Sickness and Sin: Medicine, Epidemics and Heresy in the Middle Ages

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Sickness and Sin: Medicine, Epidemics and Heresy in the Middle Ages

This essay explores the place of heresy in medieval society, touching upon the theories of Robert Moore that the language of disease is often used to describe heretics. In the first chapter this is developed by looking at medieval sources used in the study of heresy and medicine. The influence of Church chroniclers is discussed, giving some suggestion of the bias that can be encountered in later medieval sources. Also explored is the existence of medical journals in the Middle Ages, as well as sensational popular accounts of epidemic illness.

  Following this, a detailed summary of medical practice and the position of the physician in medieval society is given. The influence of the Church and faith healing, as well as traditional or unconventional remedies, are all shown as an integral part of medicine. As an extension of this, the third chapter explores mass epidemics to consider popular opinion of more threatening disease. Particularly focusing on ergotism and insanity, this chapter considers how the role of medical care was pushed to the sidelines by more dramatic sources. Leprosy is then explored as more than an illness, where the impact of traditional literature meant it could be used as a powerful symbol for political purposes. In the final section, the evidence for heresy as a disease is explored considering the context of medicine in medieval society, specifically looking at leprosy but also considering elements of other epidemics and treatments as a whole. The conclusion drawn is that the language of disease used to describe heresy represents a literary divide from actual medical care in the Middle Ages. Heresy may be used as a powerful metaphor linked to devastating epidemic but is not necessarily linked to illness itself.

What was the main goal of medieval medicine? How did "doctors" try to achieve this goal? 

The main goal of medieval medicine was a little different from medicine today. A medieval physician's job was not to cure disease, but to prevent you from getting it in the first place. It was believed that if you suffered from a disease or malady, it was because you didn't have enough 'health' to keep you from getting the problem. So they would try herbs and food to try and restore your balance of health. The majority of medieval physicians also believed in the doctrine of health as taught by the Greek physician Galen was that the humors of the body (which were four as mentioned by Hippocrates) could change and affect the moods and healthy of the patient. The four vital humors are: yellow bile which made you choleric, black bile which caused melancholy, the blood associated with sanguine, and phlegm which caused you to be phlegmatic. 

To achieve the goal of bringing a patient back to health, the physician have a few tools at their disposal. Using the theory or doctrine of the humors, the doctor would determine what humor/humors you were having problems with and use that as a starting point for treatment. The medieval physician also treated the whole patient and not just complaints or lists of symptoms which until recently has been very unusual in medical practice. The would also check a pulse which could tell them about the blood and if the person had a fever- if a fever was found, the patient would be 'bled'... which would lessen the fever. They could also do a uroscopy which is the term used for visually inspecting a patient's urine. The physician could look at the color and texture of the urine- looking for 'floaters, blood and other abnormalities- and could sometimes make determinations of the patients difficulties and treatment based on what they found. Tasting the urine could also give the doctor information- most notable diabetes if the urine was 'sweet'. 

What are some of the misconceptions of medieval science and medicine? Who do we have to thank for those misconceptions? 

There are many misconceptions about medieval science and medicine. It has been taught and almost assimilated into our modern society that medieval times were a time of ignorance and that we 'know' better now. We have tended to believe (and be taught) that in the medieval world, everyone believed that the earth was flat, that the medieval church was against all scientific knowledge and persecuted those who did not agree with them, medicine was likely to kill you and was horrible, and everyone had a majority of beliefs that were ignorant and superstitious. We are taught that Galileo was the inventor of the telescope… and Newton was the man to discover white light is actually made up of a spectrum of color and that mathematics is the basis of the world– in essence, science didn't really start until the seventeenth century. But a philosopher and monk Roger Bacon wrote about all of these subjects and came to the same conclusions as these scientists... he just did it four hundred years before they did. Medieval sailors knew the world was round and Roger Bacon wrote about the curvature of the earth. Medieval medicine also has been misunderstood and the physicians who practiced at that time had a full body/mind approach- something that we are starting to value today in medicine. As a modern society, we believe that medieval medicine killed more than it cured... but the facts of our time show that we are more likely to die from medical mistakes in our time from our medicine. Successful surgeries were performed and there were hundred of plants with medicinal products that could be used to help 'cure' patients- many times successfully. And like our modern medicine, monks and physicians would experiment to try and find better treatments for their patients. 

Today, we have these misconceptions and believe in these falsehoods for a few reasons. One is that we believe and take as 'gospel truth' falsehoods written in novels or 19th century biographies. These books helped spread the falsehoods of the 'flat earth' theory and that the Catholic church was totally against scientific discovery- indeed, the opposite is true as many members of the church were philosophers and alchemists... including Roger Bacon. It was only later in time that the Catholic Church became more threatened by science and tried to control it and the knowledge produced from research. Another reason is that we do not understand how to read medieval documents. Because the maps and documents from medieval times are written for a different culture and for a different audience, we misread them through our own cultural biases. So we make false assumptions based on what we expect to see. In actuality, individuals in medieval times in almost all categories were pushing the envelope of knowledge- between science, chemistry, architecture, medicine, mathematics, flight, etc – and using that knowledge for political and economic expediency. In the end, our ignorance of our past and our arrogance of our brilliance has robbed us of our heritage and knowledge that we could have enjoyed and built from much sooner.