Great Plague of Vienna
1923607
195104080
2008-03-01T12:27:02Z
Ardfern
170952
cat added
[[Image:Plague hospital in Vienna 1679.jpg|thumb|300px|A plague hospital in Vienna 1679. Contemporary engraving.]]
The '''Great Plague of Vienna''' occurred in [[1679]] in [[Vienna]], [[Austria]], the imperial residence of the Austrian [[Habsburg]] rulers. From contemporary descriptions, the disease is believed to have been [[bubonic plague]], which is caused by the [[bacterium]] ''[[Yersinia pestis]]'', carried by fleas associated with the [[black rat]] and other rodents. The city was crippled by the epidemic, which recurred fitfully into the early 1680s, losing an estimated 76,000 residents.
Vienna, located on the [[Danube]] River, was a major trading crossroads between east and west. As a result of this traffic, the city had suffered from episodic plague outbreaks since the first wave of "[[Black Death]]" in the fourteenth century. The city was crowded and densely built. Descriptions indicate that there were no public [[sewer]]s or drainage systems, with stinking mounds of domestic garbage littering the streets. In addition, warehouses for trade goods, which held items such as clothing, carpets, and grain for months at a time, were heavily infested with rats. Conditions in the city were considered so unhealthy and filthy, even for the time, that the plague often carried the title "Viennese death" in other parts of Europe.
A religious order operating in Vienna, the Brotherhood of the [[Holy Trinity]], created special [[hospital]]s for both children and adults during the 1679 epidemic. The basic [[nursing]] care offered in the hospitals was simple, but was generally a vast improvement over other medical and public health measures in the city. Doctors treated patients by using [[emetic]]s, [[bloodletting]], and by applying noxious ointments. The corpses of plague victims were carted to the outer edges of the city and placed in large open pits for burning. However, the pits were exposed to the open air for several days until they were nearly full, allowing ongoing infection of the rat population.
To commemorate the city's deliverance from the Great Plague and later waves of the disease, the Viennese erected monuments such as the famous [[Baroque]] [[Karlskirche]] with the associated 69 foot [[plague column]]s known as the Pestsäule.
===Regional outbreak===
What has become known as the "Great Plague of Vienna", was actually only a subset of a much larger outbreak across Germany, Austria, [[Bohemia]] and neighboring regions. This [[epidemic]] appears to have been carried into the region from two opposing directions. It had been raging in [[Western Europe]] for many years, traveling [[Eastern Europe|East]] by [[trade route]]s. The [[Great Plague of London]] of [[1664]]-[[1665]], which is believed to have originated from [[the Netherlands]] in the [[1650]]s, killed around 100,000 people, and was the first major epidemic in a series of outbreaks. In [[1666]] a severe plague raged in [[Cologne]] and on the [[Rhine]], which was prolonged until [[1670]] in the district. In the Netherlands there was plague in [[1667]]-[[1669]], but there are no definite notices of it after [[1672]]. France saw its last plague epidemic in [[1668]].
In the years [[1675]]-[[1684]] a new plague wave originated in the [[Ottoman Empire]] ([[Turkey]] and areas of the [[Balkans]]). It moved into [[North Africa]], [[Bohemia]], [[Poland]], [[Hungary]], [[Austria]] and [[Saxony]], progressing generally northward. The island of [[Malta]] lost 11,000 persons in [[1675]].
The plague of Vienna in 1679 was very severe, causing at least 76,000 deaths. Other urban centers in this area of Europe had similar levels of casualties. For instance, [[Prague]] in [[1681]] lost 83,000 due to plague. [[Dresden]] was affected in [[1680]], [[Magdeburg]] and [[Halle, Saxony-Anhalt|Halle]] in [[1682]]. In Halle, a mortality of 4,397 out of a population of about 10,000 was recorded. Many North German cities suffered during these years; but, by [[1683]], the plague disappeared from Germany until the epidemic of [[1707]].
==''Lieber Augustin''==
The great plague of [[1679]] gave rise to the legend of ''[[Lieber Augustin]]'' ("Dear Augustin"). Augustin was a popular [[busking|street musician]], who, according to the legend, fell into a pit with bodies of plague victims, late at night when he was drunk. Augustin did not contract the disease, which may have been owed to the influence of the alcohol.
Augustin is remembered in the popular folk song ''[[Oh du lieber Augustin]]''.
==See also==
* [[History of Vienna]]
==References==
* Ackerknecht, Erwin H. "''History and Geography of the Most Important Diseases''." New York: Hafner Publishers, 1965.
* Gregg, Charles T. "''Plague: An Ancient Disease in the Twentieth Century''." Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1985.
* [http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.encyclop.a/a880341.htm;internal&action=_setlanguage.action?LANGUAGE=en AEIOU on the ''Lieber Augustin'']
{{1911}}
[[Category:History of Vienna]]
[[Category:Epidemics]]
[[Category:1679 in Austria]]
[[de:Pest in Wien]]
[[es:Gran peste de Viena]]