Ideas about the cause of disease before 1350

God or the Devil
1. Christians: God sent illness such as Black Death
  1. Punishment for sins
2. Anglo saxons: Elves and Spirits (Devil's helpers)
  1. Shot invisible arrows (elf-shot) to cause everyday illnesses like headaches
The Four Humours
1. Physicians follows theories of Hippocrates and Galen
  1. Illness caused by an imbalance of the four humours- Blood, Phlegm, Yellow Bile, Black Bile
    1. Medical training was based around Greek books like ones by Galen
      1. People respected Physicians as they were trained, so their beliefs about the four humours was respected
Common Sense
1. Miasma- the belief that bad air and dirt caused disease
  1. Earthquakes effected the air
  2. Worms called illness
2. People linked dirt in the streets with the bad air but couldnt work out why
Desperate Explanations
1. Black Death killed millions- people had weird explanations
  1. Blames the outrageous fashions
  2. 1361- many children killed by plague
    1. Churchmen said God was punishing children for not respecting their parents
  3. Minority groups blamed
    1. Jews poisoned water supply
    2. In some places Jews were burned

Resource summary

	Created by mollycupper about 11 years ago