Medicine In The Middle Ages

A Death Cure
By: Nick Wong

Medieval medicine was a blend of the herbal traditions of Germanic tribes, the superstition within the Catholic Church, and a growing body of practical, surgical, and medical knowledge. Medical schools were based off of the discoveries of Galen and Aristotle. Physicians were officially established in the Middle Ages when monasteries grew medicinal herbs to treat sick people. These monasteries were the first hospitals, and they used herbs to make medicine. Because medicine was influenced by religious ideas, it was believed that sickness and injuries were healed by faith, leading to many advances in medicine.
According to Aristotle and Galen, there were four temperaments in a body. They were blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. An imbalance in temperaments resulted in disease. A body with too much blood was called sanguine and was
However, a few included exotic ingredients, such as ground earthworms, dog excrement, and dried cicadas. Unfortunately, prescriptions were not available to the poor; consequently, the poor used garlic and wild herbs as medicine. Warm goose fat was administered to cure an earache. Infection, burns, and toothache were treated using vinegar. As the price of pepper slowly decreased, it was also used as medicine. Honey, a widely farmed substance, was used in salves for eye and skin problems.
The most important medicine in the Middle Ages was theriac, an antidote to poison. Theriac could cure poisonous bites and diseases caused by poison. It also cured infection, plague, epidemics, and migraines, which resulted from poison. There were many recipes for theriac, with the most common ingredient being the flesh of a poisonous serpent. It was thought that the flesh would counteract the venom. Additionally, theriac could include herbs, honey, yeast, nut oils, spices, and the dried flesh of other poisonous