Make connections between the following words:

1. Make connections between the following words: Theriaca Posies God Purging Leeches Enema Planets Prayers Miasma Buboes Blockages Balance Sin Women Alignment Remedies Bathing Blood Apothecary Humours Cupping Aloe vera

2. Medicine in Medieval England, c1250-c1500 – Ideas about causes, treatments and methods of prevention What did people believe caused disease and illness? What different treatments did people try at the time to make you better? What methods of preventing ill health did people use?

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVJV8iEAm88

4. Medicine in Medieval – Ideas about causes What can you remember?

5. Medicine in Medieval – Ideas about causes Supernatural/religious explanations MAIN BELIEF: • God sent illness as a punishment for sins/devil sends to test someone’s faith/cleanse the soul WHY? • Majority = VERY religious – Catholic Church, services, money to church (tithe), no formal education, just taught by church • Illness common, inc. malnutrition, but lack of sci knowledge so Church answers the mysterious question of disease • Leprosy – e.g. from bible – fingers fall off – banished to leper houses (fear contagious breath) MAIN BELIEF: • Alignment of planets and stars helped DIAGNOSE illness WHY? • Considered important due to work of Hippocrates • After Black Death, more popular and Church accept it more – bad alignment of planets causing the illness

6. Medicine in Medieval – Ideas about causes Natural explanations MAIN BELIEF: • Theory of the Four Humours (Ancient Greece – Hippocrates) – Body made up of 4 humours (blood, phlegm, black bile, yellow bile) – if out of balance, became ill WHY? • Could visibly see this e.g. snotty when had cold • Could link to the seasons, and link to astrology, personality traits • Galen (Rome) developed the ideas further – wrote lots of books! Plus Theory of Opposites • Detailed and seemed to fit well with symptoms • Plus Church supported it! MAIN BELIEF: • Miasma – bad air filled with harmful fumes – breathe in, get ill WHY? • Hippocrates and Galen wrote about miasmata, linked to swamps, corpses and rotting matter • Link to God – clean, sweet-smelling home is spiritual cleanliness, bad smell shows sinfulness

7. Medicine in Medieval – Ideas about causes Why continuity? GALEN/HIPPOCRATES INFLUENCE: • Works translated and copied by monks • Church supported their ideas – Galen said body designed for purpose, suggesting God, plus have soul • Only their books in libraries/unis etc BOOK LEARNING: • Good physician considered to have read many books, not treated lots of patients! • Unis encouraged reading over practice • Encourage reading of classical texts e.g. Galen LACK OF ALTERNATIVES: • Lack of sci evidence to support other theories, dissections illegal or used to PROVE GALEN RIGHT • Printing press only at end of Medieval period – no impact til later – books copied out by hand CHURCH: • Didn’t like change – if challenge Galen, could be punished • Control medical learning • Promoted Galen/Hippocrates Attitudes in Society: • Strong belief in God • Physicians who didn’t follow 4 humours wouldn't get work • Belief that since medicine had always been done this way, no need to change

8. Medicine in Medieval – Treatments What can you remember?

9. Medicine in Medieval – Treatments Religious/Supernatural Treatments CHURCH • Healing prayers/incantations (spells) • Paying for a special mass (service) to be said • Fasting (going without food) • Pilgrimages to tombs of those noted to have healing powers • Offerings to shrines, touching holy relics • Sometimes encouraged to let disease run its course as God sent it to purge soul NON CHURCH • Using charms or amulets • Physicians consulted star charts when diagnosing illness, and link these to treatments – check these at each stage of treatment

10. Medicine in Medieval – Treatments Natural Treatments HUMOURAL TREATMENTS • Each symptom treated separately as represented imbalance of humours • Blood-letting (Phlebotomy) – barber surgeons/wise women – cutting vein, leeches, cupping • Purging – emptying digestive system – emetic to make you vomit e.g. bitter herbs like scammony/aniseed/parsley, or laxative to empty bowels e.g. linseeds fried in hot fat, or enema (clyster) REMEDIES • Herbal infusions to drink, sniff, bathe in • Aloe vera for digestion, mint, camomile, rose oils, almonds, turpentine – often expensive • Common remedy – THERIACA – spice-based mixture, up to 70 ingredients!Used for variety of illnesses • Different foods prescribed to balance humours e.g. blanc mangier (chicken/almonds) for invalids BATHING • Warm baths to help body draw in heat to dissolve blockages in humours • Herbal remedies put in bath • Superstitions e.g. boil a fox in water and bathe in it!!!

11. Medicine in Medieval – Prevention What can you remember?

12. Medicine in Medieval – Prevention Preventing disease CHURCH • Lead a life free from sin • Regular prayer, confessions, offering tithes HYGIENE • Guided by Regimen Sanitatis • E.g. exercise, not overeat, regular bathing, breathe clean air • Bathing to avoid miasma • Cleanliness next to godliness • Make homes smell sweat and fresh DIET • Avoid eating too much • Many purge themselves to prevent getting ill PURIFYING THE AIR • Attempt to keep air free from miasmata by purifying it • E.g. spreading sweet herbs like lavender • Carry flowers (posy), place in jewellery (pomander) • Local authorities remove rotting animals from street, clean public toilets

13. Medicine in Medieval – Caring for Sick What can you remember?

14. Medicine in Medieval – Caring for the Sick Medieval Healers PHYSICIANS • New unis e.g. Oxford, Paris, Padua • Medicine more professional – degree 7-10 years • Diagnose illness and recommend treatments – don’t do the treatments • Urine sample, faeces, blood • Astrological charts • Check humoural tendencies • Very expensive APOTHECARIES • Mixed herbal remedies – good knowledge of healing power of herbs • Herbal manuals e.g. MateriaMedica • Plus lots of experience • Not seen as skilled like Physicians • Cheap compared to Physicians • Prescribed poison and alchemy and supernatural e.g. amulets, charms SURGEONS • Barber surgeons least qualified • Small surgeries, pulling teeth, bleeding patients • Some highly trained – some physicians encouraged to study surgery alongside medicine • Skilled surgeon could set broken limb, remove arrow, remove cataracts from eye

15. Medicine in Medieval – Caring for the Sick Medieval Hospitals/Home HOSPITALS • 1,100 hospitals by 1500 • Not to treat sick, but offer hospitality to travellers – rest and recuperate • 30% owned by Church, run by monks and nuns • Rest funded by endowment (paid by dead wealthy person), still often run by church • Rest, recover, clean beds/clothing • No insane or pregnant people • Priests saw to spiritual welfare • Prayers encouraged • If people get better, church says god allowed it • No physicians in English hospitals • No infectious patients HOME • Most people cared for in home • Women expected to do this – make comfortable, restorative foods, mixing herbal remedies • Grow herbs for healing e.g. marigolds and clover • Women skilled and respected • Minor surgeries at times e.g. bleeding

16. Explain why there was continuity in ideas about the causes of disease during the period c1250-c1500 • You may use the following information in your answer: • The Church • Galen • You must also use information of your own. [12 marks]

17. Explain why there was little change in the care provided by hospitals in the period c1250-c1500 You may use the following information in your answer: • Ideas of the Church • Herbal remedies You must also use information of your own. [12 marks]

18. Explain why there were different ways of treating the sick during the Middle Ages. You may use the following information in your answer: • Four humours • Family healers You must also use information of your own. [12 marks]

19. ‘The main reason there was continuity in beliefs about causes of disease and illness in the period c1250-1500 was due to the influence of the Church.’ How far do you agree? (Stimulus points: Galen, lack of printing press).