Feudal Medicine

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Feudal Medicine
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Introduction
Today, you will be learning a bit about feudal
medicine. Some of the stuff that you will learn
today, are the beliefs that doctors used, and a
lot about a disease called plagues that was very
common in the feudal times.
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Any time that they got a disease, they ate snake
skins which they believed cured anything.
Medicine
When they had to clean their wounds, they would
clean them with vinegar instead of water because
their water was too dirty. They also believed
that vinegar would kill the disease in the wound.
(vinegar was like a replacement for water)
The ingredients that they used most in medicines
were herbs and spices. If there were no herbs or
spices in the medicine, there would be a 90
chance that the medicine wouldnt work.
They also used small animal parts and animal
fluids for medicine.
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Medicine Continued
Tobacco was often used for medicine for several
diseases. They also gathered cocoa leaves that
were dried, and mixed them with lime, and then
chewed like tobacco.
Cocaine was extracted from the leaves of a cocoa
plant and used to ease pain. This was used in
surgical operations performed on people injured
in battle.
They created a drink called yaje made from the
stem and bark of a vine. They used this to ease
pain.
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Medicine Continued
Black Death was treated by applying a chunk of
butter, onion, and garlic onto the swelling area.
Other remedies that they tried was using tobacco,
arsenic, lily root, and dried toad.
Headaches were treated with sweet smelling
herbs, such as rose, lavender, sage, and bay.
Lung problems were treated with medicine made
from liquorice and comfrey.
Stomach pains were treated with wormwood, mints
and balm.
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Plagues
Plagues is a disease that was very common in the
feudal times. It caused a very high fever and
pain full black welts. Nobody found a cure for
plagues. Four years after the disease was
discovered, it destroyed a third of the
population. Half of the people who got Plagues
died, which is why they called it the Black
Death. They also called it the Great Montality,
The Pestilence, and The Pest.
If an infected flea jumped onto a rodent, and the
rodent bit a human, it would inject thousands of
plague bacteria into the humans body. The
bacteria travels through the bodies lymph system
to nodes in armpits, taking away the human cells.
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Plagues Continued
Physicians wore special outfits when they had
patients with Plagues. They wore a beak to take
away the stench of dying patients by putting a
vinegar soaked cloth inside. Their way of trying
to cure patients with Plagues was to bleed them
to death.
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Whooping cough- the father of the family should
place the head of a sick child into a hole of a
meadow for a few minutes at dusk. No other family
member should be present at this time.
Beliefs
In the medieval times many people had believed
different ways to cure different illnesses. Most
of these beliefs were thought of by priests. Some
beliefs were
Croup-make a mixture of garlic and oil from a
pig's feet, rub it onto the patients feet.
Sometimes they would use skunk oil if it was
available. Apply leaches to the top of the body.
Cold- mix together goose grease and turpentine.
Rub a large amount of it onto the patients chest.
Scarlet fever- put a piece of a saffron in an
onion and bake the onion until it is juicy. Feed
the onion to the sick patient.
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A smooth shafted, metal tipped drill was used to
cut the patients head open to let the evil
spirits out which they believed caused headaches
and migraines they also believed that spirits
caused bad behaviour.
Beliefs Continued
Many people made up songs and rhymes to help them
feel better, or they had something that they
called there lucky charm that would help them get
better.
When you got a tooth ache back then they had to,
put a candle in your mouth by the tooth that was
hurting, they believed that the worms that caused
the tooth ache would fall out of the tooth, and
the patient would swallow the worm.
They also believed that the planets going out of
line was one of the reasons that people were
getting sick and ill.