Barber Surgeons

1
Barber Surgeons

• In pairs on a piece of rough paper mind map
  (things that it tells us, problems etc.)

How useful is Source C (page 79) for a student
studying medieval barber surgeons?
2
Medieval Doctors

• What did people think about the causes of
  disease?
• How did doctors diagnose and treat illness?

3
Contents..

1. What did medieval people believed caused disease?
2. What methods did Medieval doctors use to diagnose
   patients?
3. What were some common medieval medical
   treatments?
4. How far did medical knowledge develop during
   medieval times?

4
How effective were Medieval doctors?

• Causes of
• Disease

• Methods of
• Diagnosis

• Development
• improvement

• Treatment

5
How effective were Medieval doctors?

• Causes of
• Disease
• God punishing people for
• their sins
• Astrology the positions of
• the planets can cause
• Illness
• The body is made up of 4
• humours earth, fire, water
• air. If they get out of
• balance then you can get
• Ill
• Worms cause illness
• Disease can be spread by

• Methods of
• Diagnosis
• May need to check the
• position of the planets
• Check the pulse
• Use a chart to check the
• colour of a patients urine e.g.
• clear urine good digestion
• \whilst black and cloudy urine
• very bad health, death
• likely.

• Development
• Improvement
• Dissection of humans
• forbidden by Church but
• gradually became more
• common enabling doctors
• to learn about anatomy.
• Early use of anesthetics,
• though knowledge limited.
• Surgery improving. Many
• wars during medieval times
• enables and encourages
• improvements in surgery

• Treatment
• Mixture of common sense
• and superstitious treatments
• Use of herbal potions and
• mixtures
• Some treatments based on
• the four humours e.g. blood
• letting. Potentially very
• dangerous!
• Onion Garlic used
• frequently now we know
• that actually these can be
• very effective for minor
• ailments