YR 9 - Medieval (MTT): Ideas about the causes of disease and illness

Question 1

How did Attitudes in Society take part in the causes of disease?

Answer 1

• The result of the influence of the church and how people were educated made people have great respect for the past and traditional ideas
• It was hard for new ideas to spread as translations would be copied and recopied by hand (by monks)
• People believed that they wanted to keep everything as it was unless there was a major need for change.
• Everybody considered a ‘good’ physician as someone who would follow the Theory of the Four Humours, instead of treating many patients

Question 2

How did Hippocrates take part in the causes of disease?

Answer 2

• Hippocrates was an ancient Greek Physician.
• He created the Theory of the 4 Humours.
• He dismissed the idea that God caused disease, however, the Church later accepted his teachings, because of Galen
• He believed there was a physical reason for illness, which needed a physical cure.
• Most of his treatments were based on diet

Question 3

How did Galen take part in the causes of disease?

Answer 3

• Galen was an ancient Roman Physician.
• He developed the Theory of the 4 Humours to include his own treatments based on his theory of opposites.
• Galen believed in the idea of the soul which fitted with the ideas of the church.
• The church supported Galen’s work.
• Galen suggested that if you had too much phlegm, you could be cured by eating hot peppers
• He also drew detailed diagrams of human anatomy
• He wrote many books, and his ideas were the basis of medical training in the Middle Ages

Question 4

How was Leprosy looked at in the Medieval society?

Answer 4

Leprosy: a painful skin disease, followed by paralysis and eventually death.

• Leprosy was included in the Bible as an illustration of a punishment for sin
• There was no cure for leprosy
• Lepers were normally banished to leper houses or isolated island communities
• If allowed to stay in their hometowns, they had to wear cloaks and had a bell to alert people of their presence
• It was believed their breath was contagious.
• Although there was no formal care for lepers, a few lazar houses did help people suffering from leprosy.

Question 5

How did Miasma take part in the causes of disease?

Answer 5

Miasma: bad air that was thought to be filled with harmful fumes.

• Swamps, corpses, and other rotting matter could transmit disease.
• Hippocrates and Galen both wrote about miasma
• Associated with God (Good smell = spiritual holiness | Bad smell = full of sin/disease)