The plague epidemic which affected the Romanian Principalities at the end of the third decade of ... more The plague epidemic which affected the Romanian Principalities at the end of the third decade of the 19th century lead to the loss of a significant number of human lives and deeply troubled the Romanian society of that time. The administrative-sanitary measures, adopted by the authorities both within the epidemic context and soon after its end, didn’t manage to bring major changes for improving the living conditions of the citizens. Consequently, the cholera, which was predictable at the borders of Moldavia since the end of the year 1830 and spread on the left side of the Prut river the spring of the following year, 1831, was about to touch a vulnerable population, this vulnerability being caused by the lack of some hygiene concepts among the inhabitants, by the absence of some measures meant to prevent the diffusion of this kind of diseases, by the small number of physicians, especially in the counties, and mostly because not knowing the characteristics of the new epidemic. By using the unedited documentary resources, preserved in the Archives of Iași, I intend, throughout this analysis, to look on the way the epidemic affected the city of Iași and its surroundings, by emphasizing the causes of the disease and its spreading factors, and especially on the reactions of the inhabitants, of the medical staff, the measures practiced by the authorities, as well as on the consequences of the scourge.
Containing interesting details about the dreadful scourge or mentioning the interest of the conte... more Containing interesting details about the dreadful scourge or mentioning the interest of the contemporary fellows with regard to the evolution of the epidemic, the letters of that time present only glimpses from the life of those who lived during the cholera. The concerns for the health of those close to them, a constant that can be observed in many of the letters of the time, whose first lines were meant to the news and the questions related to the health state, was increasing within the context of the epidemic threat. Precisely on this affective side lays the importance of the documentary resources presented now, as they play the role to complete and to cover a quite large volume of the documentary testimonies concerning the plague, which in general present an administrative character and lack the emotional charge that the personal documents have.
Ioan Neculce. Buletinul Muzeului Municipal "Regina Maria" Iasi, 2021
My short contribution was largely inspired by a communication presented last year within the firs... more My short contribution was largely inspired by a communication presented last year within the first conference of the Municipal Museum „Regina Maria” from Iași, entitled The Jail of Iași during the Russian occupation (1828-1834). In the pages of that presentation, Silviu Văcaru, the author of the communication, highlighted several aspects regarding the place and the staff of the prison, the food, and the clothes of the prisoners, and, last but not least, their health condition, managing to accomplish a detailed reconstruction, resulting from an intense documentation effort. This idea, emerged on that occasion and meant to deepen the analysis regarding the health care of those imprisoned in the prison of Iași, was in line with my research regarding the physicians who practiced in Iași in the first half of the 19th century. Therefore, this study took shape and I tried by the means of these pages to analyze the way in which the authorities considered the medical care of those deprived of liberty, but also to present some information about the physicians or the surgeons who had the task of curing the „guilty patients from the prison”, by highlighting in this way a less known side of the medical activity in Iași in the early 19th century.
Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit... more Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit more difficult, as the inaccuracy of the historic testimonies regarding the name of this doctor made it difficult to identify him. We presuppose that there were two doctors bearing the same first name. The one we have considered here was the son of Neculai Vartolomei, boyar in charge of war tents and camps. His fate seems to have been closely related to his patron's, Grigore III Ghica, to which he seems to have been close "from childhood yet". Having been unable to key out the ruse which the Sublime Porte's chamberlain used in order to entice Grigore Ghica into the chambers of the bey manor, doctor Fotache would be forced to leave Moldavia for a while. After the return in his "homeland", it is difficult to identify his medical activity, as he dedicated himself sooner to administrating his parents' estates.
