The Great Plague Scare of 1720
Disaster and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World

A transnational history of the 1720 French plague epidemic and its ramifications in port cities across the early modern Atlantic world.

Cindy Ermus (Author)

9781108489546, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 1 December 2022

258 pages
23.6 x 16 x 1.8 cm, 0.56 kg

'Based on a wealth of archival sources, Ermus' study provides valuable insight into the global significance of the plague of Marseille and Provence and highlights the long history of the relationship between statecraft and public health management. The Great Plague Scare of 1720 is a timely contribution that deeply resonates in our own age of pandemics and climate change.' Junko Takeda, Syracuse University

From 1720 to 1722, the French region of Provence and surrounding areas experienced one of the last major epidemics of plague to strike Western Europe. The Plague of Provence was a major disaster that left in its wake as many as 126,000 deaths, as well as new understandings about the nature of contagion and the best ways to manage its threat. In this transnational study, Cindy Ermus focuses on the social, commercial, and diplomatic impact of the epidemic beyond French borders, examining reactions to this public health crisis from Italy to Great Britain to Spain and the overseas colonies. She reveals how a crisis in one part of the globe can transcend geographic boundaries and influence society, politics, and public health policy in regions far from the epicentre of disaster.

Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
1. Plague in Provence
2. 'L'état le plus exposé': The Plague of Provence in Genoa and Italy
3. 'A Scheme so Barbarous and so Destructive': Responses to the Plague of Provence in London
4. The Spanish Plague That Never Was: The Plague of Provence in Cádiz and Spain
5. Entangled Empires: The Great Plague Scare in the Colonies
Epilogue
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of medicine [MBX], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], European history [HBJD], General & world history [HBG]