In the Medieval and Renaissance time periods, health conditions were extraordinarily poor for the European nations. Many different diseases and ailments arose to plague these unfortunate people. Luckily for them they had their much esteemed doctors, scholars and the highly “religious” clergy members to “help” rid them of their affliction. They offered solutions to the suffering souls seeking answers and a cure. Many of these illnesses were spread through prostitution, consumed grain, animals or too much of a bodily humor. It could be agreed upon that the medical education of these times were few and none. The most popular sickness of the middle ages was the four bodily humors. This physiological philosophy was brought about by Hippocrates, who was wrongfully regarded as the Father of Medicine. As history does, the ideas of great medical practitioners of ancient Greece were passed down through the Unani peoples to the Europeans. The four types of bodily humors are; black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. The idea was that too much of one of these humors would upset the balance of a person’s temperament. The humors were also associated with the four elements and seasons and have their own qualities. Yellow bile had the element of fire and the season of summer, it is said to cause irritability and anger and is characterized as hot and dry. Too much phlegm or water would make one sluggish or lazy, its season is winter and it’s said to be cold and moist. Black bile, having the element of earth and the season of autumn is said to make one sad and melancholic and is characterized as cold and dry. Next there’s phlegm, associated with the element of water and the season of winter. Having too much phlegm results in apathy and is characterized as cold and moist.Lastly is blood, just like phlegm this bodily humor is somewhat self-explanatory. Blood, with the element of air and the season of summer, is said to bring about temperament and disposition and is characterized as, of course, hot and moist. This is also where the term hot-blooded is derived from. These behavioral unbalances were treated through diet, exercise, and activity prescribed to purge the body of the imbalanced humor. For example a person with the symptoms of yellow bile (hot and dry) would be treated by increasing its opposite, phlegm (cold and moist). The patient would be told to take cold baths until the symptoms decreased, but if this prescription did not work they were told to take hellebore, a poison with the side effects of vomiting and diarrhea.
The Black Death (also called the "plague" or the "pestilence", the bacteria that causes it is Yersinia Pestis) was a devastating pandemic causing the death of over one-third of Europe's population in its major wave of 1348-1349. Yersinia Pestis had two major strains: the first, the Bubonic form, was carried by fleas on rodents and caused swelling of the lymph nodes, or "buboes", and lesions under the skin, with a fifty-percent mortality rate; the second, the pneumonic form, was airborne after the bacteria had mutated and caused fluids to build up in the lungs and other areas, causing suffocation and a seventy-percent mortality rate.
One measure they had was that of the “red cross”. This is where they would paint a red cross on the doors of people who were diagnosed with the plague. I think this would have worked because it would let people know who had the plague, so that they could avoid falling ill themselves.
The practice of medicine in medieval times played a very important role in society. The communities and civilizations would not have survived without the treatments that were offered. In order to have kept the population going, medicine was required. The population might have been much smaller, or even tanked without the hope of these medicines in certain cases. If the Black Death had not occurred, most of the advancements in medicine would not have taken place. While this was a devastating event in history and a misery for all of the people affected, it led the way to many new improvements in medicine. Medical recipes were developed which used the resources they had available to create relief for some of the illnesses that affected people at that time and which we still have today. The medical issues that could not be cured with the herbs and resources they had available required surgery. Compared to modern surgeries, medieval surgeries were very different. Surgery was only performed if it was the last resort and there was no other option. They had to use poisonous resources, which could be extremely dangerous. Today, we take for granted the opportunities we have with surgery, and if we need it there is sometimes no thinking twice, as in the case of someone who gets plastic surgery to change the appearance of a part of the body. Although these practices may seem like they have no affect on where we have advanced to today, they in fact do. Without the practice of medieval medical recipes and surgical practices, the medical world would not be where it is today.
people there so that over England as a whole a fifth of the men, women
Alchin, Linda. “Elizabethan Medicine and Illnesses” www.elizabethan-era.org. UK. N.P. 16 May 2012 Web. 17 Jan 2014
and European society scrambled to find a cure to this mysterious disease. This study ponders the effects of medieval methods of treatment on this once ravaging disease.
