There were many frankly strange things in the Middle Ages. And the so-called plague doctor costume is one of them. Despite the very gloomy and even intimidating appearance, the mask with a bird's beak was primarily functional. By the way, there are serious reasons to believe that it actually appeared not in the late Middle Ages, but already in the New Age. So, what is it all about?
No one knows exactly how the plague appeared in Europe. However, one of the most popular versions boils down to the fact that at first it was brought from the Great Steppe to the Crimea Tatar-Mongols, and then the disease from their Crimean trading posts to Western Europe was brought by Venetian ships merchants. However, all this is just a version. There is a non-zero probability that in reality the Europeans were familiar with the plague since antiquity, however, due to the less crowded population, the terrible disease did not manifest itself for a long time as it did in the 14th century and after.
Plague is an acute natural focal infectious disease. She is excited by a plague wand. Although mankind discovered bacteria only in 1676 AD thanks to the efforts of the Dutch scientist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, since ancient times, people have purely empirically assumed that diseases are spread by some invisible by force. At first, this "honor" was attributed to evil spirits. Then - miasma, stench, bad smell. By the way, for the same reason, foul-smelling swamps have always been considered by ancient people as “bad places”.
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Actually, it was precisely from the considerations that the plague can be transmitted from person to person with the help of "miasms" that the first masks of plague doctors appeared. True, what we are used to seeing today: a mask with a beak and glazed eye sockets, worn together with a leather cloak - this is a rather late notion that appeared already in modern times at the end of the 16th century. The first plague doctors simply wrapped their faces in cloth soaked in good-smelling oils. It was believed that in this way it would be possible to protect oneself from those very miasms.
In its final form, the plague doctor's costume appeared only in 1619 thanks to the efforts of a French doctor. Charles de Lorme. It was he who proposed a complete set of protective clothing for doctors. As you might guess, a protective mask with a beak is, in fact, a respirator or even a gas mask that completely isolates a person’s head and his respiratory tract. There is a beautiful and quite convincing legend that the mask was inspired by the image of the Egyptian god of healing, wisdom and buildings, Thoth. However, even if this is so, all this did not cancel the functional purpose of the mask: cloth impregnated with strong-smelling oils, which, it was believed, would protect a person from inhaling "bad air" from diseases. And although the plague doctor costume was created empirically, one cannot but admit that people who thought of the first OZK even before the discovery of bacteria were closer than ever to the truth.
If you want to know even more interesting things, then you should read about how much does the chum of reindeer herders cost and how many skins they need.
Source: https://novate.ru/blogs/100422/62675/