Fighting the plague in the Crown of Aragon (mid-fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries)

2025/01/13 by Albert Reixach Sala · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · #Medieval and Early Modern Iberia

paper · doi:10.1080/17546559.2024.2422034

Abstract

This article seeks to identify possible drivers explaining the evolution of the measures adopted by the municipal governments of the late medieval Crown of Aragon to fight the plague, from the Black Death (1347–1351) to the outbreaks of the early sixteenth century. After reviewing the sequence of strategies, from ritual actions to more pragmatic mechanisms especially focused on the mobility of people and goods, it analyses evidence concerning the perception of diseases by municipal representatives, irrespective of the influence of medical experts. It then examines other preconditions for the development of preventive and prophylactic mechanisms to cope with contagion, as well as addressing the extent to which disruptive events could trigger changes in specific political landscapes. These patterns are observed in relation to models of urban management of epidemics in the western Mediterranean region, a theme that deserves further research.

Discussions

• Newest item on the "Mother of All Pandemics" (2nd Plague Pandemic) bibliography: Reixach Sala, A. (2025). Fighting the plague in the Crown of Aragon (mid-fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries). Jour [bsky, 14 points, 0 comments]

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