine?
- Taught that clinical observation was important (still a part of medicine today)
- Theory of the four humours.That they had to be balanced for good health-Influenced doctors until the 1800’s
- Bleeding was used to prevent or treat illness based on four humours
- First set of books that held symptoms and treatments
How did Galen influence medicine?
- Built on the theory of the four humours
- Made errors due to dissecting animals
- Church liked Galens work as it supported the design theory and therefore made it illegal to question his work for a long time
What role did the church play?
- Taught that illness was punishment and was treated by repenting sins
- Church controlled universities so education was based off ancient texts like Galen and Hippocrates
- Banned medical research and human dissection
How were Medieval hospitals run?
- Places to rest and recover not actually treat
- Linked to monastries/nunneries
- No doctors just nursing care
- Altars where patients prayed regularly
How was Islamic medicine ahead of the curve?
- Wrote medical encyclopedias
- Doctors were trained
- Treatments were actively looked for
- “For every ailment Allah has given a cure”
How did warfare help medieval medicine?
- Improved skills in sealing wounds
- Quicker amputations
- New tools such as the arrow cup
- Improved tools
- Sharing through manuals and diagrams
What were the four humours?
-Blood,Phlegm, Black Bile and Yellow Bile which needed to be balanced equal and opposite
What did John Arderne discover?
-A painkilling tincture made of rose water and eggwhites that was originally Roman
Why was Public Health in towns so poor in the middle ages?
- People didn’t think it was their job to look after others
- The king’s role was to protect people from invasion not disease
What was public health like in medieval times and why?
- Public health was bad
- Poor sanitation in towns
- Regulations weren’t effective because the causes of illness were unknown and only came in response to epidemics
- Bath houses were only available to those who could afford it
Why did Monastries have better Public Health?
- Monks were literate so knew more about the effects of poor sanitation
- Freshwater supply was seen as a priority so there were reservoirs and running water which carried away waste
- Kitchens were separated from privies to limit contamination
- Baths were compulsory
What ideas did people have for the causes of the Black Death?
- That it was punishment from God due to sin
- The alignment of planets
- Minority groups (e.g Jews poisoning water supply)
- Miasma theory
What was the Miasma theory?
-The idea that bad health was caused by bad smells
