Content Warning:
Horror, Violence, Injury, Death, Murder, Anatomy, Disease, Religion, Cruelty, Coercion and Abduction
Table of Contents
Content Warning
That is not everything relevant to their design: nondescription, capability, and other aspects present.
There was a functional purpose to why plague physicians were visually 'creepy'. The outfit was meant to be scary.
It was not a new concept at the time and correlations exist by extent.
There is no direct connection, but regardless a parallel.
That is what they (and others) (partly) do functionally: reduce chance of things occurring ambiently.
Being able to cut through flesh adeptly, and know where to cut, is significant: there is rarely utilised capability to address complications improvisationally, and potentially kill things that would otherwise be a danger to others. Defending the self can be necessary, whether ideal or not.
Medicine is multi-sided. It can be beneficial or harmful, depending on intended purpose.
Content Warning
Ablepsy - Blindness
Ague - Malarial Fever | Cinchona bark, sweet wormwood infusion.
American plague - Yellow fever
Anasarca - Generalized massive edema
Aphonia - Laryngitis
Aphtha - The infant disease "thrush"
Apoplex - Stroke (the rupture or clogging of a blood vessel in the brain), paralysis resulting from a stroke - sometimes also refers to other spontaneous causes of internal bleeding like burst aneurysms
Apoplexy - Paralysis due to stroke | Surgery is necessary to remove clots.
Asphycsia/Asphicsia - Cyanotic and lack of oxygen
Atrophy - Wasting away or diminishing in size
Bad Blood - Syphilis
Bilious fever - Typhoid, malaria, hepatitis or elevated temperature and bile emesis
Biliousness - Jaundice associated with liver disease
Black fever - Acute infection with high temperature and dark red skin lesions and high mortality rate
Black pox - Black Small pox
Black vomit - Vomiting old black blood due to ulcers or yellow fever
Blackwater fever - Dark urine associated with high temperature
Bladder in throat - Diphtheria (Seen on death certificates)
Blood poisoning - Bacterial infection; septicemia
Bloody flux, scowring, flux - Bloody stools | Ipecacuanha extract.
Bloody sweat - Sweating sickness
Bone shave - Sciatica
Brain fever - Meningitis
Breakbone - Dengue fever
Bright's disease - Chronic inflammatory disease of kidneys
Bronze John - Yellow fever
Bule - Boil, tumor or swelling
Cachexy - Malnutrition
Cacogastric - Upset stomach
Cacospysy - Irregular pulse
Caduceus - Subject to falling sickness or epilepsy
Camp fever - Typhus; aka Camp diarrhea
Canine madness - Rabies, hydrophobia
Canker - Ulceration of mouth or lips or herpes simplex
Catalepsy - Seizures / trances
Catarrhal - Nose and throat discharge from cold or allergy
Cerebritis - Inflammation of cerebrum or lead poisoning
Chilblain - Swelling of extremities caused by exposure to cold
Childbed - Death during or shortly after giving birth
Child bed fever - Infection following birth of a child
Chin cough - Whooping cough
Chlorosis - Iron deficiency anemia
Cholera - Acute severe contagious diarrhea with intestinal lining sloughing
Cholera morbus - Characterized by nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps, elevated temperature, etc
Cholecystitus - Inflammation of the gall bladder
Cholelithiasis - Gall stones
Chorea - Disease characterized by convulsions, contortions and dancing
Chrisomes - Death of an unbaptized infant / death of an infant less than a month old
Cold plague - Ague which is characterized by chills
Colic - An abdominal pain and cramping
Colick, stone, and strangury - Severe abdominal pain, bladder/kidney stones, rupture in abdomen (appendicitis, bladder rupture, etc)
Congestive chills - Malaria
Consumption - Tuberculosis | Common mullein extract.
Congestion - Any collection of fluid in an organ, like the lungs
Congestive chills - Malaria with diarrhea
Congestive fever - Malaria
Corruption - Infection
Coryza - A cold
Costiveness - Constipation
Cramp colic - Appendicitis
Crop sickness - Overextended stomach
Croup - Laryngitis, diphtheria, or strep throat
Cut of the stone - Died during/from the surgery to cut out bladder/kidney stones
Cyanosis - Dark skin color from lack of oxygen in blood
Cynanche - Diseases of throat
Cystitis - Inflammation of the bladder
Day fever - Fever lasting one day; sweating sickness
Debility - Lack of movement or staying in bed
Decrepitude - Feebleness due to old age
Delirium tremens - Hallucinations due to alcoholism
Dengue - Infectious fever endemic to East Africa
Dentition - Cutting of teeth
Deplumation - Tumor of the eyelids which causes hair loss
Diary fever - A fever that lasts one day
Diptheria - Contagious disease of the throat
Distemper - Usually animal disease with malaise, discharge from nose and throat, anorexia
Dock fever - Yellow fever
Dropsy - Edema (swelling), often caused by kidney or heart disease
Dropsy of the Brain - Encephalitis
Dry Bellyache - Lead poisoning
Dyscrasy - An abnormal body condition
Dysentery - Inflammation of colon with frequent passage of mucous and blood
Dysorexy - Reduced appetite
Dyspepsia - Indigestion and heartburn. Heart attack symptoms
Dysury - Difficulty in urination
Eclampsy - Symptoms of epilepsy, convulsions during labor
Ecstasy - A form of catalepsy characterized by loss of reason
Edema - Nephrosis; swelling of tissues
Edema of lungs - Congestive heart failure, a form of dropsy
Eel thing - Erysipelas
Elephantiasis - A form of leprosy
Encephalitis - Swelling of brain; aka sleeping sickness
Enteric fever - Typhoid fever
Enterocolitis - Inflammation of the intestines
Enteritis - Inflations of the bowels
Epitaxis - Nose bleed
Erysipelas - Contagious skin disease, due to Streptococci with vesicular and bulbous lesions
Extravasted blood - Rupture of a blood vessel
Falling sickness - Epilepsy, seizures
Fatty Liver - Cirrhosis of liver
Fits - Sudden attack or seizure of muscle activity
Flocks and small pox - Smallpox, other diseases causing pustules over the body like cowpox and chickenpox | Mugwort, liquorice, rosewater salves.
Flux - An excessive flow or discharge of fluid like hemorrhage or diarrhea
Flux of humour - Circulation
French pox - Syphilis
Gathering - A collection of pus
Glandular fever - Mononucleosis
Great pox - Syphilis
Green fever / sickness - Anemia
Grippe/grip - Influenza like symptoms
Grocer's itch - Skin disease caused by mites in sugar or flour
Heart sickness - Condition caused by loss of salt from body
Heat stroke - Body temperature elevates because of surrounding environment temperature and body does not perspire to reduce temperature | Coma and death result if not reversed.
Hectical complaint - Recurrent fever
Hematemesis - Vomiting blood
Hematuria - Bloody urine
Hemiplegy - Paralysis of one side of body
Hip gout - Osteomylitis
Horrors - Delirium tremens
Hydrocephalus - Enlarged head, water on the brain
Hydropericardium - Heart dropsy
Hydrophobia - Rabies
Hydrothroax - Dropsy in chest
Hypertrophic - Enlargement of organ, like the heart
Impetigo - Contagious skin disease characterized by pustules
Inanition - Physical condition resulting from lack of food
Infantile paralysis - Polio
Intestinal colic - Abdominal pain due to improper diet
Jail fever - Typhus
Jawfain - "Jaw fallen" / lockjaw, often tetanus
Jaundice / jaundies - Condition caused by blockage of intestines | Betony, chamomile, gardenia, basil infusions.
King's evil - Tuberculosis of neck and lymph glands | The touch of a king or monarch was said to cure this disease. In medieval and Renaissance eras, many monarchs performed rituals during cold seasons in order to 'remedy' crowds who came for the events. The condition often went away itself, causing assumption that monarchs could alleviate it.
Kruchhusten - Whooping cough
Lagrippe - Influenza
Livergrown - Another term for rickets or from diseases which resulted in a swollen, enlarged liver - things like chronic alcoholism, hepatitis, or congestive heart failure | Milk thistle, holy basil extract, ginger, garlic, licorice, ginseng.
