Medieval Medicine Flashcards

All 24 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.

Why did Galen's ideas remain unchallenged in England c1250–c1500?

The Church controlled medical training and supported Galen, whose idea that the body was designed by a creator fitted Christian teaching, so challenging him was discouraged.

True or false? The Church encouraged people to investigate the natural causes of disease.

False. The Church taught that illness was sent by God, which discouraged people from improving their understanding of the cause of illness.

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.

What was the role of the barber surgeon?

To carry out bloodletting and simple surgery such as pulling teeth and lancing boils.

Who provided care in most medieval hospitals, and what was their focus?

Untrained monks and nuns, who focused on care rather than cure.

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.

When did the Black Death reach England, and what were the two forms of the disease?

1348–49; bubonic plague (spread by fleas) and pneumonic plague (spread by coughing).

Give two causes people in 1348 believed were behind the Black Death.

A punishment from God, and miasma (bad air); also an unusual alignment of the planets.

Give one treatment people used against the Black Death.

Bleeding or lancing the buboes; also praying, or using herbal remedies to make the sufferer comfortable.

Give one way towns tried to prevent the spread of the Black Death.

Closing the town gates to keep outsiders out (e.g. Gloucester tried to keep out people from Bristol), or cleaning filth from the streets.

Roughly what proportion of England's population died in the Black Death (1348–49)?

About one-third.

Who were the flagellants during the Black Death?

People who whipped themselves in public to show God they were sorry for their sins, hoping He would end the plague.

How is the Black Death now thought to have been carried from country to country?

Most historians think rats on merchant ships carried infected fleas between ports; when a flea bit a person, the disease passed into their blood.