Humors in Medieval Medicine

During the Medieval time period, few advances were made in the field of medicine and surgery. The belief in humors affecting ones health during the Middle Ages was responsible for the way health care was carried out. Practitioners in Medieval Europe believed in the existence of four humors: sanguine, choler, phlegm, and melancholy. The physicians thought that illness was caused, primarily, by an imbalance of the humors (Wallace). Each of the four humors was given …

…an amputation due to infection of the wound. Fortunately, though, the patient would feel no pain during the operation due to the use of the opium poppy as an anesthetic (“Medicine in…”). The idea of the four humors held back medicine in many ways during the Middle Ages. Fortunately due to trade and other forms of communication with the outside world, most of this was rectified. Some ideas, such as trained physicians, did, however, remain.