"Medieval Sanitation and Public Health Law with Special Reference to En" by Charlotte C. Wells
 

Date of Award

5-1987

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

Abstract

The paper contends that medieval life was not marked by indifference to dirt and lack of awareness of its connection to disease. Efforts to control urban filth began as soon as the cities of the Middle Ages grew large enough for the problem to be noticeable. The failure of these efforts was the result of population pressure upon organizations and technology unable to cope with it. Medieval people's attempts to control the spread of disease likewise failed because they did not understand how sicknesses really are transmitted from one person to another. Since they lacked that knowledge, their efforts to protect the healthy by isolating the sick were bound to be ineffective. More success was obtained in the regulation of the training and licensing of physicians, and in the provision of public doctors and hospitals to treat the poor. The plague of the 1340's did not generate these efforts to promote the public health; rather it increased attention to what was already a concern in urban centers.

Comments

A Paper submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School, Marquette University, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

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