i hear historians says what famous ppl in the Middle Ages died of. how do they know for sure?

Question

if modern medicine was still centuries away, and autopsy at the time was a sin, how do they know, esp. if they don't dig the body up and do tests?

Answer 1

They consider what the records of the time say, and then match symptoms to what we know now. Symptoms, so far as they were observed, seem to have been recorded honestly. Sometimes, historians are permitted to test remains--a small piece of bone of hair, if any's left. Most honest historians will state that "this is what we believe _____ died of."

Answer 2

Some observations can lead to a remote diagnosis of their physical problems. Lincoln has been diagnosed for a condition that was not even known in his day. Napoleon has been found to have been poisoned with arsenic by looking at his hair samples.

Answer 3

I think historians make assumptions based on journals (of the symptoms) kept at the time.

Answer 4

They analyze the symptoms described in the annals, and compare with known diseases in that time and space, based on bodies and tissues they could dig up.

Answer 5

Written records documenting the illness, signs or symptoms. and physical anthropologists have done testing on human remains. For example, indication of syphyllis has been found in some of these remains.

Answer 6

Some things are observational..i.e. a canker in the breast...it can be felt.
Modern medicine isn't the only medicine to ever exist....