SUPERNATURAL

• Influence of Church

  • Church was powerful, owned large areas of land and had a priest in every village, they dominated life
  • People believed everything in the bible especially God caused disease - you would go to hell if you disagreed
  • Church said Galen was right, Doctors were taught this as the Church controlled education
• Religious Beliefs

  • Church was core part of life, people feared God and power of the Church
  • Bible taught God controlled all aspects of life, good and bad
  • Used God to explain death of animals, bad harvests etc so believing God sent a disease was too obvious
  • People believed disease was a punishment from God
• Other supernatural ideas

  • Many people in Middle-ages were superstitious - believed in supernaural eg witchcraft, luck, astrology
  • Minority groups such as Jews were blamed for poisoning wells
  • Physicians - alignment of stars and planets affected health and caused disease
  • 14th century astrology key part in medical training