Medieval England

Medieval England

It is said that 'An apple a day keeps the dentist away.' This has become a common saying among Society today. We do not stop to think of how it reflects our outlook of Medicine in our lives. We have come to understand the value of simple practices in order to keep ourselves healthy. This is not, however, the case of Medieval England. Most 'medical practices' of the time were based upon superstition, ancient texts, myth, or the direction of the church. Medical practices of Medieval England often based upon nothing more than superstition proved unbeneficial if not harmful to the people of England.

Part of the obvious problem was the fact that the common person had little care or sense for improving their own health. The life and livelihood of an average person was less than desirable even from the time of birth.

In the villages chronic inbreeding must have produced many children who started life with a built in weakness, either mental or physical. Many would die in childhood, but others who grew into manhood, might drag out a useless existance, dependent on charity for their sustenance. In general, infant mortality was extremely heavy....Once the child was free to crawl about among the unsanitary rushes, with a child's natural instinct to put everything into its mouth, it is a wonder that any survived. Fromt then on disease and accident would provide ample scope for a medical service, which was virtually non-existent. (Tomkeieff 119).

Furthermore, the collective knowledge (what little there was) was held and practiced by Monks in Monasteries.

In summary of medical practice to the end of 1400, it may be said medicine was practiced mostly by the clerics in monasteries and the laity whose locus of operation was the apothecary shop. The physician thought surgery was beneath his dignity (to have blood on his hands and clothes) and left this to uneducated 'barbers' The practitioner carried the title 'Master,' whereas teachers carried the title 'Doctor' The physician was little advanced over the knowledge of Galen's time. They still believed in the Doctrine of four humours, making diagnoses by inspection of the blood and urine. Most of the therapeutic measures included blood letting, steam baths, amulets, spells, hexes, prayers, the king's touch, and polypharmacy known as theriaca. (Snyder 1).

The problem is furthered by the fact that these 'practices' proved of little benefit. Most of these had no scientific basis and were instead rooted in superstition and/or the church. "The concern of Christian theology, on the other hand, was to cure the soul rather than the body; disease usually was