Preventive Measures for Plague Outbreak and Spread in Cities of Moldova at the Beginning of the 1... more Preventive Measures for Plague Outbreak and Spread in Cities of Moldova at the Beginning of the 19th century
One of the most dangerous epidemic diseases, plague, had been a constant threat for the population of Moldova throughout the 18th century, the epidemic bouts affecting especially urban agglomerations, where a large number of inhabitants and the lack of sanitation contributed to a high number of victims. Central and local authorities gradually tried to adopt a number of measures to prevent the outbreak and spread of this epidemic disease in the cities of Moldova. We will present in the pages of this article some of these measures: the transfer of the dead and sick into shelters set up outside cities, the isolation of those who had symptoms of the disease, disinfection of houses and belongings of those afflicted by plague. Also, it was common to smoke letters, pass money through water, burn gunpowder or garbage.
This study started from a set of unusual letters belonging to Johann Gorghias, the apothecary, th... more This study started from a set of unusual letters belonging to Johann Gorghias, the apothecary, these were addressed to a debt collector Ionică Tăutu. The lines written by the apothecary from Botoşani reveal some of the author’s desires and contain certain expressions that betray something from his personality and, why not, specific issues of the age he lived in. Born in Brasov, in the first days of 1768, Johann Gorgias read Pharmacy in his hometown, who had been for a period of 5 years an apprentice in the pharmacy of Johann von Becher. He came to Moldova in 1792, and, after a short period spent in Iaşi, he moved to Botoşani where he opened a pharmacy that was named after him, remaining for more than half a century the only pharmacy in town. He got married to Rosalia, the daughter of the physician Johann Ziegler. As an apothecary of the community and the leader of local Austrians, Gorgias looked after the health of locals and the safety of Botoşani community in the time of plague and revolutions of 1821.
Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit more difficult, a... more Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit more difficult, as the inaccuracy of the historic testimonies regarding the name of this doctor made it difficult to identify him. We presuppose that there were two doctors bearing the same first name. The one we have considered here was the son of Neculai Vartolomei, boyar in charge of war tents and camps. His fate seems to have been closely related to his patron's, Grigore III Ghica, to which he seems to have been close "from childhood yet". Having been unable to key out the ruse which the Sublime Porte's chamberlain used in order to entice Grigore Ghica into the chambers of the bey manor, doctor Fotache would be forced to leave Moldavia for a while. After the return in his "homeland", it is difficult to identify his medical activity, as he dedicated himself sooner to administrating his parents' estates.
The study presents some aspects regarding the life and activity of Eustathius Athanasius Rolla, a... more The study presents some aspects regarding the life and activity of Eustathius Athanasius Rolla, a physician of Greek origin, who practice medicine in Moldavia. Born around 1766, he graduated the faculty of medicine in Halle, in 1794. He came to Iasi around 1795, where he got married, in 1804, to Marioara. Known as doctor Efstathi, Evstati, Eustati or Stati, Eustathius Rolla had been one of the physicians of Iasi city for more than 35 years, and towards the end of his career, he became the protomedic of Moldavia. He was one of the first physicians about whom we have several records of treating and curing the suffering – we could even write a short list of his patients. Besides his medical activity, Rolla was a supporter of culture in general and of Greek cause in particular, being one of the vestrymen of the Greek publishing house of Iasi. He guided the physicians of Iasi in their attempt to limit the effects of the plague and cholera epidemics that stroke Moldavia at the beginning of the 19th century. He died helping his peers during the cholera epidemics, in the Summer of 1831.
Volumul pe care îl propunem atenției mediului științific, în particular, și publicului, în genera... more Volumul pe care îl propunem atenției mediului științific, în particular, și publicului, în general, cuprinde ca arie tematică principală prezentarea și valorificarea surselor referitoare la patrimoniile materiale și culturale ale elitelor sociale din țările române, din secolele XVI–XIX, cu un accent mai mare pe Moldova și Țara Românească. Atenție se acordă însă și averilor altor categorii sociale, cum ar fi țărănimea și orășenimea, surprinse mai ales pentru Transilvania, precum și patrimoniilor instituționale. Substanța documentării o reprezintă sursele cu caracter patrimonial – în care includem documente diverse, cum ar fi: inventarele de avere, testamentele, foile de zestre, actele de vânzare-cumpărare, condicile de venituri și cheltuieli etc. – din care se pot extrage informații semnificative și detaliate despre dimensiunile, funcțiile și particularitățile averii unei familii sau ale unei instituții, constituirea, compoziția, transferul și dizolvarea unui patrimoniu, potențialul de putere și prestigiu, simbolurile de status social și mecanismele sociale ale distincției, aspectele genealogice, biografice și sociale referitoare la proprietari, practicile sociale și culturale specifice la nivel micro sau macrosocial.
