The Middle-Ages: Monasteries, Medical Schools and the Dawn of State Health Care

Abstract

The Middle-Ages saw the establishment of large hospitals and impressive libraries in the Arab world, together with discovery of the circulation of the blood. But in Northern Europe, Classical scholarship was lost, with reversion to subsistence agriculture. Christian missionaries later brought back to Northern Europe key documents, conserved in Arab libraries. Celtic folk healers were suppressed and the Church assumed exclusive responsibility for health. Emphasis was placed upon personal asceticism, occasional miracles, and acceptance of illness. Anatomical dissection was prohibited, and the brightest minds pondered theological controversies rather than issues of health. However, palliative care was offered to the elderly, along with herbal remedies. A progressive secularization of Medicine paved the way for the Renaissance. Nevertheless, Physicians continued to work within the concept of balancing the body humours. The cadre of formally trained doctors was small. They were aided by Barber/Surgeons, Apothecaries, Wise Women, Priests and well-educated lay people. Some cities appointed personnel to treat the poor without charge. Growth in commerce and trades-guilds attracted people to major cities, but a lack of clean water and adequate sewage treatment compromised urban health. The ravages of the bubonic plague stimulated enactment of effective quarantine regulations and an isolation of lepers. An ever-growing range of active sports and pastimes were often pursued against objections of the church and military training requirements. But towards the end of the Middle-Ages, the introduction of ritualized social pastimes, spectacles and sedentary games began to sap the fitness of urban populations.