Middle Ages

Question 1

How many Physicians were there in the 1300s?

Answer 1

Fewer than 100 physicians in England

Question 2

What were the Ideas about Illness at the end of the Middle Ages?

Answer 2

Nothing had changed
Many believe that illness were sent by God
Doctors said that many illnesses had natural causes
They followed Hippocrates theory that illness was caused when the body’s humours were out of balance

Question 3

Describe the Healers at the End of the Middle Ages

Answer 3

Little had changed from the 1200s
Mothers and family members treated most illnesses.’women with skills and experience were often called to help e.g childbirth
Priests said prayers to help the sick and protect from illnesses
Surgeons e.g Army surgeons, trained by observing others and improved their skills through practice
Physicians trained at Universities by reading the books by Hippocrates, Galen and some Arab medical writers.

Question 4

Why was the Government a problem in the Middle Ages?

Answer 4

They were illiterate so had no interest in education

Kings spent their money on wards, not on sewers and baths

Question 5

Describe how the “ War “ factor hindered medicine in the Middle Ages

Answer 5

Made travel dangerous so doctors travelled much less to gained experience
Invading tribes destroyed or neglected public healthy systems
Invasions and wards destroyed libraries and books in monasteries

Question 6

Why was the collapse of the Roman Empire bad for Public Health?

Answer 6

Without the Roman Army there were no engineers with the technological knowledge to keep public baths, swedes and aqueducts working effectively

Question 7

Who was St Apollonia?

Answer 7

Was the Patron saint of toothache because all her teeth had been knocked out when she was murdered because of her religion.

Question 8

How did Christianity help medicine after the Roman Empire collapsed?

Answer 8

Preserved a great deal of knowledge handed down from the agree,s and aromas
Monks in monasteries copied out the Bible, histories and other ancient books, including books by Galen and other Medical writers from Greece and Rome.

Question 9

Describe how Christianity hindered medical progress in the Middle Ages?

Answer 9

Christian church controlled the Universities where physicians were trained and the Church believed that ancient writings should not be questioned
If people started questioning Galen, they might question the Bible
Church supported Galen because he said each body art had a purpose which fitted the belief that God created human beings

Question 10

What were Arab hospitals famous for?

Answer 10

The care they gave patients
By 1100s every large town had a hospital
They provided medical care and prayers for the sick

Question 11

What treatments took place in the hospitals in the Middle Ages?

Answer 11

Nuns fed the sick and gave them herbal remedies but prayer was the important treatment
At the end of the hall(or ward) was a a altars where priests said mass seven times each day. The patients joined in, hoping that prayer would help them recover

Question 12

Describe how Islam helped Medicine in the Middle Ages.

Answer 12

Arab rulers believed it was important to develop education
Many Greek medical books were translated into Arabic by Islamic scholars.
They City of Baghdad was the main centre for collecting and translating medical texts
Without the pose translations the books by Galen and other could well have been lost admits European Wars

Question 13

How were Galen books spread around Europe in the Middle Ages?

Answer 13

Islam translated from Arabic into Latin and were used in Europe so that European physicians learned more about the work of Galen and Arab doctors

Question 14

Describe the Everyday Treatments by the end of the Middle Ages.

Answer 14

Treatments were very similar
Remedies made up from Herbs, minerals and animal parts
Prayers, charms and rhymes used
Bleeding, purging and other methods to restore the proper balance of the humours, following the methods of Galen
Rest, exercise, diet.

Question 15

Describe what Surgery was like at the end of the Middle Ages

Answer 15

Surgeons improved their techniques and instruments a little through practice
Simple surgery on visible tumours and wounds
Splints for fractured bones
Trephining (cutting hole in skull)
Plants such as opium dulled pain but there was no effective anaesthetics
Surgeons used wine, vinegar or honey to clean wounds but could not prevent infections spreading or stop heavy bleeding.

Question 16

Describe Public health at the end of the Middle Ages

Answer 16

The Roman public health systems disappeared so in towns. And wealthy homes, public health was worse
Town governments employed people and made laws to try to keep streets clean but often had little success.

