Medieval Medicine: Religious and Supernatural Explanations for Disease

Vocabulary flashcards covering the role of the Church, religious beliefs, medical attitudes, leprosy, and supernatural explanations for disease in Medieval England.

Tithe

A sum of money that people were expected to give to the Church each month, which was used to pay for the care of the community.

Doom paintings

Paintings on church walls depicting sinners being punished by God with illness and sent to Hell, serving as visual instruction for illiterate churchgoers.

Illiterate

Unable to read or write, a condition describing most Medieval people whose sole education came from Church teachings and doom paintings.

Miracle

A person's recovery from a serious illness, interpreted by Medieval people as proof of their belief in God and a sign that they had been forgiven.

Physician

A person who practiced medicine with some formal education, typically trained in Church-run universities.

Hippocrates (5BCE)

An Ancient Greek physician whose traditional medical ideas were supported and accepted by the Church rather than questioned.

Galen (2CE)

An Ancient Roman physician whose medical theories—based on animal dissections—were accepted and promoted by the Church.

Human dissection

The cutting open and examination of a human body, an anatomical practice forbidden by the Church which contributed to a lack of progress in medical knowledge.

Leprosy

A painful skin disease mentioned in the Bible and believed to be God's punishment for sin, leading to paralysis, ulcers, loss of fingers and toes, and death.

Leper Houses (Lazer Houses)

Colonies outside towns and villages where individuals suffering from leprosy were isolated from their communities.

Contagious

The ability of an illness to pass from one person to another, an idea demonstrated by Medieval rules banning lepers from alleyways and requiring them to ring a bell.

Astrology

A supernatural explanation for disease developed in Arabia that used the alignment of planets and stars to diagnose illness.

Black Death (1348)

A major epidemic during which the Church community shifted to widely accept the supernatural theory of astrology for explaining and diagnosing illness.