How did the people try to cure and control it?

There was a lack of adequate medical knowledge during the time of the plague, and there was not enough information on what caused the plague.

There were many different ways in which people in the 14th century tried to "cure" the plague. Some doctors dressed up in costumes resembling a bird. They wore long cloaks and even would sometimes wear a mask with a long nose which looked a bit like a beak. This "beak" would be filled with flowers and sweet-smelling objects, bacause they thought the plague was airborne instead of being carried by fleas. However this is just one out of all the ways in which doctors attempted to cure the disease. The cures ranged from putting hot onions on the buboes, (the boils that appeared on the victim's body, especially around the armpits and the groin area, during the bubonic plague), to getting pigeons to suck the blood out from them. Some doctors applyed a mixture of dirt, human feaces and herbs on the buboes, to try and heal them.

Others, believing the plague was sent from God, prayed and self-mortified to please God (look in 'Causes' for more information).

A doctor during the plague