MEDIEVAL IDEAS ABOUT DISEASE
Very different kinds of beliefs about health and medicine existed. Some were superstitious and had no scientific value. Others had some truth in them, or encouraged a more scientific approach.
Doctors used a handbook called a vademecum containing various charts, for example to compare the colour of a patient's urine, which helped them to diagnose illness. Medical knowledge was limited and, despite the efforts of medical practitioners and public and religious institutions, Medieval Europe did not have an adequate health care system. There were many myths and superstitions about health and hygiene. People believed, for example, that disease was spread by bad odours. Also that diseases of the body resulted from sins of the soul. Many people tried to cure from their illnesses through meditation, prayer and pilgrimages.

FOUR HUMOURS: CLASSIC SOURCES
The body was viewed as a part of the Universe, a concept derived from the Greeks and Romans. Four body fluids, or humours were directly related to the four elements: fire; water; earth; air. These four humours had to be balanced. Too much of one was thought to cause disease or melancholy.
Greek thinkers had the idea of balance in all things, including medicine. They believed in the importance of a balanced lifestyle; to eat in moderation, take some exercise, sleep regularly and keep clean. In their search for the natural basis of all things, these thinkers created the four elements theory: earth, air, fire and water.
These elements were linked to the four seasons and also to the four "humours" inside each human being: yellow bile, black bile, blood and phlegm.
Medieval doctors followed Greeks thinkers. They believed that imbalance in any of these caused unhealthiness. Doctors could restore the balance by treating patients. If a patient had a fever, his body needed cooling to restore the balance of humours, so a cold drink was prescribed.

HERBAL MEDICINES
Many plants were used in medicine, sometimes as infusions or taken by mouth. These included: camomile for digestive illnesses, and onion for making soup to be eaten by the warrior for deep wounds. The common therapy was the pharmaceutical. Herbal remedies, ointments, syrups, and other preparations were bought from an apothecary. Drugs, often elaborate recipes compounded from as many as a dozen ingredients, were available in Catalonia. They were not prescribed for patients in hospitals, perhaps because of their cost. In Valencia's Hospital of En Clapers, the products most prescribed by physicians and other personnel were syrups (made, for example, from roses, sugar, a mixture of honey and vinegar, or violets), powders of various sorts, and ointments (made from roses and gold).

ASTROLOGY AND MEDICINE
Astrology had a great influence in medicine. Diseases were related to different signs:
Aries: to headaches and fevers
Taurus: to the throat illnesses
Gemini: to pneumonia and asthma
Cancer: affections of the digestion
Leo: heart and circulation illnesses
Virgo: troubles with the intestines
Libra: to kidney affections
Scorpio: venereal diseases
Saggitarius: to rheumatism
Capricorn: skin complaints
Aquarius: accidents of the ankles
Pisces: influenza and colds