Summary of Medieval Medicine (c.500 – c.1500)

Summary of Medieval Medicine (c.500 – c.1500)  



Causes of illness Knowledge of anatomy & physiology Key individuals Medical practitioners Treatments



Surgery



Prevention of illness (inc. public health provision)



Factors affecting medicine

 

EVIL SPIRITS; GOD/ALLAH; IMBALANCE IN THE FOUR HUMOURS; BAD AIR; ASTROLOGY SOME – from Galen’s work, little advance on this because dissection prohibited in Islamic countries in the east (idea of blood circulation by Ibn-an-Nafis ignored) & Galen was not questioned by Christian Church in the west. GALEN (ancient doctor, but his teachings dominated medieval medicine); AVICENNA (Canon of Medicine – standard textbook till 1700); RHAZES (promoted careful clinical observation); THEODORIC OF LUCCA (surgery) DOCTORS (only for the rich); PRIESTS; MONKS; NUNS (ran hospitals, sometimes part of monasteries & nunneries); SURGEONS; APOTHECARIES; BARBER-SURGEONS; WISE WOMEN. PRAYERS; HERBAL REMEDIES; CHARMS; treatments based on 4 HUMOURS, including BLEEDING, PURGING; quality of treatment in hospitals highly variable – emphasis generally on prayer, sometimes herbal remedies. Still extremely limited: only surface procedures possible, no deep body surgery – some improvements including use of the cautery & the work of Theodoric of Lucca, but not consistently followed. INCONSISTENT – Better in east than west where more of ancient Public Health System survived and where ideas were carried on more widely (e.g. Turkish Baths). Many monasteries (Church) and some castles (the rich) in west had sophisticated water supply systems. Poor public health measures were a major factor in the rapid spread of the Black Death (1348) – worst disaster in medical history – but led to improvements, i.e. quarantine. RELIGION – Church controlled all aspects of medicine, including training of doctors (universities), hospitals, support for Galen’s teachings, emphasis on prayer & pilgrimage; GOVERNMENT (EMPIRES) – only in east (Arab & Turkish) – hence more MONEY and more advanced TECHNOLOGY (public health) for medicine there; INDIVIDUALS.

Summary of the Medical Renaissance (c.1500 – c.1700): • •

• • •

•

Causes of illness EVIL SPIRITS; GOD; IMBALANCE IN THE FOUR HUMOURS; ASTROLOGY – all for the last time; BAD AIR – becoming more popular again (as in Roman times). Knowledge of anatomy & physiology GOOD – from Vesalius and Harvey’s work – new scientific approach: reliance on observation & experiment instead of traditional teachings and authority of the Church. Key individuals VESALIUS; HARVEY; PARE. Medical practitioners DOCTORS (LONDON & COUNTRY); SURGEONS; APOTHECARIES; QUACKS; BARBER-SURGEONS; WISE WOMEN (WITCHES); MIDWIVES; NURSES. Treatments PRAYERS; HERBAL REMEDIES; CHARMS; treatments based on 4 HUMOURS, including BLEEDING, PURGING; quality of treatment in hospitals highly variable – also probably less hospitals in England than in medieval times, following Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries, though new ones were set up throughout 16th and 17th Centuries. Surgery Still extremely limited: only surface procedures possible, no deep body surgery – some improvements including work of Paré, but not consistently followed and Ligature Method not an entirely satisfactory replacement of the cautery – risk of infection.

• Prevention of illness (inc. public health provision) Basically the same as the Middle Ages, with quarantine used more effectively during Great Plague (1665) and some improvements to London’s water supply system (New River (1613)), but no fundamental change in living conditions. • Factors affecting medicine SCIENCE – now became the basis for medical knowledge and the means for further development of medicine, but it did not lead to immediate changes in practice; (part of the Scientific Revolution) RELIGION – Church still important, including training of doctors (universities) but less so than before, e.g. Some saw Great Plague as divine judgement; last monarch to lay hands (God given power) on victims of Scrofula (‘King’s Evil’) was Queen Anne – end of Renaissance – beliefs changing); hospitals now run as private charities, new ones often set up by social elite, so some rise in importance in GOVERNMENT (Vesalius & Harvey – doctors to royalty); Lord Mayor of London enforced quarantine) – hence more MONEY provided by them (royal support for New River scheme); some limited advances in TECHNOLOGY (improvements to pumps inspired Harvey; printing press; first microscopes invented in 17th Century); INDIVIDUALS (all scientists as well as doctors & surgeons). COMMUNICATIONS – voyages of discovery at this time – new maps of the world – ancient writers were wrong.