Tissues are a relatively new invention at least in America. Before they came on the scene people used handkerchiefs. King Richard II of England who reigned from 1377 to 1399 is widely believed to have invented the handkerchief square pieces of cloth he used to wipe the royal nose. Historians don’t say what everybody else was doing while the king had the first handkerchiefs. And what were they doing for the thousands of years until then? We also don’t know how long it took for handkerchiefs to catch on but they did and pretty soon it was the way to blow your nose inEurope.