Illness During The Middle Ages

The Middle Ages, or Medieval Period, is a time located between the 5th and 15th centuries. Today, medical practices rely heavily on machine equipment; people working with technology to produce a diagnosis or figure out necessary medication. However, back in the Middle Ages there was not anything close to the high tech instruments we use now; people did not have Google to diagnose probable causes. During Medieval times people were forced to figure out if a new herbal concoction would have any medical benefits. No one would know if the treatment would kill the patient or help until it had been used on people and they were already bearing the results. In the Middle Ages many people did not have any idea about what caused illnesses, so people used

Additionally a second common belief was magic; civilians would point blame to witches and attack them when an outbreak of disease would occur. These people considered witches were usually people of a different ethnic group. Furthermore, people would blame their illness just about anything, like stars, demons, sin and even bad odors. Many people would not go to any sort of doctor for a diagnosis or treatment. Civilians would just consult their local wise-woman who had knowledge in the art of herbal remedies. Additionally, people would visit their priest or barber, who would pull teeth, set broken bones and perform many other operations. Priests would attempt to exorcise evil spirits form the sick and sell them magic stones; many of the treatment methods derived from superstitious or religious beliefs. Likewise, many monks and nuns ran hospitals in their monasteries, which took in the sick and dying

In reference to information taken from The Knight and the Lion’s article “What kind of medicines did people use in the Middle Ages?” Many surgeons would recommend that one should wash battle wounds with urine. Additionally, surgeons would often perform eye surgery for cataracts with a needle. This practice involves pushing the cornea back into one's eye. Some of the crazier ones include trepanning, or cutting a small hole into the skull, as quoted by listverse, “The practice was believed to alleviate pressure and treat health problems localized within the head, though it was also thought to cure epilepsy, migraines, and mental disorders and were a common “fix” for more physical problems such as skull fractures. Needless to say, such exposure of the brain to airborne germs would often be fatal.” Many people would look to the stars to help diagnose patients; the stars were used to tell doctors where they should not operate on the sick patients. From information taken from the article “Medicine in the Middle Ages“ some examples include, “ Aries should avoid incisions in the head and face and cut no vein in the head. Taurus should avoid incisions in the neck and throat and cut no veins there. Virgo should avoid opening a wound in the belly and in the internal parts. Additionally, Sagittarius should avoid incisions in the thighs and fingers and do not cut blemishes and