Bleeding & Purging (purging: using laxatives to expel "excess" humours from the body) — Based on Four Humours. Leeches or lancets used to remove "bad blood." Laxatives to purge the body. Often made patients weaker.
Theriac — A mixture of up to 70 ingredients including opium, viper flesh, herbs. Expensive, useless, but popular among the wealthy.
Prayer & Penance — Flagellants whipped themselves in public. Churches held special plague masses. People carried holy relics.
Isolation — Some towns quarantined the sick. Milan walled up infected houses (including healthy family members). This actually helped!
This deep dive covers Medieval Treatments for Plague within The Black Death for GCSE History. Revise The Black Death in Medicine Through Time for GCSE History with 8 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 3 of 14 in this topic. Use this deep dive to connect the idea to the wider topic before moving on to questions and flashcards.
Practice questions for The Black Death
In which year did the Black Death first arrive in England?
What were 'buboes', which gave the bubonic plague its name?
Quick recall flashcards
What were the symptoms of the Black Death?
Buboes (swellings in armpits/groin), black blotches on skin, fever, vomiting blood — most victims died within days
How did the Black Death spread to England?
From Central Asia via Italy and France through trade routes — arrived in ports like Weymouth in June 1348