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Medieval medicine

Medicine in medieval times was heavily influenced by the ideas and writings of ancient Greek and Roman doctors, especially Hippocrates and Galen.

Watch an animated summary of medical progress through the medieval period.

Ancient ideas - the work of Hippocrates

was a doctor who was born in Kos, Greece, in about 460BC. He is known as the 鈥榝ather of modern medicine鈥. He developed the a version of which is still used today. In this oath, doctors promise that they will do their best to treat their patients and keep information confidential.

Hippocrates also developed the idea of the This was the idea that the human body was made up of four substances: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. If the humours were out of balance, this was believed to cause illness. The humours were also thought to be linked to the seasons.

Hippocrates encouraged doctors to seek natural causes and cures of illness. He also developed the idea of clinical observation of the patient, rather than just of the illness.

The Hippocratic Corpus is a written collection of Hippocrates鈥 work. It allowed doctors in other countries to learn from his knowledge.

Ancient ideas - the work of Galen

was a Roman doctor who was born in AD129. He developed the which concerned how people could be treated using the four humours.

Galen鈥檚 work on was based on information gained by dissecting animals such as pigs and monkeys. Through this work, he discovered that the brain controls speech. However, he also made mistakes. He believed that blood passed from one side of the heart to the other through tiny holes in the septum - the dividing wall between the left and right sides of the heart - when blood instead passes around the heart through veins and arteries. He also said that the human jaw bone is two separate bones, when it is actually one.

Natural and supernatural treatments

Medieval treatments used a combination of natural and supernatural methods. Supernatural treatments included:

  • prayer

Hippocrates and Galen encouraged doctors to seek natural treatments. For example:

  • herbal remedies

Treatments based on the four humours

Many treatments were based on the four humours, these treatments applied the 鈥榯heory of opposites鈥. Galen believed that if the humours were out of balance, doctors should intervene. For example, if someone has a cold, they have a runny nose, and Galen believed that this was the body鈥檚 way of getting rid of excess phlegm.

When doctors gave treatments, they were attempting to support what the body tried to do itself. For example, nosebleeds were seen as the body鈥檚 natural way of getting rid of excess blood. If it was thought that someone had too much blood, Galen believed in using a natural treatment such as bloodletting.

Medieval medicine, based on the four humours, encouraged doctors to observe symptoms closely; so they could apply what they thought was the most appropriate treatment. These ideas and treatments were used until the 19th century, when germ theory was developed in 1861 by Louis Pasteur and later expanded by Robert Koch.

A diagram of the four humours and of the human characteristics associated with them.
Figure caption,
Galen believed that the body contained four important liquids called humours

Providers of treatment in medieval times

provided care for people in their local area. Treatments were based on prayer and herbal remedies.

Local wise women also provided herbal remedies. They often used ideas that had been passed down through generations.

Wealthy people could afford a private who had been trained at university. They usually practised the ideas of ancient doctors like Hippocrates and Galen.