Moscow plague revolt

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Excerpt from "Plague in Moscow" by TL Devili (1818–1886)

The Moscow plague revolt ( Russian Чумной бунт ) broke out in 1771 as an uprising of the population against the church, the state and the medical community. It was triggered by a wave of plague that caused Moscow to lose half of its population. The army , led by Grigory Orlov , put down the uprising. Administrative and health reforms eliminated the plague.

fertile soil

The social breeding ground on which the revolt arose was marked by contrasts. In society and the Church there was a great gap between an educated upper class and a superstitious lower class. The educated knew, for example, about the advances in Western medicine, the others trusted in their faith and the divine order.

In 1721 Peter the Great issued the “Church Regulations”. As a result, the church was forced into the role of a supervisory authority dependent on the state. This led to dissatisfaction among the population with regard to the church and also within the church hierarchies. "Chief Procurators of the Holy Synod" ( Patriarch ) Amwrossi (Ambrosius), who was unpopular with the people and the Church, was to play an important role . Since 1768 he tried to drive the surplus and unauthorized clergy out of Moscow.

Spread of the plague

The Russian army brought in the bubonic plague from southeast Europe and spread it in the Russian Empire in 1770 and 1771 . Rumjanzev's field army alone lost over 11,000 soldiers by mid-1770. Catherine II , Empress of Russia, had the quarantine measures expanded through the “Charter of Border and Harbor Quarantine”. The measures took effect so that epidemics rarely penetrated inland, including Moscow . But this eruption reached Bryansk in August 1770 and a short time later the city of Moscow, 380 km away.

Outbreak in Moscow

In November 1770, a supposed typhus broke out in a soldiers' hospital outside Moscow , which in retrospect turned out to be a plague. As this eruption subsided, no further action was taken. In the same month, further deaths occurred in a suburban textile factory. These victims were secretly buried in the factory. Empress Catherine II initially scoffed at the epidemic rumors. The perceived certainty that the plague could never reach Moscow contributed to the fact that the first signs were not given enough attention. When the first 27 plague victims died in the hospital, the above doctor, Afanassi Filimonowitsch Schafonski, was accused of stirring up panic. Around 400 people died in April 1771, and several thousand died in the Moscow Cloth Court throughout the spring . In the meantime the disease was diagnosed as a plague and recognized as such by the Empress. This time, too, the epidemic seemed to ebb again, by June 1771.

Protective measures

The coordinator of public health policy was Pyotr Jeropkin . Empress Catherine demanded a 30 km exclusion zone around Moscow, but Jeropkin and Pyotr Saltykov prevented this because they feared a famine . The rag trade was banned, public baths were closed and a general ban on assembly was issued. Jeropkin wanted to avoid panic. He had infected people transported to hospital at night or quarantined them in their homes . The secret action fueled the rumor mill, so that the sick hid their symptoms and the deceased were hidden. The government banned burials within the city limits, which angered the population. The deceased had a right to a place in consecrated earth, in the cemeteries of the city's churches. Only "unclean" people who had not led a Christian life have so far been buried outside the city. With the support of Archbishop Amwrossi, Jeropkin tried to convey the danger of crowds. Funeral procession and petition processions were banned, and funeral rites were severely restricted. In the eyes of the people, the dignity of the deceased was injured as a result. The comforting rites were taken from the bereaved.

Medical procedure

In June 1771, the first plague hospital was set up in Nicholas Monastery on the Ugrescha (Russian: Николо-Угрешский монастырь ). The monks were taken to other monasteries. At first this hospital had 20 patients, shortly afterwards their number increased tenfold. A hospital closer to the center became necessary over the next month. The Simonov Monastery (Russian: Симонов монастырь ) was set up for this purpose, with space for 2,000 beds. The Danilov Monastery was used for the next hospital . A total of four hospitals were apparently set up, "one on every corner of the city". In the hospitals, the sick were housed in separate areas depending on the severity of the disease. The medical professionals agreed that the plague could only be transmitted by touch. Fresh water with wine vinegar was recommended for disinfection. Caregivers should wear gloves and additional clothing that would then need to be boiled out. Sick people should sweat as much as possible in bed. After the death of a person suffering from the plague, all of his clothes would have to be burned.

futility

The countermeasures did not work. From June to September 1771, the epidemic spread over those city districts in which there were textile companies. In August 1771 600 people died every day, at the height of the epidemic it was over a thousand every day. Most of the deaths were recorded in September 1771, over 20,000. In October 1771 there were almost 18,000. The police had neither people nor vehicles to transport the sick and dead. The corpses were often in the houses or on the streets for three to four days. The police used convicts to dispose of bodies. The convicts were dressed in tarred clothes with holes for eyes and mouths. They broke into houses and dragged the dead onto carts with iron hooks. In the cemeteries they were buried in mass graves without religious rites.

