Medicine in the Middle ages
- Created by: lucyaa
- Created on: 24-02-17 18:51
View mindmap
- Medieval
- Background
- Wars destroyed the Roman public health systems and medical libraries.
- Trade was disrupted by war.
- Travel became more dangerous so there was less communication between doctors.
- Training of doctors was abandoned & Galen's books were lost or hidden away for safety.
- the central government collapsed
- Rulers of small kingdoms built up armies instead of improving medical skills/PH. Each kingdom came up with its own ideas.
- Church
- during the wars the church sent missionaries around Europe converting pagans to christianity.
- it controlled education, only nuns and monks could read. Only Monasteries had libraries, so they banned books they didn't agree with.
- Priests & bishops checked every new medical idea to see if it challenged the bible.
- The y opened medical schools where Galen's ideas were taught and monasteries tried providing clean water & water.
- How did things change later?
- church set up unis where doctors could be trained.
- Armies took trained doctors to war with them where they gained experience as surgeons.
- rulers took measures to clean up towns.
- Merchants & Scholars were once again travelling around Europe sharing ideas.
- in 1482, the Pope allowed human dissection if body was an executed criminal, however Christians didn't like messing with bodies.
- Medieval Hospitals
- For the poor, hospitals were set up by the church run by nuns and monks. They provided 'hospitality'.
- Rich people were treated by the kings doctors e.g. at the Hotel Dieu, Paris.
- Illness was caused by sins, so religious treatments were used. Herbal treatments were also used.
- There were rules that meant nuns turned people away. E.g if you had black death or it would spread.
- Not allowed if had a mental disorder as they're influenced by the devil.
- Pregnant women weren't allowed- no treatments&would take up beds.
- For the poor, hospitals were set up by the church run by nuns and monks. They provided 'hospitality'.
- Arab medicine
- it was more advanced than European medicine.
- Large hospitals were built as it was the word of Muhammad to care for the sick.
- Noble men like Usamah could read well, so could translate medical books by Galen to be read by medical students,
- They wrote books combining ideas of Hippocrates&Galen- ideas got back to western Europe.
- attitudes to the Qur'an meant they didn't criticise Galen's work.
- Believed in 4 humours, Galen's treatments + clinical observation.
- it was more advanced than European medicine.
- Natural beliefs & treatments
- new techniques- Diagnosis by urine samples (used today)
- Galen ideas were accepted because of his theory of design linked with religion as he referred to "the creator in his work".
- Doctors believed all his ideas were correct & believed in the 4 humours.
- Bloodletting would clear mind&strengthen memory. Leaching, vomiting, purging was used.
- medical schools in western Europe (first in Salerno, Italy) using his books.
- Doctors believed all his ideas were correct & believed in the 4 humours.
- Herbal treatments & posies carried to get rid of bad smells (caused illness)
- Supernatural beliefs & treatments
- Illness was a punishment for sins so they prayed.
- some believed Pilgrimages to holy shrines would cure illness.
- Astrology- doctors studied star charts as they believed the movement of planets affected health.
- Public Health
- Towns lacked public health schemes built by romans due to war.
- Sewage was dumped in cess pits which were close to water wells (no running water). only 1/2 gutters in a street.
- People found it healthier to drink beer than water.
- Butchers dragged waste and put it in the river.
- Surgery
- due to war surgeons were needed- people became surgeons by watching others/untrained barber-surgeons
- wine was used as an aesthetic
- external: surgeries like cataracts. Internal: remove bladder stones, trephening
- high risk of infection after- death
- Background
Comments
No comments have yet been made