False Tranquility: The Last Major Plague Epidemic in France and the Role of the State

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Through two testimonies from contemporaries, the historian Frédéric Jacquin recounts the last major epidemic of plague in France and the role played by the State in resolving the health crisis.

In June 1720, the plague arrived in Marseilles. In total, it will have taken away between a third and a half of a population of 90,000 inhabitants. The testimonies of contemporaries are not rare but the interest of those published by Frédéric Jacquin is due to the extraordinary precision of the account they give of this mass mortality. The first is written by a monk, Paul Giraud; the second by a merchant, Pierre-Honoré Roux.

“False Tranquility”

The very probable cause of the epidemic is the arrival in Marseilles, on May 25, 1720, of a merchant ship from the Levant where the plague was raging. Due to the value of the cargo, it is not destroyed as is usually done in this case. Spreading from the neighborhoods near the port, the plague quickly spread throughout the city. For many, it is a manifestation of divine wrath. Paul Giraud thus explains that God uses the epidemic to bring the too flourishing city of Marseille back to its duties. In this sense, the plague is an evil without remedy. Doctors are also hesitant in interpreting the symptoms. At first, the few who identify the plague attract the “public fury” who do not want to know. This collective denial is reinforced by the city authorities who do not want to panic the population. Inconsequential attitude because it gives “a false tranquility

2023-09-07 02:46:45
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