History - medicine

• Disease was thought to have supernatural causes.

  • Punishment from God, many prayed and repented to avoid this
  • Demons and Witches, many were tried and killed for this
  • Evil spirits in the body, Churches carried out exorcisms
• Church had a large influence in medieval medicine.

  • The belief that punishment from God was a cause of disease caused people to not look for a cure for illness
  • They also supported the ideas of Galen as he believed in the idea of the soul, this prevented change and Galen's ideas were incorrect.
  • Dissection was forbidden by the church so doctors couldnt understand human anatomy.
• Astrology was used to diagnose diseases.

  • The movements of different stars and planets was thought to cause different imbalances in the body which causes illness.
  • Different star signs were thought to affect different parts of the body.
• The Theory of the Four Humours

  • The idea was founded by Hippocrates
  • The body was made of four fluids
  • Yellow Bile, Black Bile, Blood, and Phlegm
  • An imbalance in these caused different illnesses
  • This was linked to seasons and four elements
  • The four needed to be in balance for good health.
• Galen created the theory of opposites.

  • His theory was based on Hippocrates theory
  • The theory of opposites
  • A certain imbalance in the body can be treated using opposites.
  • E.G. A high fever can be treated by eating something cool like a cucumber.
• Miasma

  • This was the theory of that bad air caused disease
  • This bad air came from dead bodies, and other things which smelt bad
  • Lasted until the 1860s, very influential.
  • Replaced by Germ theory, created by Louis Pasteur
  • Miasma caused people to be more hygienic but for the wrong reasons.
• What is Miasma?


  This is the theory that bad air caused disease
• Treatments of disease

  • As sinning against God was seen as a cause of disease, prayer and repentance were treatments.
  • Pilgrimage to holy shrines was also done to show people commitment to showing forgiveness.
  • Flagellants whipped themselves in public to show they were sorry. Done especially in times of severe illness e.g. black death.
  • Doctors also had superstitions such as saying certain words during treatments to make it go more smoothly.
• Bloodletting and Purging - Treatment

  • The idea that too much blood or other fluids was the cause of illness.
  • This was done by either making a small cut with a knife and letting a patient bleed.
  • Or getting leeches to suck the persons blood
  • Many people died as a cause of this , proving the treatment to be ineffective. However was still popular showing medieval peoples strength in their beliefs.
  • Purging was the excretion of bodily fluids, doctors also gave patients laxatives so the process would be easier.
• A treatment to miasma was purifying the air.

  • Physicians carried posies and oranges to stop physician when visiting patients to get an illness.
  • Juniper and incense were burnt so that the smoke filled the room warding away any bad smell and therefore ilness.
• Remedies

  • remedies where either bough from apothecaries or made from local wise women
  • Many remedies were passed down in books some called 'herbals'
  • other remedies were built on superstition like lucky charms.
• physicians had little practical experience.

  • They went to university for seven years
  • read ancients texts some from the islamic world.
  • They're training involved very little practical experience
  • they used clinical observations to treat illness
  • there were less than 100 physicians in England
  • This meant they were expensive and only the rich could afford them.
• where did remedies come from?

  bough by apothecaries or made by local wise women
• most sick people went to apothecaries

  • physicians were expensive
  • apothecaries were common for people who couldn't afford physicians
  • apothecaries were trained through apprenticeships.
  • they sold and made remedies and sometimes gave advice on how to use them.
• Medieval - surgery

  • medieval surgery was dangerous
  • there was no way to prevent blood loss, infection and pain.
  • only done for minor surgeries such as teeth extraction.
  • surgeon was not respected very few of them.
  • surgery was carried out by barber surgeons who cut hair as a profession.
  • They had little medical treatment
  • Because they didn't have a passion for medicine they didn't want to experiment for treatments.