On September 8, 1771, Empress Katharina addressed the people in a manifesto . She complained that the precautionary measures were not being followed. Actions such as hiding the sick or the dumping of deaths on the roads "must not remain without severe punishment (...) Each submit peacefully and without turmoil and obey the government, now and in the future." ( Catherine the Great : Europe early modern times )

City escape

In August 1771, most of the nobility had left the city, and with them most of the senior officials. Numerous authorities were closed, as well as factories and garrison troops were transferred to the countryside. The middle class fled in early September. What remained were the remnants of the administration and the military, the clergy, the medical profession and factory workers. As long as General Field Marshal Count Pyotr Semyonovich Saltykov was in the city, public order could be maintained, city ​​gates and the quarantine facilities were monitored. When Governor Saltykow feared for his life, he fled to his country estate, whereupon a revolt should break out a few days later. The police, the health inspectorate and the administration were headless and the funeral system was in ruins. The actual head of the city was now Jeropkin.

Since Moscow had not been cordoned off as a precaution, the plague spread to the interior of Russia. Next to Moscow, Kiev and Nieszin were hardest hit. According to estimates, a total of 120,000 people fell victim to it, according to another source it was over 133,000 victims. Fighting the plague, in Moscow alone, cost the empress an estimated 400,000 rubles.

revolt

"The Assassination of Archbishop Ambrose during the Moscow Plague Revolt in 1771" (1872) by Pyotr Efimovich Koversnew
"Moscow plague riot of 1771 - The murder of Archbishop Ambrosius" (1845) by Charles Michel Geoffroy

When analyzing the insurgents by population class, the sources give contradicting information. What seems certain is that the rebels came from all walks of life, from serfs , to merchants and soldiers, to (mostly lowly) clergymen.

foreplay

Even in the run-up to the actual revolt, there was unrest among the population. The doctors were accused of deliberately killing the sick in the hospitals, even poisoning them. On August 29, 1771, the doctor Schafonski narrowly escaped the lynching in the hospital in the Lefortowo district . On September 1, 1771, an angry mob drove away military troops, in whose protection the belongings of plague victims were to be burned. The closing of the shops of rag dealers led to riots in Red Square that same day. Authorized and unauthorized priests held petition processions despite the risk of contagion . They recommended worshiping miraculous saints, including donating money. Archbishop Amwrossi had condemned the uprising of the poor and thus fueled the rebellion. Although Saltykov returned to the city on September 15, 1771, he could not stop the beginning of the revolt that evening.

trigger

An organized action of the insurgents cannot be proven from sources. It was rumored that the icon of the Mother of God at the Barbara Gate in Kitai-Gorod would promise healing if it was properly venerated. The crowds that gathered there contributed to the spread of the infection . Clergymen not recognized by the church held services on site and raised money. Jeropkin and the archbishop gave the order to remove the icon. This marks a turning point in Church practices. Amwrossi placed the belief in miraculous icons behind the common good of health. Rationalistic influences are visible. In the eyes of the population, Amwrossi thus deviated from the true faith. He was said to have a covenant with dark forces, especially since there was not a single plague death in the orphanage under his control.

The chest with the donations for the icon should receive a seal of the consistory . So the rumor arose that Amwrossi wanted to steal and rob the miraculous icon. The people had expected this approach and appeared in great numbers on September 15, 1771. The clerk sent for the project could not be protected from the crowd. Insurgents rang the bell in the storm bell tower at the Kremlin, gradually ringing the bells of other churches, alarming the whole city. Wealthy homes were looted. Murders and robberies were committed in broad daylight.

The ringing of the bell in the storm bell tower these days should be the last time in history. After the uprisings, Catherine the Great had the clapper removed from the bell, and in 1803 the bell itself was removed. In doing so, they symbolically deprived the Moscow people of the right to assemble in defense of their common interests. The bell is exhibited today in the State Armory of the Kremlin.

