Topic 2 - Approaches to prevention and treatment

Question 1

Define medieval surgeons

Answer 1

men who were trained to some degree in medicine or in surgery

Question 2

Define medieval barber surgeons

Answer 2

men who were untrained and unlicensed, but would carry out surgeries

Question 3

State 5 treatments for diseases in the medieval period (not including prayers, asking for forgiveness etc)?

Answer 3

1. Bloodletting
2. Purging (being sick
3. Healing herbs
4. Use of the opposite humour
5. Purifying

Question 4

Name a way in which medieval monarchs were believed to have healing properties

Answer 4

They could cure a disease simply by their touch as they had been divinely chosen by God

Question 5

Who established hospitals in the medieval period?

Answer 5

The church

Question 6

Name a way in which hospital care changed in the thirteenth century

Answer 6

There was more specialised care institutions e.g. quarantined hospitals for lepers

Question 7

How did the methods and focus of medieval hospitals differ from those today?

Answer 7

Hospitals then focused on providing care and comfort for patients, and not on providing treatments for their illnesses

Question 8

Name 4 types of healers in Medieval Europe

Answer 8

1. Physicians
2. Apothecaries
3. Barber surgeons/surgeons
4. Women at home

Question 9

Why did only a few people visit physicians?

Answer 9

• They were expensive
• They werent trusted by the church as physicians would sometimes witness dissections. The disapproval from the church influenced peoples beliefs on physicians

Question 10

State two aspects of the type of care that medieval hospitals would provide for a community

Answer 10

1. Sanitary conditions

2. Food, warmth and shelter

Question 11

Name one way that religious action was used to cure disease, other than prayer

Answer 11

• donating money to the church

Question 12

List three ways in which medieval towns and villages were mindful of public health

Answer 12

1. They moved cesspits and open sewers away from living areas
2. People with infectious diseases were kept in isolation e.g. leper houses
3. People took occasional baths to ward off infection