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AQA GCSE History Health and the people revision notes
A complete set of revision notes for Paper 2 Health and the people tailored to the AQA specification for GCSE History.
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Health and the people: c1000 to the present dayMedicine Stands Still
Medieval doctors favoured the Greek method based on observation. They concentrated on
the pulse, urine and its colour and taste.
4 humourism was prevalent:
Yellow bile: Produced aggression – excessive anger therefore imbalanced the humours
Black Bile: depression
Blood: sanguine nature, enthusiastic and active
Phlegm: associated with apathy
Illness was thought to be caused by:
Divine punishment (The doctrine of Signatures deemed that God had left herbs to treat all
ailment), bad smells, demons or the imbalance of the humours.
Who treated the sick:
Most people with money would visit barber surgeons who would carry out minor operations,
set broken bones and pull teeth.
Barber surgeons: would need to serve an apprenticeship before becoming qualified.
Ordinary people would have relied on apothecaries who would sell medicines and herbs.
Apothecaries would serve a 7 year apprenticeship, .
Wise women would have wisdom and skills handed down by her family and were
reasonably priced. They would often also act as midwives.
The lady of the house would also often be expected to provide medical care for the family.
The early influence of the Church:
+ Enabled the study of medicine through church universities
+ Taught the scientific ideas of Hippocrates and Galen (propagated due to their religiosity)
- Religion was taught first, medicine second
- Taught old ideas and had no focus on developing new ideas
- Challenging Galen meant challenging the church’s power
- 13th Century monk Roger Bacon arrested for challenging Galen
- Doctors were seen as those that diagnosed rather than healed, and identified why people
were ‘punished’.
- Made it difficult to dissect bodies, Galen worked on animals.
, How public health varied:
Monasteries:
+ elaborate system of water pipes, waste ejected into rivers
+ filtering systems removed dirt from water
+toilets were used and bathing was required (varied between once a month and twice a
year)
Town health:
+Sanitation left by Romans +Councils passed laws to
keep towns clean
-Poor human waste disposal (into the streets) -Cesspits collected annually
Bubonic Plague (The Black Death) 13th Pneumonic Plague (The Great Plague) 17th
Century C
Carried by fleas Affects lungs, spread by coughing
50% Chance of death 80% chance of death
40 day quarantine when people entered 28 day quarantine of ill houses, marked
new towns with a red cross
People were beginning to make
connections between dirt and disease,
Charles I moved to Oxford and ordered
more authoritative actions:
the cleaning of streets and the cancelation
of public gatherings.
Women searchers were paid to identify the
sick, who were then quarantined to prevent
the spread of disease.
There was a lot less hysteria to do with the
plague, people were used to suffering from
bouts of plague.
Many still saw the plague as punishment from God for their sins, while others believed it was
to do with astrology, or miasma.
Treatments were ineffective, people were bled with leeches, or made to smell sponges
soaked in vinegar.
Large numbers of people died, the lower classes affected disproportionately, they would
have a greater value after the events of the plague (peasants revolt)
People lost a great deal of faith in the church’s ability to protect them.
Preventative methods and treatment included prayer, fasting and going on pilgrimage
(religious) as well as trying to ward off miasma
Best way to avoid the plague was to run away
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