The plague of 1720

But how did this scourge happen? We know that in the East, the plague is endemic. It is a disease present throughout the year, recurrent. But how does she move from the East to Provence, where the plague had not been seen in so many years?

The Great Saint Anthony, the boat that brought death to the old port

It is a 3-masted vessel of the Dutch flute type, its captain is Jean-Baptiste Chataud; departed for his last voyage to the East on 23 July 1719 and 25 May 1720, the Grand Saint Antoine is back in port of Marseilles, bringing from his long voyage, which brought him to Syria, an important cargo of textiles for merchants Marseillais.

In 1668 Colbert granted the city of Marseilles the monopoly of trade with the Levant.

Une flûte, navire de charge typique du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècle, à l'image du Grand-Saint-Antoine © Nicolas de Poilly (1626-1686) / Public domain

L'Entry to the port of Marseille (1754), Musée du Louvre © Joseph Vernet / Public domain

During the trip eight people died of the plague. Loaded with 700 balls of cotton, precious Damascus silks, chafarcanis and wools worth ECU 100,000, a real fortune for the shipowners of the ship. Most of the load belongs to the city's first alderman, Jean-Baptiste Estelle.

At that time, Marseille, with a population of 100,000, suffered a very serious economic crisis. Law's bankruptcy has ruined many traders and craftsmen. The cargo of the Great Saint Anthony is a promise of work for the portfolios and textile workers. In addition, the Beaucaire fair, which will take place in the second half of July, represents an important outlet for Marseilles traders.

Beaucaire Fair, gravure colorée du XVIIIe siècle © http://www.nimausensis.com/rochefort/RocFoire.htm / Public domain

Portrait réalisé vers 1750 de l'échevin Estelle, premier échevin de Marseille durant le grande peste de 1720 © Robert Valette / CC BY-SA

On June 20, the death of the first victim was recorded: she was a seamstress on Rue de l'Echelle. Other deaths follow. But in order not to frighten the population and not to hinder trade, the Marseilles authorities refuse to admit the existence of the plague. Also the disease spreads like a drag of powder.

On 31 July 1720, only 67 days after the arrival of the ship, the authorities announced that the plague was raging in the city and would spread very quickly well beyond Marseilles. The order given on 28 July by Regent Philippe d'Orléans to burn the ship and its cargo was not executed until 25 and 26 September 1720 and the plague had time to spread to Provence and Languedoc. It was not completely eradicated until January 1723, with an appalling death toll of about 100,000 out of the 400,000 inhabitants of Provence at that time.

View of the Cours Belsunce during the plague of 1720, musée des beaux-arts de Marseille © Michel Serre / Public domain

In 1978 a team specialized in underwater archaeology discovered the remains of the calcined wreck north of the island of Jarre. The Grand-Saint-Antoine anchor, drawn up, has been kept in seawater since 1982. Restored in 2012, it weighs almost a ton, with a yard of 3.80 meters and legs of 2.50 meters. It is now located at the entrance of the Marseille History Museum.

Ship burned à l’ancre, à l’image du Grand-Saint-Antoine © Wenceslaus Hollar / Public domain

L'ancre du Grand-Saint-Antoine © Veromicha (d • c • b)

What says epidemic, says research, and therefore books, drawings, etc. We have kept many treatises of medicine and engraving of doctors since the Middle Ages, and these will expand over the centuries. If the doctors of the plague remained in memory in the middle of everything else, it is by their very special habit.

The terrifying costume of the doctors of the Plague

This austere outfit was not the only function of making the shadow of death hovering over the beds of the patients visited. Above all, it had to protect doctors from the miasmas of the disease.

At a time when the mechanisms of germ transmission were still unknown, doctors thought that the plague was spreading into an air that became toxic, which could create an imbalance in the moods or body fluids of their patients.

The uniform consisted of an all-leather set from head to toe that provides an effective armor against fleas that flea the smell of a beast; a mask shaped like a Corbin's beak filled with medicinal herbs, spices and even a sponge soaked in vinegar from the four thieves becomes a kind of filter against bad odours and miasmas. The doctor also has a rod to examine the sick and keep away the most desperate and aggressive; goatskin gloves, a top shape and bags to protect the eyes.

The plague doctors' uniform has been designed to protect them from contamination and thus limit the spread of plague epidemics.

Médecin durant une épidémie de peste à Rome au XVIIe siècle (gravure de Paul Fürst, 1656) © I. Columbina, ad vivum delineavit. Paulus Fürst Excud〈i〉t. / Public domain

Medicine at that time was not very scientific, we are still in the medicine that Molière denounced in his time when doctors treated diseases with great purge and bleeding, which only had the result of weakening the patient even more.

During the major plague epidemics, the cities hired a new breed of doctors, called plague doctors, who were either second-class professionals, young doctors with limited experience or even with no certified medical training at all.

