Hospitales - History Lab

Cadastre of the Ensenada

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:42 +0000

Between 1750 and 1754 all the towns in “las Castillas” were subjected to an interrogation consisting of the following 40 questions: Name of the town (question 1); jurisdiction (2); extension and limits (3); types of land (4, 5); trees (6, 7, 8 and 13); measures of surface and capacity used (9, 10); species, quantity and value of fruits (11, 12, 14 and 16); tithes and first fruits (15); mines, salt mines, mills and other “artefacts” (17); livestock (18, 19 and 20); census of population, with neighbours, labourers, solemnly poor (21, 35 and 36), census of clerics (38) and convents (39); houses and other buildings (22); goods belonging to the commons (23), sisas and arbitrios (24), expenses of the commons, such as salaries, festivals, paving, fountains (25), taxes (26 and 27); industrial and commercial activities, with the utility of the goods or services produced: taverns, inns, shops, bakeries, butchers, bridges, boats on rivers, markets and fairs (29), hospitals (30), money changers and merchants (31), shopkeepers, doctors, surgeons, apothecaries, notaries, muleteers etc. (32); masons, stonemasons, masons, stonemasons, blacksmiths, cobblers etc. (33, 34); ships (37); alienated goods (28) and the King’s own revenues (40); the answers to these questions are obtained following a previously regulated process. This panoramic view of the Kingdom is a small part of a larger survey, the so-called Cadastre of the Marquis de la Ensenada, set in motion by Royal Decree of Ferdinand VI on 10 October 1749, as a preliminary step to fiscal reform, replacing the complicated and unjust provincial revenues with a single tax, the so-called Contribution. The Single Tax was never implemented, but it has left an important volume of documentation in our archives, the General Answers are kept in various State Archives. The General Archive of Simancas holds the complete certified copy of the replies of the 13,000 localities of the Crown of Castile. Preservation reasons led to the initiation of the microfilming process. In the 1980s, the 545 books of General Answers kept in Simancas were microfilmed. The frequent consultation of these collections and the need to facilitate access made digitisation advisable, which was carried out by the Document Reproduction Service (SRDAE) from microfilm during 2004 and 2005. The result is 350,000 images of documents with very neat calligraphic handwriting, easy to read and with hardly any abbreviations; very few pages have legibility problems, such as faded inks or ink transfer from the back. These images are now available on this page.

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The plague in the Kingdom of Cordoba in the 17th century

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

The Kingdom of Cordoba was one of the territories involved in the great plague epidemics that devastated the Iberian Peninsula during the 17th century. The resource lists the localities affected, using the 1761 map drawn up by Tomás López. In red are the epidemic outbreaks that occurred in the two-year period 1649-1650. Originating in the ports of Cadiz and the cities of Seville, Malaga, Antequera and Murcia, the epidemic reached the city of Cordoba with virulence and affected the municipalities located in the north of the kingdom and some areas in the south. Years later, and represented in blue dots, another plague epidemic broke out, which had a greater incidence in the south and, once again, in the city of Cordoba itself. How did the kingdom’s authorities deal with the epidemics? Isolation and the closure of communications were the best way to prevent the plague from spreading further; however, the absence of a centralised entity to control and delimit the vast territories resulted in the permeability of municipal borders. At the local level, the Board of Health decreed the measures to be implemented: food stockpiling, closure of trade, limitation of foreign trade and promotion of hygiene were the most widespread formulas.

The post The plague in the Kingdom of Cordoba in the 17th century first appeared on History Lab.

Map of the cordon sanitaire in Orihuela for the plague of 1676

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:18 +0000

The plague was one of the diseases that most decimated the Spanish population. The XVII century was the worst hit in demographic terms in Orihuela, Alicante: with the plague of 1647-1652 the population was reduced from 12,200 inhabitants to around 7,000. Against this background, the new outbreak recorded in 1676 in the surrounding towns was met with greater sanitary prevention. The city of Orihuela was isolated to avoid contagion and the accumulation of grain and foodstuffs was encouraged in order to deal with the possible epidemic. The danger for this city was in the market gardens, as many farmers crossed the municipal boundaries in the direction of Murcia or Elche to illegally supply produce. Faced with the danger of them becoming infected and returning with the disease, the Board of Health ordered quarantines to be imposed on those people who had been in areas at risk. Finally, a more effective cordon sanitaire was imposed, with 4 lines, linking Orihuela with Alicante: the first 2 lines were intended to isolate the outbreaks in Murcia and Cartagena, passing through the Segura River, the third line isolated the municipality of Elche, while the fourth was aimed at cutting off the outbreaks coming from La Mancha. Between the 19 leagues of the cordon sanitaire, 56 surveillance posts were set up with more than 100 operatives and men on horseback, who were permanently patrolling the containment lines.