Lockjaw - Tetanus or infectious disease affecting the muscles of the neck and jaw: if untreated, it is fatal in eight days
Long sickness - Tuberculosis
Lues disease - Syphilis
Lues venera - Venereal disease
Lumbago - Back pain
Lung fever - Pneumonia
Lung sickness - Tuberculosis
Lying in - Time of delivery of infant
Made away themselves - Suicide
Malignant sore throat - Diphtheria
Mania - Insanity
Marasmus - Progressive wasting away of body, like malnutrition
Meagrom - migraine, severe headache - this obvious symptom could be deadly if it originated from things like a brain tumor, bleeding within the brain
Membranous Croup - Diphtheria
Meningitis - Inflations of brain or spinal cord
Metritis - Inflammation of uterus or purulent vaginal discharge
Miasma - Poisonous vapors thought to infect the air
Milk fever - Disease from drinking contaminated milk, like undulant fever or brucellosis
Milk leg - Post partum thrombophlebitis
Milk sickness - Disease from milk of cattle which had eaten poisonous weeds
Mormal - Gangrene
Morphew - Scurvy blisters on the body
Mortification - Gangrene of necrotic tissue
Murthered - Murdered
Myelitis - Inflammation of the spine
Myocarditis - Inflammation of heart muscles
Necrosis - Mortification of bones or tissue
Nephrosis - Kidney degeneration
Nepritis - Inflammation of kidneys
Nervous prostration - Extreme exhaustion from inability to control physical and mental activities
Neuralgia - Described as discomfort, such as "Headache" was neuralgia in head
Nostalgia - Homesickness
Over-laid - infant that died after being unintentionally smothered / parent rolled onto them while sleeping
Palsy - Paralysis or uncontrolled movement of controlled muscles
Paroxysm - Convulsion
Pemphigus - Skin disease of watery blisters
Pericarditis - Inflammation of heart
Peripneumonia - Inflammation of lungs
Peritonotis - Inflammation of abdominal area
Petechial Fever - Fever characterized by skin spotting
Puerperal exhaustion - Death due to child birth
Phthiriasis - Lice infestation
Phthisis - Chronic wasting away or a name for tuberculosis
Piles - hemorrhoids
Plague - An acute febrile highly infectious disease with a high fatality rate
Planet - Aka planet-struck, any very sudden severe illness or paralysis that was thought to result from the "influence" of a planet
Pleurisy - Any pain in the chest area with each breath
Podagra - Gout
Poliomyelitis - Polio
Potter's asthma - Fibroid pthisis
Pott's disease - Tuberculosis of spine
Puerperal exhaustion - Death due to childbirth
Puerperal fever - Elevated temperature after giving birth to an infant
Puking fever - Milk sickness
Purples - Bruising, especially wide-spread - many causes | Calendula, yarrow, chamomile, nettle, daisy salves.
Putrid fever - Diphtheria
Quinsy / Quinsie - Tonsillitis | Ginger, peppermint, chamomile teas.
Remitting fever - Malaria
Rheumatism - Any disorder associated with pain in joints
Rickets - Disease of skeletal system
Rising of the lights - As an organ meat, lungs are often called "lights" because they are very light-weight organs: this may be related to severe coughing and the perception that during a cough the lungs would rise up in the chest
Rose cold - Hay fever or nasal symptoms of an allergy
Rotanny fever - (Child's disease) – a possible variant of ‘rotten’ in Middle English: a rotten or decaying smell from organ failure
Rubeola - German measles
Sanguineous crust - Scab
Scarlatina - Scarlet fever
Scarlet fever - A disease characterized by red rash
Scarlet rash - Roseola
Sciatica - Rheumatism in the hips
Scirrhus - Cancerous tumors
Scotomy - Dizziness, nausea and dimness of sight
Scrivener's palsy - Writer's cramp
Screws - Rheumatism
Scrofula - Tuberculosis of neck lymph glands. Progresses slowly with abscesses and pistulas develop. Young person's disease
Scrumpox - Skin disease, impetigo
Scurvy - Lack of vitamin C. Symptoms of weakness, spongy gums and hemorrhages under skin
Septicemia - Blood poisoning
Shakes - Delirium tremens
Shaking - Chills, ague
Shingles - Viral disease with skin blisters
Ship fever - Typhus
Siriasis - Inflammation of the brain due to sun exposure
Sloes - Milk sickness
Small pox - Contagious disease with fever and blisters
Softening of brain - Result of stroke or hemorrhage in the brain, with an end result of the tissue softening in that area
