Nursing in the Middle Ages

guilds, monasticism, dark ages, crusades, knight hospitaller, catholic orders, industrial revolution

1. EARLY MIDDLE

AGE(500-1000AD)

2. MONASTICISM
LIFE,RULES,
CONDITION OF
MONASTERIES

3. BENEDICTIAN RULE
KIND OF WORK
ENJOYED
VOWS
PROVERTY
CHASTITY
OBEDIENCE
• PLACE FOR
MEDICINE &
NURSING

4. FEUDALISM


7. THE GUILDS


8. THE GUILDS
ORGANISATION OF
WORKMEN&TRADEMEN

PROTECTED WORKERS,PRODUCTS&
PUBLIC

9. LATERAL MIDDLE
AGES(1000-1500AD)

11. THE CRUSADES AND
MILITARY MEN AS
NURSES
During the middle ages, Pope Urban
II called on Christians to take back
the Holy Land from the Moslems.
 Thousands of men and women
heeded the call and set out for
Jerusalem.
These crusaders fought their way
across Europe, leaving sick and
injured in their wake.

12. •The caretakers of the
soldiers were knights who
fought during the battles
and returned to care for the
ill and wounded when the
fighting subsided. These
men were called knight
hospitallers.
•They found they preferred
the role of the nurse and
nursing became their
profession.
Knights Hospitaller

13. RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR
ORDERS
In the Middle Ages,
nursing was
provided by
religious, military
and secular orders.
One of the religious
orders was "The
Knights of Saint
John." There were
three levels of
males participating
in the order,
Priests, Knights and
Brothers

14. One of the principles of the
order was devotion to duty.
This became a standard of
nursing care and still must be
followed today. In nursing, the
following of competent orders
and attention to detail may
make the difference between
life and death.

15. ORDER OF ST. JOHN
The Order of Saint
John participated
in the organization
of the
International Red
Cross which bears
its insignia, the
red cross. The
members of the
order are still
practicing nursing
in England.

16. ORDER OF ST. JOHN
Here were many Catholic orders
caring for the sick during the middle
ages. Even the secular orders were
associated with the Church. Educated
by apprenticeship, lacking knowledge
of hygienic measures, and practicing
under very primitive conditions, the
care provided was, none the less,
humane and caring.

17. Francis of Assisi
The third order of
saint francis (francis
of assisi) was a
secular order whose
members devoted
their time and energy
to enhancing the lives
of their friends and
neighbors in the
communities where
they lived.
 caring for the sick
was one of the order's
important activities,
with both men and
women serving as
nurses.

18. CATHOLIC ORDERS
There were many Catholic orders
caring for the sick during the middle
ages. Even the secular orders were
associated with the Church.
Educated by apprenticeship, lacking
knowledge of hygienic measures,
and practicing under very primitive
conditions, the care provided was,
none the less, humane and caring.

19. DARK AGES OF NURSING
During the Reformation, Catholic institutions were
abolished by the newly formed Protestants.
 What had been good hospitals for the times, were
replaced by Work Houses and Alms Houses for the
poor.
 Some hospitals did replace the Catholic ones but
without the organization and management of the
Church, the conditions were abysmal.

20. SAIREY GAMP
Care in the new institutions was provided by prisoners,
pardoned criminals, alcoholics and aged prostitutes, no
longer young enough to ply their trade.
The "nurses" were best characterized by Charles
Dickens's portrayal of Sairey Gamp.
Sairey was an elderly prostitute working as a "nurse"
who ate her patient's food and drank the family's
booze.

21. She was hired to care for patients
whose relatives could afford her
sparse wage. Essentially her work
consisted of sitting with the patient
and doing as little as possible. It was
a matter of survival of the nurses not
the patients.

22. The growing pains of the
Reformation forced thinkers and
philosophers to reevaluate their
ideas and values. During the
four hundred years that living
was nearly unbearable, some
scholars, reformers and
inventors were paving the way
for a new world order. It arrived
with the onset of the Industrial
Revolution. This was a time of
free thought, individualism, and
the beginning of capitalism and
democratic forms of
government.

24. He Industrial Revolution gradually brought forth a
more equitable living style for the people.
However, it was not without its own growing
pains. Capitalists were protected by law in his
exploitation of workers. There were child labor
and sweatshops where disease and accidents were
the norm. Hospitals remained places where the
poor went to die.

25. At a time when it was unthinkable that
women of good families would work
outside the home, and certainly not as a
nurse, which was at best, considered to be a
"domestic." Into this age, Florence
Nightingale was born.