Fun Facts About Medieval Medicine
The word medieval always seems to make me a little giddy. And why not? It reminds me of knights, castles, elaborate clothing, and epic battles. Though I can't say I would have liked to live in medieval times since there's a very good chance I would have been dead by now (at age 31 and nowhere near nobility) or would have had to experience medicine in an incredibly painful way (which I am NOT good at). But what I can say is that it sure is fun to research!
Did you know...
*Medicine as a science grew leaps and bounds in the Middle Ages, providing the doctors with extensive reference material for the times. This material included illustrated manuals for diagnosis and bloodletting, charts for inspecting urine color, smell, and sedimentation (there were 24 varieties of urine), books for herbs and their applications, collections of recipes for potions and balms, and even the study of cadavers was utilized.
*Those who practiced medicine during medieval times ranged from university-trained doctors to traditional healers who learned through apprenticeships. Since most people could not afford doctors, the healers were widely accepted as medical caregivers, even without a formal education.
*Disease was once thought to result from an imbalance of the four humors present in the body: choler, black bile, phlegm, and blood.
*The practice of bloodletting was a very popular and common procedure. A certain vein would have been punctured to allow blood to flow from the body. Another technique was to apply leeches to suck out the blood. After collecting into a bowl, the blood would have been checked for certain properties such as greasiness or smell, perhaps to determine type and severity of the suspected ailment.
*When it came to herbs, the poor were usually prescribed the local plants which were cheaper and easier to acquire, while the wealthy were prescribed the more expensive and fancier exotic plants.
*Astrological objects were considered very important when it came to diagnosis. Doctors would need to know when an illness began in order to associate it with the positions of the sun and moon, as well as the planetary body that affected the particular unhealthy organ. Once these factors had been determined, he could then prepare a triple, and somewhat horrifying, concoction.
*The first part of the triple concoction is the preparative which helps your body cope with the impending trauma it is about to experience.
*The second part is the purgative which forces you to vomit, defecate, or urinate out the bad stuff - whatever is making you feel sick. Given orally, this was often made of linseed fried in fat or mallow leaves fried in ale. Given anally, this was made of mallows, honey, salt, and soap and administered with the use of a pig's bladder.
*And finally the third part, the remedy, which was often eating and drinking various parts (often mixes or sludges) of several insects and animals.
*Of course, who can forget the surgeries and similar procedures that often took place back in the day which included cauterizing wounds, opening the skull for brain maladies, dealing with cataracts, setting broken bones, removing teeth, sewing up severed flesh, and lancing boils, all WITHOUT modern anesthetics.
~ Knowledge is Power ~
My learning experiences come from:
Mortimer, Ian. The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England.
New York, Touchstone. 2008.
*****
Editors of Time-Life Books. What Life Was Like: In the Age of Chivalry.
Richmond, Time Life Inc. 1997.