Question 17

Why was it difficult to improve Public Health in the Middle Ages

Answer 17

Were full of animals
Houses were packed together and there were few paved streets
Kings were not expected to improve hygiene or protect public health. Their job was to defend the country and keep law and order
Epidemic diseases could still not be stopped

Question 18

Why were there many hospitals built in the Middle Ages and how many were there?

Answer 18

It was an Important part of the work of the Christian Church
By 1400 there were over 500 hospitals in England, although many had only 5 or 6 beds.

Question 19

In the Middle Ages there were lots of new hospitals built but many were picky about who could get in. Why?

Answer 19

Hospitals were set up for a particular cause e.g for the poor and silly persons
Anyone who had an illness that was contagious I.e pass it on to someone else was not allowed in the hospital

Question 20

Why was the Hopsital in Cairo, built in 1283 special?

Answer 20

Had specialist wards for mental and physical problems, a surgery,’pharmacy, library, lecture rooms for teaching and a Christian chapel as well as a mosque

Question 21

What were the 3 main Ideas about the causes of Diseases in the Middle Ages

Answer 21

God or the Devil
The 4 humours
Common sense; bad air and dirt

Question 22

What Desperate ideas were there about the causes of illness in the Middle Ages?

Answer 22

English monk blamed the our
Tragedies fashions that people had ben wearing in recent years
God was punishing children who did not respect or look after their parents
Minority groups were blamed e.g the Jews - said to have poisoned water supplies and in some places were burned

Question 23

Describe the Idea that Bad Air and Dirt caused diseases.

Answer 23

Many people people did link the bad air to dirt and filth in the streets but could not explain exactly what the link was
Many people said that earthquakes had infected the air
Worms caused illness: discoveries found that many people suffered from worms In their stomachs and they would have seen this in their faces

Question 24

What did Ibn Al-Nafis do?

Answer 24

Challenged Galens idea; investigated the anatomy of the heart
Said the channels don’t exist and that blood moves from the heart to the lungs and then back to the heart, thus circulating the body
This was true but was only discovered in 1600s in Europe

Question 25

Describe the public health systems in the Middle Ages.

Answer 25

Much dirtier than Roman towns
Water for drinking and cooking was collected from the river or storage pits, which were often next to the cesspits people used as toilets.
Pigs and chicken roamed the streets.
Rats, mice and Hawks sac anger in streets I’ll of rotting fish bones, animal dung,’food wast and even human faeces

Question 26

What slight improvements were made to Public Health in the Middle Ages?

Answer 26

Many houses in cities like London and York had stone foundations few more were built entirely of stones
Cesspits were lined with brick or stone and so were less likely
Unto leak into drinking water supplies

Question 27

Why did people’s efforts to improve Public Health in the Middle Ages not work?

Answer 27

No army engineers with good technological knowledge, slaves to do at least some of the building and the wealth to afford aqueducts and public baths.
Many still believe God sent the diseases and shouldn’t worry about dirt

Question 28

Explain how the the Government hindered Public Health progress in the Middles Ages

Answer 28

The King didn’t want to safeguard people’s health; only cared about funding the Wars to fight the French and collecting taxes for wars.
Mayor of London; don’t have enough officials to punish all the people who break the law; Londoners will not pay the taxes to employ the officials

Question 29

What were the best Public Health facilities in the Middle Ages and why?

Answer 29

In Monasteries because they could afford them.

Monks were better fed than most people, did less physical work and had advantages see in source 1 page 73

Question 30

What did Hugh and Theodoric do?

Answer 30

Opposed Galen idea about Pus

It’s against nature, prolongs illness, prevents healing and hinders the closing up of wounds

Question 31

What did Henri de Mondeville do?

Answer 31

Opposed Galen idea about Pus
Taught his students to bathe, cleanse wounds, then close them up quickly without trying to form pus
Said people should challenge Galen ideas and make new discoveries

Question 32

What did Surgeons do in the Middle Ages? Describe the procedures.

Answer 32

Removed small timorous on the skins surface, sewed up or cauterised large cuts, dealt with dislocations or broken limbs.
The most skilful surgeons used extremely fine needles to remove cataracts from eyes, this restoring or improving sight