Care and treatment in the early modern period

• Despite the innovations and discoveries of people such as Andreas Vesalius and Thomas Sydenham, some ideas from the medieval period about the causes of disease and illness continued to be accepted
• This meant that there was a continuation in the methods generally used to care for and treat the sick
• Physician


  A person who practices medicine
• Training of physicians


  1. Learned from the books of Galen and Hippocrates at university

  2. Towards the end of the Renaissance, took a more scientific approach, encouraging observation and experimentation

  3. Had the opportunity to dissect bodies and learn using new technology, such as the microscope
• Rich people continued to pay for a doctor or nurse to look after them at home
• Most people continued to seek cheaper remedies from an apothecary
• Women continued to play an important role in the care of the sick
• After the Reformation, when Henry VIII closed the monasteries, the hospitals were taken over by local authorities
• Hospitals were now funded by charity and run by physicians
• Some hospitals were beginning to concentrate on treating the sick, aiming to deal with patients' symptoms and illnesses
• However, most hospitals continued to provide care in the form of food and warmth rather than medical cures
• Treatments used during the Renaissance

  • Bloodletting
  • Purging
  • Herbal remedies
  • Superstition and religious beliefs
• An increase in travel brought new ingredients to England, such as rhubarb and tobacco, that were used to treat the sick
• It was believed that being touched by the monarch could cure a skin disease called scrofula (also known as the 'king's evil')
• The monarch was seen as God's representative on Earth, so being touched by them was the closest people could get to being touched by God