By Staff Writer Jerri Clewis
Before modern medicine, people had to make do with whatever they had because of a limited understanding of the sciences. The medieval times were a period of rapid advancement, but few could afford the educated medical practitioners from newly developed colleges, which led to unusual treatments rooted in folklore and superstition.
Medieval common folk used many types of healers to treat ailments. Some of those healers included local wise women, witches, midwives, monks, and even holy figures who could deliver remedies through herbs, incantations, and prayers.
Many medieval ideas about medicine were based on the works of Greek physicians such as Galen and Hippocrates, which became available after the Crusades. The Crusades gave Europe access to the study of scientific medicine based on discoveries from Islamic doctors and scholars who had preserved and studied Greek works for centuries.
The teachings of Hippocrates related the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water to the four bodily humors of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. It was believed health could be restored by balancing these humors and by regulating a person’s diet, exercise, and sleep, much like modern medicine, but air, evacuation, and emotion also played a role in treatment, according to the British Library. A common but risky procedure believed to improve the humors was bloodletting.
Individuals looking for treatment could visit a local barber to be bled or leeched. There was even a so-called “Guild-book of the barber-surgeons of York,” according to the British Library.
In 65 A.D. Dioscorides, another Greek physician, wrote a practical text called Materia Medica, which focused on the medicinal use of more than 600 plants. The Materia Medica was the basis of herbal medicine until 1500 and taught healers about which plants could be used for various illnesses, according to an essay from the Met Museum.
Healers and doctors of the age were also influenced by astrology. They carried around specific almanacs, calendars, with illustrations of star charts that could be used to check the position of the stars before making a diagnosis, according to a report from the British Library. The practice was considered so important that, by the 1500s, physicians across Europe were required by law to calculate the position of the moon before a complicated medical procedure.
Over time, more educational opportunities led to physicians training to perform observation, palpation, and urine examination. Hospitals were built and frequently attached to monasteries, one of the few places peasants could go for treatment. Surgeries became more common, but surgeons rarely operated deep inside the body. Infection of wounds often proved fatal, and many died from minor diseases.
The dangers of simple illnesses made many turn to faith. The ill made pilgrimages to holy shrines and prayed to saints and Jesus for much-needed healing. The English and French kings were also believed to have divinity, giving them the healing touch that attributed many a miraculous cure to their hands, according to the Met Museum.