Medieval Medicine: Treatments (Edexcel GCSE History)

Medieval Treatments of Disease - Summary

Natural treatments

Herbal Remedies

• Herbs were mixed together to create remedies a patient could drink, breathe in or bathe in to make them feel better

• People believed these natural elements possessed healing powers

  • For example, aloe vera to help digestion

• Theriacas was a mixture of over 60 ingredients

  • Galen noted it was effective in treating snake bites

  • It later became popular for treating multiple diseases

Diet

• There was a belief that some food had healing qualities

• Blanc Mangier, made from chicken and almonds was thought to aid the humours as it was warm and moist

Bathing 

• The use of hot baths was commonly prescribed to melt excessive humours

• Medieval people added herbs to the bath for health benefits 

  • For example, mallow and violets to relieve bladder stones

•  Superstition led to the development of some bathing cures:

  • Boiling a fox, known to be quick and nimble, and bathing with it was believed to cure paralysis

Humoural Treatments for Disease

• Once a physician had identified what humour a patient had too much or too little of, they attempted to rebalance the humours

Treatment Using The Theory of Opposites

• The Theory of Opposites was also used to treat patients:

Supernatural Treatments

Astrology

• Physicians used star charts to formulate treatments and consulted them at every stage of treatment

• A patient's horoscope also influenced the timing of treatments

The King's Touch

• People believed that the King held the power to heal

  • He would place holy oil on his hands at his coronation

    • This came from the medieval belief in the Divine Rights of Kings

    • People believed that God chose the King to rule and that He passed some of His supernatural powers to the King

• Written accounts at the time show that people believed this was particularly effective against scrofula, a form of tuberculosis

Religion

• The Church promoted multiple treatments for illnesses:

  • Healing prayers and spells

  • Placing an offering at a shrine of a saint as to become a saint, they must have stories of performing miracles

  • Touching holy relics

  • Lighting a candle of the length of the body part that you wanted to heal

  • Fasting

  • Pilgrimage

• Christians believed that it was God's will whether you lived or died

• Many people did not take cures

  • People believed taking cures was going against God's will and that was a sin

    • Sins corrupt a Christian’s soul, preventing it from going to heaven

Care for the Sick in the Medieval Period

Physicians

• In medieval times, doctors were called ‘physicians’

  • The term ‘doctor’ replaced ‘physician’ from the 17th century onwards

• Physicians attended university for between seven to ten years. They were the most educated of all the medical professionals available

  • The Church controlled English universities like Oxford and Cambridge. They approved every medical text a physician used for his education

  • When qualified, most English physicians were also clergymen. This meant they did not treat their patients as clergy were not allowed to deal with things like blood

  • European physicians educated in non-religious universities like the University of Naples Federico II were able to diagnose and treat their patients

• Physicians had little practical experience in diagnosis or surgery

  • When dissections and operations took place, the physician would be far away from the body

  • The male physician would read Galen’s medical texts whilst someone else conducted the surgery

    • Women were not allowed to be physicians or attend university at this time

• Physicians would diagnose patients' illness by:

  • Using the Four Humours to recommend treatments

  • Taking urine and blood samples

  • Using astrology charts

• Examining a patient was not considered necessary although you could pay for this service

• Due to their length of training, there were very few physicians so they were expensive to use

  • They were only accessible to royalty and the wealthy

Apothecaries

• Apothecaries mixed herbal remedies from recipes passed down through generations

  • Manuals like Materia Medica also helped to treat a patient’s illness

• Physicians would prescribe the treatment and apothecaries would mix it

• Apothecaries were not considered as skilled as physicians

• Many medieval people used apothecaries because they were cheaper than physicians

• Apothecaries were controversial in medieval times

  • They prescribed poison to some patients which went against the Hippocratic Oath 

• They experimented with alchemy and the supernatural 

  • This meant that the Church did not approve of them

Barber Surgeons

• Barbers cut hair but also performed operations such as tooth extractions and amputations

  • The striped barber pole seen today, outside a barber's shop, developed from barber surgeons advertising their surgical skills

    • The red represents blood and the white represents bandages

• Some surgeons were highly trained

  • They could fix a broken limb, remove an arrow or even do eye surgery

  • Most were not qualified and learned by watching other barber surgeons

• Many patients died from shock, blood loss or infection

  • Barber surgeons’ equipment was not cleaned between operations

  • They did not have a method for pain relief apart from biting down on a stick

Wise Women

• In the villages and households, women were the main source of care for the sick. The women:

  • Mixed up herbal remedies based on flowers and herbs they would grow in the garden

  • May have carried out minor surgeries, although there are very few records of this

• Some women were well-respected in their communities for their ability to care and heal

Hospitals

• Hospitals were under the supervision of nuns and monks

  • The Church owned approximately 30% of hospitals

  • Charitable donations funded the rest 

• By 1500, there were 1,100 hospitals in England

  • Bury St Edmunds had at least 6 hospitals, each for different types of illnesses

• The hospitals were good at caring, not curing

  • ‘Hospital’ and ‘hospitality’ have the same origin

  • Nuns and monks made patients feel comfortable but they thought disease was a punishment from God

  • They believed prayer, not medicine, would cure illness

• Medieval hospitals had many positives

  • Hospitals provided:

    • Rest

    • Good hygiene

    • Hot meals 

  • The few non-religious hospitals hired physicians and surgeons

• Medieval hospitals also had some disadvantages:

  • Patients often had to share beds which spread diseases

  • Hospitals turned away people like pregnant women, and those with mental illnesses or infectious, terminal diseases

    • The Church believed that they could not help these people