Black Death

Plague Doctors were stylin'!

A common belief at the time was that the plague was spread by birds.

There may have been a belief that by dressing in a bird-like mask, the wearer could draw

the plague away from the patient and onto the garment the plague doctor wore.

The mask also included red glass eyepieces, which were thought to make the wearer

impervious to evil. The beak of the mask was often filled with strongly aromatic herbs

and spices to overpower themiasmas or "bad air" which was also thought to carry the plague.

At the very least, it may have dulled the smell of unburied corpses,sputum, and

ruptured bouboules in plague victims.