Did Medical care for most people did not change from the start to the end of the Middle Ages?

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Did Medical care for most people did not change from the start to the end of the Middle Ages?

Medical knowledge changed very little in the years that are referred to as the “dark ages”; however this is not to say that medical care stayed the same throughout the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages range from the collapse of the Roman Empire through to the start of the renascence.

Throughout Europe hospitals were set up and many of them had schools of medicine incorporated into them, two such famous medical schools were set up in Bologna and Montpellier these schools had high standards and many of the leading doctors of this day attended these two universities however these schools of medicine trained doctors in the ideas of Galen and Hippocrates. These ideas were largely false and thus resulted in patients being treated incorrectly if at all one such example is Guy de Chauliac he was educated at both of these universities he wrote a comprehensive medical textbook and he quoted Galen 890 times.

The impact of war had an obvious detrimental effect on medical care, leaders of different countries were constantly being replaced and as opposed to their Arab counterparts the leaders of these countries had little interest in science and furthering their minds. In spite of all of this war did allow for better surgical knowledge and gave surgeons an opportunity to view different wounds and study how they heal. This lead to Italian doctor Theodoric criticising Greek and Roman ideas about the way wounds healed. This had a knock on effect for medical care for the public as it ...

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The impact of war had an obvious detrimental effect on medical care, leaders of different countries were constantly being replaced and as opposed to their Arab counterparts the leaders of these countries had little interest in science and furthering their minds. In spite of all of this war did allow for better surgical knowledge and gave surgeons an opportunity to view different wounds and study how they heal. This lead to Italian doctor Theodoric criticising Greek and Roman ideas about the way wounds healed. This had a knock on effect for medical care for the public as it allowed doctors to treat flesh wounds more efficiently.

Islamic medicine was able to progress as there was no threat of invaders and many of the rulers (Caliphs) had a keen interest in science and had the works of Galen and Hippocrates translated into Arabic. Mental illness victims treated with compassion and specialist hospitals were set up to help care for mentally ill. The hospitals constructed offered care regardless of wealth or creed and tried to cure illnesses as opposed to medieval church hospitals which just offered care. Islamic scientists were also prominent in their own societies such as Al-Razi. Al-Razi was also able to distinguish the difference between small pox and measles however these advances did not reach Europe for several hundred years.

The church view on medical care changed very little throughout the middle ages. The hospitals that were set up looked after the poor as well as the sick and the emphasis was on care and religion rather than treatment and cure this is further backed up by the fact that it was not until 500 years after its construction that St Bartholomew’s hospital in London hired it first doctor. Hospitals in France and Italy were much more advanced and hired doctors as soon as the hospitals were constructed. Also there was much importance on the advantages of healing shrines these were thought to be the best cure for illnesses.

As the Middle Ages continued medical care did not seem to greatly advance. New and largely wrong explanations for illness were produced. One of these included the “four qualities” theory this was extremely similar to the four humours theory and there was a huge emphasis on urine observation. An improvement that was made was the introduction of anaesthetic, now when having surgery instead of the mind numbing pain the patient would be given an opium based product that made them feel sleepy. Therodic of Lucca also wrote that alcohol should be poured onto a wound to prevent infection this is now known to be true.

If someone became ill who was either rich or lived in the countryside it was relatively easy to get medical care however the poor that lived in towns had very little access to clean water and so medical care changed very little for these such people .

In conclusion, medical care for most people did not change during the middle ages did not change. In Europe there was more progress than in England but still then the progress was not great and for ordinary citizens of a European country the medical change was not radical or a huge improvement to previously. Islamic medicine was perhaps the only one that could have advanced the medical timeline however in the thirteenth centaury they too were ravaged by war. Fulfilling