The middle ages

• After the fall of the Roman Empire, many advanced ideas about healthcare (such as the use of aquaducts, and public baths during the ancient period) was lost or damaged.
• The Church:

  • they supported the teachings of Galen, whilst also promoting prayer and religion to treat sickness.
  • monasteries provided free healthcare to the sick, however, and were run by nuns and monks
• Islamic scholars preserved ideas from Hippocrates and Galen:

  • Rhazes made hospitals, where he observed sickness. He discovered the difference between smallpox and measles.
  • Avicenna wrote 'the Canon of Medicine', exploring ideas about anatomy and building on Galen's ideas.
• Medieval surgeries:

  • barber surgeons carried out surgeries, however, they were mostly untrained and used extreme methods to perform surgery, such as bloodletting, based on the theory of the four humours.
  • wise women provided traditional herbal remedies
  • many looked toward religion and astrology as a cause of disease.
• Medieval public health:

  • waste was disposed of into streets
  • many used cesspits and wells
  • towns lacked good public health
• The Black Death 1348:

  • was a pandemic across Europe, a plague brought to England by fleas infesting rats carried on ships.
  • many believed it was a punishment from God, a form of miasma, an inbalance of the four humours or caused by the Jews.
  • was treated by holding flagellants and praying, herbs and incense, or bloodletting.