1.3.2
The Medieval 'Doctor'
The Medieval “Doctor"
The Medieval “Doctor"
There were no professional doctors in Medieval times. Different types of 'doctors' offered different kinds of treatments to make people better.
No medical training
No medical training
- Medieval doctors usually learned their practice through word-of-mouth or through personal experience.
- They experimented with herbs, charms and learned from apothecaries (person who sold medicines), travelling healers and wise men/women.
Barber surgeons
Barber surgeons
- Barber surgeons were people who had access to razors and did a lot of medical procedures.
- Barber surgeons did not get training.
- They could cut people’s hair, do bloodletting and even amputate peoples’ arms and legs.
- However, a lot of people died because their wounds were infected or they lost too much blood.
Medieval “doctors”
Medieval “doctors”
- The closest thing to our view of a modern-day doctor was a man/woman who had been trained in Hippocratic and Galenic methods.
Medieval “Doctors”
Medieval “Doctors”
The closest thing to our view of a modern-day doctor was a man who had been trained in Hippocratic and Galenic methods.
The Influence of the Church
The Influence of the Church
- The Christian Church was influential and popular in Europe in medieval times.
- Lots of doctors were trained at universities that were set up by the Church.
- Most of these were based in Italy (e.g Bologna and Padua).
Galen’s Ideas
Galen’s Ideas
- The Church (monasteries) generally controlled education and Galen’s ideas were usually taught in the Church’s medical school.
- The Christian Church liked Galen’s ideas.
- They thought it fitted with their view of God and doctors believed that his ideas were correct.
Doctors’ tools
Doctors’ tools
- Doctors had some tools to treat patients.
- This included:
- a book which recorded possible illnesses.
- leeches to remove blood.
- aromatic objects which could stop miasma (bad smells which were believed to cause disease).
- a zodiac chart to predict future illnesses.
The doctors
The doctors
- Most doctors were in large towns and they were still rare.
- Doctors were expensive and most people couldn’t afford to see them.
- Some doctors began to observe (and treat) their patients on the battlefield (in wars).
The hospitals
The hospitals
- The poor could only receive medical treatment in hospitals set up by monasteries.
- However, lots of people who were very ill were not treated, because people were scared that the disease could spread to other people.
1Medicine Stands Still
1.1Ancient Egyptian Approaches to Medicine
1.2Ancient Greek Medicine
1.3Medieval Medicine
1.4Religion & Medicine
1.5Public Health in the Middle Ages
2The Beginnings of Change
2.1The Impact of the Renaissance on Britain
2.2Treating Illnesses in the Renaissance
3A Revolution in Medicine
3.1The Development of Germ Theory & its Impact
3.2A Revolution in Surgery
4Modern Medicine
4.1Modern Treatment of Disease
4.2New Diseases & Treatments in the 20th Century
5Themes in Public Health
Jump to other topics
1Medicine Stands Still
1.1Ancient Egyptian Approaches to Medicine
1.2Ancient Greek Medicine
1.3Medieval Medicine
1.4Religion & Medicine
1.5Public Health in the Middle Ages
2The Beginnings of Change
2.1The Impact of the Renaissance on Britain
2.2Treating Illnesses in the Renaissance
3A Revolution in Medicine
3.1The Development of Germ Theory & its Impact
3.2A Revolution in Surgery
4Modern Medicine
4.1Modern Treatment of Disease
4.2New Diseases & Treatments in the 20th Century
5Themes in Public Health
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