"Kury, gęsi, kaczki…" – o ptakach na czas moru w staropolskiej diecie XVI-XVII wieku w świetle wybranych traktatów medycznych przedstawicieli polskiej kadry medycznej

Abstract „Chickens, geese, ducks…” – about birds during the plague in the old Polish diet of the 16 th – 17 th centuries in the light of selected medical treatises of representatives of the Polish medical staff This article „Chickens, geese, ducks…” – about birds during the plague in the old Polish diet of the 16 th – 17 th centuries in the light of selected medical treatises of representatives of the Polish medical staff was devoted of the topic of a meat diet, consisting of all kinds of birds known at that time, people living during plague epidemic in the Old Polish period. The article discusses the individual works of Polish medics educated largely outside their own country (mainly in Italy), who, through years of in – depth study and experience, created the so-called a “compendium of knowledge” devoted to the plague epidemics that plagued the lands of all Europe at that time. The above-mentioned guides and treatises suggested to people from the turn of the 16 th and 17 th centuries what to do during the coming plague and how to survive it, what to avoid and what to eat during it. One of such issues was the diet, consisting of vegetables, bread, dairy products and meats – pork, beef and poultry – specified by the authors, after all, it was so willingly bred and then eaten on the old Polish table. In the past, people in villages and smaller towns, deprived of access to doctors and a number of already known medicines, were forced to follow the works discussed in the article mentioned in the article, which then constituted the basis of knowledge about plague air. Thanks to these tips, also related to the plague diet (based on the above – mentioned poultry, pork, beef and agricultural produce), people were able to survive the most difficult period in their lives, relying in the more or less accurate observations of old doctors. One of them was the consumption of poultry, denied or accepted, and of course justified by individual representatives of the medieval staff in Poland, which were then analyzed in this article.