Focus Questions: How far/why did ideas about causes of disease
change?
KEY THINGS TO MENTION:
- What was the cause of change/continuity in ideas? (Church’s control, new technology
etc.)
- What was seen as the cause of disease? (Four Humours, miasma, microbes etc.)
- What were the specific diseases/bacteria/symptoms? (diabetes, fever etc.)
- Give specific examples/dates/facts linked to the causes (e.g. Pasteur’s Germ Theory
1861)
MEDIEVAL PERIOD – little change
1) The Church was the formal centre of learning → people were too afraid to search for other
explanations than God as they were told they would go to Hell if they did so.
There was a priest in every village and a bishop in every region – these taught
people that all events were controlled by God, and forced them to believe that God
sent disease as divine punishment for sin
Cures for disease were interpreted as miracles, and people could be punished for
suggesting otherwise e.g. Roger Bacon was imprisoned for suggesting that
physicians should do their own research as this was considered blasphemous
The Church supported Galen’s theories surrounding the Four Humours and miasma
as he had held Christian beliefs that the body was crafted by one God and that
miasma was the result of sin
2) The public held a generally conservative attitude → people respected old ideas and
remained firm in their beliefs, especially since rational explanations were rare during this
period.
Galen’s work had been the basis of medical training for 1500 years, meaning he was
seen as the authority on medicine, his work was respected, and people didn’t do
their own research
People kept to traditional ideas about the Four Humours, such as that white urine
was a sign of too much phlegm or black bumps were a sign of excessive black bile
The sheer number of books written by Hippocrates and Galen meant that their ideas
survived and dominated medicine – Galen’s work on anatomy couldn’t be checked
as the Church forbade dissection
3) The lack of technology during this period meant that there was no means of building on or
disproving existing ideas about the causes of disease.
The printing press wasn’t invented until 1440 and wasn’t fully in effect until 1500 –
during the Medieval period the Church still had control of ideas as they could
prevent the publication of any that they didn’t approve of
Only urine charts and star charts could be used by physicians to consider the causes
of disease – ideas were based on superstition and traditional perceptions e.g. colour,
thickness and smell of urine related to Four Humours and alignment of planets could
cause illness
RENAISSANCE PERIOD – little change
1) Although its power was lessening, the Church still controlled medicine → people were slow
to look for new explanations of causes as they feared they would go to Hell for disobeying
the Church.
Like in Medieval times, there was a priest in every village and bishop in every
region who taught that all events were controlled by God – some people were still
very religious at this time and believed only God could cause disease as a means of
divine punishment
change?
KEY THINGS TO MENTION:
- What was the cause of change/continuity in ideas? (Church’s control, new technology
etc.)
- What was seen as the cause of disease? (Four Humours, miasma, microbes etc.)
- What were the specific diseases/bacteria/symptoms? (diabetes, fever etc.)
- Give specific examples/dates/facts linked to the causes (e.g. Pasteur’s Germ Theory
1861)
MEDIEVAL PERIOD – little change
1) The Church was the formal centre of learning → people were too afraid to search for other
explanations than God as they were told they would go to Hell if they did so.
There was a priest in every village and a bishop in every region – these taught
people that all events were controlled by God, and forced them to believe that God
sent disease as divine punishment for sin
Cures for disease were interpreted as miracles, and people could be punished for
suggesting otherwise e.g. Roger Bacon was imprisoned for suggesting that
physicians should do their own research as this was considered blasphemous
The Church supported Galen’s theories surrounding the Four Humours and miasma
as he had held Christian beliefs that the body was crafted by one God and that
miasma was the result of sin
2) The public held a generally conservative attitude → people respected old ideas and
remained firm in their beliefs, especially since rational explanations were rare during this
period.
Galen’s work had been the basis of medical training for 1500 years, meaning he was
seen as the authority on medicine, his work was respected, and people didn’t do
their own research
People kept to traditional ideas about the Four Humours, such as that white urine
was a sign of too much phlegm or black bumps were a sign of excessive black bile
The sheer number of books written by Hippocrates and Galen meant that their ideas
survived and dominated medicine – Galen’s work on anatomy couldn’t be checked
as the Church forbade dissection
3) The lack of technology during this period meant that there was no means of building on or
disproving existing ideas about the causes of disease.
The printing press wasn’t invented until 1440 and wasn’t fully in effect until 1500 –
during the Medieval period the Church still had control of ideas as they could
prevent the publication of any that they didn’t approve of
Only urine charts and star charts could be used by physicians to consider the causes
of disease – ideas were based on superstition and traditional perceptions e.g. colour,
thickness and smell of urine related to Four Humours and alignment of planets could
cause illness
RENAISSANCE PERIOD – little change
1) Although its power was lessening, the Church still controlled medicine → people were slow
to look for new explanations of causes as they feared they would go to Hell for disobeying
the Church.
Like in Medieval times, there was a priest in every village and bishop in every
region who taught that all events were controlled by God – some people were still
very religious at this time and believed only God could cause disease as a means of
divine punishment
