Medieval medicine piggy facts

• By 1287, St Leonard's hospital in York was looking after 225 patients, which was a big improvement bearing in mind that in the early days, most had very few beds.
• A religious treatment for a tooth ache, was to write "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy ghost. Amen" on the jaw of a patient.
• Lepers had to wear special clothes and ring a warning bell as they approached. It was believed to be spread via sexual intercourse or a punishment from God.
• Leper houses were built of on main roads on the outskirts of towns. It was mainly a job to keep lepers separated from everybody else. In these houses, they provided lodging and food but no treatment.
• By 1225, there were nearly 19,000 leper houses in Europe but by 1600 they had nearly all disappeared as leprosy died out in Europe.
• Hippocrates died back in 375 BC
• In the year 1345, astrologists discovered a misconfiguration of the planets which were, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. This led up to the Black death 3 years after taking out 1/3rd of its population.
• The black death killed around 25 million people
• The Bible story of the man named Job, teaches people how the Devil believed he could test faith in God by sending horrific things like illnesses, also teaches people that if you were ill like Job was, it may be a test of faith by God and if you continue to have faith, God will heal you, proving God was real (proof of divine)
• Apothecaries used a book called the Materia Medica to know the healing properties of particular herbs.
• Physicians training lasted between 7 and 10 years.
• Three types of surgeons: Barber surgeons (least qualified and often did things like, cut hair, pulled teeth, opened boils and let blood through leeches and cupping), surgeons (mainly did blood-letting but also set broken bones and treated burns), Military surgeons (in wars so had to deal with more advanced injuries like arrow wounds). They had a 6 year training course called an apprenticeship and needed a license.
• Almshouses, often very small with at times just a priest and perhaps about 12 inmates. People who were too weak to look after themselves stayed here, like, elderly, windows with young children or single pregnant women. Also gave shelter to travelers especially pilgrims. Poor also were given a few nights shelter especially during the winter. No real treatment was actually given in Almshouses.
• Hospitals


  • Concentrated on looking after the sick
  • Also took in people who were poor as well as sick
  • Varied in size, in big cities had hundreds of beds but normally averaged around 20-50
  • In the countryside, smaller hospitals with rooms for only about 5-6
• Some people who were seriously ill, were often not allowed in at all due to how much looking after they would need and took away from main purpose of the hospital which was to pray and attend services
• People found in these hospitals

  • Elderly
  • Poor widows with kids
  • Orphans
  • Blind
  • Cripples
  • Poor
• In hospitals Some might stay for years until they die but some only stayed for a couple weeks
• In hospitals, Hungry just stayed overnight
• some hospitals concentrated on looking after specific people like St Bartholomew's in London looked after destitute women who were pregnant and supported and educated any infants of mothers who dies in childbirth
• Most of these hospitals were built and paid for by the Church. In 13th century, 160 new hospitals were built
• In the Middle ages, hospitals weren't known as hospitals and were instead called Houses of God. Their main job was to look after patients spiritually rather than physically. Inmates spent a lot of their days praying and confessing and attended 7 services a day to help to rid themselves of their sins which would help them get to heaven.
• In The Houses of God it was believed, that paintings, statues and relics of Christi, the Virgin Mary or the saints had to the power to heal you. Larger hospitals did have doctors and surgeons but were only for the staff- priests, nuns or monks. Most important treatments patients received were: regular meals, rest, clean linen, baths, warmth and shelter.
• The Black death arrived in England in 1348 and left in 1349
• Some symptoms of the Black death were: high fever, high fatigue, boils, swells, vomiting blood, feeling hot and cold, aching limbs. People often dies within 4-5 days.
• People had many ideas of how to stop the Black death, including: praying, whipping, isolating people for 40 days, lighting candles, punishing butchers who left slaughtered animals of the streets, etc.
• During the Black death, in April 1349 Edward III ordered the mayor of London to have "the filth lying in the streets removed" and the city cleansed "from all odors"
• Some weird Black death cures that some people believed in and did were: placing a frog against boils until they burst, physicians also would soften the swelling by using figs, vinegar and cooked onions and then cut open the boils to let the blood and pus out.
• Phlebotomy charts were used to see where blood should be drawn from.
• Remedies used for cure were: Theriaca (a spiced mixed-based mixture containing many ingredients like ginger and viper flesh), Blanc Manger (dish of chicken and almons- warm and moist)