While Henderson says that the same general set of anti-plague measures were taken in cities across Italy, the town of Ferrara, population approximately 30,000, offers a fascinating success story. This memoir has been published several times in its original Latin (2,3) and has recently been translated into English (although brief passages have been previously published in translation, see reference ). Most Italian cities also applied the same rules and regimens in fighting the plague. The last major plague outbreak, though, occurred in London between 1665 and 1666. The Antonine Plague of 165 to 180 AD, also known as the Plague of Galen (after Galen, the physician who described it), was an ancient pandemic brought to the Roman Empire by troops who were returning from campaigns in the Near East.Scholars have suspected it to have been either smallpox or measles. Although a work of fiction, Manzoni's description of the conditions and events in plague-ravaged Milan are completely historical and extensively documented from primary sources researched by the author. To Black Death spread to Italy from modern-day Russia. Today, many of us think of the plague as something confined to the history books. In 1347, only a few parts of Greece and Italy had experienced the horrors of … "[4], The 1630 Milan plague is the backdrop for several chapters of Alessandro Manzoni's 1840 novel The Betrothed (Italian: I promessi sposi). By law, a ready supply of Composito was to be stored in a locked box set into the wall of the municipal palace and only distributed in times of plague. When we talk about ''the'' plague, we're usually talking about the one that killed off millions of Europeans in the medieval era. Clothing and other textiles were hung out in the sun, beaten and doused with perfumes. There had been a series of famine and food shortages in the region, and the population … Live Science writes that some historians credit advancements in medicine for stemming the spread of the plague. Since the city was paying their salary they treated everyone, the rich and the poor. Referred to as the Antonine Plague(after emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus), this epidemic did what hordes of roving armies could not. Plague Spreads Swiftly. Around 165 CE, a mysterious disease broke out across the Roman Empire. It was the disease behind the Black Death of the 14th century, … [citation needed], "Plague in seventeenth-century Europe and the decline of Italy: an epidemiological hypothesis", "Plague and long-term development: the lasting effects of the 1629–30 epidemic on the Italian cities", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1629–1631_Italian_plague&oldid=1000896017, 17th-century deaths from plague (disease), Articles with unsourced statements from December 2020, Articles containing Italian-language text, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 17 January 2021, at 07:21. Anyone arriving at the city gates needed to carry identification papers called Fedi (“proofs”) to ensure they had arrived from a plague-free zone. Track how it ravaged humanity through history. Early researchers still do not know for certain where and when the Black Plague first arrived in the historical or genetic record. The papal city of Bologna lost an estimated 15,000 citizens to the plague, with neighboring smaller cities of Modena and Parma also being heavily affected. So when early civilizations encroached on the habitats of these flea-ridden rodents, the bacterium naturally jumped to humans. The Black Death is known as one of the deadliest and widespread pandemics in history. For personal hygiene, the citizens of Ferrara turned to several popular natural remedies prescribed for protection against the plague. The population of Italy was ill prepared for the spread of the disease. 1 million. Justinian I is often credited as the most influential Byzantine emperor, but his reign also coincided with one of the first well-documented outbreaks of plague. The Black Death, also known as the Pestilence and the Plague, was the deadliest pandemics ever recorded. The Italian Plague of 1629–1631 was a series of outbreaks of bubonic plague that ravaged northern and central Italy. [citation needed], Population before the plague and death toll, selected cities:[1], A 2019 study found that the plague of 1629–1631 led to lower growth in several cities affected by the plague and "caused long‐lasting damage to the size of Italian urban populations and to urbanization rates. Third Plague. Bubonic plague is the most common form of plague. The pandemic is believed to have originated in Africa and then spread to Europe through infected rats on merchant ships. Regional – the Venetian plague occurred at a time when many other Northern Italian city-states were also being re-affected by the plague. The Black Death marked an end of an era in Italy, its impact was profound and it resulted in wide-ranging social, economic,… Living with the Black Death. Bisgaard, Lars, and Leif Søndergaard, eds. [citation needed], In October 1629, the plague reached Milan, Lombardy's major commercial center. This type of plague affects the lymph system, and its name came from the large "buboes," or swollen lumps, that would appear on the neck, groin, and armpits of the victim. “That’s how he envisioned disease being spread from person to person. A major outbreak in March 1630 resulted from relaxed health measures during the carnival season. The secret recipe for Composito was concocted by the Spanish physician Pedro Castagno, who wrote Ferrara’s influential “Reggimento contra la peste” (“Regimen against the plague”), in which he described how the oily balm should be applied to the body. Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group/Getty Images. https://www.history.com/news/plague-italy-public-health-ferrara Plague has caused some of the most-devastating epidemics in history. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. 12 million. The public sanitation campaigns in cities like Ferrara emerged from a long tradition of medieval and sanitary legislation, further reinforced by Fracastoro’s theories of contagion. How did they do it? For Italians in the 14th-century, plague at first seemed extraordinary, then it became ordinary, even endemic. It reached the Byzantine capital of Constantinople in 541 A.D., and was soon claiming up to 10,000 lives per day—so many that unburied bodies were eventually … READ MORE: Pandemics that Changed History. The plague may have contributed to the decline of Italy's economy relative to that of other Western European countries. [2], German and French troops carried the plague to the city of Mantua in 1629 as a result of troop movements associated with the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648). Numerous scholars believed that it was either measles or smallpox; however, the cause of … 1885. In fact, the northern Italian town of Ferrara managed to prevent even a single death from the plague after the year 1576—even as neighboring communities were devastated. It not only shook Italian society, but transformed it. The Great Plague of Vienna struck the Holy Roman Empire in 1679.. Italian Peninsula See also Black Death in Italy. As historian William Rosen wrote in his book ‘Justinian’s Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe’, the plague “would mark the end of one world, and the beginning of another. “He developed an idea called ‘seeds of disease,’” says Henderson. “Painting in Florence and Siena After the Black Death: The Arts, Religion and Society in the Mid-Fourteenth Century” takes on Italian art in the aftermath of the bubonic plague. This epidemic, often referred to as the Great Plague of Milan, claimed possibly one million lives, or about 25% of the population. According to a 2010 study published in Nature, DNA showe… The plague may have contributed to the decline of Italy's economy relative to that of other Western European countries. 1889-1890. The Black Death originated in the northwest shores of the Caspian Sea, in the land of the Mongol Golden Horde, and spread into Europe when the Mongols attacked an Italian trading post at Kaffa in the Crimea. If the plague had not been able to travel from port to port with the rats and fleas on merchant ships, it probably would have not spread so widely or been so devastating.The fact that Italian city states were so successful as sea traders clearly connects them with the exposure and spread of the Black Death. Lime powder was spread liberally on any surface that may have come in contact with an infected person. The disease itself is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestisand it had already long existed on the fleas of wild rodents. Plague struck the besiegers in 1346 and then entered the town, to be carried abroad when the traders hurriedly left on ships the next spring. However, it was not the only epidemic to reshape European history. Sicily and the Italian Peninsula was the first area in then Catholic Western Europe to be reached by the bubonic plague pandemic known as the Black Death, which reached the region by an Italian ship from the Crimea which landed in Messina in Sicily in October 1347. But they prized one above the rest: a medicinal oil called Composito. This epidemic, often referred to as the Great Plague of Milan, claimed possibly one million lives, or about 25% of the population. READ MORE: See all pandemic coverage here. [citation needed], An expunged section of the book, describing the historical trial and execution of three alleged "plague-spreaders", was later published in a pamphlet entitled Storia della colonna infame (History of the pillar of infamy). Italy - Italy - Famine, war, and plague (1340–80): Italy’s thriving economy soon confronted severe challenges. Centuries later, it’s hard to confirm that Ferrara’s specific combination of public health measures were indeed the secret to its success. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Then they would be screened for any signs of disease. Plague, infectious disease caused by Yersinia pestis, a bacterium transmitted from rodents to humans by the bite of infected fleas. [citation needed], East of Lombardy, the Republic of Venice was infected in 1630–31. Henderson says that physicians had long believed that plague was caused by “corrupt air,” which could be released from under the ground during earthquakes. Although the city initiated effective public health measures, including quarantine and limiting the access of German soldiers and trade goods, the plague smoldered. How did they do it? All Rights Reserved. The plague was carried and spread by the fleas that lived on the Black Rat and brought to Italy on the Genoese ships. By 1357, the plague had returned to Venice, and in 1361–1363 the rest of Italy experienced the first recurrence of the pandemic. In Ferrara, the highest threat level meant closing all but two of the city gates and posting permanent surveillance teams composed of wealthy noblemen, city officials, physicians and apothecaries. “The choice to use venom is that only a true poison could combat the poison of plague,” says Henderson. Having conquered large parts of North Africa, and the Italian peninsula, the Byzantine Empire under Justinian I was at its peak when the plague broke out. The information was used to set threat levels and coordinate public health responses. But strikingly, some communities were spared. This particular page focuses on the effects of the Black Death. Corruption was also caused by “putrefaction,” rotting matter and other filthy refuse in cities and the countryside. Pisa, Pistoia, and Florence in Tuscany were especially badly affected; there pesta secunda, 'second pestilence' killed a fifth of the population. In 1546, the Italian physician Girolamo Fracastoro published an influential text on contagion in which he took this theory a step further. The Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea (500-565 CE) identified the beginning of the plague in Pelusium on the Nile River’s northern and eastern shores. Among these, first, were famines, which affected most of Italy in the years 1339–40, 1346–47, 1352–53, and 1374–75, and a general expansion and intensification of war compounded these catastrophes. The so-called Black Death killed 20 million Europeans in the 14th century. The Black Death is also commonly known as the plague. Bubonic plague is an infection of the lymphatic system, usually resulting from the bite of an infected flea, Xenopsylla cheopis (the Oriental rat flea). © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Genoese merchants spread the plague while fleeing a Mongol attack on their trading post in Crimea. [1] This episode is considered one of the later outbreaks of the centuries-long pandemic of bubonic plague that began with the Black Death. Several flea species carried the bubonic plague, such as Pulex irritans (the human flea), Xenopsylla cheopis, and Ceratophyllus fasciatus. As local authorities came to realize the benefits of federal involvement, local quarantine stations were gradually turn… Ferrara is a picturesque walled city situated along a branch of the Po River halfway between Padua and Bologna, both badly affected by plague in 1630. The plague had three distinctly different forms: Bubonic Plague Bubonic plague was the most common form of the disease. Valuable objects and money were heated close to a fire and perfumes were sprayed throughout the house for 15 days. What enduring legacy did the bubonic plague leave on life in Italy and beyond? Outbreaks of cholera from passenger ships arriving from Europe prompted a reinterpretation of the law in 1892 to provide the federal government more authority in imposing quarantine requirements. By January 1348 it had landed in Venice and Genoa. The Black Death arrived in Italy by sea, first making landfall in Sicily in early October, 1347. Critical in the city's success, records suggest, were border controls, sanitary laws and personal hygiene. “Before getting up in the morning, after lighting a fire of scented woods (juniper, laurel and vine shoots), warm the clothes and above all the shirt, rub first the heart region, near the fire to ease balm absorption, then the throat,” wrote Castagno. Castagno never disclosed the ingredients used in making Composito, but by examining records of materials that Castagno ordered, researchers determined that the balm contained myrrh and Crocus sativus, both known for their antibacterial properties, as well as venom from both scorpions and vipers. It was a big deal. The Galen plague of 165 to 180 AD, also referred to as the Antonine plague, was a pandemic brought to the Roman Empire by soldiers who were coming from the Near East. Inside homes, residents tried a host of measures to disinfect objects and surfaces. Russian flu. Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark, 2009. Starting with the catastrophic arrival of the Black Death in 1347, Italian cities gradually began to take proactive public health measures to isolate the sick, quarantine possible carriers and restrict travel from affected regions, says John Henderson, a professor of Italian Renaissance history at Birbeck, University of London, and author of Florence Under Siege: Surviving Plague in an Early Modern City. Any damaged or cracked furniture was taken out and burned. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. The plague was an unprecedented human tragedy in Italy. The difference, says Henderson, may have to do with Ferrara’s level of enforcement. The following year, Congress passed legislation that further clarified the federal role in quarantine activities. Those seeds of disease had a sticky quality that could also adhere to clothes and objects.”. Saint Vincent de Paul caring for plague victims in 1630. This was followed by a second wave in the spring and summer of 1631. 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