“The best medicine for the plague is to get ready to die and confess your sins. This is better than any other cures doctors may suggest, for God sends the plague and only he can stop it”. Said an Italian priest who was also a doctor in 1347.
It wasn’t really much use asking a doctor for help when the plague was in full force because they didn’t know what to do to control and cure the devastating disease. Some doctors even left the towns because they didn’t know how to cure the disease. As a result the citizens of the towns and cities started to try and cure the plague themselves without medicines, so a system of rules was used. They included:
-
No dumping rubbish in the streets
-
People with the plague to be locked in their houses
-
Burn sweet smelling herbs
-
Keep away from smelly places
-
Don’t breathe the same air as sick people
-
Don’t look sick people in the eye
Some used treatment that they used to cure other diseases such as ‘bleeding a patient’ or giving them medicinal herbs. Others used herbs mixed with soft bread to ease the swelling which was good for treating wounds but didn’t get rid of the plague.
 |  |
