The church both helped and hindered the progress of medicine from 1350 to 1750. This included the progress which the church made in hospital care leading to many successful methods used to this day. However this period also included continuance especially in explaining the causes of diseases, mainly due to the sheer control the church had over people’s opinions and its lack of acceptance for other theories. This conservatism had both positive and negative effects; it prevented people trying to challenge accepted ideas (the renaissance led people to challenge conservatism) it also however allowed continuance in medical successes.
The church had in many ways a positive role and this is mainly shown through their developments in hospitals.. Hospitals were mainly set up by the church as parts of monasteries and convents; they were the first steps that helped the population’s public health. Hospitals progressed in standards and effectiveness greatly through the period of 1350 to 1750. In the earlier years around the 14th century hospital’s numbers were increasing rapidly and by 1400 there were 500 across England.
They would help patients by providing them with healthy food and water and rest, although this did not cure any illnesses it showed that they must have some knowledge of how to stay healthy. They would also make fresh herbs into remedies which they might treat some of the patients with, some of which were occasionally successful. This progressed when after Henry VIII’s closure of the monasteries in the 1530s more hospitals were eventually built over England (11 in London, and 46 across the rest of Britain.)
This progress meant hospitals now took in the poor and some started to take in those with infectious diseases. Simple surgery was also introduced for example setting fractured bones but only if there was no other remedy. The quality of the healers and carers in these hospitals also greatly improved for example St Bartholomew’s Hospital in London had 3 physicians and 3 surgeons as well as 15 nursing sisters who were all trained. This shows the progress that took place in these few centuries especially helped by the church who founded hospitals in England (some still remaining today such as St Barts.)
However there were some negative aspects of the hospital care provided. Mainly this included the specifications of the people actually allowed to be treated, in most hospitals the poor were rarely allowed until the renaissance (around 1600s) and people with infectious diseases were not allowed at all. This meant a large proportion of the patients were elderly people, not anyone with any proper illnesses or diseases. Also as well as providing food and rest for the patients the hospital’s main emphasis was on prayer and religion and the idea of forgiving sins to rid oneself of illness.
This idea was put across through providing sermons each day by priests in the room were the patients sat and by blessing the patients to try and free them of sins. This shows how little progress the church actually made in treatment of the sick The church also played a positive role in educating healers and physicians as it controlled the universities where they could gain their licences and training. The first few universities were established in the in the 12th century and taught students basic ideas and the theories of famous scientists such as Galen and Hippocrates.
Sometimes they would watch the dissection of humans or animals but this was a rare occurrence (and if so students would not see much) . There were some negative aspects to the universities as the church prevented challenging this idea of conservatism as they only performed dissections to prove ideas of older scientists. Especially theories of Galen, the church supported his theories as they agreed with the Christian Creation Story that God created everything for a purpose, in Galen’s theory ( even though he wasn’t Christian) he shows how each body part has a purpose..
Universities however did improve, as in the 1700s as they began to teach student more about dissection and examining the body. Although there were many flaws in the Church’s universities, the idea today is still the basis many educational institutions across the globe, which shows how much progress was actually made. The church also made progress in hygiene and sanitation especially in their monasteries and convents. Many convents and monasteries had impressive water systems where drains could lead rain water and waste water away from the abbey; it also consisted of pipes which would bring in fresh water into the Abbey’s separate buildings.
This complex system mirrored that of the Romans, this showed although it was continuance of an idea, it was still a positive role that the Church played by ensuring hygiene in their water systems, this system was so successful it is now the basis of today’s sewer and pipe systems. However the Church also prohibited progress in understanding causes of disease. This was most evident in both the Black Death and the plague where people believed God was treating them badly due to their sins.
The great plague of 1665 in the eyes of a large amount of the population was caused by the acts of God therefore people would fast and pray to God. This included a group of people called flagellants who would hurt themselves (whipping themselves) as they believed that God punished them. This idea that God caused disease prevented much progress in the idea of causes of disease as people just accepted that God sent it and could heal it as it was what had been accepted for centuries. Although the church did progress medicine in some ways it was the work of individuals which greatly progressed medicine from 1350 to 1750.
One of the most influential individuals who progressed medicine, especially anatomy, was Andreas Vesalius. (1514 – 1564). In his book the ‘Fabric of the Human Body’ he produced detailed sketches of the human body, drawn in great precision by Italian artists. His work proved many of Galen’s theories wrong, for example that the human jawbone is made from one bone not two and that the breastbone has 3 parts not 2. Another important individual was William Harvey (1578-1657). His work greatly challenged some of Galen’s previous theories about how blood circulation works in the body.
He proved that the heart acts as a pump, challenging Galen’s theories that the liver produces more blood; his work has greatly benefited medicine to this day. From this we can see that it was not just the church that had a positive role, as these individuals radically changed medicine and also by challenging past ideas encouraged enquiry in the field of medicine. To conclude, the church had in some ways a positive role as they introduced the first hospitals and universities; two institutions that are critical in the progression of medicine.
However the church also held back some progression, for example people believed that God caused illness such as the Black Death (1548) and the Great Plague (1665) and would not accept other ideas or theories. This meant that finding causes of illness was not progressed for many years as people were unwilling to challenge the church’s conservative view. Also although the church played a positive role in some ways other individuals played an even more important role in progressing medicine.
For example both Vesalius and Harvey helped create the basis of the knowledge we have today of the human anatomy. However one may argue that although these were important changes and progress in medicine, they did not actually improve anyone’s health until more discoveries could be made, whereas hospitals did help look after and care for the sick improving in some ways people’s health. But as a conclusion, I think that the church played mainly a negative role the progress in medicine as they did not accept change, and change was the only way medicine could properly progress.