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Summary GCSE History 9-1 Edexcel Medicine Through Time Revision Notes & Example Answers £8.89
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Summary GCSE History 9-1 Edexcel Medicine Through Time Revision Notes & Example Answers
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GCSE History 9-1 Edexcel Medicine Through Time And Thematic Case Study Revision Notes and Example Answers To Practice Questions. Includes detailed and comprehensive notes and example answers to practice questions written by a grade 9 student. Just learn and revise using these and you will succe...

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  • March 30, 2022
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Medicine Through Time (1250 – Present)
SECTION 1: Medicine in Medieval England c.1250 – c.1500
What was life in Medieval England like?
The Church: Every village had a priest, giving the Church a lot of influence over people’s lives. The Church
used texts by Galen and Hippocrates to explain why people caught disease. The Church was also powerful
as:
1. They owned large amounts of land containing churches, monasteries and convents
2. They provided medical care for the ill – trusted and relied upon by the community
3. They were the only literate people and taught the people
The King and his government: Provided little money to local councils for sanitation. Nearly half of the
population died before adulthood from sickness and disease
Communication: Books were written by hand, so knowledge was slow to spread
Work and harvests: 90% of people were farmers and had little time for an education. If the harvest failed
many people would starve
Food supplies and transport: Livestock and horses created lots of dirt on the streets
Attitudes: The Church did not encourage any deviation from traditional ideas
The Cause of Disease
Religious  People believed God could send disease as a punishment for sin or as a challenge to
the faithful
Astrology  Popular means to diagnose and explain illness used by physicians
 A supernatural explanation for disease, which satisfied the Church as it did not
contradict Hippocrates’ ideas about disease and illness
 More accepted by the Church following the Black Death, which was believed to have
been caused by a bad alignment of the planets
Hippocrates  Hippocrates was an Ancient Greek physician in 5th Century BC
Theory of  He theorised that illness caused by an imbalance of the Four Humours: blood,
the Four phlegm, black bile and yellow bile (choler). If there was an excess of blood,
Humours presented by a fever, leaches would be used to regain balance
(TOTFH) and  In the 2nd Century BC, Galen, an Ancient Roman physician added his Theory of
Galen’s Opposites to Hippocrates’ Theory
Theory of  He theorised that if the patient had too much phlegm, presented by a cold, then the
Opposites treatment would be something hot and dry, such as a chilli pepper
 Testing urine – thickness, smell and taste – was a way to check the balance of the
humours within the body
Why were these theories so popular?
 They were the only scientific explanations of the time and could be used to explain almost all physical
and mental illnesses
 Galen and Hippocrates’ theories fitted with the Church’s beliefs that God created mankind, so were
supported by the Church, who owned the libraries
 If a physician was known to have read the works of Galen and Hippocrates, they were ensured a good
reputation and lots of patients
Theory of Miasma
Miasma – a bad smell that was believed to spread disease
 Hippocrates and Galen agreed that swamps, corpses and rotting matter could transmit disease
 Smells were connected to God; a sweet-smelling home was a sign of spiritual cleanliness, whereas a
bad smell was a sign of sinfulness and corruption
Treatments for Disease

, Religious teachings: healing prayers and incantations, paying for a special mass, fasting, pilgrimages
 Pilgrimages brought money to the area and allowed the local churchmen to heal them
 The alignment of the planets was checked at every step of the treatment
 Bleeding was carried out by cutting a vein, using leaches, or cupping
 Purging using emetics (strong and bitter herbs), laxatives, a clyster or enema
 Herbal remedies included aloe vera, to improve digestion, and ginger to cure various illnesses
 Bathing could steam out impurities and ease aching joints
Medieval Medics
Women  Not allowed to attend university, could become surgeons
 Carried out everyday healthcare in their village
 Were midwives, physicians did not get involved in childbirth
Physicians  Required a university degree which took 7-10 years to complete
 Were very expensive as not many qualified
 Role was to diagnose illness, others oversaw the treatment
 From 1215 it was illegal for clergymen to cut their patients
Surgeons  Barber surgeons were the least qualified
 The quality of surgery was arguably higher than medical as it was based on
experience rather than knowledge
Apothecarie  Alternative to expensive physician
s  Sold herbal remedies and dabbled in the supernatural
 Prescribed poison – against the Hippocratic Oath
Hospitals
 Not like modern-day hospitals, more like a hostel
 Only 10% of all hospitals cared for the sick
 Forbade most of the genuinely unwell people from entering: pregnant women, infants, lepers, the
infectious, the terminally ill, the insane, the crippled and the severely wounded
 Run by the Church and clergymen - patients were prayed for not treated
 Were clean and supplied shelter, food and water
 1100 hospitals for 3 million people, accessible from most places
The Black Death
Arrived in England in Dorset in 1348.
Bubonic Plague: Germ that was transmitted via the bites of fleas which fed off the blood of black rats. 30%
of those infected survived. Presented by large boils covering the body
Pneumonic Plague: Germ that travelled in the air. Victims would die in a few days. Caused the victim’s
lungs to rot and to cough up blood. About a third of the population of England died, with it being common
for more than half of a town or city to die
Preventative measures: Treatments:
 Laws about quarantine introduced  Beg God for help and eat prayers
 Banned large gatherings  Self-flagellation (whip yourself, hoping God will
 Rotting bodies were left in the streets to take pity on you)
 Take pilgrimages to important sites and make
drive off miasma
offerings to God
 Avoid the infected
 Herbal remedies
 Carry flowers to avoid miasma
 Shave a chicken’s bottom and strap it to the boils
 Killing cats and dogs  Do joyful things
 Avoid bathing



Causes of disease – little improvement in understanding, due to lack of scientific understanding and power of
Church
Treatment of disease – lack of knowledge of cause stopped development of effective treatments

, SECTION 2: The Medical Renaissance in England c.1500 – c.1700
The Renaissance – a time of great revival of art, literature and learning in Europe from the 14 th to the 17th
Century, marking the transition from the medieval to the modern world
The Cause of Disease
 TOTFH had been rejected by some physicians - very few physicians believed in it by 1700
 In 1628 William Harvey published a new theory that blood circulated the body, rather than being made
in the liver (Galen’s idea)
 Better understanding of the digestive system
 Urine no longer used to diagnose illness
 Disease was spread by seeds dispersed in the air
 Microscopes advanced enough to see first observations of bacteria
 The Church was still influential, so medical books were used rather than physicians making their own
observations, old cures and remedies still relied upon, religious and supernatural beliefs remained
popular
 Theory of miasma still highly popular
The impact of medical discoveries in c.1500-c.1700 was small as:
 There were still huge gaps in knowledge
 The public believe in the Theory of the Four Humours. Knowledge was slow to spread as most people
were illiterate
 There was a lack of quality medical instruments

Ideas about the prevention of disease
Change Continuity
Cleanliness by changing clothes Moderation in all things – avoid exhaustion,
alcohol, rich and fatty foods
Avoid certain weather conditions and Condition at birth, being small or weak, could
atmospheres as they may spread disease explain disease in adulthood
Steps taken to remove miasma from the air Cleanliness
Advancements made in medical chemistry Miasma

Ideas about treatments for disease
Change Continuity
The Transference Theory – rubbing warts with an Herbal remedies continued to be popular
onion would transfer the warts to the onion
Herbs for herbal remedies chosen due to colour Still used bleeding, purging and sweating to
or shape, for example, yellow herbs such as remove some of a humour
saffron used to treat jaundice
New remedies from other countries discovered

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