The Middle Ages
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Teachers’ Notes
Curriculum subject: History
Key Stage: 2, 3 or 4
Theme: The Middle Ages
Topic: Medieval medicine
Rationale
Medieval medical treatises provide a fascinating insight into the beliefs and practises concerning
health, illness, surgery and disease in the Middle Ages. The British Library holds a wealth of
medical texts from this period that can form the basis of an activity that explores medieval
medicine. This lesson uses a range of primary sources and puts students in the shoes of
medieval patients and practitioners. This activity can be differentiated for Key Stage 2 children
who may be looking at a study of medicine through time as part of a chronological unit. It
could also form part of a study of the medieval period in Key Stage 3, or part of a GCSE course
on medicine through time.
Content
Historical sources:
Source
Use
Zodiac chart
Supernatural beliefs
Zodiac Man
Supernatural beliefs
Examining Urine
Scientific diagnostic practice
Trepanning operation
Surgery
Fistula Operation
Surgery
Apothecary Shop
Herbal remedies
Caesarean section operation
Surgery
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Medicinal Plants
Herbal remedies
Physician and assistant mixing herbal
medicines
Herbal remedies
Childbirth and midwifery
Women in medicine
Table for astrological computation of illness
Supernatural beliefs
Image showing doctor instructing on mixing
medicine, operating on person with hands
tied and use of cautery iron
Surgery
Doctor taking pulse
Scientific diagnosis
Vein Man
Knowledge of anatomy
Herbal showing properties of buttercups
Herbal Remedies
Deaths from Pestilence
Black Death/disease
Black Death Account
Black Death impact
Recommended reading (short articles):
Medicine, diagnosis and treatment in the Middle Ages by Alixe Bovey
Key questions
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What was it like to be a doctor or a patient in the Middle Ages?
What did medieval people believe about the cause, treatment and cure of disease and
illness?
How advanced was medieval medicine?
Were medieval doctors believed to be trustworthy?
Activities
A medieval doctor’s surgery (dressing up and scene setting are optional!)
1.) Set the scene: Use an old lab coat or art apron and smear with black, brown and red
paint to look dirty. Fill some cups with apple juice or old tea. Borrow some rusty looking
tools from the site manager, taking care to adhere to health and safety rules, and also
have these on display. Welcome students to the St. Thomas Becket (controversial)
memorial hospital (or use another name). Explain that you are almost ready for the
hoards of patients that you will see today, although you still haven’t got rid of the urine
you were testing yesterday yet. Explain that you will sell this to the lady in the village
who dyes wool. Urine is particularly good for the process. Explain that you need to get
your tools ready in case you have to carry out any operations. Pretend to clean your
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tools by wiping them with your dirty coat/apron. Get out your medical observation
notebook and talk about the fact that a true physician bases his work on observation of
his patients. Then say a prayer and check the position of the planets to ensure they are
aligned for todays’ patients.
2.) Following this introduction, carry out a short question and answer session with
students. What is wrong here? How likely are you to survive if you get sick? Was
medieval medical knowledge and practice really like this?
Divide the class into two groups – doctors and patients. Each doctor should be given print
outs of the sources listed at the start of this plan. The patients should be given the list of
ailments and symptoms. Once paired up the patients should explain their symptoms to the
doctor, who, using the print outs should make a diagnosis and recommend a course of
action or treatment, which the patients write down. The patients should then consult with
another doctor – and once again, make a note of the diagnosis and treatment.
As a class encourage patients to share their illnesses, symptoms and diagnoses. Did the
doctors accurately identify the illness? What were the recommended courses of treatment?
Did they both agree? What are the likely side effects or implications of this treatment?
As a class ask the doctors what they found difficult about the task. What sources did they
use to diagnose the illness? How useful were they? Introduce the idea that these sources
draw upon both the natural and supernatural . Ask your students to identify one of each of
these.
3.)
4.)
5.)
6.)
Discussion
The zodiac chart clearly shows continued belief in the work of the Ancient Greek
physicians, Galen and Hippocrates; yet this kind of knowledge would have been
confined to highly educated people. These sources represent the height of medical
knowledge at the time and are not necessarily representative of medical practice used
by the majority. They would instead have routinely used herbs and probably resorted to
praying and/or magical charms and spells. In addition, we do not know who is copying
these texts. Monks often copied books, but the church had a difficult relationship with
medicine. Many texts were also translated indicating room for error or
misinterpretation. Also there are no images indicating the use of the occult or occult
herbalism which was also common practice at the time. Why might this be? Where do
the majority of these sources come from? (Europe). Is this level of medical knowledge
indicative of knowledge throughout the world?
Set the students a short research task to find out about the contributions of Rhazes, Ibn
Nafis and Avicenna to medicine.
Examine with students a quote from Italian poet Petrarch in which he writes about the
Pope being ill:
“I know that doctors are at your bedside and this fills me with fear. Their opinions are
always conflicting…in order to make a name for themselves they gamble with our lives.
They learn their art at our expense. O most gentle father, look upon them as a band of
enemies.”
