1.4.1

Christianity & Medicine

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The Contribution of Christianity

The Christian Church had a mixed impact on medicine in Britain.

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Supernatural causes

  • The Church promoted the belief that illness was because of supernatural causes. Because of this, Christians believed that God would heal illness.
  • Prayers were viewed as the most important kind of treatment.
  • Christians would go on pilgrimages to relics or to the resting place of saints in the hope of miraculously recovering from illnesses.
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Forbade dissections

  • The Church only allowed dissections to happen on criminals that had been executed.
    • This meant that Galen’s mistaken beliefs about the anatomy (holes in the heart and blood being absorbed not circulated) could not be corrected.
  • Here, religion and superstitution slowed progress.
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Wars

  • Some historians have claimed that the Church’s encouragement of the Crusades diverted (moved) funds away from hospitals and health towards wars.
  • However, the Crusades meant that Western Europeans met Muslim doctors.
    • This meant that ideas from the Islamic Empire could be used in Europe.
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Medical writings

  • Lots of Ancient Roman and Greek medical texts were lost when the Roman Empire fell.
    • Monks tried to copy and preserve medical texts.
  • Dissent began to be caused by people questioning the Church’s reliance on old books.
    • For example, a monk called Roger Bacon was arrested for challenging the books in the 1200s.

The Contribution of Christianity - Following Jesus

The Christian Church had a mixed impact on medicine in Britain. Christian duty played a role in medicine in medieval times.

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Christian duty

  • Followings Jesus Christ’s example, Christians believed that helping the sick was a Christian duty.
  • Monasteries were usually hygienic and had clean water and good sewage facilities.
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New hospitals

  • Because of their religious beliefs, the Church promoted the creation of hospitals. Hospitals were funded by the Church or aristocratic patrons.
    • These hospitals were usually overseen by priests not doctors.
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Palliative hospitals

  • Hospitals were designed to help look after the sick not treat and heal them. Most medicine in medieval times was palliative (relieve symptoms not cure condition)
    • For example, Bedlam in London was founded in 1247 to look after those with mental illnesses.
    • People with leprosy were isolated in “lazar houses”.

Jump to other topics

1Medicine Stands Still

2The Beginnings of Change

3A Revolution in Medicine

4Modern Medicine

5Themes in Public Health

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