Medieval

• RELIGION


  1. When a disease was sent by God, the only way to cure it was through prayer or other supernatural means

  2. Some local churchmen had the ability to heal the sick as it brought holy town lots of money

  3. God sent the disease, seeking a cure was discouraged, it was advised to let the disease roh it's course

  4. People would pilgrimage to tomos of those noted for their healing powers

  5. Touch holy relics, offer to a shrine, lighting a candle proportionally as tall as you

  6. Praying to God
• SUPERNATURAL


  • The alignment of the planets was checked at every stage of treatment, everything had to be done at the right time
  • Healing spells, fasting
  • Physicians often consulted Star Charts when diagnosing winess, treatments varied according to the horoscope of the person
  • Remedies based on superstition
  • Those suffering from paralysis were advised to boil a fox and then bathe in the water
  • Chaims and amulets were used to heal symptoms and ward off diseases
• HUMOURAL


  • Symptoms were treated separately as physicians believed each symptom represented an imbalance in the humours
  • Warm baths were prescribed
• HOSPITALS

  • Patients would share beds
  • People could pray for you
  • Insane and pregnant patients often rejected
  • Hospitals were run and cleaned by nuns
  • Funded by endowment-when rich people left money in their will
  • Many hospitals did not treat, but offered hospitality
  • Approx. 100 by 1500
  • 30% owned and ran by Church
  • Nuns would do routine nursing
  • Priests and monks saw to spiritual welfare
• MEDIEVAL TREATMENTS


  • To help the body draw in heat to help dissolve blockages in the humours and Steam Our impurities and ease aching joints
  • Blood letting (phlebotomy) was the most common treatment for an imbalance in the humours, Charts were used to show point's in the body where bleeding was recommended for specific inesses
  • Theriaca was common-a spice-based mixture that could contain up to 70 ingredients such as ginger or even vider flesh
• HOME

  • Healing plants grown in the garden-marigolds, clovers
  • Sometimes carried out minor Surgeries and bleeding but not many records
• HOME

  • Involved making the patient Comfortable
  • Women in the home respected for healing
• BARBER SURGEONS AND APOTHECARIES

  • Vast majority worked at home
  • Mixed herbal remedies
  • Studied Materia Medica
  • Knowledge passed down
  • Not considered skilled or knowledgeable
  • Barber surgeons were the least Qualified medical professionals, they had sharp tools and a steady hand, so would pull teeth etc, advertised by putting blood in shop windows
  • In Europe, surgeons were highly trained and went to University
  • Skilled surgeons in England would set broken limbs, remove arrows or even perform amputations
  • Many people would go straight to the apothecary
  • Prescribed poison, even amulets
• PHYSICIANS


  • Main role was to diagnose and recommend treatment
  • Rarely treated patients, they were often clergymen (belong to church)
  • They were expensive as it took seven to ten years of training
  • Examined urine, faces and blood sample
  • Most treatment was carried out by midwives, apothecaries and barber surgeons
  • Cataracts had knowledge from experience not education
• CAUSE 1- PUNISHMENT FROM GOD


  The Bible tells stories of how God sent disease as a punishment, particularly leprosy was emphasised as God's punishment for sin. People were taught that the devil could send disease to test their faith. When someone got ill and recovered, the church used this to declare a miracle due to prayer. The church was central to education and domination of education.
• LEPROSY EXAMPLE


  Painful skin disease: paralysis, fingers and toes fall off, hair drops out, ulcers in and out of the body, death. Lepers wore cloaks to cover their bodies and rang bells to let people know they were coming. Normally banished to leperislands or lazar houses.
• CAUSE 2: ALIGNMENT OF PLANETS AND STARS

  Charts were important in Medieval medicine as it would tell a physician which parts of the body were linked to which astrological sign and thus dictate what the physician might do to cure a patient. The chart might also tell the physician the best time to carry out the treatment. It was a complicated business for physicians to decide what was causing an illness and how it might be treated. The Church agreed with using the stars to diagnose, as they believed that the stars were God's creation, however, they were not used until after the black death.
• CAUSES FOUR HUMOURS INBALANCED


  The theory of the four humours stated that as a universe, we are made up of four elements: air, fire, water, earth. Therefore humans must be made of four humours THEORISED BY HIPPOCRATES. The four humours were blood, choler, black bile, and phlegm. Each humour was connected to a season, element, and zodiac sign.
• CAUSE 4-MIASMA


  Miasma was bad air that was believed to have been filled with harmful fumes. Hippocrates and Galen suggested that swamps, corpses and other rotting matter could transmit disease. Miasma was linked to God because they believed that bad smelling houses were sinful. You could remove Miasma by burning incense and washing regularly. People avoided bad smelling people in fear of becoming ill.
• MEDIEVAL CASE STUDY: THE BLACK DEATH

  • Day 1: Painful swelling called buboes appeared in the victim's armpits and groin
  • Day 2: The victim vomited and developed a fever
  • Day 3: Bleeding under the Skin caused dark blotches all over the body
  • Day 4: The disease caused the victim to suffer painful fits of Shaking
  • 50 million died in Europe, affected all members of society, caused by fleas on rats, people responded with prayer, world population took 200 years to replenish
  • It got to England through an infected sailor at the port of Bristol, impacted London as it was so crowded and dirty, spread through the rats in sewers, 50% population wiped out
  • If the buboes burst, they would have a chance of survival
• MEDIEVAL PREVENTION


  • Key idea 1-THE PROFFESSIONALS: Physicians diagnosed disease, Apothecaries-herbal remedies, Surgeons-removed tumors, teeth, cataracts etc
  • Key idea 2-PURIFYING THE AIR: The people would spread sweet herbs, carry a bunch of flowers placed in side a pomander, to avoid Miasma
  • Key idea 3-DIET: They believed that if the humours were imbalanced, you would get ill so they were advised not to overeat, they also had fears of digestion problems causing death
  • Key idea 4-REGIMEN SANITATIS: A set of guidelines, told people how to act in order to prevent disease: moderate exercise, not overeating, staying friendly with neighbour, bathing regularly
  • Key idea 5-CHURCH: Living a life free from sin, praying to God, doing good deeds, confessing sins and giving money to the church (paying tithes)
• KEEPING TOWNS CLEAN: PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS

  • Problem: Latrines and cesspits were sometimes built by house owners near water supplies and their contents emptied into streams and rivers used for washing and drinking water
  • Solution: Regulations were introduced about where to build private latrines, cesspits were lined with brick or stone and so were less likely to leak into drinking water supplies, night carts went round collecting human waste from cesspits
  • Problem: People dropped waste and litter of all kinds and sometimes used latrines in the streets, butchers had to get rid of waste outside city walls
  • Solution: Laws were passed to punish throwing waste, latrines were built in Norwich and many other towns, including over a dozen in London
  • Problem: Water supplies were dirty because of industrial and human waste
  • Solution: Monasteries and towns people collaborated to bring fresh water to public wells through lead pipes, aqueducts were built
  • Problem: Cattle, sheep and geese continually arrived to be butchered for food, horses were the main form of transport, these animals left trails of dung in the streets
  • Solution: A small number of rakers were employed to clean the streets, Newcastle was one town where streets were paved to make them drier and easier to clean