The post Map of the cordon sanitaire in Orihuela for the plague of 1676 first appeared on History Lab.

The plague of 1649 in Seville

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

During the Modern Age, numerous epidemics struck Spanish and European populations. The painting shown here, by an anonymous artist, depicts the plague in Seville in 1649. The work focuses on the Hospital de la Sangre and the Macarena Gate, a perspective of the area outside the city walls that shows the tragedy. The Junta de Salud (Board of Health) established this area as a place of transfer for care or a burial site, as was the Prado de San Sebastián or Triana. The painting also shows a procession on the left, while the central area is dominated by the transport of the sick. On the right is a greater concentration of corpses. Due to the high number of contagions and the high mortality rate, it is estimated that this outbreak of plague, the last and most virulent, claimed the lives of 60,000 people in Seville, almost 45% of the city’s population.

The post The plague of 1649 in Seville first appeared on History Lab.

The plague of 1679 in Antequera, Málaga

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

The plague, one of the greatest threats to public health, struck Antequera in 1679. After the strong impact it had on the city of Seville, reflected in an anonymous painting dated 1649, the city of Malaga followed the same fate. The painting, an anonymous oil painting dated 1723, depicts the religious nature of these episodes: the Virgin of the Rosary appears in the upper left-hand band as part of the religious programme. On the right is a rainbow, symbol of God’s mercy, above a pious procession. Below, the city, under a rain of arrows representing the plague, the action unfolds. The dead are piled into mass graves while objects and personal belongings are burnt. The living are assisted by doctors and surgeons, who perform precarious medicinal work for healing (bloodletting, draining buboes, gauzing with ointments or cauterising wounds with hot irons). In short, the author depicted the tragedy of the plague, its social implications and its connection with the religious mentality.

The post The plague of 1679 in Antequera, Málaga first appeared on History Lab.

Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:32:12 +0000

The plague epidemic had an early manifestation in Spain. There is evidence of outbreaks of plague along the Mediterranean strip of the peninsula as early as the 6th-8th centuries. During the 14th century, the Black Death appeared in Europe, an epidemic which, interspersed with others such as influenza and typhus, reappeared in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1596 the plague reached the peninsula via Santander, a port area. It spread virulently through the territories of Extremadura and the two Castiles, especially the area around Madrid. The Cantabrian coast and Andalusia were also affected, as well as the area between Alicante and Valencia. It was in the latter city that another plague epidemic broke out years later, in 1647. From Valencia it spread to the northern part of the Crown of Aragon: Catalonia and the Aragonese territories themselves were affected. Andalusia was also hit again, with the city of Seville suffering significant human losses, where it is estimated that 45% of the population died. It was in Seville that another epidemic appeared in 1676. With no time to recover, cities such as Seville, Cordoba, Malaga, Cadiz and Jaen were the protagonists of the horror. They were joined by Cartagena, in the Kingdom of Murcia. These were the last large-scale epidemics to occur in the peninsular territories of the Hispanic Monarchy. Once the epidemic, demographic and food crises of the 17th century were overcome, the 18th century ushered in a period of generalised growth.

The post Epidemics of plague in Spain: 16th and 17th centuries first appeared on History Lab.

