Great Plague of Vienna
1679 CE
The Great Plague of Vienna, which occurs in 1679 in Vienna, Austria, the imperial residence of the Austrian Habsburg rulers, is believed to have been bubonic plague.
The city is crippled by the epidemic, which will recur fitfully into the early 1680s, killing an estimated seventy-six thousand residents.
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Many North German city populations fall in these years.
By 1683, the plague disappears from Germany until the epidemic of 1707.
By 1683, the plague disappears from Germany until the epidemic of 1707.
Dresden had been affected in 1680, ...
Magdeburg and ...
...Halle in 1682.
In Halle, a mortality of four thousand three hundred and ninety-seven out of a population of about ten thousand is recorded.
In Halle, a mortality of four thousand three hundred and ninety-seven out of a population of about ten thousand is recorded.
What will become known as the "Great Plague of Vienna" is 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 East by trade routes.
The Great Plague of London of 1665–1666, which is believed to have originated from the Netherlands in the 1650s, killed around one hundred thousand 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.
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 East by trade routes.
The Great Plague of London of 1665–1666, which is believed to have originated from the Netherlands in the 1650s, killed around one hundred thousand 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.
The plague of Vienna in 1679 is very severe, causing at least seventy-six thousand deaths.
Other urban centers in this area of Europe have similar levels of casualties.
For instance, Prague in 1681 loses eighty-three thousand due to plague.
For instance, Prague in 1681 loses eighty-three thousand due to plague.
Special hospitals for both children and adults are created bey a religious order operating in Vienna, the Brotherhood of the Holy Trinity, during the 1679 epidemic.
The basic nursing care offered in the hospitals is simple, but is generally a vast improvement over other medical and public health measures in the city.
Doctors treat patients by using emetics, bloodletting, and by applying noxious ointments.
The corpses of plague victims are carted to the outer edges of the city and placed in large open pits for burning.
However, the pits are exposed to the open air for several days until they are nearly full, allowing ongoing infection of the rat population.
The basic nursing care offered in the hospitals is simple, but is generally a vast improvement over other medical and public health measures in the city.
Doctors treat patients by using emetics, bloodletting, and by applying noxious ointments.
The corpses of plague victims are carted to the outer edges of the city and placed in large open pits for burning.
However, the pits are exposed to the open air for several days until they are 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 will erect monuments such as the famous Baroque Karlskirche with the associated sixty-nine foot-plague columns known as the Pestsäule.
The plague often carries the title "Viennese death" in other parts of Europe, as conditions in the city are considered so unhealthy and filthy, even for the time.
Vienna has suffered from episodic plague outbreaks since the first wave of "Black Death" in the fourteenth century.
Located on the River Danube, a major trading crossroads between east and west, the city is crowded and densely built.
Descriptions indicate that there are no public sewers or drainage systems, with stinking mounds of domestic garbage littering the streets.
In addition, warehouses for trade goods, which hold items such as clothing, carpets, and grain for months at a time, are heavily infested with rats.
Vienna has suffered from episodic plague outbreaks since the first wave of "Black Death" in the fourteenth century.
Located on the River Danube, a major trading crossroads between east and west, the city is crowded and densely built.
Descriptions indicate that there are no public sewers or drainage systems, with stinking mounds of domestic garbage littering the streets.
In addition, warehouses for trade goods, which hold items such as clothing, carpets, and grain for months at a time, are heavily infested with rats.