How Did Medicine Affect The Elizabethan Era

Medieval Medicine was basic in an era when terrible illnesses such as the Black Death were killing nearly one third of the population. No one had any idea what caused illnesses and diseases, such as the Black Death. There were no antibiotics or vaccines thus it was almost impossible to cure illness and diseases.

Queen Elizabeth came to be known as one of the greatest rulers of the English empire. Under the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a more efficient government was created. The church was unified, the English empire was expanded, and language, literature, and theater flourished to a greatness that would be impossible for almost any other period of English history, or any other European empire, for that matter, to match. Although there was a great rise in literature,it was theater that catapulted to greatness during Elizabeth's reign. Out of Elizabeth's era came Elizabethan theater. Elizabethan theater has such a variety of topics, that would make it virtually impossible to talk about in ten pages.

If every playwright in Shakespeare's time aspired, as he did, to paint a portrait of an age in their works, his would have been the Mona Lisa, leaving the most lasting impression on generations to come and at the same time, one of the world's most baffling mysteries. Surely it is no coincidence that the world's most celebrated dramatist would've lived during the time when one of the world's most powerful rulers in history reigned. Or was it?

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.

People were sick, tired, and in much pain all their lives(History of Medicine). Doctors thought that the heart got blood from food and water, so they would eat more so their bodies would absorb it(History of Medicine). Although many people were not healed, medicine was based on theories so hardly anyone was healed. Life before the 1500s was hard, but during the 1500s they had a better understanding of the body(Blakstad). Wise Women and doctors would try to invent more complex medicines, but they still had no effects. Instead they used herbs and bark as painkillers(Blakstad). They also had humoralism, which was a theory that said health came from four body liquids. They had four humors: black bile, yellow bile, blood, and phlegm. It was believed that if these were not balanced in the patients body, it caused sickness. Four elements, which were water, fire, earth and air, caused the humors(Blakstad). Hippocrates discovered the humors. Since the body was not easily understood, mental and physical illnesses/treatments were combined. According to Nancy Siraisi, an American historian of medicine and author, the most common age for death was childhood. Obviously people didn't live long. One out of five died before the age of one. One out of two died before ten. Housing, diet, wars and plagues all played into early modern Europe's health

At this time there was no physician-patient relationship, this being due to the fact that physicians were there to treat the body and the general view was that patients were unable to provide accurate evidence without “feelings and emotions” getting in the way. This Era at the bottom line was about facts, evidence and physical direct ailments. The nursing profession was just starting to be developed in this Era. The “nurses” of this time were family members, nuns, priests, neighbors who were all untrained. The start of some of the founding nurses were seen such as Florence Nightingale. She started to look at sanitary conditions and nutrition, some might say she was the original nurse. Her contribution the start of nursing is very significant. She trained some of the first nurses during the Crimean War and with her training she was able to statistically show how sanitary conditions, cleanliness and nutrition were able to significantly decrease the death rate of Crimean soldiers. In Era I physicians really only took care of one part of the “human”, because as humans we are a composition of the physical, mental and soul. Those three parts are what give us humanity and higher thinking. So Era I does not create a fully encompassing view of medicine.

In the Elizabethan era, medicine was incredibly simple and led to the death of millions.

Why did the discoveries of the Renaissance make little practical difference to medical treatment between c1500-c1700?

During her reign England had internal peice and gained a surplus in supplies after being in a great debt. Scientific progress was great and navigation skills helped Sir Francis Drake circumnavigate the globe. In addition, England's theaters grew very popular. The theater brought all the social classes together to enjoy the entertainment from the traveling companies. However there was a downside to this when plague broke out. Compared to today the Elizabethan era is different in many ways. People were not as educated, the medical field was not well developed, and punishments were extremely harsh. Overall, it is obvious that the Elizabethan era was a great time for England. The country flourished despite the struggles. There are many reasons

I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to of course to completely solidify my findings. But one thing that is for sure is that the Healthcare field grew in a short amount of time, there was so much intelligence back then that we only think of bone saw but in reality they had things that seemed to defy what should have been normal at the time, and this of course is just a start of my findings. For the research part on woman I found that surprisingly Florence Nightingale wasn’t technically the first Nurse. There had been a pioneer in England that you’ll find in one of my sources listed in the bibliography that isn’t necessarily relevant to make the point. Next I found that woman seemed to pioneer it as a means for a platform to build in a way the woman’s right moment and just because they wanted to help out. Especially when wars broke out there had been fewer men at home and more men in the Homefront. In total I believe that this topic could swing to a different topic in multiple ways such as Healthcare through the ages, the war, how men became nurses, the process of nursing school back then, and as you can see this also goes on. My one un-answered question is how they cured someone back then. There’s mostly home cures but no solid book from a professional that could tell me what exactly they did back then. Overall I believe I’ve covered this

In Elizabethan times many deadly diseases had spread such as the plague, smallpox and typhoid, but the causes and cures had yet to be discovered. Due to bad hygiene because of open sewers and rubbish dumped in the river, this caused disease to easily spread as it was a natural habitat for rats, fleas and lice. The plague was carried by the fleas living in the fur of rats. As a result of this one third of the population died. Elizabethan physicians believed that medicine was basic, they had no idea why and how people were getting so sick, treatments were based from superstitions and guesses so they used a mixture of herbs for cures and also believed leeches would ‘suck

FAQs About Medieval Medicine What was the most prominent disease back then? A: In Medieval Europe there is a diseases that stick out among the rest. The one that took a huge toll on Medieval Europe is the Plague also known as the, “Black Death.”

Medication as we see it today is much more subdued with precautions put in place. Much of the technology innovation during the medieval era pale in comparison to modern times, however there always had to be instruments that came before. People had little choice in the matter when it came to the pain with their treatments, whiskey could only do so much. During Medieval Times medical practices would have almost been borderline torture methods, as brutish as they were they did the trick. Healing these illness required a bit of ingenuity on the part of the doctor. One of many items used during this time would be a clysters; a rather large cylindrical tube filled with boar bile that is used for Enemas.

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.

The Middle Ages were tough times when it came to disease and medicine. There were numerous types of sickness and disease that flooded Europe during the Middle Ages. Not helping the situation, the medicinal knowledge of the people of Europe of the time was not up to par. Some of the diseases and illness that were running rampant during these times were pneumonia, leprosy, and the plague. The middle ages were a time of great suffering and death because of the abundant disease and lack of knowledge of the spread and treatments.