Late Medieval Europe was a very different time from what Europe is today. It was a time where social mobility was unthinkable; people lived in fear of their creator, and were always trying to please their creator. In addition, Medieval Europe was an unhealthy and unhygienic state, where sickness and disease was rampant. It was a place where women had little to no rights, and minority groups were frequently falsely accused of many problems that were out of their control. For example, they were blamed for drought, which usually resulted in their unjust persecution because they “angered” God. Overall, Europe was the last place one would want to live unless you were of the nobility. On the other hand, Europe was also a major trading power, engaging
Although he lived four centuries before the birth of Christ, a man named Hippocrates recorded the symptoms of diseases we still see to this day. Known as the “Father of Medicine” (Hippocrates), Hippocrates was an ancient physician who studied and recorded his observances of the body’s infections and physiology. He set forth the foundation for future physicians, and in doing so, is accredited for our knowledge of infectious diseases in earlier centuries. During this time however, many believed the earth and its inhabitants were composed of four general elements: air, water, fire, and dirt. They also believed that any one person who fell ill was being punished by the gods. As a foresighted thinker though, Hippocrates encouraged the idea that humans became ill due to natural causes. In that wisdom, he recorded all his observances of his patients and their illnesses, taking careful note of the bodily symptoms and their progression.
It's hard to imagine just how frightening life was in the Middle Ages during the Black Death. By the time the disease ran its course, it had killed a minimum of about one third of the population in Europe and there’s a good possibility that it had killed even more. It is quiet an understatement to say that the plague was very brutal. There were hundreds upon thousands of people dying each day. In rankings of how bad the Black Plague actually was, it is number one and has gone down to be the worst plague to every hit anywhere in all of the world. It caused several catastrophes over the time that it went on. Many other than just the three most crucial; population loss, loss in the church overall and economic disruption.
In the Renaissance, some aspects of medicine and doctors were still in a Dark Age. Outbreaks of disease were common, doctors were poor, medicine was primitive and many times doctors would kill a patient with a severe treatment for a minor disease! But, there were other sections where medicine and the use of medications improved greatly. This paper is written to illustrate the "light and dark" sides of medicine in the Renaissance.
The medicinal practices and problems of the Elizabethan Era were very important to the people, although they are very different from those of today. There were many different beliefs and diseases, like the Plague. Medicine was not an exact science and was related to Alchemy (Chemistry). Here, some of the many practices and beliefs of the Elizabethan Era will be discussed.
There weren’t many trained doctors in Europe in the Middle Ages . In Paris in 1274 there were only 8 doctors and about 40 people practising medicine without any official training and they didn’t really understand how the body worked and why people got sick. When making a diagnosis doctors might consult medical books, astrological charts and urine samples. Some doctors believed disease was caused by bad smells or small worms, or the position of the planets or stars. They also charged very high fees, so only the rich could afford them.
In Elizabethan times, living conditions of an everyday townsman was quite indecent. Elizabethan’s lived in houses that were extremely close to one another, which made it quite easy to disregard such a necessity to keep the streets and living surroundings clean.
In modern medicine when an ailment arises it can be quickly diagnosed, attributed to a precise bacteria, virus, or body system, and treated with medication, surgery or therapy. During the time before rational medical thought, this streamlined system of treatment was unheard of, and all complaints were attributed to the will of the multitude of commonly worshiped Greek gods (Greek Medicine 1). It was during the period of Greek rationalism that a perceptible change in thought was manifested in the attitudes towards treating disease. Ancient Greece is often associated with its many brilliant philosophers, and these great thinkers were some of the first innovators to make major developments in astrology, physics, math and even medicine. Among these academics was Hippocrates, one of the first e...
Long ago, when humans believed in Zeus and were polytheistic, diseases and ailments were said to be a punishment from the gods. This time period, time of the ancient Greeks, had one man step out and go beyond belief and reached above a pinnacle in the works of a physician. This man created the start of a new belief, one where illnesses and diseases were not caused by some supernatural phenomenon, yet it be caused by the works of bad choices of humans instead.