Summary
Cazamorti and the Plague: The Founding And Development Of The Health Office In Dubrovnik
Dr. Zlata Blažina Tomić
Zagreb, Dubrovnik: Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences (HAZU) in Dubrovnik, 2007 295 pp.

The role of Dubrovnik as precursor in promulgating the quarantine regulation in 1377 that ordered all infected and contacts during the plague epidemics to be isolated from the healthy subjects during 30 to 40 days, is acknowledged in the modern world literature. As early as 1390, after the Ragusan councils added other health regulations to the quarantine, the health office was established to ensure their application. The health officers, chosen exclusively among the aristocrats, could not decline this burdensome and dangerous duty that they had to perform for a whole year if they survived that long.

The establishment, the development and the activities of the health officers – the cazamorti, as they were called, makes up the core of this research based mostly on the decisions of the Ragusan councils and the critical analysis of the manuscript Libro deli Signori Chazamorbi, Sanitas, Series 55, vol. 1 in the Dubrovnik State Archives.

It has been established that a permanent health office existed in the Dubrovnik Republic since 1390. The Dubrovnik councils and the cazamorti, on the basis of their observations and their experience, applied the anti-epidemic protection measures, believing firmly in the infectious nature of the plague and its direct transmission from person to person. Such a firm stand sometimes made for strained relations with the Church and especially with the medical profession which, burdened by the traditional miasmatic theories of disease, was unable to organize defensive measures against plague epidemics. Since 1530, plague receded from the Dubrovnik Republic and stopped being endemic in the region. The protection activities of the health officers must have contributed to this outcome. The cities of northern Italy lagged behind Dubrovnik in the organization of anti-epidemic measures, but by 1530 the plague started weakening there too, letting us believe that the Dubrovnik example found its followers in Italy.  

Dubrovnik was definitely a historical and conceptual leader, not only in promulgating quarantine regulations starting with 1377, but also in establishing the permanent health office in 1390, 58 years before Milan, 95 years before Pavia, 96 years before Venice and 137 years before Florence.

So far the prevailing opinion was that the cities of northern Italy were the only precursors of anti-epidemic measures in the world. This interpretation needs to be modified on the basis of the analysis of the aforementioned Dubrovnik manuscripts. The original contribution of Dubrovnik, alongside with the Italian cities, in conceiving, establishing and organizing the public health measures in Europe, should be recognized. 

Translated from Croatian by Vesna Blažina

Dr. Zlata Blažina Tomić: CV