The Black Death raged for centuries and crossed the majority of Europe, which meant that plague doctors could be found right across the continent. The most famous and presumably most common outfit was the one shown in these images. This was designed in 1619 by Charles de L’Orme in Paris but spread far and wide. It featured a floor length wax coat, gloves, boots, and of course the striking face apparel. The beak and mask had two eye holes with cut glass in to see through.
The bird like beak was filled with straw and scented stuff like ambergris, balm-mint leaves, camphor, cloves, laudanum, myrrh, rose petals and storax (a type of incense). Back in the medieval days people had no idea what was going on with diseases, but one thing they did know for sure was that contact with an afflicted person meant you were pretty likely to get got next. They put this down to the effects of ‘miasma’, meaning bad air. So these fragrances were meant to protect the wearer and the straw was supposed to act as a sieve to block the miasma from entering.
They carried with them a cane, not to keep the rats at bay as has been wrongly assumed, but to inspect the victim without touching and to flagellate those that wish to be purged from their sins. Now there’s a perk.
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