Medieval Treatments

Medieval

Treatments

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index

6. Religious and supernatural treatments

1. The Four Humours

2. Who created the Four Humours?

7. Religious and supernatural treatments

3. Humoral Treatments

4. Why did the Theory last so long?

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5. Religious and supernatural treatments

The four Humours

The theory stated that, as the universe was made up of the four basic elements - fire, water, earth and air - the body must also be made up of Four Humours, which were all created by digesting different foods. The Four Humours were:

• Blood
• Phlegm - the watery substance coughed up or sneezed out of the nose, or expelled in tears
• Black Bile - not one particular substance in the body, but probably referred to clotted blood, visible in excrement or vomit
• Choler/Yellow Bile - this appears in pus or vomit

There was a belief that all the humours must be balanced and equal. If the mix became unbalanced, you became ill. Being careful to maintain a good balance of the humours was really important to preserving good health. However, people believed a combination of age, family traits and circumstances, such as the season in which someone was born, usually combined to make one or two of the humours stronger than the other ones.

Hippocrates + Galen

Who created the Four Humours?

Hippocrates of Kos

Aelius or Claudius Galenus

The theory of the Four Humours was created by an ancient Greek physician named Hippocrates in the 5th century BC. Hippocrates was very careful to observe all the symptoms of his patients and record them. The Theory of the Four Humours fitted with what he saw.

During the 2nd century CE, a physician in Ancient Rome named Galen liked the ideas of Hippocrates and developed them further. Galen evolved the Theory of Opposites which balanced the humours. For example, he suggested that too much phlegm, which was linked to water and the cold, could be cured by eating hot peppers. ​​

Humoral Treatments

Purging

Blood-letting

Purging the digestive system of any food residue was a common treatment because it was believed that the Four Humours were formed from the food eaten. This was accomplished by giving either an emetic (something that makes you throw up) or a laxative/enema to help you get rid of any leftovers in your body.

Phlebotomy (Blood-letting) was the most common treatment for an imbalance in the humours. The idea behind it was that bad humours could be removed from the body by removing some of the blood. This was usually done by barber surgeons and wise women, infact, demand was so high that even some people with no medical backgroun offered the service.

1. Emetics usually consisted of strong and bitter herbs like scammony, aniseed and parsley. Sometimes they contained poisons like black hellebore, so it was best to vomit them up quickly 2. Laxatives were very common. Some well-known examples include mallow leaves stewed in ale, and linseeds friend in hot fat. Linseeds are still used today as a digestive aid.

Bleeding was carried out in several different ways:

1. Cutting a vien - People would cut open a vien with a lancet or other sharp instrument. Blood was usually let out from a vien near the elbow, because it was easy to access.
2. Leeches - Freshwater leeches were collected, washed and kept hungry for a day before being placed on the skin of a person whose age or condition made traditional bleeding too dangerous
3. Cupping - The skin was pierced with a knife or a pin, or even scratched with fingernails until it was bleeding. A heated cup was placed over the cuts to create a vacuum which drew blood out of the skin.

Sometimes people needed a bit more help to purge, and the physician would administer a clyster or enema. For example, John of Arderne, a famous English surgeon, mixed water with honey, oil, wheat bran, soap and herbs such as mallow and camomile. He would squirt it into the patients anus using a greased pipe fixed to a pig's bladder, while the patient rubbed his stomach. This would clear out ay stubborn blockages.

WARNING - DISTURBING

Why did the Theory last so long?

This Theory was very popular and continued for thousands of years after it was created. This was because of the amount of detail put into it and how it could be used to explain almost any kind of illness – physical or mental. It was important that the theory covered almost every type of illness that occurred because there was no other scientific explanation for the cause of disease. Often, physicians twisted what they saw to fit with the logic of the theory. The theory also lasted because of the influence of the church who liked Galen a lot because he believed the human body was so perfectly made that there had to be a creator. ​

Religious and supernatural treatments

Religious and supernatural treatments

Healing prayers and incantations

Paying for a special mass

Bathing

Pilgrimages to the tombs of people noted for their healing powers.

Astrology

Chanting incantations and using charms/amulets

Royalty

Giving Up

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Special Thanks

We are forver grateful to John Bradmore for saving Prince Henry's life! In 1403, during the Battle of Shrewsbury, Prince Henry was struck on the left side of his nose with an arrow that burrowed six inches into his skull. The top of the arrow broke off but some was still inside his face! Only a miracle could save him and that miracle was John Brdamore. Bradmore instructed honey to be poured into the wound and invented an instrument to be used in the extraction. Two threaded tongs held a centre threaded shaft, which could be inserted into the wound and Bradmore himself guided it into the wound to extract the arrowhead successfully.The wound was then filled with alcohol (wine) to cleanse. Not many medieval surgeries are successful but some are effective