Key features of medieval Britain
To understand health in medieval Britain, it is important to have an overview of what life was like in this period. The information below summarises how society was organised, what people believed in and where they lived.
People
The King
Believed to be Godâs representative on earth. Received taxes but generally spent money on wars and their court rather than improvements for their citizens.
Barons and Lords
Barons, Lords and Ladies were part of the nobility and they were below the king in the social hierarchy. They only had a limited influence over the king. They would distribute some of their land to knights, who would raise an army to fight for the king when needed.
Peasants
The bulk of the population. They are now usually referred to as âpeasantsâ, although that term was not used at the time. They did all the hard work on the land to ensure a good harvest. A bad harvest could mean starvation.
Some were A farmer who owned their own land. who owned land of their own. Others were Someone who worked without pay for their lord in return for land. who worked their lordâs land for free - for around three days a week. In return, villeins were given a small amount of land for their own use. However, they were legally their lordâs property.
Religion and beliefs
God
In medieval Britain, almost everybody was Christian and attended church regularly. The The institution of Catholic Christianity headed by the Pope. All of western Europe belonged to the Catholic Church until the Reformation, when Protestants broke away. taught that:
- God was all powerful
- he worked in ways too mysterious for people to understand
- he responded to prayer
The Church
The Church was rich and powerful. Bishops sat in The law-making body of a country. The country was divided into small areas known as parishes, looked after by priests. There were also monks and nuns, who lived in abbeys and monasteries.
Christians believed that peopleâs souls went to A place where Catholics believe people's souls are purified of their sins before they go to heaven. before they went to heaven. Purgatory was a place of suffering. The Church taught that time spent in purgatory could be reduced by doing good deeds on earth.
The four humours
Some ancient Greek ideas had remained powerful in medieval Britain. One popular idea was that the human body was made of four liquids, or Four bodily fluids â yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm â used in ancient times to analyse and describe people's state of health. These were blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. It was thought that the body only worked when these humours were in balance. Medieval doctors often tried to ârebalanceâ humours by cutting a patientâs veins open to let out blood, this was called The process of bleeding a patient, either by using leeches or by cutting into a vein.
Towns and trade
England became wealthier as its wool trade expanded. Some people could afford better food and homes, and this led to the growth of towns.
However, towns became busy and crowded on market days, when traders and craftspeople of all sorts travelled to towns to sell their goods. Peasants also came on market days to sell spare produce.
Towns were run by councillors and a mayor. There were also An association of craftsmen or merchants, which set standards for the quality and price of goods. which set standards for different trades, such as bakers and cloth workers.