In this satirical work, Fürst describes how the doctor does nothing but terrify people and take money from the dead and dying. After De Lorme, German engraver Gerhart Altzenbach published a famous illustration in 1656, which publisher Paulus Fürst's iconic Doctor Schnabel von Rom (1656) is based upon. According to Michel Tibayrenc's Encyclopedia of Infectious Diseases, the first mention of the iconic plague doctor is found during the 1619 plague outbreak in Paris, in a biography of royal physician Charles de Lorme, serving King Louis XIII of France at the time. Īn early reference to plague doctors wearing masks is in 1369 when Johannes Jacobi recommends the use of masks, but offers no physical description of the masks themselves. Plague doctors were known as municipal or "community plague doctors", whereas "general practitioners" were separate doctors and both might be in the same European city or town at the same time. In France and the Netherlands, plague doctors often lacked medical training and were referred to as " empirics". Plague doctors rarely cured patients, instead serving to record death tolls and the number of infected people for demographic purposes. In one case, a plague doctor was a fruit salesman before his employment as a physician. In many cases, these doctors were not experienced and trained physicians or surgeons, instead being volunteers, second-rate doctors, or young doctors just starting a career. Some plague doctors were said to charge patients and their families additional fees for special treatments or false cures. Plague doctors had a mixed reputation, with some citizens seeing their presence as a warning to leave the area or that death was near. Howard W.Wikimedia Commons has media related to plague doctors. Joseph Patrick Byrne, Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues, ABC-Clio, 2008ĭorothy Crawford, Deadly Companions: How Microbes Shaped Our History, Oxford University Press, 2018 He was more than just the inventor of the plague preventive costume he was a talented physician who treated thousands of people during the reigns of three different French kings. Desiring to improve people's lives, Charles spent a good deal of his time coming up with remedies for such diverse ailments as stomach pain and headaches. He built up his reputation as being a reliable, benevolent, and competent physician who cared about his patients and who found solutions during times of hardship. Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674) (after) National Galleries of Scotland Charles's benevolence was praised by Henri IV himself, as the physician was known for refusing special gifts offered to him by patients who came from nobility. His prowess as a physician preceded him and he became the chief physician to three consecutive French kings: Henri IV, Louis XIII, and Louis XIV. ![]() His reputation as a good practitioner grew rapidly in the capital and, thanks to his father's connections, Charles became the personal physician to several members of the Medici. Soon after, he moved to Paris to practise medicine under the mentorship of his father. ![]() Charles followed in his father's footsteps and, in 1607, he graduated from the University of Montpellier at the age of 23. The outfit also consisted of gloves, boots, and a hat, which was made of waxed leather.Ī Physician Wearing a Plague Preventive Costume in Marseille, 1720īut who was Charles Delorme, apart from the inventor of the plague preventive costume?Ĭharles was the son of Jacques Delorme, a professor at the University of Montpellier who had great connections among the nobility. He created the 'plague preventive costume', which consisted of a long overclothing garment (Moroccan), which went from the neck all the way down to the ankle, the idea being that the air could not penetrate it. ![]() In 1619, the bubonic plague erupted in Paris, and an experienced French physician named Charles Delorme was about to have an idea. However, in the midst of the chaos, a man came up with a new invention, one that would possibly help protect the physicians treating patients who'd contracted the plague. All anyone could do was remove the corpses to prevent the virus from spreading further and killing even more people.įor doctors – or physicians as they were called during the early modern period – this situation was unbearable. ![]() A Terrified Man Realising He Has Just Contracted the Plague, Surrounded by a Group of PeopleĮdward Matthew Ward (1816–1879) Wellcome CollectionĪs the death toll continued to rise, no remedy was found against the disease.
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