chapter 1- medieval medicine

• what is a barber surgeon ?

  • did bloodletting
  • minor surgery
  • also hairdressers
• what do wise women do ?

  • herbal remedies
  • first aid
  • supernatural charms/spells
• what do travelling healers do ?

  • extracted teeth
  • sold potions
  • mended dislocations
• what do herbalists do ?

  • herbal treatments
  • prayer
  • bloodletting
• what do doctors do ?

  use Hippocratic and Galenic methods
• what did doctors use to base treatment on ?

  • the four humours
  • if the humours were unbalanced it would be seen to cause illness
• what are the four humours ?

  • blood
  • yellow bile
  • black bile
  • phlegm
• how can you treat someone if blood is the unbalanced humour ?

  • bloodletting
  • eating red meat
  • drinking red wine
• how can you treat someone when yellow bile is the unbalanced humour ?

  • purging
  • dietary changes
• how can you treat someone if black bile is the unbalanced humour ?

  • laxatives
  • more vegetables
• how can you treat someone if phlegm is the unbalanced humour ?

  • breathing in steam
  • eating fleshy vegetables
• what did Christians believe about illness ?

  • follow the example of jesus who healed the sick so they should care for them
  • caring for the sick and started many hospitals
  • believe in miraculous healing so encouraged pilgrimage
• what did the church do for the ill ?

  • they approved the medical ideas of ancient Greece and Rome
  • funded hospitals
  • concentrated on caring for the sick not treating them
• what did monks believe/do about illness ?

  • God sent illness as a punishment or a test of faith
  • curing illness would challenge god's will
  • preserved copies of ancient medical texts
  • prayers are more important than drugs