Edexcel GCSE History - Medicine in Mediveval England

Key features of medieval life

• largest libraries were in monestaries

• church had large influence over people’s ideas

• for the majority of people there was little time for education

• local councils were not funded very well

Causes of Disease

• Religion - many thought illness was a test of faith

• Leprosy - a skin disease that caused paralysis and minor limbs to fall off

• Supernatural elements - the alignment of planets and stars was considered very important in diagnosis

The Theory of The Four Humors

• The four Humors were a Theory coined by an ancient greek physician called hippocrates

• they were Blood, Phlegm, Black Bile, and Yellow Bile.

• Each Humor was linked with a season

• it was believed that sickness was due to an “inbalance of the humors“

Galen’s Theory of Opposites

• One method of treatment was to balance the Humors

• Galen’s theory suggested an inbalance of the humors could be treated using the opposite quality

• so excess Phlegm (cold and wet) may be treated with chilli (hot and dry)

Reasons for Belief in the Four Humors

• Galen’s theory was supported by the Church and so it was copied into books

• Physicians mainly relied on book learning and so carried on old Ideas

• Therer were a lack of alternative theories supported by scientific evidence

Other Ideas about cause of disease (Medieval)

• Miasma - bad air believed to be filled with harmful fumes

  • referenced by both Hippocrates and Galen who suggested that swamps and rotting matter could transmit disease

• Urine charts - Physicians would check the colour thickness smell and even taste of urine before making diagnoses

Influences on ideas about Causes of disease

• The church was in control of which books were copied and they liked the theory of the four humors and so promoted it

• Society was strongly religious and there was little pursuit of new ideas

• There was a lack of scientific knowledge which made new knowledge limited, and physicians often tried to make discoveries fit into old theories

Medieval treatments: Religion

• the hchurch taught that disease was a punishment for sin

• the church also promoted religious treatments such as lighting candles and touching “holy relics”

Medieval treatments: The Supernatural

• supernatural treatments were seen as alternatives if religious treatments didnt work

  • Chanting incantations

  • using charms and amulets

Medieval treatments: The Humors

• blood-letting - could be done using leeches or by cutting a vein

• purging - removal of leftover food in the body by vomiting or excretion

Medieval treatments: Remedies

• herbal remedies - plants crushed into powders or mixed with food

• Warm baths were used to draw in heat to dissolve blockages

Medieval Preventions: Religion

• many believed the best way to avoid illness was to live a life free from sin

• regular prayer tithes and confessions

Medieval Preventions: Regimen sanitatis

a loose set of instructions provided as a guide to good health

• instructed to:

• do moderate exercise

• bathe regularly

• get enough sleep

Medieval Preventions: Cleanliness

• air was purified at home and in public spaces as it was velieved nce smelling air would stop illness

Sources of Treatment in the Middle Ages

• The majority of people were treated women from their family

• Physicians were mainly focused on diagnosis and rarely enacted any treatment. additionaly they were too expensive for most people

• Treatments such as blood letting was often done by barber surgeons

• Apothecaries were another source of treatment as they provided herbal remedies

Care for the sick in the Middle Ages

• Hospitals

  • estimated 1100 in england by 1500

  • did not treat the sick but were places of rest

  • many were owned by the monestaries and run by monks

• At Home

  • where majority were treated

  • treated by women who used herbs and plants

The Black Death

• A plague which arrived from the Far east

• Killed those affliced in a matter of days

• Carried by Rats on merhcant ships

Ideas about causes of the black death

• The result of God deserting mankind

• Unusual aligning of Stars and Planets

• Blamed on the jews (in mainland europe)

• Miasma - possible fumes froma volcano

Treatments for the Black Death

• Confess to God and ask for forgiveness

• religious treatments

• Herbal remedies from apothecaries

• Bleeding and Purging

• Strong smelling Herbs and Aloe and Myrrh

Prevention of The spread of the Black Death

• Prayer to God

• Pilgrimages

• Self-Flagellation

• doing Joyful things

• listening to cheerful music

• Escaping the Plague

• carrying flowers

• Quarantine laws

• Banning events