Renaissance Flashcards
What does Renaissance mean in English?
Re-birth
How was Charles I treated?
What did this suggest?
He was repeatedly bled and purged. He was also prayed for and given herbal remedies
It suggests there was no understanding of what caused disease as Doctors tried a variety of treatments to combat multiple causes.
What methods of treatment were used in the Renaissance?
Prayer, herbal remedies
How was Tuberculosis cured in the Renaissance?
Peopel believed it was cured by being touched by the King
Why was the power of the church diminished?
What did this mean?
Henry IIIV created the church of England (to divorce Catherine of Aragon) which decreased the power the Roman Church had.
It meant that Doctors were now able to dissect criminals for anatomical purposes; better medical training
How did the invention of the microscope aid the knowledge of medicine?
They could now study and look at the body in detail.
However, they didn’t recognise germs and bacteria for what they were though
What did the discovery of perspective by artists mean?
Drawings of anatomy became better; this meant doctors training improved as the diagrams were more ‘reliable’
What did the invention of the printing press allow?
The mass publication of books to occur, so the works of Vesalius and Harvey could now be shared.
It also means that Galens books could be shared…
What were streets like in the Renaissance? What was done to address the situation?
They were cobbled and sloped down to a draw, this was often blocked by waste and rubbish.
The streets were dirty because of coal fires, horses (and carriages) and animals (for market).
+ Rakers still swept streets; not enough
+ House-holders told by law to sweep outside their houses; not enough officials to enforce this
What were water supplies like?
Any efforts made?
They were still contaminated; sewage.
Network of wooden pipes built in London; unreliable and vandalised
Where could the rich get their water?
From resevoirs; they would pay annually to use them.
The water was then stored in the cellars where it usually became stagnant
What attempts were made to improve the Reinaissance sewers?
1) A law to passed so people had to put rubbish out of Wednesdays and Saturdays for rakers to collect
2) Nightsoil men were employed to collect sewage (had to be paid - the poor couldn’t afford them)
What role did women play in medicine?
Wealthy women would provide care for local families
Wise women still made up herbal remedies
Who was Lady Grace Mildmay?
A wealthy woman who worked in the Renaissance caring.
Name two trained medical professions…
Physicians; trained at university and passed exams
Apothecary owners; mixed remedies
What happened to hospitals?
They were taken over by town councils (also funded by local people and charities)
What did almhouses do?
They looked after the poor and elderly
How many new hospitals opened in the 1700s
46
What did and didn’t hospitals do?
Didn’t admit those with infectious diseases
Didn’t charge the very poor; but those who could paid.
Kept patients warm, clean and fed.
Expected patients to pray for recovery
Gave herbal remedies / bled / occasional simple surgery
Who was Vesalius?
An Italian anatomist, he was professor of surgery at Pauda
What did Vesalius’s work impact?
Doctor’s training; his book acted as an anatomical textbook. He insisted medical students carried out detailed observations of work to prevent mistakes and encouraged free thinking.
What was Vesalius’s book called?
Who was it co-published with?
The fabric of the human body
Titian illustrated it
What did Vesalius refute?
Galen’s theory that the jawbone was made of two pieces. It’s made of one.
Galen’s theory the liver has five lobes; it doesn’t have any
What factors enabled Vesalius to make the impact he did?
Communication; books and posters for dissections
Religion; weaking power of Church
Individual genius
Who was Harvey?
A British Doctor, he investigated physiology
What did Harvey prove?
That the heart pumped blood around the body. He cut animal’s throats in live demonstrations
When was the Great Plague?
Why did it spread so quickly
Summer of 1665
Hot weather meant the disease spread quickly
What percent of the population lived in London in 1665?
1 in 10
How many died from the great plague?
What was one thing that caused disease to spread?
100, 000
The wealthy fled from London spreading disease to other parts of the country.
What did Examiners do during the great plague?
Searchers?
Doctors
Examiners; recorded who was sick and ordered that house to be shut up
Women-searchers; search and report if someone had died of the plague
Doctors; ensured searchers made accurate reports
What orders were put in place during the great plague?
1) The isolation of sick for a month; door marked and watched by watchmen preventing people going in /out
2) Dead buried before sun set/rise; no friends/family present. Graves were 6 ft deep and people were often buried in mass
3) Streets kept clean; Rakers removed rubbish daily / no cats/dogs kept in the city
What ended the plague?
The great fire of London in 1666; sterilised
Why did medical treatment not progress despite Harvey’s and Vesalius’s work?
Reluctance to change, these theories had been around for 1500 + years.
Church supported Galen and they controlled universities and medical training
Harvey and Vesalius investigated the human body not the cause of disease
