Health and Medicine in Medieval England

Health and medicine in Medieval England was a daily concern for peasants and nobility alike. Towns, cities and even villages were incredibly dirty, sewage systems were non-existent and medicines were very basic or entirely ineffective.

For peasants in particular, disease and ailments were considered a normal part of day-to-day life, while the wealthy would regularly seek out the latest medicines created by reputable doctors. However, when the Black Death hit England in 1348, the non-discriminatory disease wiped out the poor and rich alike, killing more than two thirds of the country’s population by 1350.

The main reason the Black Death killed so many is that no one was aware of how germs and diseases spread, and people lived so closely together that it was impossible to prevent spread without any idea of the danger these living conditions posed.

Convinced only by the power of the church, peasants had been taught that illness was a punishment delivered by God as a result of sing, and as such, illness or disease could be avoided by behaving as the church dictated.

Away from the church, doctors were themselves lacking in knowledge. At this time, medicine was largely based around the theory that the body had four “humours”, or fluids, which would make you ill if they became unbalanced. As a result, any sickness would be blamed on this imbalance and treated as the doctor saw fit.

Physicians were considered among the most skilful people in medieval England, but unfortunately their work was based on a very poor knowledge of the human body. The main reason for this was that experiments and dissection on humans was banned during this time, which meant much of their theory was based on guess work. As such, medical cures were often bizarre and completely ineffective. However, they were still treated very well by royalty and nobility, who paid highly for the services of the best physicians in the land.