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Medieval medicine - medicine stands still - AQAIslam and medieval medicine

Hippocrates and Galen heavily influenced medieval medicine. The Church played an important role and new ideas came from Islamic medicine. Poor living conditions led to the spread of the Black Death.

Part of HistoryBritain: health and the people, c.1000 to the present day

Islam and medieval medicine

Although there was limited progress in Western Europe in medieval times, there were new discoveries and developments in medicine in the Islamic kingdoms. The work of people like Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (Rhazes) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) would eventually spread and influence medicine in England.

Islamic ideas

The tells Muslims they have a duty to care for people who are sick. As part of pracising their faith, Muslims also have a duty to give money to charity. In medieval times, some of this money was used to pay for hospitals to be built.

Their faith also encouraged Muslim doctors to develop new ideas and treatments. This means that Islamic medicine at this time is seen as having been more advanced than medicine in England. This was partly because in England, the limited how much doctors could challenge the work of

Key individuals

The work of key Islamic doctors such as Al-Razi (Rhazes) and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) was translated into This meant that it could be read and their ideas shared with doctors in other countries, such as England.

Al-Razi (Rhazes)

  • Al-Razi was a doctor who helped to plan the building of a hospital in Baghdad, in modern-day Iraq. This was the first documented general hospital in the world and it opened in AD805.
  • He hung meat in different parts of the city and the hospital was built in the area where the meat took the longest amount of time to rot.
  • Like Galen, he believed in the importance of observation and seeking natural causes of illnesses.
  • Al-Razi was the first person to work out the difference between and
  • He wrote over 200 books, which were translated into Latin and used to teach in many universities across Europe.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

  • Ibn Sina was a doctor and
  • He wrote many books, the most well-known of which was The Canon of Medicine, completed in 1025.
  • The Canon of Medicine explored ideas about and human development, and it encouraged natural treatments.
  • He is known for being one of the first doctors to build on the works of Galen and not just copy them.

Communicating ideas

During the medieval period, there were wars over control of the These were called the As a result of the Crusades, doctors frequently travelled to the Holy Land with the Crusaders and learned new ideas from Islamic kingdoms. This is an example of war helping medical ideas to progress.