Craziest Professions In History.

These unusual professions are much more interesting than the ones you are used to. Although they were often fraught with difficulties.

Dead men busters.

Naturally, these guys didn't track zombies, as we don't live in a horror movie. They secretly dug up fresh (sometimes not very fresh) corpses from the graves, removed everything that was more or less valuable from them, and then sold them to anatomical offices.

The fact is that since the time of Henry VIII in Great Britain, surgeons were allowed to dissect no more than six dead people per year, and even those were the bodies of the convicted criminals. By the way, previously, the executed had to hang chained on the gallows for the edification of others. Such was the gloomy symbolism. Therefore, the anatomists did not get the bodies in the best condition, and they, in their pursuit of science, tried to bypass the restriction in every possible way. After all, it was interesting for them what the man’s inside looked like.

Surgeons hired risky guys who supplied them with material for a modest fee. This profession was especially widespread in the 18th-19th centuries, when medicine began to develop faster than before.

The British ironically called the cemetery body snatchers resurrectionists.

From the point of view of the law, the resurrectors did not do anything outright criminal, since the corpses did not belong to anyone - in the worst case, one could run into a fine. But the relatives of the deceased were, as a rule, unhappy that someone was picking at the graves. Relatives used a variety of means to keep the dead from being kidnapped.

Some people were on duty at the cemeteries and, catching the exhumators at their unsightly activities, beat them. Some people even organized dog patrols.

Some people placed the bodies in coffins strengthened with iron bars before burial, which were difficult to open. Or they used gizmos called mortsafes. They were placed on the grave for six weeks, so that the corpse had time to decompose and become useless for diggers. Such cells were especially popular in Scotland. Mathematician and topologist William Hodge once compared Edinburgh cemeteries to zoos.

The era of the hunters for the dead has passed after the series of murders organized by Burke and Hare, a couple of body snatchers, in Edinburgh in 1828. When there was a lack of the dead who died a natural death, the kidnappers decided to help suitable candidates leave for another world as soon as possible. Thus Burke and Hare collected material for at least 16 "exhibits."

The murders were later solved. Burke, as the organizer, was hanged, and his skeleton was displayed in the Anatomical Museum of Edinburgh Medical School, where he is still located. This is Karma, we guess. And surgeons in the UK were finally allowed to obtain bodies for autopsy in a more legal manner.

Chamberlain of the stool.

Among the European high aristocracy, it was customary for noble gentlemen, and not some rabble, to serve them. For example, to dress a king, you had to be at least a baron. Or, at least, you had to be a fleet admiral. This position was called the wardrobe master.

However, helping the Majesty to button up his pants or climb on a horse is still all right. The courtiers had to carry out much more unpleasant activities. For example, to wipe the royal ass after recovering from natural needs. The nobleman who received this honor was officially called the Groom of the King's Close Stool. This position has been mentioned in historical sources since the beginning of the Tudor period (1485).

The king could not afford to be touched by a commoner servant during the toilet. Otherwise, the monarch could accidentally bow down to the peasant, and this would have dropped the honor of the crown. Here he needed the help of a man of noble blood, without options.

The work was pretty responsible. Among other things, the "master of the toilet" handed the majesty a bowl of water to wash his hands, and a towel and was responsible for the work of the royal bowel. This was expressed in the fact that the chamberlain of the stool followed the king's diet. So that this very stool was in order.

The groom of the stool also served as the king's personal secretary, because, as you know, very often reasonable thoughts that should be written down visit us at the most inopportune moment.

The post of the chamberlain of the stool existed until 1901. Then King Edward VII, rightly judging that he was already an adult and could use toilet paper without assistance, abolished the position.

Barber surgeon.

Chances are, when you say barber, you're thinking of a tattooed hipster with a goatee juggling scissors and creams to rub one’s bald head. But the real medieval barbers were much tougher guys.

Medicine in those days was so-so, and a special piquancy of the situation was made by the fact that doctors, in fact, were not in position to practice medicine. They were educated at universities according to the writings of Hippocrates, Galen and Aristotle, and many of them, in addition, acquired the clergy. Therefore, a certified doctor was not supposed to cut people or stain his hands with blood in any way.

Imagine cutting your finger like this, but such a “dottore” won't be able to bandage you. But he will give you a lecture on the connection between sin and illness and healing. Pray - and the finger will heal, the plague will pass, and in general, you should cough up your throat.

So the doctors were treating "internal" diseases. These included diseases of the stomach, heart, kidneys, liver, lungs and, of course, the soul. And the "external" ones, that is, fractures, wounds, burns and other troubles, were treated by the barbers.

A typical medieval barber surgeon could not only cut and shave you, but also massage, correct the dislocation, bandage the wound, align the edges of the bone in case of a fracture and apply a splint, wash you in a bath, put an enema, remove a bullet or other foreign object stuck in the body and pull out a tooth. They could cut off a rotting limb, stick leeches, and apply moxibustion. They could do any whim for your money.

The barbers were especially responsible for the bloodletting. In medieval Europe, stagnation of blood in the body explained everything: from colds and love melancholy to hereditary diseases and fever. Therefore, bloodletting, or phlebotomy, was performed with or without reason, just for prophylaxis. It's like eating a vitamin now.

