People's Health: Medieval Britain 1250-1500

What did medieval call the “bad air” that cause disease?

Miasma

Who did people think caused diseases for the sins of humanity?

God

What were some religious responses to diseases like the Black Plague?

-Priests urged people to confess their sins

-Some ate holy bread blessed by the priest at special church services

-Processions of priests through cities confessing the nations sins

-Flagellants whipped each other so that God could see their love and self-sacrifice

The movement of what was said to be the cause of disease?

Planets

What did people carry to prevent miasma?

They carried posies of flowers or burned rosemary and other sweetly scented plants to purify the air in their houses.

Why did some say it was dangerous to take hot baths or do vigorous exercise?

Because they believed that they could be infected through sweaty skin.

Why did some turn their heads away from people who suffered from diseases?

Because they believed plague could be spread through eye contact.

What are the four humours?

Blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile.

What elements, seasons and foods are the four humours associated with?

Blood- Air

Yellow Bile- Fire

Black Bile- Earth

Phlegm- Water

How was blood balanced?

Bloodletting- Ridding the body of impure fluids. Some would cut arteries and veins but others would also use leeches.

How was yellow bile balanced?

The would give people medicines to make them vomit to remove excess bile. They would also eat cold and wet foods to counteract the hot and dry affects of yellow bile.

How was black bile balanced?

Removed from the body using laxatives which were usually herbal remedies. They would eat hot and wet food to balance out the humour.

How was phlegm balanced?

Laxatives and medicines given to vomit excess phlegm. They would eat hot and dry foods to combat the humour.

What were houses like in the countryside?

What was medieval housing like in the countryside?

• One storey house

• Thatched roof

• Full of people and animals (separated)

• Stone hearth (fire place)

• Wattle and daub (Walls woven with sticks and mud)

• Rooms were dark and smoky

How did people manage waste in the countryside?

• Would use a midden (rubbish tip)

• Cesspits which could overflow

• Waste used to fertilise soil

What was food in the countryside like?

• Mill ground grain

• Pottage (Thick vegetable soup)

• Peas, beans and onions

• Possibly fish on Friday

• Damp conditions could lead to fungus growing on bread

What was water like in the countryside?

• Villages were near streams and springs

• Water was often polluted by animals who excreted in it

• Drank water as well as cider and mead

• Peasants bathed in streams

• Fulling polluted streams as fullers cleaned cloth using urine

What was housing like in towns?

• Upper floors would jut out

• thatched roofs

• People would plant flowers to get rid of miasma

• People planted vegetables and pigs would fertilise them

• Very cramped

How did people manage waste in towns?

• Gong Fermers would remove excrement from latrines

• People used public latrines and would share them with many people

What was water like in towns?

• Some had their own wells

• No pipes for clean water except in conduits

• Water was used for cooking, washing food, brewing ale

• Fountains

• Water could be obtained from a water carrier who brought it to your home if you were rich

• Could buy from water sellers

What was food like in towns?

• Sugar was rare and expensive so honey was used instead

• Peasants used carts that took rubbish from the midden to carry grain, fruit, fish, cheese, timber and cloth

• Market allowed access to food you wouldn’t normally find such as meat, spices, fish, and sugar

What did medieval people drink more than water?

Mead

Why was it cleaner to drink from a well than a stream?

Because stream water was dirty

What were people that worked on the land called?

Peasants

What was ergotism also known as?

St Anthony’s Fire

What was ergotism?

• A disease caused by consuming infected rye grains

• Causes headache, vomiting, diarrhoea, and gangrene of the fingers and toes

What percentage of the population died in the Great Famine of 1315-16?

10% of the population

What year did the Black Death come to England?

1348

How did the Black Death arrive in England?

Through fleas on rats that were on ships that travelled to Britain’s ports

What types of plague were there?

Bubonic, pneumonic, septicaemic

What were the symptoms of the bubonic plague?

• Buboes swelling on the armpits or groin

• Blood loss

• Death in five days

What are the symptoms of the pneumonic plague?

• Coughing up blood

• Chest pains

• Death in three days

What are the symptoms of the septicaemic plague?

Fever, chills, extreme weakness, abdominal pain

How many people did the Black Death kill between 1348 -49?

One third of the population

What lotion did people use to soothe the skin?

Camomile lotion

What was the most common treatment for the Black Death using the humours?

Blood-letting

What did doctors in this time period not know?

They didn’t know that germs existed so they didn’t understand the importance of infection, cleanliness and contagion

How did septicaemic plague develop?

If someone who had a bad case of the bubonic plague had their bloodstream poisoned

What did poor living conditions lead to?

• Diseases spreading quickly because of the houses cramped with people and animals

• Malnutrition made it easier for people to catch diseases

• Life expectancy was very poor and many died young

What is dysentery?

An infection of the intestines that causes diarrhoea containing blood or mucus

What did believers in astrology do to defend themselves from the plague?

They carried diamonds and rubies to to protect them

What did Edward III do in 1349?

He told the Lord Mayor of London to remove filth from the streets, in hope of removing bad smells

What did some communities do to get rid of traces of the Black Death?

They burned clothes of the victims, which would have killed the bacteria as well

What religion were most people in Medieval England?

Catholic

What percentage of people lived in the countryside?

90%

What was the largest industry in Medieval England?

The wool industry

How would some people try to treat the buboes caused by the plague?

Put live toads on buboes to soften them

What were Jews accused of relating to the Black Death?

They were accused of poisoning water supplies and were burnt

What did butchers, tanners and dyers do to contribute to unsanitary conditions?

They threw toxic waste into rivers and residential areas

How did Gloucester try to defend itself from plague?

It shut itself off from the outside but this was unsuccessful as many people in the town died of the Black Death

How many towns had a population of 10,000 by 1500?

15

What was the only big city?

London- tens of thousands of people lived there

What was built in 1230 in London?

The Great Conduit which was built to bring in clean water to London as the Thames was getting too toxic

What did the government do in 1388?

• It ordered town authorities to keep the streets free of waste

• Public health measures implemented to get rid of waste, sewage and pollution

What did towns like York do to butchers, fishmongers and tanners?

To move their businesses outside the city walls as they were too unsanitary

What did York and London do to improve how waste was removed?

• Dumping waste in streets to be picked up by scavengers

• They also built latrines over water so that sewage could be carried away

How were monasteries healthier than towns?

• They had cleaner water and better systems for removing waste

• They knew how to grow herbs and make herbal remedies

• Separated clean and dirty water into water used for drinking and cooking and the other being drainage and washing

• Monasteries were built near rivers to supply clean water

• Monasteries had infirmaries and and kitchens that served good meals to help the sick recover

• Hospitals cared for poor people who were sick and gave shelter to travellers

• Latrines were in separate buildings over streams of running water

What did medieval people bathe in to get rid of boils from the Black Death?

They thought bathing in urine would help get rid of the boils and make them feel better

Why were monasteries cleaner?

• The were wealthy and could afford to build infrastructure like latrine buildings

• The Abbot was the only one in charge so it was easier to enforce rules about cleanliness

How did Carlisle improve their town?

• There were no measures taken as the town could not afford to clean the mess

• Many diseases killed livestock and people

How did Shrewsbury improve their town?

• King Edward III gave permission to pave the streets using money from the wealthy

• Trade improved and the roads were not filled with filth

How did Bristol improve their town?

• They moved dung heaps, lepers and prostitutes outside the town

• The town because cleaner because the dung heaps were on the outskirts of the city but everything else was useless

What happened to Exeter’s water supply by 1180?

• Monks at the cathedral brought piped water from a spring

• The pipes supplied the cathedral and a small priory with water

• Another section of pipe ran to the main crossroads to the town centre

What happened to Exeter’s water supply in the 1240s?

• Someone had the idea of making a passage or vault through the most thickness of the wall

• This meant the pipe could be reached for maintenance without digging away the wall each time

What happened to Exeter’s water supply in the 1340s?

• The Church paid for a construction of a lengthy underground passage to carry the lead pipe

• This passage was being finished just as the Black Death struck Exeter

What happened to Exeter’s water supply in the 1420s?

• New work was organised and paid for by the town council

• Two rich ex-mayors left money in their wills to improve water supply

• Two new street conduits were built

What happened to Exeter’s water supply in the 1440s-50s?

• The cathedral and town council helped to fund the work of improving Exeter’s water supply

• English towns were gaining influence and wealth

• 1450s-the town was rich enough to employ a full time plumber

• King Henry VI visited in 1451

What happened to Exeter’s water supply by 1500?

• Exeter was again extending it’s underground passageways to secure it’s water supply

• The aim was to lay pipe in a passage below the main bridge

• This would help Exeter’s trade if workmen could easily repair a burst water pipe without having to dig up the road