middle ages 1250-1500

Question 1

4 main ideas of causes of disease

Answer 1

1. religious- punishment from God (Church taught)
2. astrology- physicians would consider star charts (Church originally didn’t like but started to accept it (aligned with God controlling everything))
3. miasma- bad air, both Hippocrates and Galen wrote about it
4. the four humours

Question 2

why did Hippocrates and Galen have such a big influence?

Answer 2

1. Church’s influence- all books and education controlled by them, Galen’s ideas promoted as he believed in soul
2. importance of book learning- most couldn’t read, physician who didn’t know them wasn’t considered good
3. lack of alternatives- little scientific evidence, dissections were illegal, printing press (1440) didn’t have a large impact until Renaissance

Question 3

approaches to treatment

Answer 3

1. religious- praying, fasting, pilgrimages
2. supernatural- charms, amulets
3. blood letting and purging
4. herbal remedies
5. number of hospitals increased, owned by Church- they focused on CARE over CURE

Question 4

physician? barber surgeon? apothecaries?

Answer 4

physician- trained at uni, learned Galen, very expensive

barber surgeon- small operations like bloodletting, knowledge based on experience not books

apothecary- cheap, mixed herbal remedies

Question 5

prevention

Answer 5

1. regular prayer/confession
2. purifying the air
3. keeping clean and public baths

Question 6

what year was the black death?

Answer 6

1348

Question 7

cause of black death

Answer 7

• many thought it was god punishment

* miasma

Question 8

treatment of black death

Answer 8

• prayed and confessed sins
• physicians tried bloodletting and purging
• purifying the air
• herbal remedies (ineffective)

Question 9

prevention of black death

Answer 9

• pilgrimages and whipping themselves

* government brought in quarantine laws but they were hard to enforce