Renaissance

What was the Renaissance?

Meaning 'rebirth', it was time of great artistic and scientific progress. It was a period of transition from the ancient to the modern world.

When was Renaissance?

The Renaissance has no set dates but but it is generally considered to be around 1400 - 1600 in northern Europe.

What were some of the main developments during the Renaissance?

There are 3 key consequences of the Renaissance:

• ❖ Gunpowder was discovered which made wars and battles more bloody and led to new types of wounds.
• ❖ The idea of humanism was developed. This is the belief that high levels of human potential could be achieved through education.
• ❖ Global exploration led to the discovery of new lands and cultures, and therefore new medicines.

What changed in medicine during the Renaissance?

Changes to people's attitudes and ways of thinking during the Renaissance also led to 5 main changes in medicine.

• ❖ The Theory of the Four Humours fell out of favour with physicians as they began to understand that disease was something separate from the body, not caused by a person's humours being out of balance.
• ❖ A much greater understanding of anatomy developed. Doctors were able to carry out more human dissections as the power of the Church declined, which meant they could correct assumptions and mistakes made by Galen and others.
• ❖ Physicians no longer diagnosed patients from urine samples, and astrology also became less popular among medical professionals.
• ❖ Physicians came to rely more on their own observations, studies, and procedures such as dissections. They no longer relied on obtaining knowledge from books written by Galen and other doctors, although these were still used to research symptoms.
• ❖ Most of the medical advances were in the field of anatomical study, not treatment or prevention.

In what ways did medicine not develop during the Renaissance?

Although the Renaissance was a time of great change there were 3 main aspects of medicine which stayed the same:

• ❖ Ordinary people still held the same beliefs as their medieval ancestors about what caused illness. The Church remained a powerful force among the poor, so many still believed sickness was a punishment from God.
• ❖ Ordinary people continued to rely on the same treatments for disease as their medieval ancestors, including the need to balance the four humours, and the part played by religion.
• ❖ Miasma theory remained. Both physicians and ordinary people continued to believe disease could be caused by bad air. This was because there was no alternative explanation at the time.

How did medical training improve during the Renaissance?

During the Renaissance, there were 3 key improvements in medical training.

• ❖ Although physicians continued to learn from books, they were taught some new ideas about anatomy and chemistry.
• ❖ Surgeons had to obtain a licence and were now allowed to perform dissections.
• ❖ Apothecaries were also now licensed to trade, and had more ingredients and recipes from around the world.