Summary of Medieval Medicine (c.500 – c.1500)
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Causes of illness
Knowledge of
anatomy &
physiology
Key individuals
Medical
practitioners
Treatments
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Surgery
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Prevention of illness
(inc. public health
provision)

Factors affecting
medicine
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EVIL SPIRITS; GOD/ALLAH; IMBALANCE IN THE FOUR
HUMOURS; BAD AIR; ASTROLOGY
SOME – from Galen’s work, little advance on this because dissection
prohibited in Islamic countries in the east (idea of blood circulation by
Ibn-an-Nafis ignored) & Galen was not questioned by Christian Church
in the west.
GALEN (ancient doctor, but his teachings dominated medieval
medicine); AVICENNA (Canon of Medicine – standard textbook till
1700); RHAZES (promoted careful clinical observation); THEODORIC
OF LUCCA (surgery)
DOCTORS (only for the rich); PRIESTS; MONKS; NUNS (ran
hospitals, sometimes part of monasteries & nunneries); SURGEONS;
APOTHECARIES; BARBER-SURGEONS; WISE WOMEN.
PRAYERS; HERBAL REMEDIES; CHARMS; treatments based on 4
HUMOURS, including BLEEDING, PURGING; quality of treatment in
hospitals highly variable – emphasis generally on prayer, sometimes
herbal remedies.
Still extremely limited: only surface procedures possible, no deep body
surgery – some improvements including use of the cautery & the work
of Theodoric of Lucca, but not consistently followed.
INCONSISTENT – Better in east than west where more of ancient
Public Health System survived and where ideas were carried on more
widely (e.g. Turkish Baths). Many monasteries (Church) and some
castles (the rich) in west had sophisticated water supply systems. Poor
public health measures were a major factor in the rapid spread of the
Black Death (1348) – worst disaster in medical history – but led to
improvements, i.e. quarantine.
RELIGION – Church controlled all aspects of medicine, including
training of doctors (universities), hospitals, support for Galen’s
teachings, emphasis on prayer & pilgrimage; GOVERNMENT
(EMPIRES) – only in east (Arab & Turkish) – hence more MONEY and
more advanced TECHNOLOGY (public health) for medicine there;
INDIVIDUALS.
Summary of the Medical Renaissance
(c.1500 – c.1700):
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Causes of illness
EVIL SPIRITS; GOD; IMBALANCE IN THE FOUR HUMOURS; ASTROLOGY – all
for the last time; BAD AIR – becoming more popular again (as in Roman times).
Knowledge of anatomy & physiology
GOOD – from Vesalius and Harvey’s work – new scientific approach: reliance on
observation & experiment instead of traditional teachings and authority of the
Church.
Key individuals
VESALIUS; HARVEY; PARE.
Medical practitioners
DOCTORS (LONDON & COUNTRY); SURGEONS; APOTHECARIES; QUACKS;
BARBER-SURGEONS; WISE WOMEN (WITCHES); MIDWIVES; NURSES.
Treatments
PRAYERS; HERBAL REMEDIES; CHARMS; treatments based on 4 HUMOURS,
including BLEEDING, PURGING; quality of treatment in hospitals highly variable –
also probably less hospitals in England than in medieval times, following Henry VIII’s
dissolution of the monasteries, though new ones were set up throughout 16th and
17th Centuries.
Surgery
Still extremely limited: only surface procedures possible, no deep body surgery –
some improvements including work of Paré, but not consistently followed and
Ligature Method not an entirely satisfactory replacement of the cautery – risk of
infection.
• Prevention of illness (inc. public health provision)
Basically the same as the Middle Ages, with quarantine used more
effectively during Great Plague (1665) and some improvements to
London’s water supply system (New River (1613)), but no fundamental
change in living conditions.
• Factors affecting medicine
SCIENCE – now became the basis for medical knowledge and the means
for further development of medicine, but it did not lead to immediate
changes in practice; (part of the Scientific Revolution)
RELIGION – Church still important, including training of doctors
(universities) but less so than before, e.g. Some saw Great Plague as
divine judgement; last monarch to lay hands (God given power) on victims
of Scrofula (‘King’s Evil’) was Queen Anne – end of Renaissance – beliefs
changing); hospitals now run as private charities, new ones often set up
by social elite,
so some rise in importance in GOVERNMENT (Vesalius & Harvey –
doctors to royalty); Lord Mayor of London enforced quarantine)
– hence more MONEY provided by them (royal support for New River
scheme);
some limited advances in TECHNOLOGY (improvements to pumps
inspired Harvey; printing press; first microscopes invented in 17th
Century); INDIVIDUALS (all scientists as well as doctors & surgeons).
COMMUNICATIONS – voyages of discovery at this time – new maps of
the world – ancient writers were wrong.