Against Plague and Corsairs. Averting Danger in Corsica, c. 1650-1800
Project B04
Principal Investigator
Researcher
Project Description
This project investigates vigilance on the coasts of 17th- and 18th-century southern Europe. We examine local cases of coastal watchfulness and their intersection with trans-Mediterranean security systems such as consular correspondence. Focusing on Corsica enables us to interweave analyses of the dangers posed by plague and pirates – which, until now, have usually been researched separately – and to consider different state frameworks (esp. Genoa, France). Thus, the project will shed light on the overarching setting of coastal vigilance which involved a disparate set of actors, from local populations to tower guards to government officials.
1. Funding phase
Black Death Defense Strategies along the French Coast (1680-1760)
Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Mark Hengerer
Researcher
Sébastien Demichel
Project Description
The project aims to examine vigilance along the French Mediterranean coast from around 1680 to 1760.
Even though the Black Death was still endemic, in particular in the Levant, the intensity of maritime trade taking place in French Mediterranean ports increased. A kind of public health department, the bureau de la santé, was responsible for implementing measures to defend the public against the Black Death. The department’s main measure consisted of enabling access to the French coast by canalization, combined with a quarantine regime. The department was more strictly regulated after the 1720-1722 Black Death epidemic. Even though further cases of the disease were recorded in quarantined areas in the eighteenth century, the disease did not spread to, and along, the coast. In research relating to this period, this fact is attributed to the successful institutionalization of the coastal region after the (big) Black Death epidemic. However, the general public’s involvement is, for the most part, not taken into account.
The project aims to tackle this desideratum of research using a multi-step approach. Firstly, notices/reports/announcements from that time will be analysed. Secondly, standardization and accountability, in combination with an increase in the bureaucratization of the coastal region, will be examined. In addition to these detailed contextualisations, case studies on legal proceedings related to smuggling, due to the quarantine breaches usually involved in such cases, will be investigated.
Workshop report published in Mitteilungen by the CRC 'Cultures of Vigilance':