Killing the archbishop

The angry citizens armed themselves with clubs, axes and stones and went to the Chudov monastery to lynch the alleged culprit Archbishop Amwrossi . The mob destroyed Amwrosis apartments, looted religious objects and ravaged the wine cellar. The clergyman had already fled to the Donskoy monastery . A service was being held there when the pack arrived. The approximately 200 angry citizens waited for it to end. Then they destroyed the choir . They found the hidden archbishop and allowed him one final ritual gesture. They then dragged him out of the church and beat him to death. The decisive blow was done by a clerk. The procedure shows that the insurgents did not act in blind rage, but rather godly. In their eyes, what they did was to restore divine order. For them the killing is a legal execution sanctioned by ancient traditions.

In October 1771, Empress Katharina described this event in a letter to the French philosopher Voltaire as follows: The archbishop wanted to remove an image of a saint and move it to a more spacious place. When transporting the donations, it was assumed that he wanted to steal “the virgin's treasure”. Unrest broke out, the Kremlin was stormed, monasteries broken into and plundered, and finally "the venerable old man" was murdered. Incidentally, Catherine II did not mention to Voltaire that it was about the plague. So he replied later: "I thank nature that the epidemic in Moscow is not the plague." ( Voltaire : Europe in the early modern period )

Revolt against doctors

The revolt was directed not only against the government and church leaders, but also against doctors and pharmacists . A considerable part of the doctors came from Western European countries. From September 16, 1771 it is reported: "The rabble revolted against all doctors and surgeons". It was said that the doctors caused the plague and ordered that the icon be removed. The population believed that the plague was a punishment from God who wants to be more worshiped. The doctors' actions seemed like blasphemy, especially the rules that interfered with burial traditions. The plague sufferers who had been interned were forcibly liberated. Several doctors fled the city.

Revolt at the Kremlin

The most threatening situation from the point of view of the administration occurred on the evening of September 17, 1771 on Red Square . It was preceded by another ringing of the storm bell, presumably as a sign of attack. A group of around 130 soldiers were attacked by citizens with stones and sticks. Insurgents tried to penetrate the Kremlin . They wanted to reach the Lobnoje mesto , the place where official proclamations were made and executions were carried out. This goal shows that the insurgents believed their actions to be legitimate. But the breakthrough to the square was in vain. They demanded the extradition of Jeropkin, also in vain. With Jeropkin's death they promised to restore the "good old order". They also considered this plan to be legitimate. They felt they were right and expected that Catherine II would forgive them for the uprising.

Some tried to negotiate a catalog of demands with the soldiers. The demands included, among other things, the abolition of quarantine facilities, the permission of burials in the city cemeteries, the deportation of all doctors from the city and the omission of removing corpses with the help of iron hooks. Eventually the troops opened fire with cannons and rifles. Rescuing the wounded, the crowd withdrew. Around 100 people were killed and 200 to 300 arrests, including the negotiators.

termination

After three days the revolt subsided. That is why a source says that the uprising lasted a mere three days. However, some violent incidents continued. In what was then the capital, St. Petersburg , action was taken because of concerns that Moscow might become extinct. The number of victims had exceeded 100,000 - almost half of the city's population at the time. At the behest of Katarina II, Count Grigory Orlov moved from St. Petersburg on September 26, 1771. He was accompanied by a large staff of doctors and four regiments . It had three goals: to find those involved in the uprising, to reorganize the system of combating the plague and to calm the discontented population. The plague revolt was finally ended by the military operation. Public order was restored. Four of the ringleaders were hanged , 150 people involved were publicly whipped. In memory of the achievement of Count Grigory Orlov, Catherine II had a medal of honor created, on which was engraved: "For the liberation of Moscow from ulcers in 1771".

Incidentally, neither Orlov nor Jeropkin dared to remove the controversial icon. In the years that followed, the population gave considerable amounts of donations.

