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In the 14th century, astrology and medicine closely relate to one another. Medical astrology, a more specific type of astrology, uses charts to demonstrate how planetary alignments affect different organs of the body. The Science & Explanations group explains astrology and the plague correlation more thoroughly and efficiently.
On this page, you will find some of the key physicians who made an impact during the time of the Black Death as well as their theories and accomplishments.
Guy de Chauliac (1298-1368)
Guy de Chauliac (1298-1368)
- A French physician who was profound to be the most prominent surgeon in the European Middle Ages.
- Explained the plague as an unusual alignment with planets. Due to the unusual alignment, the plague was caused by the body's imbalance
- Wrote the Chirurgia magna (1363) which had fully comprehensive details of his first-hand experience of the Black Death, described his surgical equipment and operations, and included practical medicine (Porter 117).
- Was first to categorize plagues as either pneumonic and bubonic.
John of Burgundy
John of Burgundy
- Otherwise known as Bearded John, citizen of Liege and practitioner of the art of medicine.
- The treatise of John of Burgundy, 1365 medical treatises on the Black Death survive in huge numbers, many aimed explicitly at a non professional readership.
- The arts of medicine and astrology balance each other and in many respects one science supports the other in that one cannot be understood without the other.
- By the influence of heavenly bodies, that the air is corrupted and made pestilential.
- Pestilential illnesses have a short and sudden beginning with rapid development, Bleeding which is the beginning of the cure should not be put off until the first or second day.
Sources: Porter, Roy. The Greatest Benefit to Mankind: A Medical History of Humanity. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Guy-de-Chauliac
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