Students are now ready for the debate: was Petrarch right to mistrust medieval
doctors? Students should answer this referring to the sources they have encountered as
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evidence. The most able students will also be able to set what they have learnt about
medieval medical practice into the context of the time i.e. it may not have been good,
but there were many factors in Europe that prevented further medical knowledge from
developing, not least because religious rules at the time forbade the dissection of
corpses to learn more about the human body and there were no microscopes to see or
detect germs. Medical knowledge in the Arab world, while not completely accurate,
was showing greater sign of development.
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Zodiac Sign
Symbol
Dates
Aries
Taurus
Gemini
Cancer
Leo
Virgo
Libra
Scorpio
Sagittarius
Capricorn
Aquarius
Pisces
Ram
Bull
Twins/two arms
Crab
Lion
Maiden/Vase
Scales
Scorpion
Archer/Arrow
Goat
Waterman/Jug
Two fish
21 March – 19 April
20 April – 20 May
21 May – 20 June
21 June – 22 July
23 July – 22 August
23 August – 22 September
23 September – 22 October
23 October – 21 November
22 November – 21 December
22 December – 19 January
20 January – 18 February
19 February – 20 March
Part of the Body
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Brown Urine = Too much bile
Red Urine = Too much blood
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Describe each of the images in the series above. Why are the first three images significant? What is
happening in the latter six images? What are the likely implications of this procedure?
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What operation is shown in this image?
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Images like these are often referred to as ‘Vein Men’ and show the points on the body considered
the best for blood-letting, a treatment used in the Middle Ages to re-balance the four humors.
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A=1, B=2 and so on.
Write down your patients name and add up their score. Divide the number by 30.
If the number is less than 5 then it falls into Christ, the top image, and the patient will survive.
Anything else falls into Satan, the bottom picture, and the patient will die.
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Aloe Vera sooths burns
Arnica is an anti-inflammatory and can sooth swelling
Dandelion can treat kidney and bladder disease.
Licorice can empty your bowel
Ginger relieves nausea
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Patient
Patient 1
Birthday – 25th December
Patient 2
Birthday – 8th April
Patient 3
Symptoms
Treatment
You feel scared. Every time you
go to the toilet, it’s agony! You
feel as if there are demons
inside your bottom with
daggers!
Your urine is dark red and it
hurts when you go to the toilet.
You are worried. What does
this mean?
You are constipated, so much
so it is making you feel sick!
Please help
Birthday – 20th September
Patient 4
Birthday – 1st July
Patient 5
Birthday – 20th April
Patient 6
Birthday – 28th November
You have been in a battle and
have an arrow lodged in your
skull. You are worried its
broken and are having terrible
headaches.
You have a nasty swelling on
your foot that is causing you
discomfort. You are having
trouble walking and are unable
to work. Help!
You have a nasty cough and
have been coughing up blood.
Is this normal? You are very
worried. Please help.
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Patient
Symptoms
Treatment
Perform a fistula operation,
although without antiseptic,
infection could set in and the
patient could die.
Patient 1
Capricorn
You feel scared. Every time you
go to the toilet, it’s agony! You
feel as if there are demons
inside your bottom with
daggers!
Let out some blood, but not
from a place that zodiac signs
and the planets say should be
avoided.
Advise on the likelihood of
survival (according to their life
and death score) and pray for
them accordingly.
Patient 2
Aries
Your urine is dark red and it
hurts when you go to the toilet.
You are worried. What does
this mean?
Check the urine against your
colour charts. Make sure you
hold it up to the light for the
best colour match. Advise the
patient they have too much
blood and recommend blood
letting.
Ensure that you let blood from
a place that is appropriate to
their star sign.
Give the patient some licorice
to clear the bowels followed by
ginger to calm sickness. They
will be cured in no time.
Patient 3
Virgo
You are constipated, so much
so it is making you feel sick!
Please help
Tell the patient that they clearly
have an imbalance of their 4
humours. You could try some
blood letting to rebalance the
humours. Avoid letting blood
from a place that does not suit
their star sign.
You have been in a battle and
have an arrow lodged in your
Carry out an operation to
remove the arrow from the
Patient 4
Cancer
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skull. You are worried its
broken and are having terrible
headaches.
skull, treat with natural herbs
and stitch up the wound.
Try letting some blood - it
might work, but not if the
patient is an Aries.
Calculate the patients’ name
sum and advise them whether
they will live or die according to
whether the number is with
Christ or Satan. Pray
accordingly.
Patient 5
Taurus
Patient 6
Sagittarius
You have a nasty swelling on
your foot that is causing you
discomfort. You are having
trouble walking and are unable
to work. Help!
You have a nasty cough and
have been coughing up blood.
Is this normal? You are very
worried. Please help.
A swelling might mean there is
too much blood. Try letting
some blood out of the swelling
on the foot, unless the patient
is a Pisces.
Treat with Arnica which should
take away the swelling.
Examine the patients’ phlegm.
Advise the patient that they
have too much blood and try
blood letting, although be
careful to choose a place that
does not interfere with their
star sign.
It could be that this blood is a
sign…it might be best to
calculate whether the patient is
with Christ or Satan by adding
up the sum of their name. If
they are with Christ, they will
live, if with Satan they will die.
Pray for them accordingly.
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