In 1720, the town of Marseilles (France) was struck by an epidemic of Peste which caused the death of a third of its inhabitants and remains an outstanding episode of its history.
Although this city knew other epidemics of plague (the preceding one goes up in 1650), this one was particularly remarkable because it owes its origin with a succession of voluntary negligences : certain people placed high did not want to proclaim the state of plague for financial reasons, with the more high level of the city phocéenne. This disaster episode marked also the spirits by the behavior in return of these high-ranking persons: they took the party to come in contact with pestiferous to limit the catastrophe within the city.
Chronology
The May 25th 1720
A boat coming from Syria named the Grand Saint Antoine , ordered by the captain Chataud accosted in Marseilles. This boat charged with invaluable fabrics carried the suspicions of an epidemic of Peste.
To avoid losing the cargo during strict forty and as fast as possible to sell it at the time of the fair of Beaucaire, the alderman S of the city:
- Jean-Baptiste Estelle
- Jean-Pierre Moustier (sometimes spelled Moustiers , Moustiés or Moustiès )
- Jean-Baptiste Audimar
- and Balthazar Dieudé
By negligence, the goods of smuggling (the “Shoddy goods”) passed the enclosure of the lazaret thanks to the corruption which reigned there. The patients who were touched the first have probably all be in contact with the fabrics of smuggling and it proves that the carrying chips were in the folds of fabrics and not on the rats.
The June 20th 1720
Rue Belle-Table, a 58 year old lavender field, Marie Dunplan, dies after a few days of anguish. It has a coal on the lips. The doctors do not take guard there. How would they make the bringing together with the Black Death of medieval times?
The June 28th 1720
In the same district, in his turn a 45 year old dies tailor. Two days later, it is with the turn of his wife.
The July 9th 1720
Lastly, two doctors, the Peyssonnel father and wire, go to the bedside of a thirteen year old Jean-Gallant child Rue. And there, immediately, they include/understand: the plague! These two excellent doctors inform the authorities. It is necessary to go quickly: the victims of the contagion die in less than two days.
August 1720
The plague breaks on all the city to reach nearly thousand dead each day around on August 30th, 1720, whereas one counted of them daily only 70 in July.
September 1720
When one decides to buckle Marseilles, at the beginning of September, it is already too late: the bacillus was spread in the interior of the grounds and it will take two more years of fight for éradiquer the plague of the Languedoc and the Provence. One tries to protect oneself some, without success, by building the Mur of the plague in the Monts of Vaucluse.
Vis-a-vis this epidemic without precedent, M {{gr.}} Belsunce then bishop of Marseilles, decides to return visit to the patients in their managing the last sacraments. One also saw it distributing abundant alms in order to relieve his flocks.
At the side of M {{gr.}} Belsunce, one found also personalities such as:
- the Knight Roze,
- the Capus archivist,
- the secretary Pichatty de Croissainte
- the painter Michel Tightens,
- the Doctor Peyssonnel,
- Doctor Bertrand,
- the director of the hospital Bruno-Garnier
- the lieutenant of admiralty Gérin-Ricard
Epilog
The plague prevails in the city until the end of the month of October 1720 and made approximately 40.000 Marseilles victims, that is to say nearly a third of the population. At leaving this sad episode, M {{gr.}} Belsunce placed the city under the protection of the Sacré Heart of Jesus at the time of a celebrated mass on November 1st 1720, which saw the aldermen pronouncing the wish of a permanent engagement which resulted in a procession and a mass during which one made the offering of a candle of 4 books to the weapons of the city.
Marseilles knew a relapse in August 1722, but which did not make this time 260 dead. Inside the grounds, one counts approximately 50.000 victims in Provence and 50.000 others in the Gévaudan.
Since:
- a statue with the effigy of Belsunce was set up initially on the Course (current Cours Belsunce) then several times moved. It is currently on the square of the Cathedral of the Major,
- one finds in the center of the city of the streets in the name of the aldermen,
- until in the years 1940, to say shit , the Marseillais pronounced sometimes the name of Moustier ,
- the ceremony of permanent engagement takes place in the church of the Sacred Heart of Prado every year
- a commemorative plaque was created in memory with the aldermen. This one is visible with the Musée of History of Marseilles and one can there read:
WITH THE ETERNAL MEMORY COURAGEOUS MEN WHOSE NAMES FOLLOW LANGERON, COMMANDER OF MARSEILLES OF PLUNDERS, GOVERNOR VIGUIER BELSUNCE, BISHOP; ESTELLE, FIRST ALDERMAN; MOUSTIER \ AUDIMAR > ALDERMAN DIEUDE/ ROSE, GENERAL POLICE CHIEF FOR THE NEW BANK DISTRICT MALAI, JESUIT, POLICE CHIEF FOR THE STREET OF THE STOPOVER; TIGHTEN, FAMOUS PAINTER, HIGH OF PUGET ROSE, the GROIN AND ROLAND, INTENDANT OF HEALTH CHICOINEAU, VERNY, PEISSONNEL, MONTAGNIER, BERTRAND, MICHEL AND DEYDIER, DOCTORS.
THEY SE DEVOUERENT FOR THE SAFETY OF THE MARSEILLAIS IN the HORRIBLE PLAGUE OF 1720.
Topicality of research
In 1998, an excavation of a mass grave of the victims of the epidemic of bubonic plague was led by students of the University of the Mediterranean. The excavation provides the occasion to study more than 200 skeletons coming from the second district from Marseilles known under the name of Monastère from the Observance. In addition to the modern tests of laboratories, the files were studied to determine the conditions and the dates surrounding the use of this mass grave. This multidisciplinary approach revealed unknown facts and information before concerning the epidemic of 1722. One of the bodies presented the first historical certificate of autopsy. The reconstitution of cranium of a 15 year old boy indicates that an autopsy was practiced during the spring of 1722. The techniques of anatomy used seem to be identical to those described in a book of medicine going back to 1708.
See too
In Wikipedia
-
List of the epidemics of plague
- Wall of the plague
- Plague
- Convent of Tiny the with Marignane
Others
- Paul Gaffarel and the marquis de Duranty, the Plague of 1720 in Marseilles & in France , Perrin and Co, Paris, 1911. to read on line with the BIUM of Paris
- Marius Dubois, Paul Gaffarel and J. - B. Samat, History of Marseilles , Bookstore P. Ruat, Marseilles, 1913.
- Marcel Pagnol, the Time of the Loves , chapter 9: Pestiferous the .
- Jean-Jacques Antier, Autant brings from there the sea , Presses of the city, Paris, 1993. ISBN 2-258-03561-9
- Jean Contrucci, illustrated History of Marseilles , Pérégrinateur editor, Toulouse, 2007. ISBN 2-910352-49-8
In Généawiki
- the wall of the plague in High Baronnies Drômoises
| Random links: | Mafhûm Al-mukhâlafah | Bona Arsenault | Analysis gene-scan | Jazz blues | Hill Novaresi bianco |