Medieval

• It was widely believed that sickness was a form of divine punishment for an individual’s sins. Prayers asking for forgiveness were a common form of treatment.
• Flagellants were men and women who would parade about whipping themselves in public to repent for their sins.
• Charms such as the Hare’s Foot, were worn to protect the soul against harm.
• People with King’s evil, also known as Scrofula, sought the touch of the ruling monarch. They reasoned that as the King was chosen by God, he had God’s power to cure.
• Herbal treatments made from local plants and herbs were often popular. The knowledge of these types of treatment were detailed and passed down through generations of women in the medieval family.
• Creating a herbal remedy was much cheaper than an expensive and usually unaffordable doctor’s visit.
• Sweet smelling posies were used to combat the plague were an ineffective treatment.
• Honey and plantain were used to treat wounds, and were effective in fighting infection.
• A medieval doctor would use a range of techniques to treat a patient. Many were trained to use the Theory of Four Humours.
• One humour was blood and bleeding was the popular treatment. This meant cutting or applying leeches to the body to drain it of blood. The patient could lose up to 4 pints of blood.
• Uroscopy was very expensive and only used by the wealthy. The doctors would check the colour, clarity, scent and even taste of the patient’s urine. A dark colour was often linked with death.
• Doctors had a table showing the positioning of the planets. They would have to be properly aligned for a doctor to decide on treatment.
• Doctors would then refer to a chart such as the popular Zodiac Man and decide whether to operate or bleed a patient.
• If a treatment failed, the blame was often placed upon the patient. This was because many felt that God had the ultimate say on whether or not a patient recovered.
• A physician would attend a university medical school. There, they would be taught the work of Galen and Hippocrates. This led to the dominance of the Theory of Four Humours in medicine.
• Surgeons were known as barber-surgeons because surgeries were often rare and they would cut hair for a living.
• Barber-surgeons were cheaper than physicians because they weren’t required to attend university.
• Barber-surgeons were trained as apprentices to an experienced surgeon and passed professional examinations. When their training was complete, they were entered into a Guild of Master-Surgeons.
• Barber-surgeons, like physicians, would use an astrological chart, such as the Zodiac Man when deciding on whether or not to perform an operation on a patient.
• Barber-surgeons would perform a range of surgeries, from extracting teeth to bloodletting and internal operations.
• They would re-use old equipment and stained knives without much thought. As a result, many died, either in surgery or because of an infection afterwards.
• Many surgeons learnt and adapted their trade from their experiences on the battlefield like English surgeon John of Arderne, who created an effective anaesthetic using opium to help reduce the chances of a patient dying from shock.
• Women were the main providers of care during the Middle Ages. They were the main carers at home, and often the first to treat a patient.
• Many women relied on traditional herbal remedies that had been passed down to them by their own mothers. They used these remedies in midwifery as many women worked as midwives.
• Women were banned from being physicians as they could not attend university, but they were allowed to work as barber-surgeons.
• Apothecaries were quite like pharmacists today, but with little of the same science behind them. They used a range of wine, spices and herbs to treat patients.
• Apothecaries accumulated a vast amount of knowledge about local herbs. As foreign trade increased, new herbs and drugs from other countries entered England’s apothecaries.
• An apothecary shop would sell its treatments to medieval medics and also directly to the ill.
• Many of the places identified as hospitals actually provided hospitality for poor visitors rather than caring for the sick.
• Saint Bartholomew’s Hospital was opened in 1123 in London and Saint Leonard’s Hospital was opened in 1137 in York.
• Some hospitals chose to specialise in the care they provided, such as maternity care.
• Many hospitals continued to treat the sick through food, rest and prayer.
• The vast majority of the population believed that illness was a form of divine punishment sent by God. The sick believed that they had sinned and that the illness afflicting them was God’s vengeance. This meant that treatment initially began as something that healed the soul, rather than the illness itself.
• The church also hindered medical progress as they banned the scientific practice of dissections on human corpses due to the belief that society was not allowed to interfere with the human body as it had been created by God.
• Rarely dissections were allowed to happen, but they were performed by a Church assistant and not by a doctor or surgeon, if they did take place.
• Those admitted by monastery hospitals were treated by nuns and monks. They did not have any formal medical training or qualifications and treated their patients through prayer and rest.
• Monasteries had great libraries and held many important manuscripts. Following the fall of the Roman Empire, they tried to preserve the works of influential doctors in a time of mass unrest, pillaging and destruction.
• Performing an illegal dissection had dire consequences.
• Those who dared to question him were seen as challenging the Church which could result in imprisonment or even execution.
• All monasteries had a fresh water supply. They were well designed in order to keep waste away from their inhabitants.