Medicine During the Renaissance
The term Renaissance is translated to “Rebirth” in the english language and this was a period of time in the european civilization which came directly after the Middle Ages. This stage in time lasted approximately 300 years, from 1400 - 1700 and was a very important time in terms of revolution. The europeans created a cultural movement in Italy and this marked the beginning of the Early Modern Age. The Renaissance was the first time in history that physicians, artists and philosophers were interested in renewing old theories created by the Greeks and Romans. Due to their keen interest in this field, medicine evolved in several different ways because of initiatives that were taken to create a health care system. …show more content…
This mortal disease was transmitted by rodents carrying infected fleas on their bodies. When a person had a confirmed case of the Plague or demonstrated symptoms of this disease, everyone living in the same household as the patient were forced to be locked inside for 40 days and nights. A red cross was the painted on their front door to warn anyone on the outside about the mortal disease, it was then named The Plague Cross. Samuel Pepys was a naval administrator and Member of Parliament who kept a journal and diary on his personal experiences throughout the Renaissance. In one entry in his diary he claims, “This day, much against my will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and “Lord have mercy upon us” writ there; which was a sad sight to me, being the first of the kind that, to my remembrance, I ever saw.” (June 7th 1665). This statement proves that people during this devastating time were very afraid and suffering due to the lack of medical health care. The Black Plague was known as one of the worst pandemics ever recorded in history and has never been completely destroyed. In 1666, the disease had killed over 50 million people, which is roughly 60 percent of Europe’s population. However, the spread of the disease slowly came to an end for several different reasons. There was a temperature drop in 1666 which created an unsustainable breeding territory for rats and the disease simply ran out of people to contaminate. The people that were affected by the Plague and survived became immune and the families who properly isolated themselves survived as well. (Benedictow, 2005) The Black Plague was one of the biggest epidemics in history but helped the evolution of medicine by giving doctors new patients and a new disease to
The term Renaissance is translated to “Rebirth” in the english language and this was a period of time in the european civilization which came directly after the Middle Ages. This stage in time lasted approximately 300 years, from 1400 - 1700 and was a very important time in terms of revolution. The europeans created a cultural movement in Italy and this marked the beginning of the Early Modern Age. The Renaissance was the first time in history that physicians, artists and philosophers were interested in renewing old theories created by the Greeks and Romans. Due to their keen interest in this field, medicine evolved in several different ways because of initiatives that were taken to create a health care system. …show more content…
This mortal disease was transmitted by rodents carrying infected fleas on their bodies. When a person had a confirmed case of the Plague or demonstrated symptoms of this disease, everyone living in the same household as the patient were forced to be locked inside for 40 days and nights. A red cross was the painted on their front door to warn anyone on the outside about the mortal disease, it was then named The Plague Cross. Samuel Pepys was a naval administrator and Member of Parliament who kept a journal and diary on his personal experiences throughout the Renaissance. In one entry in his diary he claims, “This day, much against my will, I did in Drury Lane see two or three houses marked with a red cross upon the doors, and “Lord have mercy upon us” writ there; which was a sad sight to me, being the first of the kind that, to my remembrance, I ever saw.” (June 7th 1665). This statement proves that people during this devastating time were very afraid and suffering due to the lack of medical health care. The Black Plague was known as one of the worst pandemics ever recorded in history and has never been completely destroyed. In 1666, the disease had killed over 50 million people, which is roughly 60 percent of Europe’s population. However, the spread of the disease slowly came to an end for several different reasons. There was a temperature drop in 1666 which created an unsustainable breeding territory for rats and the disease simply ran out of people to contaminate. The people that were affected by the Plague and survived became immune and the families who properly isolated themselves survived as well. (Benedictow, 2005) The Black Plague was one of the biggest epidemics in history but helped the evolution of medicine by giving doctors new patients and a new disease to