What did they do in times of plague: the Cities, the Clergy, the People, the Doctors?
1. What the Cities did
Close the city
![Plague in Rome 1656](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Build Plague Hospitals
![Lazzaretto of Milano, built to house plague patients.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Isolate suspected and confirmed patients
![](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Hospitalize the sick
![Plague Hospital interior by Francisco de Goya.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Hire people
![Plague scene - transport of a patient to a hospital](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Have the dead buried
![Burying plague victims](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Burn their stuff
![Hippocrates ordering plague clothes burnt](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Make a lot of smoke
![An effort to drive off the plague by producing smoke during the Great Plague of London in 1665.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Issue regulations
![](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Punish the violators
![Death penalties during the Plague of Rome 1656.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Kill the animals
![Killing of cats and dogs during the Plague.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Hire more people
![Plague in Gdansk](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Remove the bodies
![Removal of Plague Victims in France.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Build a church
![Venice Santa Maria della Salute](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
2. What the Clergy did
Pray
![Bishops, cardinals, priests and brothers praying](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Organize a procession
![Plague Procession](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Perform the last rites
![Borromeo performing last rites during the plague](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Attend to the sick
![Woodcut showing interior of the Hotel-Dieu in Paris, with nuns and monks attending to the sick and dead.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Bury the dead
![](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Die
![Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
3. What the People did
Die
![Plague of Naples by Mattia Preti.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Flee the city
![Boccaccio Decameron manuscript miniature](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Find a scapegoat
![Burning of Jews](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Live on
![17th century village with square and people](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
4. What the Doctors did
When they were physicians: feel the pulse and inspect urine
![Two doctors and a nurse at deathbed of a patient, death holds a deadly arrow and is waiting](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Prescribe medicines
![17th century doctor looking at urine, woman waiting - piskijker](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
When they were surgeons: lance buboes
![Treatment of plague patients, Sebastian's chapel Lanslevillard.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Let blood
![Bloodletting](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Research
![Doctors dissecting plague victim](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
Flee the city
![Runaways fleeing from the Plague, 1630.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
When they were charlatans: sell potions
![A charlatan by Jean Tassel, 17th century.](https://doctorschnabel.net/wp-content/themes/zoom-lite/assets/images/misc/placeholder/ajax-loader.gif)
What did the doctors wear? Find out in our Costume Department.
HJMattie, March 02, 2022