There is no doubting that medicine and our medical knowledge is constantly evolving. We are making new discoveries each and every day that are undeniably changing the world. There is a big gap between the medical knowledge that was available for past generations in contrast to our present knowledge. This is especially proven when taking a peek into the medical beliefs and practices during the medieval period. Many would scoff at the methods used and find it crazy how clueless they seemed to be when working with their patients. That is because we are currently so advanced in science that we only expect the best when it comes to our doctors and being taken care of. In all reality, medieval medicine was often irrational and not the least bit practical.
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One of those people being Claude Lévi-Strauss who gave us the idea of “social consensus” which he believed to be composed of “a mixture of existing ideas of antiquity,” (Medieval Medicine of Western Europe). Another individual named Galen was responsible for a lot of information available to medieval practitioners. He studied science, medicine, and the human body between the years of 129-216 AD. However, the people who played the biggest role in laying the foundation for medicine, and by far the most well known, were the Hippocrates. They wrote a collection of writings referred to as the Hippocratic Corpus. The Hippocratic Corpus was the first part in laying out the basic approach to health care. The most famous of all the writings is named the Hippocratic Oath, which stated “do no harm,” (Medieval Medicine of Western Europe). This collection of Greek philosophers and scientists were very much responsible not only for the foundation of medieval medicine, but our modern medicine as well. Their ideas and theories helped lead to more discoveries down the road. By far the most influential group during the time period of medieval medicine was the church. All medicine during that time period basically operated within the context of the Christian Church, (Medieval-life-and-times-info). Even hospitals were generally run by religious orders. Because of this, many people placed their hopes in God to …show more content…
However, it was so precious to people back then that not everyone could even receive this “medical care.” The common citizen would have to turn to others who had learned medical knowledge through folk tales and personal experience. When considering how crazy their methods seemed to be, and the small amount of people that were even able to be treated, it is clear that they were not the most astounding time period for medicine. If there had been more knowledge based practices, verses practices based on voodoo and religious beliefs, the medical mortality ratings would not show near as high a percentage. Though borderline ridiculous, medieval medicine was involved with some pretty interesting thoughts and
One of those people being Claude Lévi-Strauss who gave us the idea of “social consensus” which he believed to be composed of “a mixture of existing ideas of antiquity,” (Medieval Medicine of Western Europe). Another individual named Galen was responsible for a lot of information available to medieval practitioners. He studied science, medicine, and the human body between the years of 129-216 AD. However, the people who played the biggest role in laying the foundation for medicine, and by far the most well known, were the Hippocrates. They wrote a collection of writings referred to as the Hippocratic Corpus. The Hippocratic Corpus was the first part in laying out the basic approach to health care. The most famous of all the writings is named the Hippocratic Oath, which stated “do no harm,” (Medieval Medicine of Western Europe). This collection of Greek philosophers and scientists were very much responsible not only for the foundation of medieval medicine, but our modern medicine as well. Their ideas and theories helped lead to more discoveries down the road. By far the most influential group during the time period of medieval medicine was the church. All medicine during that time period basically operated within the context of the Christian Church, (Medieval-life-and-times-info). Even hospitals were generally run by religious orders. Because of this, many people placed their hopes in God to …show more content…
However, it was so precious to people back then that not everyone could even receive this “medical care.” The common citizen would have to turn to others who had learned medical knowledge through folk tales and personal experience. When considering how crazy their methods seemed to be, and the small amount of people that were even able to be treated, it is clear that they were not the most astounding time period for medicine. If there had been more knowledge based practices, verses practices based on voodoo and religious beliefs, the medical mortality ratings would not show near as high a percentage. Though borderline ridiculous, medieval medicine was involved with some pretty interesting thoughts and