What was important was that the plague doctor was ready to venture into the areas affected by the pandemic and to count the number of dead bodies.

But what can a medicine in its infancy do in the face of this scourge? Is the doctor the real remedy? In a Christian world that explains every element of life by the prism of his religion, wouldn't God be the best remedy?

Saint Roch to the rescue of the pesticide

Science and medicine are powerless to understand, explain, and eradicate evil. Also the plague of Marseilles in 1720 is felt as a punishment of God.

This is so since the Middle Ages for any event over which man then had no control (famine, shortage, wars, diseases, etc.)

But if God is the one who punishes the guilty man, he is also the only one who can save him. To plead with God, often through His saints, is the last hope of people in misfortune. The most prayed saint in times of plague is Saint Roch. He is believed to be born in Montpellier around 1350. On a pilgrimage to Rome, he reportedly healed the pesticide. Sick in turn, he was reportedly cared for by an angel and rescued by a dog carrying him a bread every day. He died on 16 August 1379 in Voghera, Italy.

Saint Roch, Palmi (Italie) © Palminellafede / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Livre d'heures à l'usage de Chalon, Healing of St. Roch ; bordure extérieure ; initiale ornée (Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon, Ms 6881) © Domaine public

The prayer in St. Roch was:

Accablés de malheurs, entourés de la peste
Grand Saint Roch nous ne craignons rien,
Et rien ne nous sera funeste
Si vous êtes notre soutien.
Secourez ce peuple chrétien,
Et venez apaisez la colère céleste,
Mais n’amenez pas votre chien,
Nous n’avons pas de pain de reste

Following his great devotion during the plague of Marseilles, numerous oratories, chapels and streets still bear his name throughout Provence today.

In epidemics of plague, it was necessary to return to a best practice of Christian morality. We must take advantage of the indulgences and other means that the Church proposes to deserve God's mercy. It is necessary to avoid any opportunity of scandal and libertinage, so to defend any musician from playing publicly, to prohibit entertainments, masquerades, and carnivals. (During this feast, the people, once a year, could denounce by singing them the mighty of this world. The Church thus seized the opportunity to forbade a custom which she hardly tolerated.)

We will always remember the great men, their names will remain engraved forever in books, on steles, etc. But what do we do with those who have not dismerited, but whose name is only reminiscent of a street sign? Some of them went to the sick, to the dead, to try to stem the epidemic or simply to help. Here's one of them...

Knight Roze (1675-1733), the hero of the plague of Marseilles

His name is well known to the Marseilles, but his history may be less so.

With his real name Nicolas Roze, he was born in 1675 in Marseilles. It was necessary to wait for 1720 and the great epidemic of plague that affected the city and then Provence for this noble to speak of him.

At the peak of the epidemic, he died about 1000 people a day, who were left outside waiting for the trucks.

gravure du Knight Roze tirée de Paul Gaffarel et le marquis de Duranty, La Peste de 1720 à Marseille & en France, Perrin et Cie, Paris, 1911 © The original uploader was Christophe.moustier at French Wikipedia. / Public domain

Le chevalier Roze déblayant la Tourette au plus fort de la peste. Peinture de Michel Serre © Michel Serre / Public domain

There existed at the esplanade de la Tourette, that is, the area between the Major, Fort Saint Jean and the sea, a place difficult to reach for trucks, a gigantic pile of decaying corpses pushed there for weeks because it was impossible to evacuate elsewhere by the usual means. Nicolas Roze is going to offer to take care of the job. At the head of the forçats he managed to quickly clean the place using ancient cavities he discovered under the esplanade.

The vast majority of the convicts who had been promised freedom in exchange for their participation did not take advantage of it and soon died of the plague. Nicolas Roze was also affected, but he healed after a long recovery.

Tableau de Magaud : The Knight Roze and the Aldermen © Robert Valette / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Notice to the Public of 1720'enlèvement des cadavres morts de la peste © The original uploader was Christophe.moustier at French Wikipedia. / Public domain

During this tragic period, he even organized the supply of the city and set up a hospital.

Little is known about his life. He has never had official duties; we will see that he has always volunteered, either as a soldier or as a citizen, and he has left very few written traces.

Nicolas Roze died on 2 Sept. 1733, at that time he lived in rue du Poids de la Farine, a four-storey building. He was buried in the church of Saint Martin. He was 58 years old and left little money: 2656 pounds. He had no official funeral.

He received a late recognition, since it was not until 1885 that a bust with his effigy was inaugurated on the esplanade la Tourette. A street in the 2nd arrondissement of Marseille bears its name as well as the southern bend of the Stade Vélodrome, and in Marseille it means a lot...

Bust of Knight Roze à Marseille © Jean-Baptiste Hugues / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)