And yes, since then there was a very vague idea of hygiene, barbers washed their tools less often than they should.

The traditional “barber's post” symbolized the operation that the barber is currently performing. A pillar with red stripes meant that the barber was bloodletting the client; with white ones – they said they were pulling out teeth or setting bones. And the blue stripes showed that urgent operations were completed and that you could shave calmly.

To this day, a white-blue-red whirling stick stands at the entrance to the barber shops as a tribute to tradition. Although modern barbers, alas, have lost their skills: they cannot pull out a tooth or cut a leg.

Funeral clown.

Funerals are an extremely depressing event. Everyone is crying, walking around gloomy and upset - this is no good.

The ancient Romans believed that it was not good to grieve too much at a funeral, because it could offend the deceased. It is unpleasant when at a meeting in your honor everyone is sitting gloomy and sad. And it is quite fraught to anger the dead, you know; they may rise again and bite at night and send failure in love affairs.

Therefore, until the IV century, a specially trained person was invited to the Roman funeral, who worked there as a clown. He put on a mask that mimicked the features of the deceased, imitated his voice, grimaced and encouraged grieving relatives. Do not be sad, he said, everything is fine - here I am.

As you probably already guessed, the Romans had a very specific attitude towards death.

Often the clown was not alone: the whole troupe represented the merry dead. Some even received the honor of impersonating the deceased emperors, so that everything was of the highest level. It was not forbidden to dance and have fun on the graves.

Funeral clowns were highly respected people, and their work was considered correct and responsible. By the way, they still exist in the Czech Republic.

Forensic entomologist.

While in medieval Europe the perpetrators of a crime were often determined by judicial fights or "tests of faith" (if one managed to hold a red-hot horseshoe in his hands – he was acquitted), in China they really tried to investigate crimes. One of the earliest known forensic scientists in history is a Chinese man named Song Tzu.

In 1247, Song Tzu wrote a work on forensic medicine, Xi yuan zi lu, Judge Song's Collection of Reports on the Removal of Unjust Accusations, in which he described how crimes should be investigated.

For example, he explained how you can detect subtle stab wounds on the bones of the dead by covering them with a translucent yellow umbrella, understood why livor mortis form and how to distinguish between lifetime and post-mortem wounds, and made out the signs of poisoning with arsenic and other poisons. In general, he created a real handbook for the pathologist.

For comparison, in Europe they will begin to think about this only in 1602, when the Italian Fortunato Fedele published his first treatise on judicial inquiry.

But Song Tzu's real hobby was determining the time of death by the state of the larvae of cadaveric flies on the body. Historians consider this Chinese man to be the progenitor of forensic entomology. In his memoirs, Song Tzu described how flies once helped him investigate the death of a slaughtered peasant.

Interrogator Song understood from the shape of the wounds that the victim had been killed with a rice sickle and ordered all the villagers to put their sickles on the ground. The traces of blood washed from the murder weapon, invisible to the naked eye, attracted meat flies, and the owner had to confess to the murder.

This is the first documented use of forensic entomology in history. Not everyone will guess finding criminals using flies.

Europeans lagged somewhat behind in the field of forensic entomology. They just didn't think flies were important. It was assumed that insects appear by themselves from feces, dirt, carrion and other unpleasant substances.

Only in 1668, an Italian named Francesco Redi figured it out by putting a piece of rotten meat into a jar and wrapping the top of it with a rag. Flies did not form in the jar, and so Redi refuted the dominant theory of spontaneous generation.

And it was only by 1855 that the life cycle of flies and the state of the bodies of killed people in Europe could be linked. This is the merit of the French doctor Louis Francois Etienne Bergeret, who was born six centuries after Song Tzu. Both in Europe and in Asia, forensic entomology still exists, and textbooks continue to be written on it.

Whipping boy.

In general, hitting a child for his misdeeds is not good from the point of view of modern psychologists and pediatricians. But five centuries ago, no one asked the opinion of these clever people, and children were whipped for nothing. With a few exceptions: it was forbidden to touch the offspring of monarchs.

It was believed that monarchs were accountable only to divine authority. It was called divine right of kings. So, only the king or the Lord God himself could pull the young prince by the ears, if, say, he broke a vase or tugged a lady by the dress. And they probably had more important things to do than make suggestions to some petty bully.

Therefore, the courtiers who dealt with the royal children had to resort to more inventive methods of education.

From early age, a special baby was assigned to the princes, most often of noble blood (but they could also use a homeless child for these purposes, so that no one is sorry for him). He received the position of whipping boy (Prügelknabe in German). If His Highness misbehaved, it was Prügelknabe who was punished instead of him.

The whipping boy and the prince grew up together, were companions in games and study activities. It often happened that the boy became the only friend of the king's heir. So, when his best friend was punished for the prince's misdeeds, the former felt ashamed and repented (or not, if he was a selfish petty scoundrel).

The nobles really vied for the right to make their child a professional whipping boy, as this position could provide tremendous influence at court in the future. Often Prügelknabe, having matured, became a trusted advisor and, in general, an important person near his prince.

But in fairness it should be said that not all royal offspring were supplied with a specially authorized person who was ready to receive punishment for their pranks. The same Louis XIII was often beaten for speech impairments. However, the monarch grew up and even received the nickname Righteous.