Medicine c1250-c1500

• The Christian Church was dominant in medieval society, belief in religious and supernatural causes of illness were common.
• Astrology was the belief that the alignment of the planets and stars was thought to cause some diseases. It was used to make a diagnosis on a person. The belief of astrology increased during this period due to the Black Death.
• The Church controlled the spread of ideas. It set up and ran universities where physicians were trained.
• Monks and priests could read and write, most collections of books were kept in monasteries. This meant monasteries had influence over what was read.
• The Church approved of traditional and rational explanations for disease. It promoted the ideas of Galen as his theories fit their beliefs.
• Dissections were usually performed at universities, but weren't common during this period. They were used to teach Galen's theories about anatomy, but anything found that contradicted his ideas were ignored. Knowledge of anatomy didn't advance a lot.
• The Four Humours was a theory made by Ancient Greeks. They believed people became ill when one of these four humans became inbalanced.
• A doctor called Galen developed the theory of the Four Humours further. He created a theory of Opposites, which aimed to balance the humours by giving the patients 'opposite' of their symptoms.
• Miasma was the theory that disease was transmitted by bad air. This was related to God as bad smells indicated sins.
• Bloodletting was the most common treatment for an imbalance in humours. It was either done by cutting a vein or using leeches. Different points of the body was used for different illnesses. Occasionally performed by physicians but usually done by barber-surgeons or non-medical people.
• Purging was another treatment used to rebalance the humours. It involved making a patient vomit or go to the toilet. Emetics or laxatives were mixed by apothecaries, wise women or physicians prescribed treatment.
• Purifying the air was used to reverse the effects of miasma.
• Self-punishment, such as flagellation was using to prevent illness so God wouldn't punish you.
• Exercising and not overeating was also used to prevent illness.
• Barber-surgeons had no training. They carried out bloodletting, purging, pulling teeth and cut hair. They did basic surgery (such as amputations.) Cost less than physicians.
• Apothecaries received training but no medical qualifications. They mixed medicines and ointments based on their own knowledge or directions from a physician. They also cost money, but less than a physician.
• Physicians were medically trained at university and passed exams. They diagnosed illnesses and gave treatments, or sent patients to an apothecary or barber-surgeon. Expensive and used by the rich.
• Most ill people throughout the period were treated at home by a female family member. The village ‘wise women’ would also tend to people in their homes for free.
• Many hospitals were run by the church and usually infectious diseases or incurable conditions weren’t admitted. Hospitals were rather places of recuperation than where patients were treated. Patients were given rest and plenty of food.
• The Black Death was from 1348-1349. It killed about a third of the population.
• Most historians today believed the disease of the Black Death was Bubonic Plague, carried by fleas living on rats.
• People thought the Black Death was caused by religion, miasma, astrology, strangers or witches and the Four Humours.
• People tried to avoid catching the Black Death by carrying herbs, clearing up rubbish, praying and fasting, not letting unknown people enter their town/village and lighting a fire in the room.
• Symptoms of the Black Death included fever and chills, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, buboes and headaches.
• Treatments for the Black Death included cutting open buboes to drain the pus, holding bread against buboes then burying it, eating cool things, taking cold baths and praying.