Plague Doctors In Renaissance England

Renaissance England was riddled with disease, especially in its growing cities. Overcrowded, rat-infested London, with its practice of emptying chamber pots in the street and allowing raw sewage to flow into the Thames, was ground central for the nastiest diseases known to mankind.

The most dangerous of these was the bubonic plague.

And one of the most dangerous occupations was the plague doctor.

Learn from stricken Londoners describe what life was like in the plague-ridden capital in Plagues of London.

The Plague

The plague was the most dreaded disease of that time. Englanders were particularly frightened of the plague because its victims died so quickly and very few recovered. 

It had devastated Medieval England. The population decrease it caused led to an economic depression as products accumulated with no one to buy them. Every business along the economic chain lost revenue.

But as the frequency of the plague decreased in the late fifteenth century, populations swelled, creating a new demand for goods and services. A new middle class began to emerge as bankers, merchants, and tradespeople once again had a market for their goods and services. It was this resurgence that many scholars credit with the rise of the Renaissance era.

However the plague really never went away and it again ravaged London in 1563, 1578-9, 1582, 1592-3, and 1603. The outbreaks in 1563 and 1603 were particularly merciless, each wiping out over one quarter of London’s population. 

Symptoms

Plague symptoms are frightening. They include red, grossly inflamed and swollen lymph nodes. These were called buboes (where the name bubonic came from), high fever, delirium, and convulsions. However, if the bacterial infection spreads to the lungs (pneumonic plague) or to the bloodstream (septicemic plague) the unfortunate victim will usually die, ordinarily within hours. This death is very  horrific. 

The Cause

Because medical knowledge was sketchy, people really had no idea how it was contracted or spread. 

Trade was suspected to play a large part in the introduction of the plague to England. The route of disease went from Asia or the Middle East across Europe to England. This suspicion led to the harassment and massacre of people of different classes and ethnicities.

It struck largely in crowded cities where people lived in close contact with each other. The only way to avoid the disease was to leave the city for the country. Unfortunately, only those wealthy enough to afford to use this option.

Many Christians believed God had sent the plague to punish them for their sins. Others felt the “astrological skies that revealed Saturn in the house of Jupiter” was the cause of the tragedy. 

It was strongly believed to be spread through bad air so they smoked tobacco to stop any bad air entering their lungs.

Animals were suspected of spreading the disease so strays were killed by special dog killers – around 40,000 dogs and 200,000 cats were slaughtered. 

Now we know that the disease is caused by a bacterial strain called Yersinia pestiswas. It was most likely carried by fleas living on the fur of rats. There was a link to trading  with those animals finding their way onto ships and other transportation vessels.

The Plague Doctor

A plague doctor was a medical physician who treated victims of the bubonic plague. When there were epidemics, these physicians were specifically hired by towns where the plague had taken hold.

They were not typically professionally trained or experienced physicians or surgeons. These practitioners were often either second-rate doctors unable to otherwise run a successful medical practice or young physicians seeking to establish themselves.

These doctors rarely cured their patients; rather, they served to record a count of the number of people contaminated for demographic purposes.

Plague doctors would also commonly carry a cane to examine and direct patients without the need to make direct contact with the patient.

Get Well Soon: History’s Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them is an irreverent, witty history of those on the front lines of our worst pandemics. Or do you like historical fiction? Then check out The Plague Doctor where a plague doctor, hired to treat the inhabitants of a secluded mountain town, discovers that an order of knights has brought back something sinister and deadly from the crusades.

Some wore a special costume. The garments were invented by Charles de L’Orme in 1347 and were first used in Naples, but later spread to be used throughout Europe.

This protective suit consisted of a light, waxed fabric overcoat, a mask with glass eye openings and a beak shaped nose, typically stuffed with herbs, straw, and spices. These included juniper berry, ambergris, roses (Rosa), mint leaves, camphor, cloves, laudanum, myrrh, rose petals, and storax.

The masks were designed to protect them from putrid air, called miasma, which was seen as the cause of infection. Due to the primitive understanding of disease at the time, it was believed this suit would sufficiently protect the doctor while tending to patients. However that was not the case with many of these doctors were bitten through their exposed skin by the very fleas that carried the disease.

Have fun with dressing up as a plague doctor with this Plague Doctor Kit on Amazon.

The Plague Doctor Visits The Central Coast Renaissance Festival

We’ll be visited by the Plague Doctor at this summer’s Central Coast Renaissance Festival. The doctor will be on the Tudor Rose Stage twice a day, and can also be seen wandering the streets looking for unfortunate patients in search of a cure. Don’t be alarmed by the strange look … it’s all part of taking a trip back in time.