medieval

• causes - supernatural


  God - punishing sinners

  devil - testing faith

  astrology - position of the planets effects health (zodiacs)
• causes - rational 


  miasma - corruption of air

  4 humours - yellow bile (vomit), black bile (poo), phlegm, blood -- ideas from Hippocrates and Galen
• Hippocrates


  ancient greek

  observed that when patients were ill liquid (humours) came out of them

  imbalance in humours = illness - doctors could rebalance humours
• Galen


  ancient Roman

  thought the imbalance humours should be treated by opposites -- too much phlegm = eat a hot pepper

  wrote 60 books

  anatomy - proved the brain controlled the body by dissecting a pig - so some of his findings were wrong

  church supported his ideas as the 'design' idea sounded like God designed it
• Treatments - supernatural :(


  touch the king

  pray

  flagellants - people would whip themselves

  fast - go without food

  where charms - scare devil
• treatments - rational :(


  herbal remedies from Materia Medica - only some worked

  purged - make you vomit

  bloodletting

  urine chart
• treatments - rational :)


  doctors cauterised wounds - stopped bleeding

  bath to balance 4 humours
• Preventions - supernatural - :(


  flagellants

  praying

  consult a zodiac chart before doing things
• preventions - rational - :(


  bloodletting

  disguise bad smells with herbs

  4 humour balance through diet and weather

  apothecary or women healer for potion - Materia Medica
• preventions - rational - :)


  keep clean - Regimen Sanitates - health plan, moderation

  gov tried to clean streets (limited success)
• Medics - Physicians - :(


  studied at universities - Galen + Hippocrates ideas to explain disease

  didn't know a lot about the body - dissection=banned

  4 humours - based treatments off

  Astrology + Bloodletting - used for treatments

  urine charts to diagnose

  herbal remedies

  expensive
• Medics - Apothecary


  learnt from a master apothecary

  mixed herbal remedies + made medicine from Materia Media - :(

  gave advice

  cheaper the Physician
• Medics - Barber surgeon


  learnt from a master barber surgeon

  methods = anatomy

  highly skilled

  cheaper then physicians

  Problem = pain, bleeding, infection - :(
• Hospitals 


  Ran by the Church!

  30% ran by monks and nuns

  number increased due to endowment (money left in wills)

  people funded so they would go to heaven

  most people treated at home!
• how did hospitals help-

  • some hospitals specialised - eg maternity
  • nuns made sure people were clean, warm and fed
• how hospitals didn't help -

  • refused people if they looked infectious
  • didn't look after patients - prayed for them instead
  • priests said masses for patients everyday
  • no doctors (physicians)
  • mostly took old and weak people in - not ill
  • refused entry of wounded and crippled
  • some wouldn't accept children and pregnant women
  • nuns gave out herbal remedies, only some worked
• Factors

  • very religious society - church controlled and spread the wrong ideas
  • gov was weaker then the church
  • individuals = Galen + Hippocrates
  • lack/undeveloped technology - couldn't find evidence for theories
• Black Death - Case study


  1348 - 1350

  • black death killed 1.5 million out of 4 million (40% of the population)
  • affected rich and poor
  • affected towns more then the countryside
  • hit England 4 times during the century
• Black Death - reasons for (all inaccurate) - rational


  miasma

  4 humours

  Earthquake from 1347 released illness from Earth - miasma

  Jews poisoned wells
• Black Death - reasons for (all inaccurate) - supernatural


  astrology - Jupiter, Saturn and Mars = too close

  due to God punishing the sins of mankind
• Black Death - Treatments - Supernatural - :(


  church leaders begged God to stop

  made candles and lit them as an offer to God

  Flagellants
• Black Death - Treatments - Rational - :(


  in Germany they burnt Jews

  avoid eating/drinking too much

  breath perfume

  light fire in cold weather + eat cold food in hot weather
• Black Death - Preventions - supernatural - :(


  pray, fast, flagellants, pilgrimage

  local authorities would put in 40 day quarantine but church services continued, so this was ineffective (right idea ignored!)
• Black death - Preventions - Rational - :(


  carry posy, herbs, flowers

  avoid baths (believed it opened pores for the disease)

  local authorities stopped cleaning streets - believed foul smell would drive off the miasma
• Black death - preventions


  rich = leave infected areas -:)

  not visit infected people - :)

  doctors said avoid anything sad - :(
• the black death tells us that


  a - medical understanding about the causes of disease was; miasma, planets being too close, God punishing sinners and Jews poisoning their drinking water. Their knowledge = non-existent

  b - medical treatments did not work

  c - most medieval preventions were not helpful, although some ideas were helpful (eg, quarantine and leaving infected areas). However, the quarantine was ignored because people wanted to go to church.