6. The Plague was Painful and Unsightly
One of the hallmark symptoms of the Bubonic Plague is the buboes from which it takes its name. Buboes are fluid-filled swellings of the lymph nodes, typically found in the armpit and groin. The buboes could be as large as an apple and extremely painful. While we now know not to drain them, at the time a chicken feather was often used to lance and drain the buboes. The fluid within was highly infectious and could often spread the disease to the doctor lancing the buboes.
Black spots under the skin due to hemorrhage were a common sign of the septicemic variety of the plague. Even in the 14th century, it was understood that this presentation meant death was almost inevitable and imminent. Gangrene sometimes affected the extremities of victims, causing dead and blackened fingers or toes, and the flea bites that caused the disease could also become gangrenous.
In the pneumatic form of the disease, victims would often cough up a bloody froth in the hours before dying. Sufferers would have had chest pain and extreme difficulty breathing in the hours before death. For septicemic sufferers, they would have had unsightly bruising and hemorrhaging over their entire bodies before dying of fever, blood loss, or shock from the systemic infection.