Health Care in the Dark and Middle Ages

Following the classical era of Greco-Roman culture, the so-called Dark Ages overlapping with the Middle Ages stretch across the next 1000 years from approximately 476 AD to the mid-1400s. During this period religious groups provided major contributions to healthcare. Religious orders established infirmaries and hospitals, which were often attached to abbeys, monasteries, and convents. Along with these institutional approaches to healthcare, religious orders preserved and translated medical manuscripts from the earlier Classical Greek period, thus preserving the history and evolution of early thinking about physician practice. (“What was Medieval and Renaissance Medicine,” MNT editorial team, reviewed by Daniel Murrell MD, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323533)

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_medicine_of_Western_Europe)

In addition to the Greek and Italian cultures, Japanese, Chinese, and Arabic have contributed written texts about health care and medicine. It is a fascinating history and well worth studying. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_medicine)