Reforms

In order to cope with the rampant epidemic, Moscow was divided into 14 sanitary areas. A doctor and a supervisor, often an officer , were assigned to each area . Additional hospitals and quarantine stations have been set up on the outskirts of the city. Orlov made improvements for the hospitals and quarantine facilities. He succeeded in restoring the reputation of the hospitals, so that the sick voluntarily went to the hospitals. The sick were given free food and clothing, and financial compensation after they were released. Orlov offered his own house for sick members of the nobility . The citizens were paid to rescue the plague deaths, men received 15 and women 10 kopeks per day. Citizens who were able to provide evidence of corpses buried in the city received a high reward. After the suppression of the revolt, Empress Katerina wrote that more women than men had died. She arranged for a church to be built at each of the burial sites outside the city for the necessary religious burial rites. Orlov had the city's outposts strengthened in order to strictly control the movement of people and the import and export of goods. The houses affected by the plague were marked with red crosses and boarded up with planks. Looting of abandoned homes and theft was made a death penalty .

This set of measures made it possible to contain the epidemic. From October 1771 the number of deaths fell steadily until there were 30 plague victims in March 1772. As a long-term and future countermeasure, two commissions were formed on October 12, 1772: “Commission against the plague” and “Commission for the implementation” (of measures).

Above all, the doctors Shafonsky and Samoylovich played an important role. The latter recorded his findings on effective disinfection . His work was called Studies on the Plague, which devastated the Russian Empire in 1771, especially the capital Moscow, and what medicines were found to overcome them and the means to prevent it. It has been published all over the world and the author has received declarations of honor from twelve foreign academies.

literature

The plague revolt finds little interest in literature because it is overshadowed by the Pugachev uprising .

  • Heinz-Dietrich Löwe : Popular uprisings in Russia: from the time of turmoil to the “Green Revolution” against Soviet rule. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2006; P. 325 ff. Chapter "The plague uprising of Moscow 1771."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af Heinz-Dietrich Löwe: Popular uprisings in Russia: from the time of turmoil to the " Green Revolution ”against Soviet rule ; Otto Harrassowitz Verlag; 2006; P. 325 ff.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h Europe in the early modern period ; Thunder 2008, p. 874.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Erich Donnert: Europe in the early modern times: Unknown sources. Essays on the development, preliminary stages, limits and continued effects of the early modern era in and around Europe. Tables of contents of volumes 1-6. Register of persons in volumes 1-7 ; Böhlau Verlag Cologne Weimar; 2008; P. 874 ff .; Online view
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m LE Gorelov: History of the Pest Medicine in Moscow (1771–1773 gg.) 2002; No. 16; P. 738
  5. ^ Popular uprisings in Russia ; Löwe et al. 2006, p. 326.
  6. ^ Danilo S. Samojlovič: Treatise on the plague, which devastated the Russian Empire in 1771, especially Moscow, the capital ; Bohemian; 1785; P. 69
  7. ↑ a b c d e f g h Danilo S. Samojlovič: Treatise on the plague, which devastated the Russian Empire in 1771, especially Moscow, the capital ; Bohemian; 1785; P. 50 f .; Online view
  8. ↑ History Time Russia - April 8, Crowned Poet (Russian), accessed April 13, 2017
  9. ↑ Erich Donnert: Europe in the early modern times: Unknown sources. Essays on the development, preliminary stages, limits and continued effects of the early modern era in and around Europe. Tables of contents of volumes 1-6. Register of persons in volumes 1-7 ; Böhlau Verlag Cologne Weimar; 2008; P. 875
  10. ↑ Danilo S. Samojlovič: “Treatise on the plague, which devastated the Russian Empire in 1771, but especially Moscow, the capital”; Bohemian; 1785; P. 81
  11. ↑ a b c d Donnert 2008, p. 876
  12. ↑ auf-weltreise.de - Kremlin in Moscow , accessed on April 14, 2017
  13. ↑ Veronika Wengert, Rainer Eisenschmid: Moscow ; Baedeker; 2011; P. 240 f.
  14. ↑ Donnert 2008, p. 875
  15. ↑ Erich Donnert: Europe in the early modern times: Unknown sources. Essays on the development, preliminary stages, limits and continued effects of the early modern era in and around Europe. Tables of contents of volumes 1-6. Register of persons in volumes 1-7 ; Böhlau Verlag Cologne Weimar; 2008; P. 876
  16. ↑ Danilo S. Samojlovič: “Treatise on the plague, which devastated the Russian Empire in 1771, but especially Moscow, the capital”; Bohemian; 1785; P. 61
  17. ↑ Christoph Schmidt: Russian History 1547-1917 ; Oldenbourg Publishing House; 2009; P.56