In the Dark Ages (Middle Ages), the main methods used to treat illness and disease were a combination of medical theories inherited from classical antiquity, herbal remedies, and religious or superstitious practices.

Key Methods of Treatment:

• Bloodletting and Purging : Based on the ancient Greek theory of the four humors (blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm), physicians believed that disease was caused by an imbalance of these humors. Treatments such as bloodletting, cupping, and leeching were used to remove excess blood or other humors to restore balance

• Herbal Medicine : Medicinal plants and herbs played a major role. Remedies were made from herbs like sage, mint, wormwood, and myrrh, which were used to treat a variety of ailments including headaches, fever, wounds, and lung problems. These herbal treatments were often linked with superstition and the belief that plants bore a divine "signature" indicating their healing properties

• Religious and Superstitious Practices : Many believed illness was a punishment from God or caused by evil spirits. Prayer, pilgrimage to holy shrines, and rituals such as flagellation (self-whipping) were common. Exorcisms and incantations were used especially for mental illness, which was often thought to be caused by demonic possession. The power of prayer and divine intervention was considered the primary cure by many

• Other Practices : Some treatments were quite crude or dangerous, such as boil-lancing, drilling holes in the skull (trepanning) to release evil spirits, and even medicinal cannibalism (using human blood or bones as remedies)

• Basic Surgery and Anesthetics : Medieval surgeons performed external surgeries like setting broken bones and treating wounds. They used natural anesthetics such as mandrake root and opium for pain relief during procedures

Overall, medical knowledge was limited, and many treatments were based on tradition, superstition, and religious belief rather than scientific understanding. The main method emphasized was balancing the humors through bloodletting and purging, combined with herbal remedies and prayer or divine intervention