GCSE History | The World of Medicine in the Middle Ages

History Quiz - Medicine: The Middle Ages (Questions)

Medieval medicine mixed religion, tradition, and simple observation. This quiz explores how doctors, monks, and ordinary people tried to understand and treat illness in the Middle Ages.

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Fascinating Fact:

Astrology influenced diagnosis and treatment. Doctors used star charts to decide when to bleed patients or carry out procedures.

In GCSE History, the study of medicine in the Middle Ages focuses on how ideas from the Church, ancient writers, and Islamic scholars shaped diagnosis and treatment. You will look at the four humours, the role of prayer, the work of monasteries, and the slow growth of more practical, observation based approaches.

Key Terms

Four humours: Medieval theory that health depended on the balance of blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile in the body.
Physician: A trained medieval doctor who used books, observation, and theory rather than mainly practical surgery.
Monastery infirmary: A small hospital area in a monastery where monks cared for the sick using herbs, rest, and prayer.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What were the main ideas about disease in the Middle Ages?

In the Middle Ages many people believed that disease was sent by God as a punishment for sin. They also used the four humours theory and blamed bad air, called miasma, for some illnesses.

How did the Church influence medicine in medieval Europe?

The Church controlled most learning and encouraged ideas that fitted Christian teaching, such as illness being linked to sin. Monasteries ran infirmaries, copied medical books, and sometimes limited dissection and criticism of Galen.

What treatments were commonly used in medieval medicine?

Medieval treatments included herbal remedies, bleeding and purging to rebalance the humours, prayer and pilgrimages, and advice on diet and exercise. Some physicians also timed treatments using calendars and star charts.

Try These Related Quizzes

When the Romans left Britain around 410 AD, medicine suffered a severe setback. Villas were often covered up by the remaining Ancient Britons. What was the main reason why they did this?

[ ]	They believed that villas contained ghosts and evil spirits
[ ]	They were unable to operate Roman central heating systems
[ ]	They misunderstood the need for clean drinking water
[ ]	They could not operate Roman sewers

Christianity had its own explanations for illness. What advice did priests typically give the sick?

[ ]	To make offerings to the Church in order to counteract the influence of the Devil, who was responsible for all illness
[ ]	To pray to God, as any sickness could be a punishment from Him
[ ]	To give away all of their worldly goods
[ ]	To promise to embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem via Canterbury

Which city in Southern Spain became a major centre of Islamic scholarship, including the study of medicine?

[ ]	Granada
[ ]	Seville
[ ]	Ronda
[ ]	Cordoba

Which Roman medical scientist of Greek extraction was influential in medieval Europe, on account of his numerous published works, and his theories on the need for clinical observation, dissection and the need to maintain a balance among the four humours?

[ ]	Vesalius
[ ]	Hippocrates
[ ]	Galen
[ ]	Socrates

Surgeons were, for a long time, combined with another profession. Which one?

[ ]	Barbers
[ ]	Butchers
[ ]	Fishmongers
[ ]	Lawyers

Which drink was used as an antiseptic in the Middle Ages, especially in the cleaning of wounds?

[ ]	Beer
[ ]	Mead
[ ]	Wine
[ ]	Gin

The French and English monarchs were believed to have curative powers when they touched subjects ("touching for the King's Evil"). Which skin ailment was this practice said to cure?

[ ]	Leprosy
[ ]	Psoriasis
[ ]	Psittacosis
[ ]	Scrofula

Which of the following European cities was famous for its university medical faculty from the thirteenth century?

[ ]	Padua
[ ]	Avignon
[ ]	Bordeaux
[ ]	Turin

What proportion of Europe's population was killed by the Black Death from 1348-1349?

[ ]	One half
[ ]	One quarter
[ ]	One third
[ ]	One tenth

10.

Which of the following "causes" of the plague is the most plausible?

[ ]	Caused by microbes in infected water
[ ]	Caused by infected fleas from the coats of black rats
[ ]	Caused by dog bites - in the manner of rabies
[ ]	Caused by unhealthy air in medieval houses

History Quiz - Medicine: The Middle Ages (Answers)

When the Romans left Britain around 410 AD, medicine suffered a severe setback. Villas were often covered up by the remaining Ancient Britons. What was the main reason why they did this?

[x]	They believed that villas contained ghosts and evil spirits
[ ]	They were unable to operate Roman central heating systems
[ ]	They misunderstood the need for clean drinking water
[ ]	They could not operate Roman sewers

Three of these possible reasons concern water supply and sewerage systems, a speciality of the Romans that was lost for centuries after their downfall

Christianity had its own explanations for illness. What advice did priests typically give the sick?

[ ]	To make offerings to the Church in order to counteract the influence of the Devil, who was responsible for all illness
[x]	To pray to God, as any sickness could be a punishment from Him
[ ]	To give away all of their worldly goods
[ ]	To promise to embark on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem via Canterbury

The advice of the Church rarely involved doctors or medicine

Which city in Southern Spain became a major centre of Islamic scholarship, including the study of medicine?

[ ]	Granada
[ ]	Seville
[ ]	Ronda
[x]	Cordoba

Much of Spain was under Muslim control until the fifteenth century

[ ]	Vesalius
[ ]	Hippocrates
[x]	Galen
[ ]	Socrates

The books were widely translated, and remained standard texts for centuries

Surgeons were, for a long time, combined with another profession. Which one?

[x]	Barbers
[ ]	Butchers
[ ]	Fishmongers
[ ]	Lawyers

The prevalence of warfare encouraged developments in surgery

Which drink was used as an antiseptic in the Middle Ages, especially in the cleaning of wounds?

[ ]	Beer
[ ]	Mead
[x]	Wine
[ ]	Gin

The application of strong drink was painful, but medical practitioners swore by it

The French and English monarchs were believed to have curative powers when they touched subjects ("touching for the King's Evil"). Which skin ailment was this practice said to cure?

[ ]	Leprosy
[ ]	Psoriasis
[ ]	Psittacosis
[x]	Scrofula

The practice survived into the eighteenth century, but it was not followed in Scotland. James I was taken aback by it when he travelled down to London to claim the English throne in 1603

Which of the following European cities was famous for its university medical faculty from the thirteenth century?

[x]	Padua
[ ]	Avignon
[ ]	Bordeaux
[ ]	Turin

It was common for students from one country to study in another before returning home to practise