Page 56 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 13(1) (2025)

The depiction of naked dead and sick peo- we can see that the smoke is actually rising
ple whose genitals are covered for reasons of de- from the top of the hill and stands out against
cency on the plague altar also shows that peo- the sky. On the one hand, it could be the smoke
ple were aware of the risk of infection through from burnt, infected clothing, which is also con-
clothing and it is supported with other sources. firmed by the depiction of the naked bodies. On
The nakedness of the dead and sick depicted on the other hand, it could be a representation of
the plague altar can be explained by the hygiene the miasma itself, as in popular belief the plague
measures taken to contain the disease. was associated with the appearance of mist,
Žepič, who analysed pandemic criminal smoke or vapour.
law (2022), notes that although European coun- This interpretation could stem from the be-
tries faced devastating plague pandemics, there lief, based on observations of the plague in Swit-
was no significant criminal intervention by the zerland, Austria, Germany and Iceland (Kro-
56 state in pandemics until the sixteenth centu- pej-Telban 2022, 30; Gunnell 2001, 49; Travner
ry, except in some Mediterranean coastal towns 1934, 76.), that the plague could also appear in
and northern Italian cities. The prosecution of the form of mist, smoke, vapour or a cloud that
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 13 (2025), številka 1 / volume 13 (2025), number 1
sanitary offences was the responsibility of the settles in the valley and kills people and livestock
sanitary magistrates, who had broad criminal (Kropej-Telban 2022, 30). From the mouths of
jurisdiction. The ‘pandemic criminal law’ was people dying of the plague, it escapes like a cloud
characterised by harsh punishments reminis- of blue vapour, which can penetrate various ob-
cent of martial law, by the criminalisation of jects and, when it comes out, causes the plague
both commission and omission, of intentional (Travner 1934, 76), which corresponds to the de-
and negligent offences and by the abandonment scription of a miasma.
of the principle of legality when this was already Vinko Möderndorfer, who was the author
an established legal principle (Žepič 2022, 50). of the first comprehensive systematic work on
The Plague Statute that Visconti issued for Reg- the folk medicine of the Slovenes (1964), also ex-
gio in Modena in 1374 stipulated that infected plains that fire was considered a natural disin-
persons had to leave town immediately and iso- fectant. In some places, when the plague spread,
late themselves in the countryside until they re- every stranger who entered the place had to pass
covered or died. The isolation lasted at least ten through the fire and only then were they allowed
days and also applied to those who were in con- to come into contact with the people. In Lower
tact with the infected persons. The property of Carniola (Dolenjska), on the evening of the bon-
infected persons was confiscated, contaminat- fire, everyone jumped over the fire three times
ed movable property was destroyed and wilful to be protected from the plague. In Bela Kraji-
spreaders could expect to have their property na, bonfires were lit in the courtyard during the
confiscated. The admission of infected refugees plague and the cattle were driven through them
was prohibited under threat of the death penal- (Möderndorfer 1964, 31). The ethnographer
ty (pp. 53–54). Jožef Pajek reports that the tradition of light-
With this kind of pandemic criminal law, ing bonfires on Easter morning, called ‘vuzen-
we can explain why the dying and dead are de- ice’, survived in Styria until the end of the nine-
picted naked on the plague altar in Makole. teenth century, and at the same time people
Their clothes were destroyed, burnt, so that the firmly believed that the plague would not reach
infection could not spread further. the place where the smoke from these bonfires
The white smoke on the left side of the art- was lit and that the buckwheat would not with-
work – which at first glance could be mistak- er (Pajek 1884, 84).
en for a fluffy white cloud – could have a dou- By zooming in and focusing the image, we
ble meaning. On closer inspection, however, can also understand the sense of horror of the