Black Plague Research

One of the medieval jobs that surprised the most was about Apothecaries.An apothecary made remedies from plants based only.The fact that surprised me about this Medieval Profession was to know that priests often held this occupation as well as apothecaries did.Since apothecaries and physicians were so expensive, priests provided this service for sick and poor individuals.I can't imagine how many people died because they could not afford the services of physicians.The fact was that during medieval times aristocrats were privileged because they could obtain decent Heath services compared to peasants.Millions of peasants died due to the plague of black fever because they could not pay for the required health services to deal with this terrible

In this essay I will be looking at the different aspects of medicine in the Middle Ages and accessing how the church helped or hindered their development. As there was a lot of unrest at the start of the middle Ages the church is important because it preserved a lot of things. It also provided a way of life, so it was very influential.

Before logical thought was regularly applied to functions of the human body, people made sense of daily misfortunes by attributing them to the moods and wills of the gods. In the minds of the Greek, afflictions were the result of disobedience and to live in good health was a blessing that only divine intervention could provide (History of Medicine 1). Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine and healing, was often the one called upon in times of need. Asclepian temples were constructed in Greece and in the surrounding areas, and these sites of worship also became the centers of healing; Ill Grecians undertook lengthy pilgrimages to the temples in hopes that the God’s supposed restorative powers could ameliorate their tribulations (Greek Medicine 1). An orator at that time, Aeschines reported his encounter with godly healing by praising Asclepius: “No longer counting upon mortal skill, I placed all my hope in divinity. I came, Asclepius, into your sacred wood and I was cured in three of a wound I had in my head for a year” (Palatine Anthology 13). When cures were not left up to the divine, the rituals to rid a body of disease were primitive and mainly consisted of attempts to expel demons (Longrigg 14-16). Although the idea that sickness and religion are intertwined is

healthy people did all they could to avoid the sick? Doctors refused to see patients; priests

Prior to 18th century Europe there were a few effective medical developments but most treatments lacked medical value. An idea developed by the ancient Greeks and Romans insisted that bloodletting was a fantastic remedy to difficult diseases but it did more harm than good (Doc 4). Another flaw in medicine is the level of hygiene in the institutions that provided care. The sick were crammed into dirty hospitals, dead lay beside those clinging to life, and the air was

Christianity played a huge part in the medicine of Europe at that time (the reason flagellation was used), so prayer itself was also a common cure-all, along with holy artefacts and other holy things. People were also not permitted to perform dissection on cadavers, making it difficult if not impossible for medicine to progress. This meant that it stayed

Medieval medicine was rooted in Ancient Greek practices. In 65 A.D., a Greek writer, Discorides, wrote a book, Material Medica. The book is about medical use of over five-hundred different plants. The book is translated into Hebrew and Arabic. Doctors in the Early Modern Era knew very little, and they used plants as the most important care and/or treatment. Due to unsanitary places and tools, many different diseases spread around Europe. Life was challenging during the Early Modern Era because of many diseases(Alchin). During the 1500s- 1600s, diseases overtook many people because doctors knew little, medicine was unknown, and there were many causes.

There were no medical schools at all and very few physicians in Western Europe. Those who studied the human body or any kind of medicine were members of the Church. Even then, if the human body was studied, dissection was not allowed. “Furthermore, because the human body was held sacred, dissection was prohibited and this meant that the sciences of anatomy and physiology, which are the bedrock of all medical knowledge, could not be studied in a practical manner” (Bishop 58). Going deeper into the natural causes of disease was discouraged as well, even when one of the first principles of Christianity was healing the sick. Instead of physicians curing people, churches dedicated shrines to saints that were associated with the healing arts. “A patron saint was usually regarded as having power to relieve affections of a particular organ or part of the body” (Bishop 58). Practices of surgery were forbidden to priests; any practice of surgery therefore was left into the hands of barbers and uneducated men. However, there were surgeons who attended the noble and royal. This surgery that was attempted was meddlesome in the Middle Ages. “The progress of surgery was long retarded by the belief that suppuration was an essential process in the healing of wounds” (Bishop 60). Suppuration is discharged waste from a wound. There were messy and obnoxious antidotes for treating a wound and the wound was kept open artificially (Bishop 60). Another way wounds were treated was the use of ligature by the Greeks to control haemorrhage. Ligature is the binding of a wound. Ligature was abandoned because of the later surgeons and the use of cauterization. However these methods were only used in time of dire need and the surgeons usually did not want to use any brutal methods; the surgeons wanted to stick with a simple dressing of the wound. After some

The logic and principles of medieval medicine shaped those of Modern medicine. Never was there a more efficient method perfected, so much that it remained through history through so many hundreds of years. Today’s concepts of diagnosis, relationships with the church, anatomy, surgery, hospitals and training, and public health were established in the Middle Ages.

