Plague doctor

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Copper engraving of a plague doctor of 17th-century Rome, by Paulus Fürst, 1656.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

A plague doctor was a physician who treated victims of bubonic plagueTemplate:Sfn during epidemics in 17th-century Europe. These physicians were hired by cities to treat infected patients regardless of income, especially the poor, who could not afford to pay.Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Plague doctors had a mixed reputation, with some citizens seeing their presence as a warning to leave the area or that death was near.Template:Sfn Some plague doctors were said to charge patients and their families additional fees for special treatments or false cures.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In many cases, these doctors were not experienced or trained physicians or surgeons, instead they were volunteers, second-rate doctors, or young doctors just starting a career.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite book</ref> Plague doctors rarely cured patients, instead serving to record death tolls and the number of infected people for demographic purposes.Template:Sfn

In France and the Netherlands, plague doctors often lacked medical training and were referred to as "empirics". Plague doctors were known as municipal or "community plague doctors", whereas "general practitioners" were separate doctors and both might be in the same city or town simultaneously.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref>Simon, Matthew, Emergent Computation: emphasizing bioinformatics, Publisher シュプリンガー・ジャパン株式会社, 2005, p. 3. Template:ISBN</ref>

History

An early reference to plague doctors wearing masks is in 1373 when Johannes Jacobi recommends the use of masks, but he offers no physical description of the masks.<ref name="cohn">Template:Cite book</ref> According to Michel Tibayrunc's Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the first mention of the iconic plague doctor is found during a 1619 plague outbreak in Paris, in a biography of royal physician Charles de Lorme, serving King Louis XIII of France at the time.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> After De Lorme, German engraver Gerhart Altzenbach published a famous illustration in 1656, which publisher Paulus Fürst's iconic Template:Lang (1656) is based upon. In this satirical work, Fürst describes how the doctor does nothing but terrify people and take money from the dead and dying.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

The city of Orvieto hired Matteo Angelo as a plague doctor in 1348 for four times a normal doctor's rate of 50 florins per year.Template:Sfn Pope Clement VI hired several extra plague doctors during the Black Death plague to tend to the sick people of Avignon. Of 18 doctors in Venice, only one was left by 1348: five had died of the plague, and 12 were missing and may have fled.Template:Sfn

Methods and tasks

Plague doctors practiced bloodletting and other remedies such as putting frogs or leeches on the buboes to "rebalance the humors."Template:Sfn A plague doctor's principal task, besides treating people suffering from the plague, was to compile public records of plague deaths.Template:Sfn In certain European cities like Florence and Perugia, plague doctors were requested to do autopsies to help determine the cause of death and how the plague affected the people.Template:Sfn Plague doctors sometimes took patients' last will and testament during times of plague epidemics,Template:Sfn and gave advice to their patients about their conduct before death.<ref name="jhmasextract276">Template:Cite web</ref> This advice differed per patient, and after the Middle Ages, the nature of the relationship between doctor and patient was governed by an increasingly complex ethical code.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Costume

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One of two only known surviving plague masks; dated between 1650 and 1750; held by the German Historical Museum, Berlin<ref name=":9">Template:Cite web</ref>

The origins of the plague costumes are unclear but have been traced to 17th century Italy and France.<ref name=":6" /> While plague doctors wore a mask of some form since at least 1373, there is no evidence linking the typical image of the plague doctor costume to medieval plague doctors, and most of the early modern depictions of the costume come from satirical writings and political cartoons.<ref name="cohn" /><ref name="livescience.com">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Some plague doctors may have worn a special costume consisting of a bird-like beak mask containing aromatic herbs, an ankle-length overcoat, gloves, boots, a wide-brimmed hat, a linen hood, and an outer over-clothing garment.<ref name=":7">Template:Cite journal</ref>Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn<ref name=Glaser33>Glaser, pp. 33–34Template:Incomplete short citation</ref>

