The Middle Ages

Question 1

What was introduced during the Middle Ages?

Answer 1

Hospitals and medical schools

Question 2

In the Mediaeval period what did the term ‘hospital’ include?

Answer 2

~ Hostels for travellers
~ Dispensaries for the poor
~ Clinics and surgeries for the injured
~ Homes for the blind, lame, elderly and mentally ill

Question 3

How did hospitals develop?

Answer 3

After the French Norman invasion into England, most mediaeval monasteries developed a hospitium or hospice for pilgrims, which then developed into hospitals, with various monks and lay helpers providing medical care for sick pilgrims and victims of plagues/chronic diseases

Question 4

Before serving the pilgrim, what were hospitals originally developed for?

Answer 4

Isolating lepers and plague victims

Question 5

Which centuries saw a major shift in medical thinking, rejecting the ‘traditional authority’ approach and becoming more in favour of an evidence-based approach?

Answer 5

14th & 15th centuries

Question 6

Which Islamic physician was the first to differentiate smallpox from measles and discover alcohol?

Answer 6

Muhammad ibn Zakariyā (Rhazes) (AD 865-925)