Hans Saltzmann, az 1510-es pestisjárvány és a nagyszebeni vesztegzár

Translated title of the contribution: Hans Saltzmann, the 1510 plague and the quarantine at Sibiu

Ottó Gecser, Katalin Szende

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    Abstract (may include machine translation)

    This article discusses two treatises of Hans Saltzman, a medical doctor of Styrian origin,
    who was employed as a town physician in Sibiu (Nagyszeben), a rich merchant town in
    Transylvania. Saltzman earned his fame in Hungarian medical history as the one who
    first proposed the detention of persons coming from infected areas at the time the plague
    ravaged most of Hungary in 1510. We raise questions about what exact measures Saltzman
    proposed in his plague treatise printed in Latin in 1510 and in his second similar work
    published in German in 1521, and if it was likely or at least possible that a quarantine
    had been implemented in Sibiu in 1510. To critically examine these issues, we place them
    in the context of Saltzman’s life and studies, as well as the genre and tradition of plague
    treatises in late medieval Europe, and the various preventive and curative methods that
    they proposed. We also survey the institutional and personal measures that the municipal
    government of Sibiu could take to handle contagious diseases. We conclude that even if
    there is no direct proof that a quarantine was actually implemented in Sibiu, and the town
    may not have been able to set up the necessary infrastructure that had no precedent in
    landlocked Central Europe, one can observe a crucial move towards health becoming a
    public value and the first tentative steps towards a conscious public health policy.
    Translated title of the contributionHans Saltzmann, the 1510 plague and the quarantine at Sibiu
    Original languageHungarian
    Pages (from-to)9-24
    Number of pages16
    JournalSzázadok
    Volume156
    Issue number1
    StatePublished - 2022

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