c.1250 - c.1500: Medicine in Medieval England

Question 1

Key causes of disease in Medieval times?

Answer 1

• God
• Imbalanced humours
• Miasma
• Astrology

Question 2

How was the Church important during Medieval times?

Answer 2

Influential throughout Europe and managed the way people thought about different ideas, including medicine
- Did publish the Regimen Sanitatis that helped with cleanliness

Question 3

How did the Church influence education?

Answer 3

• Made sure people learnt from Galen

- Outlawed dissection

Question 4

Did the Church help change or continuity?

Answer 4

• Church was a reason for little change

- The Church was so influential that people were unable to question them

Question 5

Why was outlawing dissection a reason for continuity?

Answer 5

• Doctors couldn’t discover ideas about anatomy for themselves
• They couldn’t check that what they had been taught was true
• They had to believe Galen’s ideas based on animal dissection

Question 6

Why did the Church support Galen’s ideas?

Answer 6

• His ideas fit the belief that God created human bodies

Question 7

What is astrology?

Answer 7

The idea that the movements of planets and stars have an effect on Earth and the people

Question 8

How was astrology used for diagnosis?

Answer 8

• Doctors had a calendar called an almanac which had information about where stars and planets where and how this related to illnesses

Question 9

How were star signs relevant?

Answer 9

• Different star signs were thought to affect different parts of the body

Question 10

Who developed the Theory of the Four Humours?

Answer 10

Hippocrates

Question 11

What were the four humours?

Answer 11

• blood
• phlegm
• yellow bile
• black bile

Question 12

What did the Theory of the Four Humours say?

Answer 12

All the four humours had to stay balanced in order to stay in good health

Question 13

What did Galen do?

Answer 13

• Developed the theory of the four humours

Question 14

What did Galen’s theory say?

Answer 14

• Diseases could be treated using opposites

- Different foods, drinks, herbs, spices had a humour which could balance your own humours

Question 15

Why did people believe the theory of the four humours?

Answer 15

• It was so old that people saw no reason to change

- It was easy to believe because people could see the effects

Question 16

Why did people like the theory of the four humours and miasma?

Answer 16

• Gave people a rational theory

- Made people feel more in control against disease

Question 17

What is the miasma theory?

Answer 17

• Bad air causes disease when inhale

Question 18

Why were Galen’s ideas about anatomy wrong?

Answer 18

He only dissected animals

Question 19

Give an example to the theory of opposites?

Answer 19

Someone with a cold, producing lots of phlegm might be encouraged to have wine, chicken or pepper which were considered hot and dry humours

Question 20

How did people treat disease if they thought it was a punishment from God?

Answer 20

• Prayer
• Pilgrimages
• Flagellation

Question 21

How did people treat disease if they thought it was due to the Four Humours?

Answer 21

• Bloodletting

- Purging

Question 22

How does bloodletting show people’s strength in beliefs?

Answer 22

• Bloodletting caused more deaths than it prevented but it remained a popular treatment

Question 23

Main methods of treatment in Medieval times?

Answer 23

• Balancing humours
• Herbal remedies
• Lucky charms
• Flagellation
• Prayer
• Using theory of opposites to oppose humours

Question 24

How were remedies used?

Answer 24

• Bought from apothecaries, local wise women or made at home
• Used as treatment
• Also used for supernatural beliefs, lucky charms

Question 25

What were physicians?

Answer 25

- Male doctors who had trained at university for at least 7 years - Little practical experience - Mostly learnt from books - Very expensive to see

Question 26

What were apothecaries?

Answer 26

- Prepared and sold remedies - Gave advice on how to use remedies - Trained through apprenticeships - Most common form of treatment as they were accessible to people who could not afford a physician

Question 27

Who did surgeries?

Answer 27

- Barber surgeons | - Little to no medical training

Question 28

Why was surgery not done a lot?

Answer 28

- No way to manage blood loss, infection or pain | - Only done for minor procedures

Question 29

Why were barber surgeons not experimenting with new surgeries?

Answer 29

- They did not have the ability for better surgeries | - No reason to want to do any difficult surgeries

Question 30

Why were barber surgeons not experimenting with new surgeries?

Answer 30

- They did not have the ability for better surgeries | - No reason to want to do any difficult surgeries

Question 31

Where did people go when they were sick?

Answer 31

- Very few hospitals | - Most sick people treated at home by the women

Question 32

What were the few hospitals like?

Answer 32

- Run by monasteries - Popular - Highly regarded - Designed to care for the sick not treat

Question 33

What did hospitals offer patients?

Answer 33

- Care but not treatments - Food - Water - Clean and hygienic place to stay

Question 34

What treatments could hospitals offer?

Answer 34

Some monks had access to books on healing and grew herbs to make herbal remedies

Question 35

Main methods of prevention in medieval times?

Answer 35

- Keeping humours balanced with diet and purging - Prayer - Flagellation - Living life free from sin - Fasting - Carrying posies - Keeping clean to keep bad smells away - Regimen Sanitatis issued by the Church

Question 36

When did the Black Death first arrive in Britain?

Answer 36

1348

Question 37

What were the two types of plague involved in the Black Death?

Answer 37

- Bubonic Plague | - Pneumonic Plague

Question 38

What was believed to be the cause of the Black Death?

Answer 38

- A judgment from God - Imbalanced humours - Astrology - Miasma

Question 39

How did they try to prevent catching the Black Death?

Answer 39

- Prayer - Fasting - Carrying strong smelling herbs or lighting fires - Carrying diamond and rubies if they believed in astrology - Carrying charms

Question 40

How did they try to treat the Black Death?

Answer 40

- Bloodletting - Purging - Prayer

Question 41

Why did so many people die of the Black Death?

Answer 41

They tried to use existing ideas about causes but these were wrong so they weren't effective in treating or preventing the disease

Question 42

What did local governments do to reduce the spread of the Black Death?

Answer 42

They tried to quarantine towns

Question 43

When was the printing press developed?

Answer 43

1440

Question 44

How was the factor of the Church important in Medievel England?

Answer 44

- Controlled all education - Outlawed dissection - Controlled the publication of books because they had to be hand written by monks

Question 45

How was the Bubonic Plague spread?

Answer 45

Bites of fleas from rats carried on ships

Question 46

Symptoms of the Bubonic Plague?

Answer 46

- Headaches - High temperature - Pus-filled swellings called Buboes

Question 47

How was the Pneumonic Plague spread?

Answer 47

Airborne, spread by coughs and sneezes

Question 48

Symptoms of the Pneumonic Plague?

Answer 48

- Pain when breathing | - Coughing up blood

Question 49

How was the factor of Respect for Tradition important in Medieval England?

Answer 49

- People assumed that ideas were so old they must be true | - If Doctors did not follow Galen's teachings they would struggle to find work

Question 50

How was the factor of Education important in Medieval England?

Answer 50

- Based on the teachings of Hippocrates and Galen - No practical experience - Learning based from textbooks