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19 some recover, the rest die Some recover, and the rest die. —francisco gonzález perellón D iego de Toledo and Juan de Perea Durán wrote regular reports to Seville’s cabildo informing the governor and the municipal government of their progress. The councilors showed great interest in their envoys’ missives, which often generated debates regarding what action to take. Seville’s plague commission met on 23 January 1582 in the Count of Villar’s residence, and the members who were present listened as letters from Diego de Toledo (still being sent from Constantina) and Licentiate Perea Durán, from Puebla de los Infantes, were read. When the deputies heard the detailed accounts of the numerous cases of the plague that the two men had encountered, they promptly ordered the guards at all the gates leading into Seville to stop any goods coming from Constantina, Puebla, and Cazalla. On 27 January Licentiate Perea Durán penned another extensive account from Puebla de los Infantes to the Count of Villar, who received it within a couple of days, along with two letters from Constantina. Perea Durán reported that it had been cloudy for the past two days, and during that time “three or four women became sick and were put in the hospital.”Consequently there were now eighteen patients, but twelve of them were recovering. Perea Durán lamented that “on this day a very good nurse died, and I have rather felt his absence ,” as did the patients who apparently were fond of him. The commissioner had learned the fate of Ana de Rojas, the woman from Puebla who was suspected of having secretly gone to her mother’s house in Cordova. Perea Durán informed the count that she had fled from the town “about six days ago, and today I have news that she died in Cordova.” Furthermore , various people told him that “three corpses have left her house.” He as- 142 | the plague files 1. See Siraisi, Medieval Medicine, 134. sured the governor that he had alerted Cordova’s officials “so that they understand that there was a burning fire within.” The count had instructed that no one was to leave town, but Perea Durán pointed out that if the people could not go out to the fields, “they die of hunger , by not having anything to do, and most of them are working farmers.” He pleaded with the governor to change the policy: “Your Lordship, do not allow these unfortunates to perish.” At the end of the missive, he complimented the work of one of the doctors: “I am awaiting Centurio, and it seems to me that with his presence and God’s help we will soon have greater health.” Dr. Centurio wrote a separate detailed account to authorities in Seville. He noted that Diego de Toledo had left Constantina on 21 January and that same afternoon two people were taken to the hospital. Shortly thereafter, local of- ficials, “those that they call of the council,” confronted Dr. Centurio and “demanded that I declare the community healthy and free of the plague.” They pressed the physician to go to Seville and “give account to Your Lordship of the same.” Dr. Centurio was not intimidated and refused:“what I responded to this demand will be evident from the disgust it caused.” Dr. Centurio, in keeping with Hippocratic teaching, was carefully monitoring the weather conditions and their influence on morbidity: On 23 January “we had very stormy and therefore extremely pernicious air in this place,” and that day four people sickened, including a young boy who died on the way to the hospital. The following day, however,“it cleared up once again and hence we did not have more than one [sick].” The belief that the onset of sickness or the end of an epidemic was connected to a particular season and weather conditions played an important role in how certain diseases were treated.1 Dr. Centurio did not mention the weather when he informed the Count of Villar that on 26 January four people had been brought to the hospital, and the day he was writing his report another five were discovered stricken with the disease. Nevertheless, during the five-day period only the boy had died. Meanwhile, eighteen patients were recovering, though Dr. Centurio remarked it was “not a big deal for a village like this one.” In general, however, the doctor was less than optimistic, noting that even with...

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