The plague epidemic which affected the Romanian Principalities at the end of the third decade of ... more The plague epidemic which affected the Romanian Principalities at the end of the third decade of the 19th century lead to the loss of a significant number of human lives and deeply troubled the Romanian society of that time. The administrative-sanitary measures, adopted by the authorities both within the epidemic context and soon after its end, didn’t manage to bring major changes for improving the living conditions of the citizens. Consequently, the cholera, which was predictable at the borders of Moldavia since the end of the year 1830 and spread on the left side of the Prut river the spring of the following year, 1831, was about to touch a vulnerable population, this vulnerability being caused by the lack of some hygiene concepts among the inhabitants, by the absence of some measures meant to prevent the diffusion of this kind of diseases, by the small number of physicians, especially in the counties, and mostly because not knowing the characteristics of the new epidemic. By using the unedited documentary resources, preserved in the Archives of Iași, I intend, throughout this analysis, to look on the way the epidemic affected the city of Iași and its surroundings, by emphasizing the causes of the disease and its spreading factors, and especially on the reactions of the inhabitants, of the medical staff, the measures practiced by the authorities, as well as on the consequences of the scourge.
Containing interesting details about the dreadful scourge or mentioning the interest of the conte... more Containing interesting details about the dreadful scourge or mentioning the interest of the contemporary fellows with regard to the evolution of the epidemic, the letters of that time present only glimpses from the life of those who lived during the cholera. The concerns for the health of those close to them, a constant that can be observed in many of the letters of the time, whose first lines were meant to the news and the questions related to the health state, was increasing within the context of the epidemic threat. Precisely on this affective side lays the importance of the documentary resources presented now, as they play the role to complete and to cover a quite large volume of the documentary testimonies concerning the plague, which in general present an administrative character and lack the emotional charge that the personal documents have.
Ioan Neculce. Buletinul Muzeului Municipal "Regina Maria" Iasi, 2021
My short contribution was largely inspired by a communication presented last year within the firs... more My short contribution was largely inspired by a communication presented last year within the first conference of the Municipal Museum „Regina Maria” from Iași, entitled The Jail of Iași during the Russian occupation (1828-1834). In the pages of that presentation, Silviu Văcaru, the author of the communication, highlighted several aspects regarding the place and the staff of the prison, the food, and the clothes of the prisoners, and, last but not least, their health condition, managing to accomplish a detailed reconstruction, resulting from an intense documentation effort. This idea, emerged on that occasion and meant to deepen the analysis regarding the health care of those imprisoned in the prison of Iași, was in line with my research regarding the physicians who practiced in Iași in the first half of the 19th century. Therefore, this study took shape and I tried by the means of these pages to analyze the way in which the authorities considered the medical care of those deprived of liberty, but also to present some information about the physicians or the surgeons who had the task of curing the „guilty patients from the prison”, by highlighting in this way a less known side of the medical activity in Iași in the early 19th century.
Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit... more Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit more difficult, as the inaccuracy of the historic testimonies regarding the name of this doctor made it difficult to identify him. We presuppose that there were two doctors bearing the same first name. The one we have considered here was the son of Neculai Vartolomei, boyar in charge of war tents and camps. His fate seems to have been closely related to his patron's, Grigore III Ghica, to which he seems to have been close "from childhood yet". Having been unable to key out the ruse which the Sublime Porte's chamberlain used in order to entice Grigore Ghica into the chambers of the bey manor, doctor Fotache would be forced to leave Moldavia for a while. After the return in his "homeland", it is difficult to identify his medical activity, as he dedicated himself sooner to administrating his parents' estates.
