medcine in Britain 1250-1500

What did the church teach about cause of disease

Caused by the devil to test someones faith in god , disease was used by god as a punishment for your sins and to cleanse your soul

What did astrology teach about cause of disease

Disease was caused by a bad alignment of the planets

What did they believe about witches and spirits

They could live inside a person and cause illness

What did they do in church to get rid of these spirits

Exorcism

Why was the church so influential in England

They were very religious, they had to pay a tithe to the church every month and they were basically the only source of education

How would Christians and church try cure illness

Prayers , belief in god , go on pilgrimage and flogging

How did religion and superstition slow the progress of science

They forbade dissections

In what case were dissections allowed

On criminals that had been executed

Why did no dissections continue ideas of Galen

No one could explore to correct his mistake

What was Hippocrates theory?

4 humours

What was the 4 humours theory?

To be healthy you needed a balance of the 4 humours . If there was too much or little of one humour , this will cause disease

What were the 4 humours

yellow bile, black bile, phlegm, blood

Also created by Hippocrates , what was clinical observation

A doctor should examine and monitor a patient's symptoms to diagnose their disease

With the idea of clinical observation you had to be what

Objective and logical

Hippocratic oath

oath taken by medical students swearing to practice medicine in an ethical way

How would you remedy a blood imbalance

Bloodletting , eating red meat and drinking red wine

How would you remedy a yellow bile imbalance

Doctors forced patients to throw up or change their diet

How would you remedy a phlegm imbalance

Doctors suggested breathing steam or eat vegetables filled with water

How would you remedy a black bile imbalance

Doctors gave laxatives and suggested eating more vegetables

Fever cause

Too much blood

Cold cause

Too much phlegm

What did Galen believe?

Similar ideas to Hippocrates but thought that blood was absorbed taken in by the body rather than pumped

Who supported galen's ideas because he was monotheistic

Church

Theory of Opposites (Galen)

Humours could be rebalanced by giving a patient something opposite to their symptoms

Example of theory of opposites

If someone had an excess of blood ( hot and wet ) , prescribe a treatment which was cold and dry

Miasma Theory (Galen)

bad air caused disease

Why was there a lack of alternatives

Dissections were illegal and church told to bury bodies for the soul to go to heaven

Barber surgeons

People who had access to razors and did a lot of medical procedures , no training

4 surgical processes

Amputation , phlebotomy, trepanning , cauterisation

What did barber surgeons do?

bloodletting, minor surgery and cut hair

How did medieval doctors learn

Word of mouth or personal experience

What did medieval doctors experiment with

Herbs and charms

Who did medieval doctors learn from

Apothecaries , travelling healers and wise woman

What was the closest thing to a modern day doctor

A man or woman trained in hippocratic and Galenic methods

What book would training doctors study which was galen's

Ars medicine ( art of medicine )

How long would it take to complete a degree

7-10 years

What tools did doctors have

Leeches to remove blood , aromatic objects to stop miasma , zodiac chart to predict future illness

Religious treatments

Praying, fasting, pilgrimage, touching holy relics

Phlebotomy

Bloodletting done by barber surgeons by cutting a vein , leeches and cupping

Where were poor people treated

Monasteries

Who gave herbal remedies

Wise women and apothecaries

Example of a remedy

Theriaca (70 ingredients ) Galen wrote a book on theriaca

Purging

Made to vomit by being given a laxative or an emetic to remove leftover food

How would they treat disease with astrology

Zodiac chart to predict future illness

Clyster

Syringe into the anus to

Who used clysters with herb soup , bran and honey oil

John ardene ( One of the most famous English surgeons )

John ardene book about experience of war

Practica

Regimen Sanitatis (prevention )

A set of instructions provided by physicians to help a patient maintain good health.

How did they prevent disease

Used lavender and sweet smelling herbs to get rid of miasma , sticking to a balanced diet to balance humours

How did the rich prevent disease

Bathing

Why did many people help

They believed it was a Christian duty

How were people cared for

Hospitals and at home

Problem of hospitals

They were palliative and run by priests not doctors

By 1500, how many hospitals were there

1100 ( not to treat the sick but to offer hospitality

When was the Black Death?

1348

Why were conditions in England bad

Rivers were used for sewage , Thames was dirty , urbanisation, lack of clean water ,

How did the Black Death spread?

Fleas on rats

Symptoms of the Black Death

fever, vomiting, coughing fits, swellings, bumps, blotches , buboes

What disease was Black Death

bubonic plague

Where did the Black Death originate?

Asia

What did they believe cause Black Death

Astrology (1345 bad alignment ), gods wrath , miasma or humours

What remedies were used for Black Death

Prayers , herbs , purging vomiting bloodletting, moving away

Government action of the Black Death

Ships quarantined for 40 days , banned gatherings ,streets cleaned

How much people died in the Black Death

20 million deaths (1/3 of European population)

What % of British population died from Black Death

30-45

Why was life hard after Black Death

Less farmers meant food shortages