Medicine through time

• In medieval England (c.1250 - c.1500), people did not generally use science to understand medical conditions.
• England had a very religious society and religious beliefs and superstition were used to explain, diagnose and decide on treatments for illness.
• Astrology was used alongside religion to help diagnose disease and illness.
• The use of astrology to diagnose illness and disease became more popular after the Black Death.
• The medical teachings of the Church in medieval England relied on the ideas of ancient physicians such as Hippocrates and Galen.
• Medieval physicians in Catholic Europe were discouraged from challenging these ancient theories because the ancient Greeks’ medical theories fitted in with the teachings of the Bible.
• People in the Middle Ages also believed that illness could be explained using reason and observation, as per the theory of the four humours.
• The theory of the four humours came from Hippocrates and stated that the body was made up of four humours: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile.
• Hippocrates believed that the body contained four important liquids called humours.
• In medieval England (c.1250 - c.1500), people did not generally use science to understand medical conditions.
• Galen developed Hippocrates’ ideas further and believed that the humours could be balanced using the theory of opposites.
• Galen also believed in the soul and his ideas fitted with the teachings of the Catholic Church.
• England had a very religious society and religious beliefs and superstition were used to explain, diagnose and decide on treatments for illness.
• In medieval England, the Church had great influence over people’s lives and people were very religious, following the teachings of the Catholic Church.
• Because the Catholic Church controlled universities and medical teaching, Galen’s ideas remained central to learning about the body, disease and medicine in the medieval period.
• It was believed that God controlled everything that happened in the world, including disease and illness.
• In medieval times, treatments for disease could not always be relied upon to be effective, therefore, there was a strong focus on stopping people becoming ill.
• Most people in medieval England were Christian and believed that illness and disease were sent by God as a punishment for sin.
• Pilgrimages, fasting and flagellation were activities that allowed people to experience suffering, as Christians believed Jesus had done when he was crucified.
• Traditional beliefs in medieval England included the idea that illness was caused by an imbalance of the four humours in the body, and that food caused the humours to become imbalanced.
• The miasma theory indicated that unclean air could make people unwell, leading people to try to prevent disease and illness by cleaning the streets and using posies, fires, bells, and birds to keep the air moving.
• Most people in medieval England were treated by female family members, such as their wife or mother, and traditional treatments were passed down from one family member to the next.
• Suffering, through these methods or because of illness, was accepted as it let people consider their Christian faith more closely.
• Apothecaries mixed together the ingredients for herbal treatments as described above, and they also mixed their own herbal treatments, which they sold to the sick.
• Barber surgeons would carry out basic surgery, such as bloodletting, sewing up wounds and removing growths from the outside of the body, learning their skills from watching others and reading books about surgery.
• The most common treatments were made from herbs, minerals, plants and animal parts, and books contained instructions on how to mix the ingredients and specified prayers to be said at the same time.
• Hospitals and physicians were not available for everyone in medieval England, but the number of hospitals increased during the medieval period, with most of the hospitals in England being owned and run by the Church.
• Religious actions such as living a life free from sin, attending church services and processions, prayer, pilgrimages, wearing magical or religious charms, fasting and flagellation were believed to prevent disease.
• It was also thought that illness and disease could be a test of a person’s faith - either by God or by the Devil.
• Medieval towns worked hard to keep their streets clean by employing rakers, punishing people who threw waste onto the streets, making butchers dispose of their waste outside the city walls, building public latrines, and advising people to wash regularly, exercise, and rest to balance the four humours.
• Astrology, the study of the planets and stars, was used alongside religion to help diagnose disease and illness.
• The use of astrology to diagnose illness and disease became more popular after the Black Death.
• The impact of the Black Death was so huge that people strongly wanted to be able to explain why it had happened.
• The medical teachings of the Church in medieval England relied on the ideas of ancient physicians such as Hippocrates and Galen.
• Hippocrates and Galen were studied carefully by Islamic scholars after the Roman Empire had ended and the Islamic Empire had become a centre of learning.
• People in the Middle Ages also believed that illness could be explained using reason and observation.
• The theory of the four humours, which stated that the body was made up of four humours: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile, was a key non-religious theory used to explain illness.
• Hippocrates believed that the body contained four important liquids called humours.
• Galen developed Hippocrates’ ideas further and believed that the humours could be balanced using the theory of opposites.
• Leprosy was a skin disease that led to fingers and toes falling off, hair falling out and eventually death.