![]() ![]() Common treatments for a variety of illness included bloodletting (pictured above) and cupping. They also relied heavily on astrology to explain physical ailments and illnesses, and turned toward both the medieval church and occult healing practices for aid. Doctors of the period understood the human body in terms of the four humors (phlegm, blood, yellow bile, and black bile) and believed that good health depended on a proper balance of these properties. If you were unlucky enough to get the plague or any other illness during the medieval period, doctors were not much help, and in many cases only made things worse. Thousands of Jews were murdered in this period in an effort to rid towns and cities of heretics, and some Christians took to extreme acts of piety, like self-flagellation, to cleanse their souls and avoide the disease. People of the time had no idea what caused the disease or how it was transmitted many saw it as proof of God’s disapproval for the sins of man. Victims would develop blood and pus-filled boils, as well as fever, vomiting, and other symptoms, and would usually die within a few days. ![]() The plague was extremely contagious and fast-acting. In the space of a few years, the Black Death killed more than 20 million people in Europe – nearly one third of the continent’s total population. The disease was carried by fleas who rode on the rats that commonly infested ships. ![]() It is thought that the disease – a bacterial infection often referred to as the “bubonic plague” – came to Europe via merchant ships travelling from Asia. The Black Death, one of the most destructive pandemics in human history, came to Europe in the mid-1340s. Read on for five awful aspects of the medieval period, and learn about just how dark the “Dark Ages” could be. TL DR: Be grateful that you live in the 21st century. As Tim O’Neill writes in Slate, “ the Middle Ages” describes a very long period of history that saw a number of major transformations, as well as the invention of such things as “the mechanical clock, eyeglasses, effective gunpowder weapons, and the printing press.” That said, there are still many aspects of the period that would make a contemporary person cringe, including devastating famines, disease, and a fondness for disturbingly creative torture devices. Scholars have noted that the Middle Ages have often gotten an undeserved bad rap: Sandwiched between the fall of Rome and the start of the Renaissance period, the medieval period tends to be portrayed as a dark era in human history in which nothing good or innovative happened, a waiting period for the brilliance of the Renaissance. The Middle Ages, also known as the medieval period, lasted in Europe from the 5th to the 15th centuries, and many aspects of this time were rough, to put it mildly. Here’s a post for all of those days that you sit back and think, “The contemporary world is horrible.” Yes, our own age is plagued by climate change, violence, inequality, and a host of other problems, but at least it’s not plagued by an actual plague, right? Our world is by no means perfect, but a quick look at the trials and tribulations of the middle ages may make you feel a bit better. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |