Medieval (1250-1500)

• apothecary


  affordable chemists in middle ages and renaissance who made herbal remedies and medicines.

  cheap alternative to a doctor and didn't need university training
• barber surgery

  barbers (hair cuts) who would provide amputations, bloodletting and things to balance the humours
• when was the black death

  1348
• What were the main believes about cause of disease in medieval?

  miasma

  punishment from God

  imbalanced humours

  astrology (alignment of planets)
• what was regimen sanitatis?


  set of rules for hygiene to prevent disease:

  • moderate exercise
  • dont overeat
  • enough sleep
  • avoid stress
  • regular bathing
• they believes miasma was a cause of disease, how did they try prevent this?

  they:

  • spread sweet herbs
  • carried nice smelling flower in jewellery
  • keep town clean (no rotting animals + clean public toilets)
• How were people cared at home by wise women?


  they mixed herbal remedies from garden and eating restorative foods
• what were medieval hospitals like?

  there were 1,100 by 1500

  offered hospitality for pilgrims and travellers

  nuns cleaned daily

  no terminal patients as couldnt be treated
• what were lazar houses?

  hospitals for ppl with infectious diseases like leprosy
• what type of influence did the church have?

  literate monks and nuns so they controlled books

  spread own beliefs like gale and Hippocrates

  ran hospitals

  controlled education like university for physicians
• what was the four humours?

  • made by hippocrates
  • black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, blood
• what was theory of opposites?

  theory made by galen

  idea that humours needed to be balanced using:

  • bleeding, purging
  • balance with opposite foods or conditions (E.G phlegm was wet and cold so needed to eat hot peppers)
• Galen was a greek doctor, what did he do?

  theory of opposutes (expanded from hippocrates)

  made books and illustrations of human anatomy but this came from animal dissections not human ones

  he believed in the soul so the church would promote his ideas
• Hippocrates was a greek doctor, what did he do?

  Theory of Four humours

  Hippocrates oath - doctor swear to protect life

  symptoms needed physical cures

  clinical observations - studying symptoms
• Bleeding was a way to balance blood in the four humours, what was bloodletting?


  cutting a vein, leeches or cupping, and was performed by barber surgeons
• purging was a way to balance humours, what was it?

  making the patient vomit, or use toilet using to remove food, done by laxatives or emetics which were mixed by apothecaries but prescribed by physicians
• What were some supernatural and religious ways to prevent or treat disease?

  • living a Christian life (praying, going to church, obey commandments)
  • carry lucky charms or amulets
  • chanting incantations
  • flagellating - self punishment so god wont punish you
• what were some rational ways of preventing illnesses?

  • regimen sanitatis
  • purifying the air
  • keeping streets clean
  • bathing and washing
  • exercising
  • not over eating
  • bleeding and purging
• Herbal remedies were made by apothecaries, what did they do?

  they were drunk, sniffed or bathed in

  different foods and herbs that rebalance humours

  ointments applied to skin

  made at home by wise women or by apothecaries
• what were religious treatments of disease?

  praying

  fasting

  pilgrimage

  pay for special mass
• what were some supernatural treatments of disease?

  hanging a magpie beak around neck to cure toothache
• Who were physicians?


  medically trained at university (run by church) for 10 years

  diagnosed illnesses and gave or prescribed treatments for apothecaries or barber surgeons

  expensive, only used by wealthy

  very few and mainly men
• what were barber surgeons?

  no training

  blood letting, pulling teeth, lancing boils, cutting hair

  amputation of limbs

  cheaper than physician
• what were apothecaries?


  medical training but no medical qualification

  mixed medicines, ointments, herbs based on knowledge or prescription

  costed money but cheaper than physician
• what was care in the home like?

  treated by female family member or village wise-women for free
• How did physician diagnose disease or symptoms

  urine charts (taste, smell, colour), and consulted in vademecum (handbook)

  check pulse, skin colour

  zodiac charts

  alemans - star charts

  treated themselves or sent to barber surgeon or apothecaries
• what were medieval hospitals like?

  places for travellers and pilgrims to stay

  run by church s belived god healed soul

  no infectious ppl

  clean, fresh food, and rest
• how was black death bought to england?

  carried by fleas on black rats on trading ships and spread by being bitten by the fleas
• what were causes of black death (1348) ?

  punishment from god for sins

  unusual alignment of mars jupiter and saturn

  miasma, bad air and smells from rubbish

  poisonous gases from volcanoes and earthquakes

  imbalance of four humours

  strange people like jews or witches
• what were symptoms of black death 1348?

  buboes, fever, chills, headache, vomitting, diarrhoea
• how did people avoid catching plague (1348)?

  praying and fasting

  clearing rubbish from streets

  smelling bas smells to overcome plague

  light a fire in room, ringing bells, having birds fly around to keep air moving

  carry herbs and spices to avoid bad air

  quarantine 40 days

  quarantine village - no unknown ppl
• what were treatments of the black death?

  praying

  lucky charms

  cutting open and draining buboes

  hold bread against buboes and burying it

  eating cool things and taking a bath
• who was ROGER BACON, and why was he significant?

  put in prison for suggesting doctors should do own research and not follow galen - 1270
• 30% hospitals owned by church and rest was endowment (money in wils)


  1,100 hospitals by 1500