During the Middle Ages, people in Europe began to think that diseases like the plague were caused by bad air; that’s why a plague doctor’s mask had a long beak filled with herbs and spices. Because they believed smell was the way disease spread, they thought the herbs would stop them from getting sick.
The mask was also meant to scare away demons. The plague doctor’s hat and cloak were covered in wax to protect him from “bad air.” He also carried a cane at all times so he could point at people without touching them.
The plague doctor costume was designed in 1619, and it still shows up in books, movies, and TV shows today!
So how did doctors get their cool cloaks? And why are masks so important?
In the 17th century, there was a pandemic of Bubonic plague in Europe. As it happened, this was when medical doctors were beginning to take a more scientific approach to their profession. Before, individual doctors would have owned their own tools and medicine for treating patients. However, the plague doctor costume was a symbol of the collective power of doctors, making their costumes useful for identifying them in public spaces.
In fact, this is why they wore black cloaks with big hats. In addition to being waterproof and easy to clean, black would have been a colour associated with death due to its links with mourning; not only that but it would have been a colour that stood out against white hospital sheets.
The beak-like mask was filled with herbs to ward off the smell of corpses and protect the wearer from infection. The mask also had glass eyeholes which would have been hard to see through, so we can only imagine how terrifying it must have been for people who were already ill and suffering from hallucinations!
In the first half of the seventeenth century, when the plague-ravaged Europe, there was a need for those who were willing to treat the sick. Among them was the plague doctor, who treated people with plague by using a mask and a cloak.
The first use of this kind of costume goes back to 1348. At that time, there was no medical knowledge about what caused the disease and how it spread from person to person, so the doctors did not know how to protect themselves from infection. A doctor with such an outfit appeared in France during one of the worst epidemics: they wore black cloaks with big hats and masks at their faces. The masks were made of leather or pewter and had glass holes for eyes. As long as they wore such a costume, doctors believed that they would be able to cure patients without catching the disease.
In 1620 an Italian doctor Charles de Lorme invented a new design for these costumes. They included long coats with capes and waxed hats, gloves, boots and a mask with a long beak-like nose filled with herbs like mint, camphor or rose petals which protected from bad smells that cause diseases. These herbs could also have been used to protect against breathing in infected particles
The plague doctor costume is one of the most recognizable costumes of the Middle Ages. The mask, which was designed to protect its wearer from putrid air, had a long beak shaped like that of a bird. It was filled with sweet herbs and flowers to keep the bad smells out.
The mask was coupled with an ankle-length overcoat, often waxed or oiled leather. A stick was used to keep people away. Doctors would hold this stick in front of them as they walked through town so they wouldn’t have to touch anyone or anything.
This outfit was commonly used during the time of the Black Death in Europe. It may have originated in Italy, but no one knows for sure who first used it or when it was first used.
A plague doctor’s costume consisted of a heavy cloth overcoat that was waxed to make it water repellent, and which was worn over ordinary clothing. The overcoat had a wide collar which could be turned up and tucked into the hat to prevent disease germs from getting into the suit through the neckline. The overcoat also had long sleeves with forearm gauntlets which were worn so that no skin showed between them and the gloves. These were also waxed to make them water repellent.
It is said that the plague doctors were considered to be the only ones able to cure a person who was infected by the black plague. The reason for this was due to the fact that they had a mask on, which covered their face and was made out of leather.
The part that covered the eyes looked more like a crow’s beak. This piece of equipment was supposed to keep them safe from any bacteria that might spread in the air and cause diseases, but in fact, these masks were not very effective.
They also wore heavy clothing and shoes that were also made out of leather. This costume was designed to protect them from getting infected by patients who had the plague.
These doctors made house visits and would go from one patient to another all day long, which meant that they were exposing themselves quite often to this dangerous disease. The only thing that saved them from getting sick was their outfit and the fact that they didn’t touch their patients when treating them.
Unfortunately, this process proved ineffective as many of these doctors died because of the black plague despite all efforts made by them to avoid it. In some cases, their patients would die before they could get back home or it took so long for them to return that there was no point anymore in helping
The plague doctor is one of the most recognizable and terrifying characters in history. Who wouldn’t be afraid of a person dressed in a long black cloak, hat, gloves and mask with glass eye holes and a long bird-like beak full of herbs?
Originally, the mask was designed to keep away bad smells. Doctors believed that disease was spread through miasma, a noxious form of “bad air.” The herbs in the mask were supposed to counter the bad smells and protect the wearer from infection. The masks were also filled with vinegar to cleanse the air as well as incense, which wasn’t as effective at keeping away disease.
Doctors wore these masks from the 17th to 19th centuries, but they weren’t very effective at protecting against disease. There was no scientific basis for this belief in miasma, but it had been around since ancient Greece and continued through much of the European Renaissance until germ theory replaced it in the 19th century.
Historically, plague doctors have been associated with the 16th- and 17th-century outbreaks of bubonic plague that swept Europe, but their roots stretch back to antiquity. Over the centuries, epidemic disease has taken a heavy toll on human populations. In response, medical practitioners attempted to treat and prevent these diseases from spreading by creating protective clothing. It was during the early 13th century when an Italian physician named Bernard de Gordon published a book called Lilium medicinae (The Lily of Medicine) in which he describes a set of protective clothing specifically designed for treating patients with plague.
Plague doctors were not actual physicians; they were most commonly “barber surgeons,” men who worked as both barbers and surgeons in medieval towns and cities. Barber surgeons would often be called upon to lance boils, set bones, bleed patients and perform other medical tasks when no actual physician was available. In fact, many physicians regarded this work as beneath them.