Perceived Causes of Disease in the Middle Ages (Edexcel GCSE History)

Diseases During the Medieval Period - Timeline & Summary

Natural Causes of Disease in the Middle Ages

Miasma

• Miasma is bad air and was understood to be found near swamps, corpses and rotting objects

• If you breathed in miasma, people believed that you would become ill

• Many people believed in using pleasant smells to protect against miasma-causing illness

Urine

• Physicians believed in examining the urine of their patients 

• They believed the urine indicated which humour was unbalanced

• Physicians would check the colour, consistency and smell of the urine and compared it to a urine chart

Hippocrates and the Theory of the Four Humours

What are the Four Humours?

• Hippocrates was an Ancient Greek physician

• He theorised that four humours made up the human body:

  • Blood

  • Phlegm: A water-like substance coughed out or contained in a sneeze

  • Black Bile: Blood that had clotted, seen in vomit or poo

  • Yellow Bile (Choler): A substance contained in vomit or pus

• People believed that for a person to be healthy, the four humours should be in balance

• Hippocrates’ theory stated that if someone had more or less of one of these humours, the body would become unbalanced. The person would then become ill

• The humours also linked to seasons, elements and star signs

A diagram of the Four Humours showing their links with seasons, elements and star signs

The importance of Hippocrates to medicine

• Hippocrates was one of the first people to state the importance of observing a patient’s symptoms before diagnosis

• Doctors today still take the Hippocratic Oath which promises that they will not harm patients in their care.

• Hippocrates is known as the ‘Father of Modern Medicine’

Galen and the Theory of Opposites

• Galen was an Ancient Roman physician who expanded on the Theory of the Four Humours

• Galen's Theory of Opposites argued that the cure for an excess of one humour is treatment with the opposite humour

  • For example, people believed that the cure for too much phlegm (cold) was eating a hot pepper (hot)

The importance of Galen to medicine

• Galen had a keen interest in anatomy.

  • He publicly dissected animals, particularly pigs

    • This provided Galen with evidence for his theories on the functions of organs, nerves and the skeletal structure of the human body

• The use of pigs meant that his ideas were mostly incorrect when applied to human anatomy

  • Despite this, Galen's ideas dominated medical thinking for 1,400 years

Hippocrates & Galen's Popularity

Why were Hippocrates and Galen so popular in Medieval England?

• The theories of Hippocrates and Galen did not require human dissection which allowed the Church to support them

  • The Church did not believe in cutting the body as, for a person's soul to go to heaven, the body needed to be intact

• Many people in Medieval England could not read

• Physicians who had read Hippocrates and Galen were regarded as better-educated

  • This meant that Medieval people did not question the physicians

• Due to a lack of scientific knowledge, there were no better explanations for illness than those suggested by Hippocrates and Galen 

• Hippocrates encouraged physicians to observe a patient’s symptoms

  • The Four Humours theory matched with what Ancient and Medieval physicians saw in their patients

Supernatural Causes of Disease in the Middle Ages

Religion

• The belief in God played an incredibly important role in Medieval people’s day-to-day lives. 

• The Church dictated people’s lives from ‘cradle to grave’ 

  • People went to Church every Sunday

  • As a baby, they would be christened in the Church

  • They would be married at Church

  • They would go into confession and pay for indulgences to clear their soul of sin

  • When they died, they would have a funeral at Church

• If you sinned, it was believed that God had the power to make you ill

• People believed that certain disease were a result of God’s punishment, for example, leprosy

Astrology

• Astrology is the study of the position of the planets and stars

• The Church did not like the use of astrology but it did have links to Hippocrates’ Theory of the Four Humours 

• Physicians would consult star charts and look at when the patient was born to help diagnose their illness 

  • e.g. Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces were linked to excess phlegm