Smallpox mortality in New Spain. The parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, 1797-1798

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:48 +0000

During the Modern Age, smallpox was an epidemic that decimated numerous populations on the European continent. America’s joining the world-system meant that this territory also became involved in global problems. The resource shows the incidence in New Spain of the last smallpox epidemic of the 18th century in that viceroyalty through the parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, in the governorate of Tlaxcala. In this rural parish, between December 1797 and December 1798, a total of 75 deaths from smallpox were recorded, most of them indigenous people from this rural area. The author places the epidemic cycle in October 1797 in the city of Puebla, arriving in the jurisdiction of Tlaxcala in the first week of December. Its arrival led to a dramatic increase in mortality in the first few days of its appearance; 91.42% of deaths from the disease were recorded in one month. After the strong impact, social isolation and quarantines were the measures adopted by the authorities.

The post Smallpox mortality in New Spain. The parish of San Pablo Apetatitlan, 1797-1798 first appeared on History Lab.

Burial place of the Salamancan servants (1601-1650)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:29:13 +0000

The servants of Salamanca between 1601 and 1650 were predisposed to be buried in the church, followed by places not yet determined, convents or hospitals. This attitude to death is conditioned both by the mentality of the time and by the socio-economic characteristics of the group to which they belonged. Why in the Church? The motivations identified by the author reflect, firstly, the family conscience, as their ancestors were buried there, and secondly, the lower economic cost, as it was cheaper than the other options. Those buried in convents either had a relationship of dependence on them, being servants of these institutions, or had devotions to certain religious orders, which is why there was a higher percentage of men than women who chose this option: 26.9% compared to 22.5%. However, many of the testators (23.75% of women and 34.6% of men) did not specify the place of burial, leaving the choice to their executors, where relatives and masters were the most common choices.

The post Burial place of the Salamancan servants (1601-1650) first appeared on History Lab.

Child vaccinators: the feat that brought the smallpox vaccine from Spain halfway around the world

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:06 +0000

Short 5.11 minute video produced by the Department of Microbiology of the University of Seville on the Philanthropic Vaccine Expedition that managed to bring the smallpox vaccine, transported by children, from Spain to different areas of America and Asia as part of the then Spanish empire. It was the first expedition of its kind in human history. The expedition, also known as the Balmis Expedition after the doctor from Alicante, Francisco Javier Balmis, who led it, took place between 1803 and 1806 under the auspices of King Charles IV with funds from the public treasury. In order to preserve the vaccine sample for the duration of the voyage, it was decided that it should be carried by children who were successively inoculated arm in arm during the course of the voyage. Thus, the protagonists of this story were 22 foundlings aged between 3 and 9 from the Foundling Homes in A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela and Madrid, all of them accompanied by Isabel Zendal Gómez, rector of the A Coruña home and mother of one of the children. With the aim of reaching the general public, the narration is particularly clear in its presentation, with visual resources very suitable for primary and secondary school pupils. In addition, this video aims to raise public awareness of the importance of vaccination, as well as to debunk the myth of ‘anti-vaccination’ and its lack of scientific rigour.

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The Balmis Expedition – RNE Documents

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:06 +0000

Audio documentary 55.45 minutes long, which deals with the Royal Philanthropic Smallpox Vaccine Expedition. Commonly known as the Balmis Expedition, it left the port of A Coruña on 30 November 1803 and lasted for three more years. The vaccine, developed by the Englishman Edward Jenner in 1796, proved to be an effective remedy to contain the spread of the virus. With the aim of eradicating the disease in the Empire and the overseas colonies, the Spanish monarchy, with Charles IV as king, sponsored this ambitious and pioneering scientific-medical project. At its head was Dr. Francisco Javier Balmis y Berenguer. The video provides a well-documented account of the expedition. Twenty-two foundlings and orphans travelled with the medical team, led by Isabel Zendal Gómez, the rector of the Casa de Expósitos in A Coruña. The children, aged between 3 and 9 years, carried the vaccine in their bodies and so would be preserved in good condition until their arrival in America. The method consisted of injecting the vaccine into one child and, when it matured, the pulp was extracted and inoculated into another; in this way, a chain was established that ensured the vaccine fluid. In Venezuela, the team split up: one group, led by Balmis himself, went to Cuba and Mexico, while the other, led by deputy director José Salvany, went to South America. The former reached the Philippines and returned to the Peninsula in 1806, while the latter died before their return. With a script by Elisabeth Norell, Documentos RNE rigorously exposes one of the main milestones in the history of medicine with the participation of prestigious historians and experts in public health and epidemiology.

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