renaissance medicine

• Middle Ages begin

  1200
• Black Death arrives in England

  1348
• Tudor period in English history

  1485-1603
• English Civil War


  1642-1649
• Renaissance period


  Circa 1450-1700
• Renaissance


  Rebirth of learning, inquiry and progress
• By 1700, people were basically no healthier than they had been in the Middle Ages
• People knew a lot more than they did before, providing a foundation for later medical progress
• Art in the Renaissance


  • Developed new paints and techniques for more accurate and realistic pictures
  • Spent less time on religious art and more on natural and representative art
• Renaissance art


  • Painting of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus (medieval)
  • Painting with more realistic depiction of the human body
  • Michelangelo's sculpture of David
• Michelangelo's view on sculpture

  The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, he just has to chisel away the superfluous material
• Renaissance art led to greater inquiry and knowledge of the body's anatomy, helping medical progress
• Science in the Renaissance


  • Used experiments and records to prove new ideas
  • Questioned and challenged old ideas that had previously been accepted
• Famous Renaissance scientists


  • Galileo
  • Leonardo da Vinci
• Technology in the Renaissance


  • Invention of the printing press allowed books to be made more quickly, accurately and cheaply
  • Mechanical pumps provided inspiration for ideas about blood circulation
• The printing press allowed sharing of medical knowledge
• Religion in the Renaissance


  • The Church controlled knowledge in the Middle Ages, holding back progress
  • Protestant Reformation challenged religious traditions, leading to more willingness to challenge other traditions including medical beliefs
  • Catholic Church had also been a steward of knowledge
• Attitudes changed from the 1400s onwards

  People were more likely to challenge religious and other traditions
• The Renaissance saw progress in art, science, technology and religion, but people were still not much healthier than in the Middle Ages
• The Renaissance represented more change than continuity compared to the Middle Ages, though some things remained the same