Bloodletting - GCSE History Definition

In GCSE History, bloodletting is a medical treatment used from ancient times up to the 1800s. Doctors believed that taking blood out of a sick person could help cure them or stop them from getting ill. Physicians (Medieval doctors) thought this worked by balancing the four humours — blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile — which they believed needed to be in balance for someone to be healthy. This theory was the main way people understood medicine in Europe until more modern science developed. Bloodletting was often done by physicians or barber-surgeons, who used tools like leeches or made small cuts to let the blood out. Today, we know bloodletting does not work and can even be dangerous. However, studying bloodletting helps GCSE History students understand what people in the past believed about health and how medicine has changed over time.