Medical Practices and Superstitions

Many people believed that if you prayed to a saint who suffered similar conditions to their ailment, then the saint would contact God to save them.

Since medical knowledge was so limited, physicians concluded that illness were either destiny or a form of divine punishment for the sick person's actions.

Physicians diagnosed patients through studying Four Humors, blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. Doctors believed that the disturbance of humors led to disease. After "diagnosis," gave cures, such as bloodletting where either leeches or bloodletting tools were utilized, cauterization, purgatives, and even baths.

St. Apollonia had her teeth knocked out and jaw broken before she was martyred.

Some healers were labeled witches and accused of consorting with the devil because of their "unnatural" ability to heal others. (50-1:05)

Medical Practices and Superstitions

Physicians wore the Black Plague costume, since it was believed that the costume could keep them safe from the disease.

People blamed spirits, ghosts, demons, or such entities as the cause of disease and epidemics.

People believed that amulets, usually created by quack doctors or empirics could protect them from evil or disease.

Doctors often carried flasks to study the Four Humors collected from different patients.