Medieval Britain c1200-1500 - Page 1

• To understand health in medieval Britain, it is important to have an overview of what life was like in this period
• How society was organised in medieval Britain

  • The King
  • Barons and Lords
  • Peasants
• The King


  Believed to be God's representative on earth, received taxes but generally spent money on wars and their court rather than improvements for their citizens
• Barons, Lords and Ladies

  Part of the nobility, below the king in the social hierarchy, had limited influence over the king, distributed land to knights who would raise an army to fight for the king
• Peasants


  The bulk of the population, did all the hard work on the land to ensure a good harvest, some were yeomen who owned land, others were villeins who worked their lord's land for free
• Religious beliefs in medieval Britain

  • God
  • The Church
• God


  All powerful, worked in mysterious ways, responded to prayer
• The Church


  Rich and powerful, bishops sat in Parliament, divided the country into parishes looked after by priests, had monks and nuns in abbeys and monasteries, taught that time spent in purgatory could be reduced by good deeds
• The four humours


  Ancient Greek idea that the human body was made of four liquids (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile) that had to be in balance, medieval doctors tried to 'rebalance' humours by bloodletting
• England became wealthier as its wool trade expanded, leading to the growth of towns
• Most towns were relatively small, as over 90 per cent of people lived in the countryside
• Towns became busy and crowded on market days, when traders, craftspeople and peasants came to sell their goods
• Towns


  Run by councillors and a mayor, had guilds that set standards for different trades