Medicine And Disease In The Elizabethan Era

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.

Before the 18th century, medicine had not advanced beyond the practices of bloodletting and balancing the four humors of the body. These medical practices were not effective and did more harm than good. It was not until the Scientific Revolution that physicians slowly started to learn more about the human body and how functions. The numerous advancements of medicine in the 18th century and resulting benefits to European Society are reflected in the lack of medical practices before the 1700s, the creation of the smallpox vaccine, and improved techniques.

A lot of methods that were proposed to people were very medieval. For example, doctors would tell sick patients to avoid shower, to bleed out until they lost consciousness, (”I have seen people who prophylactically gave up to 8 pounds of blood; most people gave about 5...” document 13, page 58). With a lot of observation (and that is what many doctors did, only observe, so they would not have contact with the plague), doctors started to notice different types of the disease (as one of the chroniclers stated on Document 6, page 32: “And it is said that the plague is of three different types of infection”), and the symptoms as well (“In January 1349, there appeared new symptoms” document 19, page 84). Many doctors were criticized because of their greed, cowardice and impotence. To make money, doctors would visit patients and prescribe their remedies. However those would not work, proving that their art was false. Some doctors even thought of poisoning coming from the Jews could be the reason of the plague.

In this day and age, there are millions of pharmaceuticals out there for all kinds of diseases and conditions, but where did all of this start? The creation of medicines most likely started when people discovered the healing properties plants contained. Today, mankind has the knowledge and technology to extract elements from plants to produce more chemically engineered medicines. The real question is how did medicines develop from mashing up leaves in order to lessen an infuriating rash to just popping a pill to nurse or illness? Medicines evolved by the scientific method: series of research and experiments. During the Elizabethan era, research and experimentation attained a renewed interest.

Reflection: I think this site would be helpful for knowing what illnesses there were in the Elizabethan era and what made them so common. I wouldn't use it as my only source, though. I'd make sure it's correct with other sources that are more reliable.

Typhoid fever, similarly to the bubonic plague, was caused by the lack of sanitation. There would be no running water, so people would drink and bathe in the same water, and rats everywhere, infecting everyone. These caused the death of over twenty million people or one-third of the Elizabethan

Mainly this resource was explaining the doctors role in dealing with the black plague, what they wore in protecting themselves from the disease. Explained the lack of sanitation in large cities and towns , that helped in spreading the disease, the clothing of the doctors were scary, they wore bird like masks with long beaks filled with aromatic items to keep the smell of the bodies and the diseased air around them. Sanitation was a problem . open sewers and garbage were everywhere , which contributed to the spread of the disease . The physicians had no idea what caused the terrible illnesses and disease . Other beliefs of the Elizabethan doctors believe in astrology, the best they could do was bled the patient or give them special herbs

The plague, otherwise known as “the black death,” was the most notorious outbreak in the Elizabethan era (“The Black Death”). Originating from the fleas living on rats, it was predictable that a disease so grievous could emerge through the unkempt habits of Elizabethan London (“The Black Death”). This disease was awfully contagious and hazardous - even lingering after its victim had perished (When Plague Strikes 13). Symptoms would include red, grossly inflamed and swollen lymph nodes, called buboes (hence the name bubonic), high fever, delirium, and convulsions (“Worst Diseases In Shakespeare”). It took years for doctors to identify the root of the issue, and by then the death toll had elevated into

The improvement of medicine over the course of the human successes gave great convenience to the people of today. Science has cured and prevented many illnesses from occurring and is on its way to cure some of the most dreadful and harmful illnesses. As the world modernizes due to the industrialization, so does the ways of medicine. Some cures are approached by chance, some, through intense, scientific measures.

“The Year 1000”, the book which is written by Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger mentioned various diseases and remedies occurred in 1000. Those were the times Anglo-Saxons donminated England. August was the month which most Anglo-Saxons practiced sanitization and cleanness. Anglo-Saxons had great interest in cleanness and sanitization; however some people were too fastidious to clean their own mess and that spread a lot of disease including the plague, and various infections. Since Anglo-Saxons didn’t pay attention to spreading of the diseases, they spread until most people realized and got infected. By that time a lot of people tried to cure the diseases by remedies. Some of them succeeded, but majority of them failed because of lack of medical

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.

The book Renaissance Medicine was written by Nicola Barber, a popular children’s nonfiction author. Barber has published many books about history, environmental issues, geography, and the arts. Renaissance Medicine is only one of Barber’s works in the series Medicine Through the Ages. The reading level is low which makes Barber’s work suitable for a middle school aged audience. Through out the book there are a variety of pictures with detailed captains which help the reader better understand the topics being discussed. At the bottom of ever page there is a word station were it discuses words that appeared on the page and an their meaning. Nicola Barber express’s a neutral point of view in her writing. She includes factual information and does

No doubt that england had some hard times back in the middle age, lack of knowledge such as doctors and health care wasn't up to par. If you got the flu or a stomach bug it felt like death was always a possibility. They never had aspirin or any form of pain relievers. So just imagine going through a war, and the black plague is all around you. Spreading to friends and sometimes even family (brothers, sisters, etc.). Knowledge and the question what if was definitely thrown around a lot, back in the middle ages, with so many questions unanswered.

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.

Prior to those days, children often came down with infectious diseases, and many of them died. For example, outbreaks of smallpox wreaked havoc upon the towns and villages it visited, claiming the lives of millions (Young, n.d. para. 5). People also tended to live in crowded conditions and drank contaminated water, often polluted with human waste. Unfortunately, in those days people were unaware of germs and their link to contagious illnesses. With primitive treatments, such as bloodletting, and leaches—and without knowledge of immunizations, antibiotics, or even hand washing, many succumbed to terrible illness. Children in 17th century England died of diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough), measles, smallpox, mumps, rubella, polio, haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib), pneumococcal infection and dysentery caused by rotavirus.