Beliefs about illness in the Medieval Period

• Physicians lacked scientific knowledge that was required to understand the causes of disease
• Medical training was to read Church approved texts such as Galen
• Lack of scientific knowledge and the influence of the church during the Medieval Period meant that religious ideas dominated British medicine
• Most people believed sickness was a punishment from God
• supernatural beliefs dominated treatment
• Doctors used urine charts to diagnose illness
• most physicians didnt understand the causes of disease so they tried to cure symptoms instead