Medieval Medicine: Health and Disease
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
What Were Some of the Diseases and their Cures?
The Medieval world had many diseases and illnesses. In fact, the Medieval time period has been described as "nasty, brutish and short" because of the number of illnesses, and the lack of available treatments and cures that actually worked. The people who lived in the Medieval times always had death hovering just outside their doorways, and they were bound to get sick.
Many people became ill and ultimately died from those illnesses. Why? The main reason is that most of the Medieval doctors' treatments didn't work. For example, how many times would you say you get a bad headache? How do we cure that headache in modern times? A pain reliever? In Medieval times a doctor would actually drill holes in a patient's skull in an attempt to relieve pressure and cure a headache. Sounds pretty painful, right?
Many people became ill and ultimately died from those illnesses. Why? The main reason is that most of the Medieval doctors' treatments didn't work. For example, how many times would you say you get a bad headache? How do we cure that headache in modern times? A pain reliever? In Medieval times a doctor would actually drill holes in a patient's skull in an attempt to relieve pressure and cure a headache. Sounds pretty painful, right?
Medieval doctors regularly used herbs in their treatment of illnesses. They used them as laxatives, for skin ulcers, sore throats and stomach aches. Even though a lot of these treatments did not truly work, Medieval doctors did have one treatment that did...bone splints. They would position a broken bone and leave it in a hard, protective "shell" until a patient's bone had been healed. Despite this one orthopedic success story, however, overall the Medieval illness treatment system was not very effective.
How did Doctors Get Their Profession, and Were They Really "Professional?"

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Money= Good Doctors |
For one, the people could not have gotten the best medical advice, considering the doctors were part-time barbers who had most likely never gone near a medical school. Another reason, is that the barbers could not have had the best medical tools and equipment. Many had to use some of the tools they used for being a barber as medical supplies! Could you imagine going to get a checkup and having the doctor draw blood by using their scissors, which of course were used for hair? Gross, right? Also, the medical procedures could no have been very sanitary. The poor could not afford fresh water supply from many places at all. This of course, made it very hard to clean the supplies, or to have clean water for the patients to drink and relax with. No matter if you were rich or poor, you would have done everything you could in order to not get sick in the Middle Ages.
Daily Life in the Medieval World

Social conditions could have had a strong effect on the particular household goods that people owned. Some people for instance, were hunter-gatherers, who moved from place to place, and knew exactly where to go for the ripest fruits and the freshest eggs. Some of them even knew where to go to obtain water during a drought, or how to escape a wildfire. There were also those, who lived in little towns and villages, and went a nearby market to get their food. The rich would most likely have decent food supply and household furniture and goods, while the poor probably would have had less elegant household items, and lesser amounts of food and supplies.
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This picture shows that the outside of a Medieval building may look luxurious, but inside could be less ecsquisite. |
One now may look at the inside of an old Medieval home and immediately think that the family that was living there must have been poor. In many other time periods, this may be true. In the Middle Ages though, it was actually fairly common to see a very beautifly architectured building on the outside, have a less magnificent affect on people from the inside. Most people living in the Medievsl times thought about and respected their family, instead of superior and elegant goods. The children were taught from the minute they could understand words that your family is very important, and you must respect your own family, as well as other families. In the Medieval times, respect was a big expectation of you from everyone.
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