There are only two known artifacts of plague masks, both dated to the 17th century and both found in Germany. Despite contemporaneous outbreaks in other regions such as Italy, there is no historical evidence of plague in central Europe that would correspond to these masks.<ref name=":9" /> The masks have glass over the eyes and curved leather "beaks". One mask has two small nose holes and may have been used as a type of respirator which contained aromatic plants or substances.<ref name=":6" /> The first known observation of the herbal-stuffed beak was during the 1656–1658 epidemic in Rome.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>*Time-Life Books, pp. 140, 158Template:Incomplete short citation

The wide-brimmed leather hat helped to indicate a plague doctor's profession.<ref name="Glaser33" /> They used wooden canes in order to point out areas needing attention and to examine patients without touching them.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The canes were also used to keep people away.<ref name="JAMA">Template:Cite book</ref> The doctor's long robe was made from linen because it was said contagion did not stick to linen as easily as other materials.<ref name=":6" /> The robe was sometimes made from goatskin, which was said to be stronger against the plague than linen because of its small pores and polished texture. The robe could be sealed with oil or wax for an extra layer of protection so the miasma could not seep through the holes of the linen material.Template:Citation needed

Though contemporary theories about the nature of plague transmission were somewhat incorrect, it is likely that this costume would have provided some protection. The garments covered the face and body, shielding against airborne droplets, splattered blood, and lymphatic fluid. The robe, being leather or waxed, prevented fleas from clinging to the wearers' clothes and infesting them.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":6" /> The costume of the plague doctor is one of the earliest examples of personal protective equipment in the medical profession.<ref name=":5" />

Cultural depictions

Depictions of the beaked plague doctor rose in response to superstition and fear about the unknown source of the plague, symbolizing the foreboding of death.<ref name=":7" /> The beaked plague doctor inspired costumes in Italian theater as a symbol of general horror and death, though some historians insist that the plague doctor was originally fictional and inspired the protective garments of real plague doctors later.<ref name="livescience.com" />

While later sources based in other regions do claim that this costume was in use in their country (most specifically during the Black Death), it is possible that these sources were influenced by theater and other works of fiction.Template:Citation needed This well known costume now is used as common costume in festivals mainly in Europe and within the art of theater.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Contract

Plague doctors were contracted by municipal administrators to treat bubonic plague patients. These contracts are present in European city archives.<ref name=":4" /> Historical examples of plague doctor contracts show contracts negotiated over questions of pay, housing, citizenship, service period, and scope of service.<ref name=":4" /> Part of the plague doctor's contractual agreement was to quarantine after seeing a plague patient, essentially living in isolation.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Their contractual responsibility was to treat plague patients and no other type of patient, to prevent spreading the disease to the uninfected.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite bookTemplate:Page needed</ref>

Notable plague doctors

Notes

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References

Primary sources

Secondary sources

Further reading

  • Fee, Elizabeth, AIDS: the burdens of history, University of California Press, 1988, Template:ISBN
  • Fitzharris, Lindsey. "Behind the Mask: The Plague Doctor." The Chirurgeons Apprentice. Web. 6 May 2014.
  • Haggard, Howard W., From Medicine Man to Doctor: The Story of the Science of Healing, Courier Dover Publications, 2004, Template:ISBN
  • Heymann, David L., The World Health Report 2007: a safer future: global public health security in the 21st century, World Health Organization, 2007, Template:ISBN
  • Kenda, Barbara, Aeolian winds and the spirit in Renaissance architecture: Academia Eolia revisited, Taylor & Francis, 2006, Template:ISBN
  • Mattie, Herbert J. "In search of Doctor Zero." History, Health & Healing. Web. October 2022.
  • Reading, Mario, The Complete Prophecies of Nostradamus, Sterling Publishing (2009), Template:ISBN
  • Rosenhek, Jackie. "Doctor's Review: Medicine on the Move." Doctor's Review. Web. May 2011.
  • Pavia city archives Envelope, 458

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