Continuity and Change between Medieval and Renaissance

where 'similarities' is continuity, and 'differences' is change

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Continuity and Change between Medieval and Renaissance

Similarities

  • Humoral Treatments - people continued to treat illness by blood-letting and purging to balance the humours
  • Herbal Remedies - remained popular because often they were fairly effective. Chosen for their shape or colour
  • Miasma Theory - many believed in this, and it was especially popular during epidemics
  • Theory of the Four Humours - although it was less practised by physicians, the theory was still accepted by many people
  • Prevention - little change as the causes of disease were still not fully understood, however there were more steps to prevent the miasma
  • Cleanliness - remained important; people practised the Regimen Sanitatis

Differences

  • Transference - the idea that illness can literally be transferred to a different organism (plant or animal)
  • New Herbs - explorations on different continents brought new herbal remedies across to Britain, eg quinine for malaria
  • Alchemy - people begin to look more into using chemicals for cures rather than humoral treatments or herbal remedies
  • Rational Ideas - new ideas led to less people believing in supernatural causes of disease
  • Reduced Control of the Church - this led to the spread of ideas quicker, and also more scientific approaches to diagnosis
  • Prevention - less people would go to public baths, as they found that actually people were getting more ill after going, and it didn't help
  • Sydenham - theorised that illness is caused by external factors - her rejected the Theory of the Four Humours, and suggested grouping diseases and treating all the symptoms together rather than separately

Overall comparison

Although there were many new discoveries and individuals who had different ideas, ultimately the treatment of disease changed little, and many ideas (eg Harvey's blood circulation, 1628) did not help the ideas about illness. The Renaissance period had a lot more experimentation, however, and with the rise of humanism (rational thinking, less governed by the Church) people began to question the religious teachings on disease which had been accepted for so long

Comments

LaurenceU123

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Thanks, although i would comment on the key ideas of treatment being highlighted on here!

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