Battlefield Research Paper

Battlefields and Hospitals: Medieval Medical Advancements Superstition, astrology, and magic defined medical knowledge in the early middle ages. Hygiene was poor and diets lacked nutrients needed to maintain good health. Ideas that stars controlled one’s health or that four humors had influence over health were common. Many saw illness as God’s punishment for an individual’s sins. Diseases and infections were constant threats to medieval society, and they did not understand the real causes of the maladies. Battlefield and Civil medicine more or less overlapped because the battlefield was a sort of proving ground for medieval medicine. War injuries and diseases common to soldiers generated advancements in medical knowledge, techniques, and technology in the Middle Ages. Medieval medical practitioners relied on the

First, one must stop the bleeding. Second, one must prevent complications and, third, help wound healing. A debate centered on whether a wound heals better when left open or closed. If left open, practitioners generally covered wounds with grease or an ointment. “Surgery” by Borgognoni, (Theodoric of Lucca d. 1298) contained recipes for compounds to apply to wounds. These compounds included ingredients such as honey, vinegar, burned bones, and worms. Borgognoni, a Dominican cleric, said the practice of promoting suppuration in a wound was useless. He states the wound should be dry. He based his work on his teacher’s (Hugh of Lucca) experience during the Fifth Crusade. Borgognoni added his own experiences and treated wounds by cleansing and bandaging them without any poultice. He also recommended using anesthetics, such as opiates and hemlock among other extracts to sedate patients. Borgognoni talked about removing arrow points, but he did not comment on the method of removal because physicians developed new instruments and techniques all the