Many ancient civilizations, such as the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians, pushed medical knowledge forward until the Middle Ages, when medical knowledge was believed to have slowed down. However, that is not the case. The Middle Ages were a time of change and improvement, they shaped the modern world. The Middle Ages revolutionized medical practices, physicians linked filth to the spread of disease, many practical diagnoses and treatments for common illnesses were discovered, and medical training programs in universities became well established.

Medicine and Remedies in the Middle Ages People in the Middle Ages had only a few choices for medicines and remedies because in that era there was a lack of knowledge in that topic which is illustrated in webpages and books. Did you know medical treatment was available mainly to the wealthy, and those living in villages rarely had the help of doctors? (The Middle Ages - more about health) This happened because at that time, social classifications were a big thing and defined people at the point where their lives were risked.

Everyone can relate to getting sick and having to go to the doctors and going to pick up medicine at a pharmacist.But what you might not know is how people with illnesses or some sick symptoms were treated in the Medieval days.Receiving medication is something a bit different.People in Medieval times would go to the doctors. However the doctors had extremely limited knowledge and really did not know what caused illnesses.It was hard enough for ordinary poorer people or people who did not live in big main towns to get medical help.They had a difficult time for access doctors Those who were in need of medical assistance in those situations may have and ask local people who had medical knowledge.Most people when they had minor symptoms and nothing to serious hat required medical assistance,Such as upset stomachs,headaches,eye problems,exd.They Would go to the apothecary and there they would be given mixtures of

Background In the 13th the medical knowledge was very limited due many factors including religious beliefs, lack of scientific knowledge and the absence of formalised training. The churches and other religious groups heavily frowned upon autopsies and dissections. This was because people were taught that man was created in the image of God, and any investigation was considered disrespectful. This

The bio-medical model of ill health has been at the forefront of western medicine since the end of the eighteenth century and grew stronger with the progress in modern science. This model underpinned the medical training of doctors. Traditionally medicine had relied on folk remedies passed down from generations and ill health was surrounded in superstition and religious lore with sin and evil spirits as the culprit and root of ill health. The emergence of scientific thinking questioned the traditional religious view of the world and is linked to the progress in medical practice and the rise of the biomedical model. Social and historical events and circumstances were an important factor in its development as explanations about disease

There have been many advances in the medical field such as; anesthesia, drugs, machines, etc. This has helped the doctors find alternative solutions to problems, and in return has helped them save more lives. In the article “Medicine” by Britannica, “Many new advances in anesthesia, and these in turn depend upon engineers who have devised machines and chemists produced new drugs. Other operations are made possible by new materials, such as the alloys and plastics that are used to make artificial hip and knee joints.” Advances in the medical field have truly helped modern doctors. Without the medicine, machines, technology they have now there’s no way the doctors could have saved the same amount of lives. As Brian Ward, the author of “The Story of Medicine”, states in his book, “Despite opposition, revolutionary scientists and doctors persevered and made some ground breaking discoveries,” (Ward 22). Even though the doctors during the Renaissance had little technology, they still made discoveries that impacted the medical field. The discoveries made by the Renaissance doctors were life saving. However, with the given technology that is commonly found in modern day society doctors are able to impact the medical and scientific fields and by doing so, save more lives than thought possible during the Renaissance. Within the article “Medicine” written by Britannica, it shows the importance of, “Many other developments in modern surgical treatment rest on a firm basis of experimentation, often first in animals but also in humans; among them are Renal dialysis (artificial kidney), arterial bypass operations, embryo implantation, and exchange transfusions.” Although testing on animals is cruel, it shows that modern doctors were not just experimenting on people. The modern doctors had a thought process to reduce the amount of deaths due to