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Medieval lockdowns
Helping to place 2020 in context, Dr Helen Lacey, Supernumerary Fellow in History, reflects on medieval responses to ‘contagion’.
In the years 1348-50, the Black Death decimated the medieval population: almost half the inhabitants of England are estimated to have died. Nor was this the end of the threat; successive outbreaks of plague in the following decades kept the population level low. People responded to the challenge
of protecting themselves from the ‘miasmas’ of disease in a variety of different ways. Some measures seem alien to us – flagellation to atone for God’s punishment, for instance, or vomiting daily from an empty stomach – but others sound strikingly familiar.
In Italy (one of the areas hardest hit by plague) cities like Milan set up ‘exclusion zones’ and built plague hospitals for victims outside the city walls, although the constructions were sometimes beset by delays. Limitations on travel were also put in place. In Pistoia, civic authorities issued ordinances to regulate people’s behaviour and prevent the spread of infection, as
A Chiappelli charts in his 1887 edition
of Archivio Storico Italiano. Interestingly, these ordinances were amended over time, in response to changing conditions:
[2 May, 1348] So that the sickness which is now threatening the region around Pistoia shall be prevented from taking hold ... no citizen or resident of Pistoia, wherever
they are from or of what condition, status or standing they may be, shall dare or presume to go to Pisa or Lucca; and no one shall come to Pistoia from those places; penalty 500 pence...
No crier, summoner or drummer of Pistoia shall dare or presume to invite or summon any citizen of Pistoia, whether publicly or privately, to come to a funeral...
So that the living are not made ill by rotten and corrupt food, no butcher or retailer
‘ In Durham, residents were threatened with steep fines by the borough courts if they received visitors from infected areas.’
of meat shall dare or presume to hang up meat, or keep and sell meat hung up in their storehouse or over their counter; penalty 10d...
For the better preservation of health, there should be a ban on all kinds of poultry, calves, foodstuffs and on all kinds of fat being taken out of Pistoia by anybody...
... anyone can denounce an offender before the podestà or capitano, and receive a quarter of the fine if the accusation is upheld; the word of one man worthy of belief is to be sufficient evidence of guilt,
or the statements of four men testifying to the common belief.
[Revisions of 23 May] Chapter 1 to be entirely revoked...
[Revisions of 4 June] At the burial of anyone no bell is to be rung at all, but people are to be summoned and their prayers invited only by word of mouth.
In England too, we see measures designed
to limit the spread of disease. In Durham, residents were threatened with steep fines
by the borough courts if they received
visitors from infected areas. In Hereford the decision was taken to hold markets outside the city walls. Newcomers were suspected
of transmitting infection and some civic authorities ordered patrols to ‘search within their several boroughs for all new comers
and such as may prove infectious persons whereby the city may be in danger of infection by the plague or any other noisome disease’ (Rochester, 1467). The names of any suspects were to be reported immediately to the mayor and aldermen so that the necessary steps could be taken for their expulsion.
By 1518, Cardinal Wolsey had introduced quarantine measures in response to an outbreak of plague in London. Medieval medical understanding may have differed from our own, but the authorities of the period certainly recognised the need for restrictions on movement.
This article has been adapted from a piece written for Mansfield’s online ‘Isolation Conversations’ series, which saw Mansfield Fellows write articles on the theme of isolation from the perspective of their own disciplines.
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