What Did Plague Doctors Actually Do? (Not What You Think)

You know the beaked mask. But did you know it didn’t exist during the Black Death, that the beak was filled with spices, and that plague doctors couldn’t cure anyone? So what did plague doctors actually do? In this video we follow a plague doctor through Rome in 1656 and uncover the real job: counting the dead, witnessing wills, lancing swollen buboes and living in isolation from their own families. Along the way you’ll learn: Why Charles de Lorme designed the beaked costume in 1619, nearly three centuries after the Black Death What the beak was stuffed with, and why the miasma theory of “bad air” was wrong How Yersinia pestis really spreads, and why the waxed leather coat may have protected doctors from fleas by accident What the Great Plague of London in 1665 and the Venice plague of 1630 looked like for the people locked inside Where the word “quarantine” comes from, and what happened in Marseille in 1720 when it was skipped How the plague doctor’s mask compares with the N95 you wore in 2020 If you’re curious about medieval medicine, the history of quarantine or the dark side of history, this one is for you. Made by Two Sticks, where we explain big ideas with simple sticks. If you enjoyed it, subscribe and tell us in the comments: what should we explain next?