Sore throat distemper - Diphtheria or quinsy
Spanish Disease - Syphilis
Spanish influenza - Epidemic influenza
Spasms - Sudden involuntary contraction of muscle or group of muscles,like a convulsion
Spina bifida - Deformity of spine
Spotted fever / feaver - Either typhus or meningitis
Sprue - Tropical disease characterized by intestinal disorders and sore throat
St. Anthony's fire - Also erysipelas, but named so because of affected skin areas are bright red in appearance
St. Vitus dance - Ceaseless occurrence of rapid complex jerking movements performed involuntary
Stomatitis - Inflammation of the mouth
Stranger's fever - Yellow fever
Strangery - Rupture
Starved at nurse - Insufficient milk, or the child had a disease that caused them to "fail to thrive" / not gain weight and die even though being fed
Sudor anglicus - Sweating sickness
Summer complaint - Diarrhea, usually in infants caused by spoiled milk
Sunstroke - Uncontrolled elevation of body temperature due to environment heat. Lack of sodium in the body is a predisposing cause
Surfet - Overeating / gluttony, vomiting from overeating. Aside from direct "death from overeating" it may have been a grouping for many types of death that often went along with being overweight - death from untreated diabetes, cushing's disease, heart failure, etc
Swamp sickness - Could be malaria, typhoid or encephalitis
Sweating sickness - Infectious and fatal disease common to UK in 15th century
Tetanus - Infectious fever characterized by high fever, headache and dizziness
Teeth - Dental infection leading to death
Thrombosis - Blood clot inside blood vessel
Thrush - Childhood disease characterized by spots on mouth, lips and throat
Tick fever - Rocky mountain spotted fever
Tissick - Cough, can also refer to the coughing and wasting away of tuberculosis
Toxemia of pregnancy - Eclampsia
Trench mouth - Painful ulcers found along gum line, Caused by poor nutrition and poor hygiene
Tussis convulsiva - Whooping cough
Tympany - Either abdominal tumor growth, or other bloating/distension of the abdomen - especially when air or gas is caught within the abdomen or intestines, causing a hollow sound when thumped
Typhus - Infectious fever characterized high fever, headache, and dizziness
Variola - Smallpox
Venesection - Bleeding
Viper's dance - St. Vitus Dance
Water on brain - Enlarged head
White swelling - Tuberculosis of the bone
Winter fever - Pneumonia
Womb fever - Infection of the uterus
Worm fit - Convulsions associated with teething, worms, elevated temperature or diarrhea
Yellowjacket - Yellow fever [tullyhistoricalsociety.org]
Use of Hawthorn in Europe
Initial History
12 | Vocal and Gender Elements
13 | Horror
14 | Further Horror
15 | Social Factors
16 | Mythological Factors
Further Context
17 | Salutary Elements
![]() |
![]() |
---|
Both vestments almost exactly like Lumen's attire: which occur from their feathers, that are also part of themselves until detaching.
Immaterial > material.
Catholicism was not a choice, Protestantism was. The difference in thought was an upheaval that did not happen without recognition.
The pope and a successor indirectly killed many persons in order to instill fear. It did not work.
Opposition is a natural response.
As opposed to ancient or other time frames that involved constant but gradual death, it was a massacre essentially.
Other thematics:
No skin or defining aspects are present: memory is universal.
Linen was a highly used cloth historically, in many places.
White was one shade related to mourning; aside from related to people of learning often. Linen is tawny unless bleached. White linen can be expensive depending on the location, historically.
Ravens were "believed to be the souls of the dead"; coherency was realistically spooky; and it "would not make sense" for individuals to know things that people who passed did, otherwise.
18 | Covert Elements
19 | Nutrition and Culture
20 | Further Social Elements
21 | Medicine and Anatomy
22 | Name, Gender, Perspectives
23 | Personal History and Details
Queer Relationships in the Renaissance
24 | Behaviour and Rhetoric
25 | Quotes
26 | Limitations
27 | Topography
28 | Concluding Details
Sewing and Candlemaking Contexts
Content Warning
Content Warning
Historical Background Context