prevention and treatment

Explain prayer as a religious approach to treatment

seeking divine intervention for healing, people went on pilgrimages to holy sites, as it was believed sacred relics could heal

What was practised in hopes of satisfying God and curing disease?

fasting and confession

Explain wearing amulets as a religious approach to treatment

made with specific materials and inscribed with prayers, thought to provide protection against disease or to cure illness

Explain how bloodletting was used to provide a cure?

used to restore balance to body, would reduce excess blood and believed to ease conditions

What was used for bloodletting?

leeches, direct cutting and cupping

Who performed bloodletting?

Barber surgeons

Explain how purging was used to provide a cure?

targeted black bile, yellow bile and thought to balance humours

what could purging involve?

laxatives and adjustments to diet

Define doctrine of signatures

belief that appearance of a plant indicated healing properties

Why were traditional remedies used?

plants and herbs used for supposed medical properties

Give an example of a traditional remedy?

Theriaca

What was theriaca used for?

in medieval times it was thought to be a universal cure of everything

Explain how purifying the air was used to provide a prevention method?

With the belief of miasma, using herbs like rosemary believed to cleanse the air

How commonly was bathing as a cure practiced ?

not often

What was the believed power of monarchs?

To cure scrofula (king’s evil)

What was performed for the monarch’s healing powers to work?

Royal touch (ritual) , it used divine aspects like signs of the cross and prayers

Who was the first recorded monarch to perform royal touch?

Henry the second

How long did the ritual of the royal touch last?

went till the early modern period (henry the seventh performed it)