Middle Ages Medicine Flashcards
What did people in the Middle Ages think caused disease?
Natural - Continuation of the Theory of the Four Humours and the ideas of Galen. Bad air theory; disease was caused by bad smells. Blamed minority groups e.g. lepers and Jews.
Supernatural - Disease was a punishment from God. Astrology (movement of the planets caused disease). ‘The Evil Eye’ was the passing of disease through eye contact.
Who treated disease in the Middle Ages?
Wise women commonly treated disease. Doctors were largely untrained until after 1100 when universities were established by the church.
How was disease treated in the Middle Ages?
Natural - Wise women used herbal remedies. Some carried sweet smelling herbs to avoid bad air. Balancing of the humours (bleeding, purging etc.) Doctors used urine charts to diagnose patients.
Supernatural - People prayed for forgiveness or punished themselves (Flagellants). Doctors used astrology charts to diagnose illness.
What surgery could they perform in the Middle Ages?
Mostly external surgery and amputations.
What anatomical knowledge did they have in the Middle Ages?
Limited knowledge; Alexandria was destroyed and much of the knowledge lost after the fall of the Roman Empire. The church was the major authority in Europe and they banned dissection and insisted that Galen could not be wrong, even though his books on anatomy were often based on animals.
Could Surgeons in the Middle Ages control pain, bleeding and infection?
Pain - Continued use of alcohol and opium as anaesthetic but not very effective or precise. Cauterising was very painful.
Bleeding - Amputations were cauterised using a cauterising iron, this was extremely painful but was usually effective.
Infection - Lack of understanding of infection; believed in ‘Praise-worthy pus’ which said that pus in a wound was actually a good thing.
What was Public Health like in the Middle Ages?
Dramatic population increases led to huge public health problems in towns and cities such as the Black Death. The government could not control these epidemics; the Black death killed 1/3 of Europe’s population.
The government’s systems were usually ineffective e.g. gongfermors cleared the streets of dung but often just moved it around the city. Fines for public urination and regulations for distances between cess-pits and wells were often ignored.
What factors affected Medicine in the Middle Ages?
Religion - The church dominated and controlled medical ideas and hindered progress even though they began to train doctors after 1100.
Individuals - Galen was unquestioned as the church supported his idea that the body was ‘perfectly designed’.
Science & Technology - People had no knowledge of how to maintain and repair the Roman Public health systems so they fell into disrepair.
War - Constant war meant that governments put their money into fighting wars rather than developing public health and medicine.
Government - A lack of central government/strong empire slowed the spread of ideas.
