Doctor

This article is about the type of merchant. You may be looking for the other uses of the term.

"Bring me your sick and wounded!"

―A doctor to passing civilians.

Doctors were health care providers, who practiced in the profession of medicine. Found on the streets of every European city and wearing black robes, they often wore a mask with a beak-like shape.

During the Renaissance period, doctors provided medical opinions and diagnoses, as well as selling vials of medicine in varying concentrations.

In the Ottoman Empire, the attire of doctors differed, often wearing dark coloured robes with tall, almost conical hats.

Background

The clothes of the doctors were usual for those in their profession, particularly after the occurrence of the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. This plague peaked in Europe during the 14th century, and was said to have killed 30% to 60% percent of Europe's population. Subsequent to it, the world's population dropped from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400.

To protect themselves from this pandemic, doctors dressed in a long black cloak covered with a coating of wax, along with a very primitive beak-shaped plague mask, although not all doctors chose to wear it. Within this Medico Della Peste mask, there were usually flower petals or burning herbs to rid of bad smells, since it was believed that viruses were transmitted though "bad air." The eyes of the mask were also made out of glass, as it was believed that sicknesses could be caught through face-to-face contact with patients, or by touching infected objects.

The specific mask that doctors wore during the Renaissance period was called the Maschera Dello Speziale, where speziale referred to someone who sold every kind of medicinal herb. This mask was also occasionally worn by civilians during Venice's Carnevale.

Services

Healing

Doctors would heal all of Ezio Auditore's wounds after being paid a sum of 50 florins. However, the Doctor in Monteriggioni would decrease the prices of his healing services by a percentage based on stages of renovation to his store.

Medicine

Doctors also sold medicine (for 75ƒ each), which was a healing item that could be carried in portable pouches. These were identified as smelling salts, that were used as painkillers, and the number of medicine vials that Ezio could carry at one time increased when a larger medicine pouch was purchased from a Tailor shop.

Poison

"In high enough doses, that which cures can kill."

―Leonardo da Vinci.

Doctors sold poison vials for a sum of 175ƒ. The Assassin Ezio Auditore often purchased poison from doctors after Leonardo da Vinci had upgraded his Hidden Blade with a Poison Blade function.

Poison was useful for discreet assassinations and for the creation of distractions, as it briefly caused victims to go berserk, flailing their weapons around and drawing the attention of nearby guards.

Trivia

• Ezio could not normally harm doctors, but the first doctor encountered in Assassin's Creed II (with Federico), was the only one that could be attacked and killed (only with blades). Doing so did not alert guards, and did not cause desynchronization. Also, when killed, the doctor rose back up again, seemingly unaffected. A video of this could be found here.
• When Ezio engaged in a fight with guards in the presence of a doctor, he would often kneel before Ezio and beg him not to kill him.
• On occasion, blacksmiths would also be able to restore some health when they repaired damaged armor.
• In the novel Assassin's Creed: Renaissance, the doctor that Federico introduced to Ezio was their family doctor, Dottore Ceresa. Also, instead of having a small stand like other doctors in Assassin's Creed II, he operated in an actual store.
• The doctor located in Monteriggioni was the only one to own a store in Assassin's Creed II.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, Ezio could complete a shop quest for the doctor on Tiber Island, which would upgrade the poison sold by doctors to Fast Poison, enabling Ezio's victims to become berserk immediately once it entered their blood stream.

Gallery

• 
  Early concept art of a Renaissance doctor.
• 
  An Ottoman Doctor.
• 
  A doctor's shop in Rome.
• 
  A doctor's stand.
• 
  Ezio purchasing medicine.
• 
  A doctor tending to Caterina Sforza.

Source

• Assassin's Creed II
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations