Perceived Causes of Disease in the Middle Ages (Edexcel GCSE History): Revision Note

Diseases During the Medieval Period - Timeline & Summary

• People didn’t understand disease because science didn’t exist

• Illness was explained through:

  • Natural reasons

  • Supernatural reasons

• People followed the ideas of philosophers like Galen, who had lived in Ancient Greece

  • Galen’s ideas matched Church teachings, so they were promoted without challenge

• The Church was very powerful in 1250

  • Most people couldn’t read, so they believed what priests told them

  • The Church said illness was God’s will

• Some people only started to question the Church and medical ideas after the Black Death in 1348.

Natural Causes of Disease in the Middle Ages

Miasma

• Miasma is bad air and was understood to be found near swamps, corpses and rotting objects

• If you breathed in miasma, people believed that you would become ill

• Many people believed in using pleasant smells to protect against miasma-causing illness

Urine

• Physicians believed in examining the urine of their patients 

• They believed the urine indicated which of the four humours was unbalanced

• Physicians would check the colour, consistency and smell of the urine and compare it to a urine chart

The Theory of the Four Humours

What are the Four Humours?

• The Theory of the Four Humours was a popular theory during the medieval period

  • Galen expanded on the Theory of the Four Humours to create his Theory of Opposites

• It was believed that the four humours made up the human body:

  • Blood

  • Phlegm: A water-like substance coughed out or contained in a sneeze

  • Black Bile: Blood that had clotted, seen in vomit or poo

  • Yellow Bile (Choler): A substance contained in vomit or pus

• People believed that for a person to be healthy, the four humours should be in balance

• If humours were unbalanced, the person would then become ill

• The humours also linked to seasons, elements and star signs

Galen and the Theory of Opposites

• Galen was an Ancient Roman physician who expanded on the Theory of the Four Humours

• Galen's Theory of Opposites argued that the cure for an excess of one humour is treatment with the opposite humour

  • For example, people believed that the cure for too much phlegm (cold) was eating a hot pepper (hot)

The importance of Galen to medicine

• Galen had a keen interest in anatomy

  • He publicly dissected animals, particularly pigs

    • This provided Galen with evidence for his theories on the functions of organs, nerves and the skeletal structure of the human body

• The use of pigs meant that his ideas were mostly incorrect when applied to human anatomy

  • Despite this, Galen's ideas dominated medical thinking for 1,400 years

Galen's Popularity

Why was Galen so popular in Medieval England?

• Galen's Theory of Opposites did not require human dissection, which allowed the Church to support him

  • The Church did not believe in cutting the body

    • For a person's soul to go to heaven, the body needed to be intact

• Many people in medieval England could not read

  • Physicians who had read Galen were regarded as better-educated

    • This meant that medieval people did not question the physicians

• Due to a lack of scientific knowledge, there were no better explanations for illness than those suggested by Galen 

Supernatural Causes of Disease in the Middle Ages

Religion

• The Church dictated people’s lives from ‘cradle to grave’ 

  • People went to Church every Sunday

  • As a baby, they would be christened in the Church

  • They would be married at the Church

  • They would go into confession and pay for indulgences to clear their soul of sin

  • When they died, they would have a funeral at the Church

• If you sinned, it was believed that God had the power to make you ill

• People believed that certain diseases were a result of God’s punishment, for example, leprosy

Astrology

• Astrology is the study of the position of the planets and stars

• The Church did not like the use of astrology, but it did have links to the Theory of the Four Humours 

• Physicians would consult star charts and look at when the patient was born to help diagnose their illness 

  • e.g. Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces were linked to excess phlegm