Preventive Measures for Plague Outbreak and Spread in Cities of Moldova at the Beginning of the 1... more Preventive Measures for Plague Outbreak and Spread in Cities of Moldova at the Beginning of the 19th century
One of the most dangerous epidemic diseases, plague, had been a constant threat for the population of Moldova throughout the 18th century, the epidemic bouts affecting especially urban agglomerations, where a large number of inhabitants and the lack of sanitation contributed to a high number of victims. Central and local authorities gradually tried to adopt a number of measures to prevent the outbreak and spread of this epidemic disease in the cities of Moldova. We will present in the pages of this article some of these measures: the transfer of the dead and sick into shelters set up outside cities, the isolation of those who had symptoms of the disease, disinfection of houses and belongings of those afflicted by plague. Also, it was common to smoke letters, pass money through water, burn gunpowder or garbage.
This study started from a set of unusual letters belonging to Johann Gorghias, the apothecary, th... more This study started from a set of unusual letters belonging to Johann Gorghias, the apothecary, these were addressed to a debt collector Ionică Tăutu. The lines written by the apothecary from Botoşani reveal some of the author’s desires and contain certain expressions that betray something from his personality and, why not, specific issues of the age he lived in. Born in Brasov, in the first days of 1768, Johann Gorgias read Pharmacy in his hometown, who had been for a period of 5 years an apprentice in the pharmacy of Johann von Becher. He came to Moldova in 1792, and, after a short period spent in Iaşi, he moved to Botoşani where he opened a pharmacy that was named after him, remaining for more than half a century the only pharmacy in town. He got married to Rosalia, the daughter of the physician Johann Ziegler. As an apothecary of the community and the leader of local Austrians, Gorgias looked after the health of locals and the safety of Botoşani community in the time of plague and revolutions of 1821.
Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit more difficult, a... more Reconstructing the biographical portrait of "doctor Fotache" proved to be a bit more difficult, as the inaccuracy of the historic testimonies regarding the name of this doctor made it difficult to identify him. We presuppose that there were two doctors bearing the same first name. The one we have considered here was the son of Neculai Vartolomei, boyar in charge of war tents and camps. His fate seems to have been closely related to his patron's, Grigore III Ghica, to which he seems to have been close "from childhood yet". Having been unable to key out the ruse which the Sublime Porte's chamberlain used in order to entice Grigore Ghica into the chambers of the bey manor, doctor Fotache would be forced to leave Moldavia for a while. After the return in his "homeland", it is difficult to identify his medical activity, as he dedicated himself sooner to administrating his parents' estates.
The study presents some aspects regarding the life and activity of Eustathius Athanasius Rolla, a... more The study presents some aspects regarding the life and activity of Eustathius Athanasius Rolla, a physician of Greek origin, who practice medicine in Moldavia. Born around 1766, he graduated the faculty of medicine in Halle, in 1794. He came to Iasi around 1795, where he got married, in 1804, to Marioara. Known as doctor Efstathi, Evstati, Eustati or Stati, Eustathius Rolla had been one of the physicians of Iasi city for more than 35 years, and towards the end of his career, he became the protomedic of Moldavia. He was one of the first physicians about whom we have several records of treating and curing the suffering – we could even write a short list of his patients. Besides his medical activity, Rolla was a supporter of culture in general and of Greek cause in particular, being one of the vestrymen of the Greek publishing house of Iasi. He guided the physicians of Iasi in their attempt to limit the effects of the plague and cholera epidemics that stroke Moldavia at the beginning of the 19th century. He died helping his peers during the cholera epidemics, in the Summer of 1831.
