The Plague on Zagreb’s Doorstep 1682-1683

Članak prati epidemijski val kuge koji je krenuo 1679. iz austrijske prema slovenskoj Štajerskoj te preko Ptuja i Varaždina dalje pravcima prema Podravini i Hrvatskome zagorju stigao do Markuševca i drugih sela na zagrebačkome području. Opis bolesti i njeno razorno djelovanje u ptujskom kraju donosi se preko jedinstvenoga sačuvanog izvora, pjesme o kugi hajdinskog župnika Jurija Hauptmaniča. Fokusirajući se zatim na zagrebačku situaciju u ljeto i jesen 1682. te početak 1683, članak analizira isusovačke i franjevačke izvore, banska pisma, odluke gradečkog magistrata kao i gospodarske pokazatelje te zaključuje da je pravilnim kriznim upravljanjem izbjegnut prodor epidemije u grad. Članak pritom ispravlja neka dosadašnja mišljenja u historiografiji, prema kojima bi bolest bila prisutna i u Gradecu. Izvori, međutim, pokazuju da je ona ostala ograničena na franjevački samostan na Kaptolu te su jedine žrtve četvorica tamošnjih fratara u kolovozu i rujnu 1682.The paper follows the epidemic wave which spread in 1679 from Austrian towards Slovenian Styria, and then, continuing through Ptuj and Varaždin, moved in the directions of Podravina and Croatian Zagorje, reaching Markuševac and other villages in the Zagreb region. A description of the disease and its devastating impact on the Ptuj region is taken from a unique and preserved source, the Latin poem about the plague by the Hajdina parish pastor, Jurij Hauptmanič. The paper then focuses on the situation in Zagreb in the summer and autumn of 1682 and the beginning of 1683, analysing Jesuit and Franciscan sources, the Croatian Viceroy’s letters, decisions by the Gradec City Council, as well as economic indicators. The paper concludes that the epidemic’s penetration of the city was avoided by proper crisis management. In doing so, the paper rectifies certain hitherto expressed views in historiography, according to which the plague was also present in Gradec. Sources, however, show that it remained restricted to the Franciscan monastery at Kaptol, and that the only victims were four friars in that very monastery, in August and September 1682. They were Franciscan students, sent to Varaždin, where they were infected by the plague (or possibly during mendication in the villages), and they died shortly after returning to the monastery at Kaptol. Some of the Franciscans scattered whilst some stayed in the Kaptol monastery, but two escaped to the Poor Clares’ convent at Gradec. On 4 September 1682, the Croatian Viceroy ordered that both the Monastery and the Convent be placed under heavy guard. The doors of the Kaptol monastery were to be bricked up, and the Gradec convent was to be locked, while ensuring the delivery of food and water. The Gradec City Council implemented the Viceroy’s orders, but did not introduce additional measures apart from ordering citizens to keep guard at the city gates while they were open during the day, and that all vagrants and vagabonds be immediately put to employment in the city or banished. The Viceroy left open the city’s ports on the border river of Sava, with strict adherence to the precautionary measures. The measures taken were adequate, because, apart from the Franciscan victims, nobody got infected in either Gradec or Kaptol. The disease remained restricted to a few surrounding villages. At the behest of the Jesuits, the Viceroy ordered that schools could again be opened on 12 January 1683, which essentially announced the end of the epidemic in the Zagreb region