Medieval Ideas, Doctors & Treatments Flashcards

All 17 cards in this deck

What was the most common supernatural/religious explanation for disease in medieval England?

That illness was a punishment sent by God for sin.

Give one astrological explanation for disease believed in medieval England.

That the movement or alignment of the planets caused disease.

What was the Theory of the Four Humours?

The idea that the body contains four liquids — blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile — and illness is caused by them being out of balance.

What was miasma?

Bad or impure air, believed to be filled with harmful fumes from rotting matter, thought to cause disease.

What was Galen's Theory of Opposites?

Treating an imbalance of humours with the opposite quality.
e.g. a cold illness (too much phlegm) treated with hot peppers.

Which two treatments followed from the belief that disease was caused by an imbalance of the Four Humours?

Bloodletting (bleeding) and purging.

Give one way medieval people tried to prevent disease caused by miasma.

Purifying the air, e.g. carrying sweet-smelling herbs or burning sweet-smelling materials.

Give one religious action medieval people used to prevent or treat illness.

Prayer, fasting or pilgrimage to a holy shrine.

What was a Regimen Sanitatis?

A set of instructions from a physician on keeping healthy, e.g. diet, exercise and cleanliness, to keep the humours balanced.

What was the role of the physician in medieval England?

To diagnose illness (often by examining the patient's urine) and prescribe treatment, directing the apothecary and barber surgeon.

What was the role of the apothecary?

To mix and sell medicines made from herbs, spices and minerals, often ready-made for people who could not afford a physician.

Who treated most sick people in medieval England?

The women of the family at home, using herbal and folk remedies.

What was medieval physicians' medical training based on?

The works of Galen and the Theory of the Four Humours, studied at Church-controlled universities.

Give one reason Hippocratic and Galenic medicine was significant in medicine after c1000.

It was a rational, natural approach based on clinical observation, not supernatural ideas — the beginning of a more scientific approach.

Who was Roger Bacon, and what happened to him?

A 13th-century English friar who was disciplined (put under house arrest) for suggesting doctors should do original research rather than trust the old books.

What was most everyday medicine based on for people who could not afford a physician?

Trial and error — many remedies that worked were not understood.

True or false? Medieval people explained disease only in supernatural terms, with no natural explanations.

False. Alongside supernatural ideas such as punishment from God, medieval people used natural explanations like an imbalance of the Four Humours and miasma.