Woodcut from Hans von Gersdorff's Feldtbuch der Wundartzney. Menacing, sometimes highly contagious and rapidly spreading diseases and the appropriate handling of them have shaped the history of countries and communities for centuries.
As the recent Covid pandemic demonstrated, this is still the case today. From April 24th to July 15th an exhibition in the Bamberg State Library will present how Bamberg reacted to the outbreak of epidemics from the late Middle Ages up to the 19th century and which institutions were set up to protect the health of the community.
Infirmaries, almshouses, apothecaries and bathhouses are testament of this: since the late medieval period, the bishopric of Bamberg has had a developed healthcare system.
From the 16th century onwards, the ruling bishops also employed court and personal physicians. The list of diseases that repeatedly claimed countless victims is long: plague, spotted fever, typhus, syphilis, dysentery, smallpox, measles and cholera.
Characteristic of the 16th and 17th centuries was the understanding that plagues were God's punishment for the sins of man. A view shared not only by the episcopal government and clergy, but also by trained physicians. Nevertheless, both the government and the medical profession saw their subjects as having a duty to protect themselves as best they could against epidemics.
