The Plague of 1568 in Seville: An Epidemic Through Business Correspondence

Abstract

Abstract: Studies focused on urban diseases and epidemics of the Ancient Regime have relied mainly on official sources, annals and chronicles of cities or on the medical literature written by the doctors who fought against them. But, on very rare occasions, attention has been paid to the testimonies contained in the correspondence, especially that of a commercial and mercantile nature.
This work aims to annalyze the pestilence outbreak of 1568 in Seville through the correspondence sent to the merchant Simón Ruiz Embito, settled down in Medina del Campo, by his commercial agents in that city. The information contained in these letters, certainly original and, at times, far from the official sources and versions, make this correspondence a first-rate source for studying particular aspects of social history.