OCR B History People's Health: 1250-1500

The primary religion in Medieval England.

Servants of kings. They owned a manor (parcel of land) whose farm produce would allow them to live in comfort. In the 13th century they could sit in parliament and have some say over the King's taxes, but they couldn't really control what the King could do.

Over 90% of the population lived in the countryside and worked the land for ^. They suffered from bad harvests and had no say in how the country was ruled.

Greek idea that the human body was made up of blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. An imbalance in these would lead to disease.

Organisation controlling the quality and price of a trade.

A disease caused by fungi in rye with symptoms including painful pustules on skin, a burning sensation and hallucinations. aka St Anthony's Fire as it was known at the time.

The most common type of ale in medieval times, also relatively nutritious and making it involved boiling water which killed germs.

Softening and cleaning clothing by pounding (with feet or with hammers powered by water mills) in a urine mixture.

Every village was located to one of these and they were the main source of water for humans and their animals.

Dunghill/rubbish heap found in gardens of countryside houses. Contained floor sweepings, kitchen waste broken pots, etc. Waste from here would be used as fertiliser.

Pit used to collect human excrement (in the countryside many peasants just dug holes in their gardens though). Waste from here would be used as fertiliser.

These might have been used to carry waste to the fields as fertiliser, as well as food and other goods to the market. Some had iron-studded wheels for better grip on the poor quality roads.

Fountain that provided towns with spring water piped from the countryside, the earliest of which were built by the Church as they needed clean water for rituals and could afford to lay the pipes. By 1400 town councils often took over the maintenance of these.

People who leather sacks with water from these ^ fountains and sold them door-to-door.

Toilet without any flushing system.

Mayor of London who in 1423 left money in his will to fund building of public latrines in the city.

Employed to clear streets and dispose the waste outside town walls, where it could be taken by peasants to use as fertiliser. Introduced in London in 1293 and by 1500 most other towns employed them.

Poisonous gas people believed to be disease-causing.

Style of roof in many houses in medieval towns where rats and insects thrived.

Employed to clear latrines (which may have involved climbing into the pit) to be carted out of town in the night and sold to farmers, but some simply dumped the waste into streams (e.g. Shitbrook in Exeter).

1348-50 plague first arriving in England at Dorset.

People who were whipped to repent and suffer on behalf of others, believing that God would take away the plague. They arrived in England from northern Europe - very few English copied them.