gcse history medieval medicine summary

• 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 church controlled production of books

  3. Agreed with and encouraged people to follow the work of Hippocrates and Galen

  4. Controlled education, funded universities and trained doctors to learn through books not practical experiments
• 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
• 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 linked to godliness
• Idea: Astrology


  Health affected by position of planets and stars, especially at birth
• Astrology initially resisted by church but later accepted and encouraged, especially after the Black Death
• Impact of astrology on treatment

  Physicians checked star charts to diagnose and choose correct treatment
• Four humors theory


  Body contained four liquids (humors) - blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile. Imbalance caused sickness
• Four humors theory was rational, based on evidence doctors could see
• Four humors theory was based on writings of Hippocrates and Galen, supported by the church
• Treatments based on four humors theory


  Purging, bloodletting, treatments of opposites, herbal remedies
• Prevention based on four humors theory

  Moderate diet, regular purging, regimens for individual patients
• Idea: Miasma


  Bad air and smell from rotting matter could make you sick
• Miasma idea was based on writings of Hippocrates and Galen, and encouraged by the church's link between bad smells and sin
• Preventions based on miasma


  Bathing, keeping homes clean and fresh-smelling, carrying posies
• Attempts to improve public health were often disorganized and unsuccessful due to lack of local government power
• Types of healers

  • Physicians
  • Apothecaries
  • Surgeons/barber-surgeons
  • Home remedies by women
• Physicians were the most expensive, university-educated, and controlled by the church
• Apothecaries were much cheaper and more affordable than physicians</b>
• Hospitals were run by the church, focused on hospitality rather than medical treatment
• Black Death


  • Bubonic plague spread by fleas on rats, killed 40% of those infected
  • Pneumonic plague spread by coughs and sneezes, 100% fatal
• Explanations for Black Death


  • Miasma
  • Imbalanced humors
  • Punishment from God
  • Position of planets
• Treatments for Black Death


  1. Religious treatments like prayer

  2. Attempts to rebalance humors by bleeding and purging

  3. Herbal remedies

  4. Bursting buboes
• Preventions for Black Death

  1. Religious preventions like prayer and pilgrimage

  2. Flagellation

  3. Carrying posies and pomanders

  4. Quarantine (ineffective)

  5. Stopping street cleaning (ineffective)
• Local government lacked power to enforce quarantine successfully