medieval period

Subdecks (1)

Cards (44)

  • This is a time of continuity in medicine, not a lot of change in terms of ideas about disease, treatments or Preventions
  • Reason for lack of change
    The church was so powerful, it controlled almost every aspect of life
  • How the church controlled ideas about medicine
    1. Encouraged people to respect tradition and ancient ideas
    2. Controlled communication, no printing press until 1440 AD so only church-approved ideas were reproduced
    3. Encouraged people to follow the work of Hippocrates and Galen, whose work was a thousand years old
    4. Controlled education, funded universities and trained doctors to learn through books not practical experiments
  • The government at the time did not have a great deal of power over ordinary people's lives, kings had no duty to improve health and local government had little power to improve public health
  • Idea: God and sin
    Disease was a punishment from God or a test of faith
  • This idea was taught by the church and reinforced by Bible stories
  • Lack of scientific knowledge made it difficult to challenge the church's teachings on disease
  • Religious approach to treatment

    Prayers, going to Mass, pilgrimages to holy sites, belief in the king's healing touch
  • Religious approach to prevention
    Prayers, avoiding sin, maintaining hygiene as it was linked to godliness
  • Idea: Astrology
    Health affected by position of planets and stars, especially at birth
  • The church initially resisted astrology but later accepted and encouraged it, especially after the Black Death
  • Astrology's impact on treatment
    Physicians checked star charts to diagnose and choose treatments
  • Four humors theory
    Body contained four liquids (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile), imbalance caused sickness
  • This theory was based on evidence, not God or superstition, but was supported by the church as it was from the writings of Hippocrates and Galen
  • Treatments based on four humors theory
    1. Purging, bloodletting, using opposites, herbal remedies
    2. Patients encouraged to keep humors balanced through diet and regular purging
  • Idea: Miasma
    Bad air and smells from rotting matter could make you sick
  • This idea was also based on the work of Hippocrates and Galen, and was encouraged by the church as it linked bad smells to sin
  • Preventions based on miasma
    Bathing, keeping homes clean and fresh-smelling, carrying posies, attempts to improve public health by cleaning filth
  • Types of healers
    • Physicians
    • Apothecaries
    • Surgeons/barber-surgeons
    • Home remedies by women
  • Physicians
    University-educated, trained by the church, diagnosed disease from a distance using star charts and humors, did not actually treat patients or perform surgery
  • Apothecaries
    Mixed herbal remedies, more affordable than physicians
  • Surgeons/barber-surgeons
    Lacked training, only did basic surgery like tooth pulling, more skilled surgeons were very expensive
  • Home remedies
    Women grew herbs and mixed herbal remedies, some had extensive knowledge
  • The Black Death led to some new ideas about the cause of disease, such as linking it to volcanic eruptions or realizing it was spread by contact with the sick
  • Treatments for the Black Death
    1. Continued religious treatments like prayer
    2. Tried to rebalance humors through bleeding and purging
    3. Some patients tried bursting buboes
  • Preventions for the Black Death
    1. Religious preventions like prayer and pilgrimage
    2. New preventions like flagellation, avoiding bathing, quarantine, and stopping street cleaning
  • Quarantine was not very effective as local government lacked the power to enforce it
  • Reasons for lack of change in medieval medicine
    • The church's control over education, communication, and attitudes
    • Lack of government power to drive change
    • Reliance on ancient authorities like Hippocrates and Galen