Medicine

• Malnutrition


  An illness caused by lack of food
• Famine


  Food shortage, usually due to bad harvests
• Paralysis


  Being unable to move either all or part of your body as a result of illness, poison or injury
• Diagnosing


  Deciding what is wrong with a patient by considering different symptoms
• Physician

  Someone who practices medicine. A medieval physician did not have to have the same level of training as a modern physician
• Ordinary people received most of their teaching from the Church, as they didn't receive any formal education. The majority of people at this time could not read or write. Instead, they learned from the stories they heard, or the paintings they saw on the wall of their church.
• One thing they learned was that sin was very dangerous. The Church taught that those who committed a sin could be punished by God. They also taught that the devil could send disease to test someone's faith.
• The devil, or Satan, was often held responsible for sending diseases to people.
• Illness was not uncommon. Malnutrition, particularly in times of famine, made people more likely to fall ill. A lack of scientific knowledge at this time meant that the causes of disease and illness were a mystery. The Church used religion to answer the questions people had about illness and disease.
• The Church often explained famine by saying that God had sent it as a punishment for sin. Therefore, it was logical also to blame people's sins for their illnesses. This meant that, when people recovered, the Church was able to declare that a miracle had happened, thanks to the patient's prayers. Therefore, blaming sickness on God acted as 'proof of the divine': it provided evidence of God's existence. This explains why the Church supported the idea that God sent disease as a punishment.
• Although disease was mainly seen as a result of sin, the Church also taught that disease was sent by God to cleanse one's soul of sin. If you became ill, God could be sending the illness to purify your soul, or to test your faith. Since they had learned that God controlled every aspect of the world, this was very believable to people at this time.
• The Bible tells many stories of how God sent disease as a punishment – leprosy in particular was included in the Bible as an illustration of a punishment for sin. Leprosy usually began as a painful skin disease, followed by paralysis and eventually death. Fingers and toes would fall off, body hair would drop out and ulcers would develop both inside and outside the body.
• There was no cure for leprosy, so lepers were banished from their communities. They usually had to move to leper houses or to isolated island communities. If they were allowed to stay in their home towns, they had to wear a cloak and ring a bell to announce their presence, and they were banned from going down narrow alleys, where it was impossible to avoid them.
• Along with the role of God, the alignment of the planets and stars was also considered very important when diagnosing illness. A physician would consult star charts, looking at when the patient was born and when they fell ill, to help identify what was wrong.
• Theory of the Four Humours


  A very popular idea, first put forwards by the Ancient Greeks, that stated the body was made up of four humours - blood, phlegm, black bile and choler - and illness was caused by an imbalance of these humours
• There was a belief that all the humours must be balanced and equal. If the mix became unbalanced, you became ill. Being careful to maintain a good balance of the humours was really important to preserving good health. However, people believed a combination of age, family traits and circumstances, such as the season in which someone was born, usually combined to make one or two of the humours stronger than the others.
• Traditionally, the Church frowned upon the idea of using astrology in diagnosing illness, as it seemed only one step away from predicting the future, or fortune telling. However, after the Black Death arrived, astrology became more popular and the Church became more acceptant of it. Many people believed the Black Death was caused by a bad alignment of the planets.
• Galen developed the Theory of the Four Humours to include the idea of balancing the humours by using the Theory of Opposites. For example, he suggested that too much phlegm, which was linked to water and the cold, could be cured by eating hot peppers; a fever, or an excess of blood, could be treated with cucumber, which would cool the patient down when eaten. Galen also theorised that the circulatory system circulated blood generated in the liver, and the blood was then distributed around the body.
• The Theory of the Four Humours was very detailed and could be used to explain away almost any kind of illness – physical or mental. It was important that the theory covered almost every type of illness that occurred, because there was no other scientific explanation for the cause of disease. Often, physicians twisted what they saw to fit with the logic of the theory.
• Many people could not read in the Middle Ages. This meant that being widely read was a sign of intelligence. A good physician was considered to be one who had read many books, rather than one who had treated a lot of patients. Having read the works of Hippocrates and Galen was proof that a physician was worth the money he was being paid. The authority of these classical texts was so strong that people believed them even when there was actual, physical evidence that suggested they were wrong.
• There was a lack of scientific evidence to support any other kind of theories of the causes of disease. Dissections were mostly illegal, because the Church taught that the body needed to be buried whole in order for the soul to reach heaven.
• Religious treatments

  • Healing prayers and incantations (spells)
  • Paying for a special mass to be said
  • Fasting (going without food)
• Pilgrimages


  Journeys to important religious monuments, shrines or places
• If prayers and offerings did not work, there were other supernatural remedies available, although the Church did not approve of them
• Chanting incantations and using charms or amulets to heal symptoms and ward off diseases were fairly common throughout this period
• Sometimes the sick were discouraged from seeking cures, as God had sent the disease to purge the soul
• Astrology


  Physicians consulted star charts when diagnosing illness and prescribing treatment
• Treatments varied according to the horoscope of the patient
• The alignment of the planets was checked at every stage of the treatment prescribed: herb gathering, bleeding, purging, operations and even cutting hair and nails all had to be done at the right time
• Humoural treatments


  Doctors today assess symptoms, make a diagnosis and treat the infection, rather than trying to balance the humours
• Physicians consulted star charts when diagnosing illness. These were also important when prescribing treatment. Treatments varied according to the horoscope of the patient. The alignment of the planets was then checked at every stage of the treatment prescribed: herb gathering, bleeding, purging, operations and even cutting hair and nails all had to be done at the right time.
• Humoural treatments


  Each symptom was broken down and treated separately, as they believed each symptom represented an imbalance in the humours
• King's healing power

  The king had the power to heal certain illnesses. During the coronation of a monarch, his hands would be rubbed with special holy oil and this, it was said, gave him supernatural healing powers. The king's touch was considered particularly effective for scrofula, a form of tuberculosis.
• Edward I, for example, aimed to touch up to 2,000 people a year during his reign (1272–1307).
• Phlebotomy, or blood-letting/bleeding, was the most common treatment for an imbalance in the humours. The idea behind it was that bad humours could be removed from the body by removing some of the blood.
• Methods of blood-letting

  • Cutting a vein
  • Leeches
  • Cupping
• Sometimes patients were bled for too long and died as a result. Evidence suggests that this was quite common and it was probably seen as a necessary hazard.
• Purging


  Giving the patient either something to make them vomit (an emetic), or a laxative or enema to clear out anything left over in the body
• Emetics

  • Scammony, aniseed and parsley. Sometimes they contained poisons like black hellebore
• Laxatives


  • Mallow leaves stewed in ale, and linseeds fried in hot fat