At least in 17th Century Europe, people thought they did. The plague doctor mask actually served a functional purpose. Hey, they look like crows and crows are symbols of death, right? Where death goes, the plague doctors followed. Now you might think the bird mask was purely symbolic. But that’s really neither here nor there. So as we mentioned earlier, the plague doctor costume didn’t come about until after they had already been established. The Plague Doctor Beak Doctor Schnabel, plague doctor, circa Rome 1656. They even used mercury every now and then. These treatments included bloodletting with leeches and all that. None of those treatments were fun, and most of them actually made things worse (not that 17th Century Europe would know). While the primary purpose of the plague doctors was not to treat the dying, they did try. They were charged with keeping the sick and healthy apart, and burning the dead. Plague doctors did a lot of work with quarantining efforts as well. Primarily, they were hired out by municipalities, so they weren’t very concerned with financial stature. Plague doctors did sometimes have their own remedies for the bubonic plague, and they were often hired out by local governments or wealthy individuals. They were even allowed to oversee autopsies on the dead for research purposes! Bear in mind that the Church basically ruled Europe at the time, and desecrating the dead was seen as a huge no-no. Nonetheless, plague doctors were seen as extremely important personnel way back when. Their job was tangentially related to studying the plague, but most of it was actually tracking how many people were dying. Ironically, their main task was not to actually doctor anyone. Which, while they were revered for that purpose, wasn’t their actual job. Some may think that they were meant to treat the plague. So whether or not they had the science right (hint, they didn’t), plague doctors were tasked with largely management roles. However, it wouldn’t be until about the 17th Century that the iconic plague doctor costume came around in France and Italy. Coinciding with the big plague–the one that wiped out most of Europe. While the predecessors and idea of plague doctors dates back far, the value of plague doctors remained fairly understated until the 14th Century.
That was the first time Europe had a run-in with the bubonic plague. Given that the beak-wearing plague doctors were a European thing, they date back to as early as the 6th Century.
We’re not talking any plague, we’re talking about the Plague. But what exactly was up with our plague doctor friends? Why did their masks look like birds? The Plague Doctorįor those of you out there putting two and two together, plague doctors saw their rise during the Plague. They always pull out the plague doctor masks, because on some level, they’re kinda cool. That, or you’ve played a lot of fantasy games/watched a lot of fantasy movies. If you’ve ever seen some medieval movies, you’ve probably seen the menacing plague doctors with their birdlike masks.
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