Volumul pe care îl propunem atenției mediului științific, în particular, și publicului, în genera... more Volumul pe care îl propunem atenției mediului științific, în particular, și publicului, în general, cuprinde ca arie tematică principală prezentarea și valorificarea surselor referitoare la patrimoniile materiale și culturale ale elitelor sociale din țările române, din secolele XVI–XIX, cu un accent mai mare pe Moldova și Țara Românească. Atenție se acordă însă și averilor altor categorii sociale, cum ar fi țărănimea și orășenimea, surprinse mai ales pentru Transilvania, precum și patrimoniilor instituționale. Substanța documentării o reprezintă sursele cu caracter patrimonial – în care includem documente diverse, cum ar fi: inventarele de avere, testamentele, foile de zestre, actele de vânzare-cumpărare, condicile de venituri și cheltuieli etc. – din care se pot extrage informații semnificative și detaliate despre dimensiunile, funcțiile și particularitățile averii unei familii sau ale unei instituții, constituirea, compoziția, transferul și dizolvarea unui patrimoniu, potențialul de putere și prestigiu, simbolurile de status social și mecanismele sociale ale distincției, aspectele genealogice, biografice și sociale referitoare la proprietari, practicile sociale și culturale specifice la nivel micro sau macrosocial.
Institutul „A. D. Xenopol”, Iași, Colectivul de Istorie Medievală, Ședință de comunicări semestrială (II), Petronel Zahariuc, Marius Chelcu, Cătălina Chelcu, Sorin Grigoruță, Mihai Anatolii Ciobanu, Silviu Văcaru, 2024
Documenta Romaniae Historica, seria A. Moldova, vol. IX (1593-1598), îngrjit de Petronel Zahariuc, Marius Chelcu, Silviu Văcaru, Cătălina Chelcu, Sorin Grigoruţă, Editura Academiei Române, Bucureşti, 2014
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One of the most dangerous epidemic diseases, plague, had been a constant threat for the population of Moldova throughout the 18th century, the epidemic bouts affecting especially urban agglomerations, where a large number of inhabitants and the lack of sanitation contributed to a high number of victims. Central and local authorities gradually tried to adopt a number of measures to prevent the outbreak and spread of this epidemic disease in the cities of Moldova. We will present in the pages of this article some of these measures: the transfer of the dead and sick into shelters set up outside cities, the isolation of those who had symptoms of the disease, disinfection of houses and belongings of those afflicted by plague. Also, it was common to smoke letters, pass money through water, burn gunpowder or garbage.
Born in Brasov, in the first days of 1768, Johann Gorgias read Pharmacy in his hometown, who had been for a period of 5 years an apprentice in the pharmacy of Johann von Becher. He came to Moldova in 1792, and, after a short period spent in Iaşi, he moved to Botoşani where he opened a pharmacy that was named after him, remaining for more than half a century the only pharmacy in town. He got married to Rosalia, the daughter of the physician Johann Ziegler. As an apothecary of the community and the leader of local Austrians, Gorgias looked after the health of locals and the safety of Botoşani community in the time of plague and revolutions of 1821.
One of the most dangerous epidemic diseases, plague, had been a constant threat for the population of Moldova throughout the 18th century, the epidemic bouts affecting especially urban agglomerations, where a large number of inhabitants and the lack of sanitation contributed to a high number of victims. Central and local authorities gradually tried to adopt a number of measures to prevent the outbreak and spread of this epidemic disease in the cities of Moldova. We will present in the pages of this article some of these measures: the transfer of the dead and sick into shelters set up outside cities, the isolation of those who had symptoms of the disease, disinfection of houses and belongings of those afflicted by plague. Also, it was common to smoke letters, pass money through water, burn gunpowder or garbage.
Born in Brasov, in the first days of 1768, Johann Gorgias read Pharmacy in his hometown, who had been for a period of 5 years an apprentice in the pharmacy of Johann von Becher. He came to Moldova in 1792, and, after a short period spent in Iaşi, he moved to Botoşani where he opened a pharmacy that was named after him, remaining for more than half a century the only pharmacy in town. He got married to Rosalia, the daughter of the physician Johann Ziegler. As an apothecary of the community and the leader of local Austrians, Gorgias looked after the health of locals and the safety of Botoşani community in the time of plague and revolutions of 1821.