History peoples health 1250-1500 ( medieval)

Average life expectancy

30-35

Cesspit

Pit or chamber used for collecting human waste

Conduit

Small fountain or water pipe

Coroner

an official who investigates violent, sudden, or suspicious deaths.

Dearth

A lack of food

Epidemic

A disease that affects large number of people at the same time

Ergotism

Disease caused by eating infected rye bread ( common for poor)

Flagellants

People who whipped themselves

Four humours

(blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile) 4 liquids that make up human body according to Greek doctors

Gongfermer

person who cleans out cesspits

Guilds

Organisation responsible for keeping high standards in a particular trade

Latrine

toilet with no system for flushing

Luttrell Psalter

14th century prayer book

Miasma

Idea that bad smell cause disease

Midden

A dung hill or a pile of rubbish

Monastery

Place where monks live and pray

Pottage

thick vegetable soup

When was the great famine ? And how many died?

1315-1316 . 10% population

How many people lived in villages

90%

Where did most people work?

Most worked in farming doing hard labour

What was their most common religion ?

Christianity

How would god punish people for their sins?

Sending disease

Housing in villages/countryside

. Wooden framed house with thatched roofs
. Hole in roof for fire smoke
. Floor covered with straw
. Walls made from woven sticks and mud
. Usually small

Housing in towns

- houses built close together in centre of towns
- people supposed to clean drains and streets near houses, not everyone did
. Only wealthy had gardens
. Thatched roofs
. Some made from stone

Water in villages

. Near fresh water from streams and had wells
. Water sometimes shared with animals

Water in towns

. Conduits which brought water to town
. Water sellers
. Fountains

Waste in villages

. Midden at the end of gardens
. Cesspit
. Waste used to fertilise farms

Waste in towns

.public latrines often in market squares
.rakers removed animal waste from towns
.cesspits used and cleared by gongfermers who took it to fields to be used
. Butchers created blood on street

Monastery food

. Fish ponds

Monastery housing

. Stone buildings
. Herb gardens
. Infirmary

Monastery water

. Spring water piped into wash areas
. Provided baths for sick people

Monastery waste

Latrine blocks

Countryside food

. Good harvest lead to bread
. Fridays fish only
.staple food was bread and pottage ( sometimes animal bones)
. Meat was a treat
. Eggs

Village food

. Taverns sold hot food
. Could get sugar but was expensive and rare
. Similar diet as countryside
. Market food was not fresh

Ale and cider

. Ale made by boiling water and barely
. Cider made from apples
. Was healthier than water but drunkenness became common

When was the Black Death?

1348

What was the Black Death?

. An infectious disease spread by fleas carried by rats in the 14th century
. Came to England via trade routes

What was the Bubonic Plague symptoms?

. Buboes (swelling)
. Fever and high temp
. Blisters
. Death in few days

What was septicaemic plague symptoms?

. Bleeding
. Diarrhoea and vomiting
. Fingers toes and nose would turn black

Pneumonic plague symptoms?

. Coughing up blood
. Chest pain and trouble breathing
. Death in 2 days

What diseases were common in Middle Ages?

. Typhoid and dysentry

Attitudes and beliefs of Black Death?

. Movement of planets
. Miasma
. God punishing
. Humours out of balance
. Catch it from looking someone in the eye

Responses and actions of Black Death?

. Tying live toads or chickens on buboes, draw out disease
. Blood letting ( removing blood to balance humours )
. Praying to God
. Distancing
. Flagellants to show sacrifice and love to God
.Camomile lotion to relief inflammation
. Burnt herbs to purify air

What were the impacts of the Black Death?

. Plague travelled 500 miles in 500 days
.Killed 1/3 of Englands population
.Mass graves dug
. Higher wages due to demand for workers

When and what was King Edward the 3rds letter?

1349
He wrote to mayor of London telling him to clean up the city

Public health in London

. 1385 warden appointed to check London's streets and banks of Thames were clear of filth and dung
. 1393 jetty built on Thames for carcasses to be carried away by boat ( butchers fined if they didn't do this)
. 1430 mayor organised replacement of lead pipes to supply London with water
. 1488 Londoners called for butchery to be banned, butchers built underground expensive to carry waste from shambles to Thames

Public health Bristol and national

Bristol: 1300s councillors passed laws to make towns more pure e.g. dung heaps moved to edge of town
National: 1301 paving market places paid for taxation in Shrewsbury
1301 King Edward I ordered York authorise to clean place up
1287-89 name and shame waste dumpers in Norwich