According to Einbinder, another early plague doctor called Prof. Spanish physician Jacme d’Agramont published one of the first treatises in April 1348. Einbinder's book "After the Black Death" (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2018), many plague doctors wrote short books, known as plague treatises, to advise their peers and the literate public on plague prevention. Related: Black Death survey reveals incredible devastation wrought by plagueĪccording to Susan L. However, they deserve more credit than they usually receive, because they recognized the spread and symptoms of plague and gave people hope in an age of constant medical crisis. These doctors were working long before germ theory and antibiotics and were unable to cure plagues. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)) The plague in Leiden in 1574: a doctor examines a urine flask surrounded by the ill, the dying and the dead. Plague prevention and care came from college-trained physicians, surgeons, barbers, apothecaries, midwives, herbalists and priests. Ideas about the cause and spread of plague changed over several centuries, as did the clothing worn by plague doctors and the methods they used to treat the disease. Physicians of the later medieval and early modern periods aren't represented by a single outfit. Without more informative written reports and images from this period, which can help us understand under what circumstances the outfit was used, it is impossible to tell which came first: the plague doctor's protective outfit, or the carnival costume. In fact, some historians have argued that the beaked plague doctor was nothing but a fictional and comedic character at first, and that the theatrical version inspired genuine doctors to use the costume during the outbreaks of 16. The plague doctor getup, and especially the beaked mask, has become one of the most popular costumes in the "Carnevale," or Carnival of Venice in Italy. The engravings of Altzenbach and Fürst may also have inspired the inclusion of the plague doctor, or "Medico della Peste" in Italian, as a standard character in theatres since the 17th century. These elements are satirical and not a historical reality, but they have nonetheless shaped much of how the stereotypical plague doctor is pictured today. Nine women of different social rank dance with the dead (Image credit:, 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0))įürst also added some extra elements to the plague doctor outfit which appear in versions to this day, such as the claw-like gloves and the pointing stick topped by a bat-winged hourglass. An 18th-century German oil painting of the "Danse Macabre".
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