medieval

• what did people believe caused disease in the medieval times

  • sin
  • astrology
  • miasma
  • theory of opposites
• how did medieval people treat disease

  • prayers
  • pilgramage
  • physicians
• what was the humours theory

  to be healthy, a person needed to have balanced humours. people would become ill if they had an imbalance
• what were the four humours

  • blood
  • phlegm
  • yellow bile
  • black bile
• how did doctors balance yellow bile

  purging, making them throw up
• how did doctors balance blood

  bloodletting, done by a barber surgeon or wise women
• how did doctors balance phlegm

  breathing steam or eating veg filled with water
• how did doctors balance black bile

  gave the patients laxatives and told them to eat veg
• how did galen add to the theory of humours

  he added the theory of opposites
• why was the theory of humours important

  • it became the basis for how patients were treated
  • it appeared to include all illnesses
  • there was a lack of scientific knowledge at the time
• who was hippocrates

  an ancient greek physician
• who was galen

  an ancient roman physician
• why did the christian church support galen

  galen said that the human body must have been designed because it fit so well, which supported the idea that god created all humans
• what mistakes did galen make

  • he believed the jaw was made up of two bones
  • he did not understand blood circulation
  • he said men had less ribs than women
• what treatment was available

  • rich people would consult a physician
  • there was hospitals but was mainly used for praying
  • people could visit barber surgeons
  • women in the home
  • apothacaries
• why did women provide treatment in the home

  it cost money to see a physician and most people could not afford it
• what were the religious treatments

  • praying
  • fasting
  • pilgramage
• how were remedies used to treat illness

  they were inhaled or drunk
• how did people prevent illness

  • carrying herbs
  • religion
  • purifying the air
  • regimen sanitatis
• what were hospitals like

  controlled by the church, with monks and nuns
• what methods did medieval doctors use

  • astrology
  • sample study
  • diagnosis
• who were apothacaries

  people who sold herbal remedies
• how did apothacaries train

  they were not trained at university but they gained most of their knowledge from family members and from experience
• who visited apothacaries

  the poor
• what was surgery like

  very dangerous and very few patients survived
• what were the problems with surgery

  • blood loss
  • pain
  • infection
• what were barber surgeons

  barbers with no uni training and performed some medical procedures
• what procedures did barber surgeons perform

  • teeth pulling
  • sometimes amputations
  • bloodletting
• what were the risks with barber surgeons

  • wounds became infected
  • overbleeding
• what years was the medieval times

  1250-1500
• what was the black death

  an epidemic that hit england and was a serious infection of buboes
• when did the black death arrive in england

  1348
• what did people think caused the black death

  • gods punishment
  • miasma
  • unusual alignment of planets
• how did the black death spread

  bacteria in fleas stomachs were carried on the backs of rats and then passed to humans
• what did people do to stop themselves catching the black death

  • prayed for gods forgiveness
  • carried strong smelling herbs
• when did the black death end

  1350