The Medical Field During The Elizabethan Era

Summary: The site explains what diseases were common during the Elizabethan era. It also explains why they were affected by said diseases so much. It also says why people didn't live very long because all of the diseases were common.

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, civilization 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.

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

Over time, the practice of medicine and diseases have been vastly altered. Each day, we discover more and more to aid us for the future. But back in the Elizabethan Era, medicine wasn’t as advanced as it is now. With a simple tap of a button, we can now learn which bones are broken or why your chest is hurting. It hasn’t always been like this, though.

Did you know there was a time where infectious diseases like the common cold could kill you and your family? This was the elizabethan era probably the last time where sickness became the “grimm reaper” before modern medical advancements. With infectious diseases spreading and killing so many people doctors became desperate. Because these doctors knew very little about medicine, they were completely willing to try experimental treatments on their patients (Alchin). Sadly just about anybody with an infectious disease died. All the knowledge these doctors knew were based on: Humours, what brain function each internal organ controls, and how to protect themselves from it.

A Brief Overview of Medical Practices in the Elizabethan Era The correlation between the amount of spiritual medicine and heightened death rates was particularly prominent during the Elizabethan Era. Due to the lack of sanitation and increased human travel, plagues spread like wildfires throughout Europe and England. With hysteria intermixing with faith based treatments, many people found themselves literally looking to stars for a cure (4).

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

One of the very first and successful medical schools that were built during the Renaissance era was a University in Salerno, Italy called Schola Medica Salernitana.

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.

The Elizabethan era was a time of very basic science in the medical field. Not much was known about what caused or spread diseases like the black plague or typhoid which killed many people daily (Alchin). Physicians (what all doctors were called in the time period) could only recommend things for people to do to avoid such illnesses like refraining from: sleeping during the day, having sex, physically exerting themselves, taking hot baths, and eating a ton of desserts. Physicians also recommended a diet of onions, eggs, peppers, nuts, leaks, and bread; as well as "anti-plague" pills which contained odd things such as snake meat, saffron, and even toxins (Rosenhek). This may all seem weird now, but at the time this is all that physicians really knew about medicine.

Medieval medicine and procedures have transformed drastically over time from the middle ages to modern day. During the medieval era, medicine was multi-faced, relying on the skills of several practitioners. Leonardo da Vinci stated, ?Medicine is the restoration of discordant element; sickness is the discord of the elements infused into the living body.? Educational requirements, procedures, and diseases have evolved since the medieval era to present day, due to major breakthroughs.

In Elizabethan England, as many as one or two hundred people died in one city due to illness over the course of a month (Davis and McBride 57). Death was common during the Elizabethan Era because people were not educated about proper health. Unhealthy diets, limited medical practices, and unsanitary public places contributed to making a diseased population of England. During the Elizabethan Era, public knowledge of health was low resulting in poor diets, medical practices, and public sanitation.

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.

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.

Another thing we gained from the Elizabethan Era is the song “Ring around the Rosie”. If it was not for the Elizabethan Era we would not have that song that we used to skip around to as a little kid. We use the song as a happy thing in life,