Page 48 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

in connection with the Hungarian and Turkish contents often spilled into the neighbourhood.
invasions) and a few times also from the south Even in larger towns there were stables next to
(from the Republic of Venice, due to lively trade). the houses, from which animals (especially pigs)
After 1550, the plague almost always came from often escaped into the streets and squares. Car-
the north in Lower Styria and most of Carniola rion (dogs, cats, chickens, rats and others) often
and from the south in Littoral (Primorska) and lay in public places for days and weeks, spreading
Lower Carniola (Notranjska), which was relat- an unbearable stench. At best, they swept dead
ed to the political, economic and transport con- animals, waste, rubbish, etc. into nearby streams
nections of the individual countries at that time. and rivers, which was even recommended by the
The centres and starting points of the plague ep- infection regulations (e.g. 1625) and city magis-
idemics were almost always towns with heavy trates, e.g. of Ljubljana in 1599. Of course, no-
traffic, and from there the disease usually spread body realised that water was a dangerous carri-
48 rapidly in the surrounding area. The border re- er of infectious diseases. Livestock was usually
gions, especially Podravje, Bela Krajina, Tržaš- slaughtered at home without paying attention
ka and Goriška, were particularly frequently to order and cleanliness. Drinking water for hu-
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
and severely affected. The area around Ljublja- mans and animals was taken from public wells,
na and Gorenjska was less affected, as the au- which were not covered but so poorly fenced that
thorities had already done everything necessary contaminated water and other rubbish got into
to contain the destructive force of the epidem- them. Cemeteries were almost always located
ic before it spread through the heart of Slove- in settlements around the parish church. These
nia. The conditions that enabled and accelerat- were the normal conditions that prevailed in
ed the epidemics were, as elsewhere in Europe, Slovenia until 1850, when Prussian-style health
mainly poor hygienic, housing and sanitary councils were established in Austria to take care
conditions (cramped, stuffy and often populat- of general hygiene and the proper care of patients
ed by rodents, fleas and lice, poor and monot- (Travner 1934, 23, 24).
onous diet, lack of hygiene, lack of sanitary fa- Following this example, other authors re-
cilities, lack of or severely inadequate medical ported similar conditions. For example, a histo-
care), difficult economic conditions, unfavour- ry professor from Metlika, Zvonko Rus, uses his-
able weather conditions (floods, droughts) and torical sources to describe in literary form how
other natural disasters (earthquakes, locust at- the plague struck Metlika in his book Metličani,
tacks) and the associated crop failures and fam- Part 1 (2021, 53–54):
ines (Zmazek 2022).
Travner states that the epidemics claimed so Behind the church of St Martin stands a
many victims over many centuries – especially in plague sign, which is one of the oldest of
the Middle Ages – because sanitary and hygien- its kind and is protected as a monument.
ic conditions were extremely neglected. Space In addition to the attacks by the Turks and
in the cities was very limited due to the walls. Uskoks, Metlika was also ravaged by the
As a result, the streets were narrow and dark. Black Death. Imagine what Metlika looked
They had no sewerage system. But if there were like back then: narrow streets, no sewage
ditches, they were so narrow and slightly sloped system, no rubbish collection, no commu-
that the heat could not drain away well. In bad nal services and no communal economy. On
weather, it flooded the streets and squares and these streets, even if they were paved, the
formed large, dirty and smelly puddles. Rub- townspeople threw everything they didn’t
bish and waste was usually dumped in front of need in the houses: rubbish, dead cats, the
the houses and rarely taken away. The cesspits stinking contents of chamber pots, rags,
were usually poorly constructed so that their swill and so on. This heated up on the street