middle ages

• when people were ill they thought god sent illness to punish them for their sins or they had breathed bad air (miasmas)
• specialist doctors called physicians treated the rich
• they blamed sickness on the four humours in your body (blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm)
• bleeding was used to balance blood levels
• purging was used to balance yellow bile
• ideas were wrong because the Church was very influential
• ideas were old, mostly from the work of hippocrates and galen
• ideas were spread through talking and handwritten books
• people felt they had to respect traditional ideas, especially what is written in the bible
• the black death was in 1348
• causes of the black death:

  they thought god's punishment, miasma, the planets, and four humours caused the black death
• symptoms of the black death:


  first experience fever, aching limbs and fatigue. then limbs get black swelling, the person experiences violent shivering, vomiting blood, pus filled swelling, and bubos
• the black death arrived in england in 1348. by 1349 it had spread to the entire country, it is estimated to have killed between 40-60 percent of the english population
• treatments for gods punishment during the black death:


  • the king and bishops ordered services and processions in the church at least once a day to pray for forgiveness and ask God to stop the disease.
  • also fasted and whipped themselves to show they were sorry
• treatments for bad air/miasma during the black death:

  • there were at least twelve teams of rakers cleaning animal dung from the streets.
  • fines for throwing litter were changed from a 40p charge to in 1357 it being forbidden to throw waste into the thames or any other waterway under the threat of inprisonment and fines.
  • also carried sweet smelling herbs or lit fires to overpower bad air
• treatments for the four humours during the black death:

  • believed good diet and exercise prevented the disease.
  • bleeding was used to remove excess blood and purging to remove excess yellow bile
• women:

  • treated most illnesses and knew a wide range of remedies
  • could qualify as surgeons by working as an apprentice but couldn''t become a physician
  • midwives were apprenticed, had licenses and were paid
• hospitals:

  • mostly cared for elderly people who couldn't look after themselves
  • ran by monks and nuns who provided food, warmth and prayer
  • rarely admitted the sick in case they spread infection
  • there weren't a lot of hospitals and they all had 5 or 6 beds but by 1400 there were over 500 hospitals
• physicians:

  • trained at university for 7 years
  • fewer than 100 surgeons in england and only the rich could afford the fee
• surgeons:

  • improved skills through practise and reading books
  • did basic surgery like bleeding
• apothecaries:

  • mixed ingredients to make ointments for physicians
  • also made their own medecine to sell to the sick
• herbal remedies:

  • there was a herbal remedy to cure a stye on the eye
  • many remedies helped the sick
  • honey and plaintain were often used in treatments for cuts, wounds, and dog bites as they contain ingredients that fight infection
• why people struggled to keep towns clean:

  • too many animals such as horses which were used as a main form of transport
  • people dropped litter and butchers threw bloody waste and animal parts in the street
  • the water was dirty and latrines leaked