Medical treatments in the Middle Ages

Flashcards about medical treatments in the Middle Ages.

Wise Women/Men

Local people with knowledge of traditional herbal remedies

Apothecaries

A person who prepared and sold medicines

Doctors

Expensive medical professionals, often a last resort

Quacks

Con artists who sold fake cures and took advantage of people's fear of disease

Supernatural

Above and beyond what is natural and explained by natural laws.

Beliefs about disease in the Middle Ages

Many believed disease was caused by supernatural forces or natural factors such as bad smells or imbalance in the body’s humours.

Treatments in the Middle Ages

Using live crabs for eye problems, killing animals and drinking their blood, applying strange mixtures like dog urine and mouse blood for warts.

Popular Theories About Disease

Movements of planets, bad smells (miasma), imbalance of body liquids (humours), God’s punishment or evil spirits.