The Great Plague Scare of 1720: Disaster and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World by Cindy Ermus (review)

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• The Great Plague Scare of 1720: Disaster and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World by Cindy Ermus
• Martha K. Robinson

The Great Plague Scare of 1720: Disaster and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth-Century Atlantic World. By cindy ermus. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023. xiii + 253 pp. ISBN 978-1-108-48954-6. $39.99 (hardcover).

In this timely and significant book, Cindy Ermus examines the political and diplomatic effects of an epidemic of plague that struck Marseilles in 1720. Over the next two-and-a-half years the plague spread through Provence and into Languedoc, eventually killing some 100,000 people. It did not spread beyond southern France, but fear of it spread across Europe. Fear of the plague, and attempts to control its spread, affected diplomacy, politics, and trade, and (in Ermus’ main thesis) encouraged European governments to centralize and extend their powers in the name of public health.

Ermus’ book is less a traditional history of medicine than a study in politics and disaster management. Although she does discuss the origin, [End Page 165] symptoms, and treatment of the plague in Provence, her major interests are broader. She argues that the plague in Provence was the “first modern disaster,” and points to the ways that national governments sought to use and increase their powers during the epidemic. She casts a wide net in this book, looking far beyond Provence (or even France) to see how European nations dealt with fear of the plague and questions of public health during this epidemic.

The book begins with a chapter on the origin of the plague in Provence, and efforts to manage the crisis in the region. This chapter is followed by chapters on responses to the plague in Italy, England, Spain, and the French and Spanish colonies in the Caribbean.

Ermus demonstrates throughout that political leaders sought to use tried-and-true methods of preventing plague from spreading. They quarantined ships, searched cargos, restricted travel across borders, required health certificates to travel, and strengthened or created public health agencies. In addition, however, eighteenth century governments took advantage of the crisis to enhance centralized power and achieve other diplomatic and economic goals.

In Italy, for example, a genuine fear of plague soon combined with traditional trade rivalries among the Italian ports. These fears were heightened as it became apparent that local French leaders had attempted to downplay the severity of the outbreak. As the Italian cities imposed quarantines or forbade entry to potentially affected ships, any city that was perceived as not doing enough to prevent the spread of plague might find itself cut off from trade altogether. In England, on the other hand, anti-plague restrictions were far more controversial. English debates were fueled by a disagreement between “contagionists” (who argued that plague could be spread from person-to-person) and “anti-contagionists” (who argued that plague arose from foul vapors or miasmas). The anti-contagionists argued that quarantines, or the closing of ports, or additional regulations could not prevent the plague from spreading, but they could harm trade and threaten jobs. Since they did not see plague as a real threat to England, they saw anti-plague measures as a dangerous centralization of power. Spanish political culture was very different and far less open. While English authorities struggled to promote anti-plague measures against popular opposition, King Philip V used fear of the plague to weaken France and increase opportunities for Spanish trade. In addition to the usual quarantines, the Spanish also barred trade with any ship flying a French flag, and compelled the Portuguese to restrict French and British access to their ports, leading the French consul in Cadiz to remark, “Many people here believe that this enormous strictness is [End Page 166] more the effect of political interest than of an actual fear of contagion” (p. 166).

There are many themes in this book that resonate in our own COVID-affected world. Ermus vividly describes the initial confusion (and misinformation) about the plague and recounts the various efforts to stop the plague from spreading. She quotes extensively from archival sources that include vivid accounts of the suffering of those directly affected by the disease...