Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Medical History

Expelling the Plague

The Health Office and the Implementation of Quarantine in Dubrovnik, 1377-1533

by (author) Zlata Blazina Tomic & Vesna Blazina

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Apr 2015
Category
History
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773597129
    Publish Date
    Apr 2015
    List Price
    $100.00
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773545397
    Publish Date
    Apr 2015
    List Price
    $45.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773545403
    Publish Date
    Apr 2015
    List Price
    $39.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

A vibrant city-state on the Adriatic sea, Dubrovnik, also known as Ragusa, was a hub for the international trade between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. As a result, the city suffered frequent outbreaks of plague. Through a comprehensive analysis of these epidemics in Dubrovnik, Expelling the Plague explores the increasingly sophisticated plague control regulations that were adopted by the city and implemented by its health officials.

In 1377, Dubrovnik became the first city in the world to develop and implement quarantine legislation, and in 1390 it established the earliest recorded permanent Health Office. The city’s preoccupation with plague control and the powers granted to its Health Office led to a rich archival record chronicling the city’s experience of plague, its attempts to safeguard public health, and the social effects of its practices of quarantine, prosecution, and punishment. These sources form the foundation of the authors' analysis, in particular the manuscript Libro deli Signori Chazamorbi, 1500-30, a rare health record of the 1526-27 calamitous plague epidemic. Teeming with real people across the spectrum, including gravediggers, laundresses, and plague survivors, it contains the testimonies collected during trial proceedings conducted by health officials against violators of public health regulations.

Outlining the contributions of Dubrovnik in conceiving and establishing early public health measures in Europe, Expelling the Plague reveals how health concerns of the past greatly resemble contemporary anxieties about battling epidemics such as SARS, avian flu, and the Ebola virus.

About the authors

Zlata Blazina Tomic is a medical historian who worked at McGill University's Osler Library.Vesna Blazina is a translator and librarian who worked at the Université de Montréal.

Zlata Blazina Tomic's profile page

Vesna Blazina is a translator and librarian who worked at the Université de Montréal.

Vesna Blazina's profile page