Prevention and treatment in the medieval times: Medieval England 1250-1500 Ideas about the cause of disease and illness: History: GCSE (9:1)

Wise Woman

A woman who cared and treated sick people in the community

Midwife

A woman who helped to birth a baby

Physician

A word for a medieval doctor

7 years

The amount of time a physician had to train in the university

Barber Surgeon

A surgeon who did basic operations such as remove tumours, stitching wounds and repairing bones

Book Learning

An important method for improving skills in the medieval period

Observation

Watching a patient and taking note of their symptoms

Apothecary

A herbal chemist who made medicines for physicians from herbs and spices

Prayer

A common method for treating illness

The theory of opposites

The idea that the humours could be rebalanced to make someone better

The four humours

The four liquids that each body contained that dictated physical health

Bleeding/Bloodletting

One method to rebalance the humours

Purging

The removal of fluids via vomiting or using the toilet

Surgery

The carrying out of operations to repair the body

Regimen Sanitis

Regime of health' a set of rules to follow that supposedly maintained a healthy body

Raker

A person who collected animal dung to avoid bad smells in cities

1388

The date that Richard II created the first law telling towns they needed to clean up

1281

London prohibits the keeping of pigs in the street