Schultheisz Emil: Traditio Renovata. Tanulmányok a középkor és a reneszánsz orvostudományáról / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 21. (Budapest, 1997)
24. Short history of epidemics in Hungary until the Great Cholera Epidemic of 1831
Z^oo¡ church ceremonies are held in the usual manner; "and the Calvinists stick to their damnatory tenets of predestination" ("damnata praedestinationum opinio"). The article of faith based on predestination of the Calvinists qualified "opposition to the dispensation of Providence as senseless" 2 7. This explains why it was in certain counties on the strength of instructions given by the governor general's council severely forbidden to Calvinist pastors to preach on predestination. Such harmful effect of the principle of predestination is not reduced by the fact that in the XVIth century already — a few decades after the reformation — there were Calvinist pastors who interpreted this thesis more elastically. Peter Károlyi, a Calvinist pastor, speaking of the plague wrote for instance in his book published in 1575 that "if God gives you force for going do not hate his care for you" i.e. invited the people to flee from the plague. Among activities of local authorities inspired not seldom by the central authorities measures aiming at the investigation of the situation concerning epidemics of neighbouring areas deserve to be mentioned particularly. Not only because information was slow in coming, but also for the reason, that the population and often also the authorities kept the outbreak of an epidemic secret a strange institution, that of the so-called plague-spies had become necessary. In the atmosphere of secretiveness characterizing all countries towns adjacent to borders of the country sent occasionally — on the news that an epidemic was approaching or even regularly — their plague spies to the neighbouring countries to investigate the situation concerning the epidemic for enforcing, if required, adequate measures — quarantine etc. In June 1679 the council of the town Sopron sent one of its confidential agents to the town Pozsony to find out whether the plague epidemic threatening from Vienna had not yet broken out there. The Pozsony council — when learning of it protested against the suspicion and wrote to the Sopron magistracy that only several kinds of feverish diseases usual in summer have been observed among the population. In fact the epidemic raged already at that time, within a short time it put more than 10,000 citizens of Pozsony into the grave. The council of Pozsony was afraid that on hearing of the epidemic their border town will be isolated, which would cause financial ruin to the citizens 2 8. In 1738 it was the magistracy itself which kept the epidemic of plague at Buda for a long time secret; this went so far that when the surgeons wanted to inform the higher authorities, they were severely threatened by the mayor and by members of the council should they not abandon this intention. In 1751 the director of the Pancsova quarantine station had the southern frontier closed and sent a reliable spy to Turkey to send a report on the plague in that country. When there was a suspicion of the plague a public health commissioner delegated by the country accompanied by a surgeon went with a military escort the round of the houses in the villages to see with his own eyes wheter there is no suspicious sick person somewhere. The precautions of the central authorities provided also doing away with the consequences of the epidemics after they where over. So they brought immigrants from foreign countries or recruited settlers from parts of Hungary free from epidemics to replace the population of depopulated areas. After the plague of 1410 e.g. king Sigismund granted in his decision dated June 4, 1410 to new inhabitants exemption from taxes and other facilities to repopulate the town. Similarly Hungarian kings and great landowners brought in later centuries settlers 2 7 Linzbauer op. c¡t. Tom. II., 129. 2 8 Archives of the town Sopron, Lad. XXIV., fasc. XV., 1035.
