The plague doctor costume
Maybe he and his fellow physicians knew nothing about bacteria, but one thing remained obvious. But de l’Orme designed it with real medical intent.
The plague doctor costume movie#
The resulting outfit looked like something out of a horror movie or Heavy Metal music video. These sticks were also sometimes used by doctors to defend against desperate patients. They used these sticks to examine infected patients, avoiding close proximity and skin-to-skin contact. Last but not least, plague doctors carried wooden sticks. A grotesque curved bird-like beak protruded from the hood, covering the doctor’s face. Eye holes were cut into the leather and fitted with glass domes. Over their heads, plague doctors wore a mask and dark leather hood held in place with leather bands and gathered at the neck to keep “bad air” out. The leather pants were attached to leather boots. Beneath this, doctors wore a shirt tucked into leather pants.
The costume included an outer canvas garment covered in suet or scented wax. Unable to refuse these affluent patients, he carefully crafted a uniform to act as a shield against the deadly disease. As a result, he was in the unenviable position of attending to aristocratic plague victims. His patients included Gaston d’Orléans (son of Marie de Medici) and King Louis XIII. Attributed to French physician Charles de l’Orme (1584-1678), he lived nearly 300 years after the initial 14 th-century catastrophe.ĭe l’Orme catered to the needs of many European royals. Despite the costume’s association with the Great Plague, however, it came on the scene much later.
Each generation saw its return until the end of the 19 th century. This pandemic resulted in the deaths of 30 to 60 percent of Europe’s population. Generations of Plagueīy the 17 th century, the plague doctor’s costume represented a potent symbol of the Black Death, a cataclysmic pandemic that raged across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe from 1346 to 1353. And these physicians died in droves despite the theatrical trappings of their occupational costume. Nonetheless, they lived in permanent quarantine, social outcasts only called upon when families were in desperate need. Sure, plague doctors were more respected than other “dirty job” holders like leech collectors, gong farmers, and sin-eaters. They recorded plague casualty figures in their logbooks. They spent far more time counting bodies and fortunes than curing the sick. In other words, their duties were more actuarial than medical. They also testified and witnessed wills and other essential documents for plague victims. They also faced the constant risk of infection and death.īesides looking in on the dying, plague doctors sometimes took part in autopsies. Without the knowledge of microorganisms or antibiotics, their patient survival rates were dismal. They treated plague epidemics as they arose in various cities and towns across Europe. These traveling physicians wandered from place to place. A Thankless JobĪmong the many horrible occupations of the 17 th century, plague doctors ranked near the top. In the process, they crafted the disturbing plague doctor costume.įind out more about the origins of the 17 th-century plague doctor’s uniform, shaped by medieval understandings of disease. Instead, they relied on an admixture of superstition and anecdotal evidence to treat patients and avoid infection. Without an understanding of germ theory and bacteria, physicians couldn’t effectively fight the disease. The disease re-visited the population generation after generation, indiscriminately killing. These symptoms included blackened skin, grotesquely swollen lymph nodes, and bleeding from the mouth and nose.Īttending doctors proved poorly equipped to deal with this pandemic.
A seemingly unstoppable pandemic, victims faced excruciating symptoms. Each surge further contributed to a death toll in the hundreds of millions. For three centuries, intermittent bouts of the Black Death ( Yersinia pestis) swept across the Old World. During the 17 th century, Europe lay in the grip of a living nightmare.