the black death in early ottoman territories - Bilkent University

in heaven's name not to touch the clothing, since the infection would
involve certain death; but his words fell on deaf ears. As a result, on the
second day after our departure from Adrianople these same men besieged
my physician with prayers for a remedy against symptoms ... which they
suspected to be the beginning of the plague. 329
As was shown before, several hundred, sometimes thousand people would
die daily in the major Ottoman cities when an outbreak was at its highest. From a
humanitarian and religious, but especially from a hygienic point of view, it was
important to dispose of their bodies in an adequate way. That this was not always
the case is clear from the observations of Doukas, who reported that on the way
from Gallipoli to Edirne the bodies were left lying in the streets. 330 We know from
modern epidemiology that such a situation will only aggrevate the epidemic.
Contagion was a contested concept and remained so until the second half of the
19th century. But even according to the mainstream theory of miasma or bad air
causing disease, it was important to avoid decaying bodies lingering about as their
putrid odours were believed to propagate the illness. In fact, European travellers
visiting the Ottoman Empire and especially Istanbul, reported that the graveyards
were all located outside the city walls and the 17th century traveller Thevenot
added that "they were usually situated along the important roads, so that passers-
by could pray for the deceased". 331 It was also noted that the surface covered by
the cimeteries was considerable, because it was strictly forbidden to re-use a
grave. 332 Therefore, as later travellers noted, the surface covered by the cimeteries
329 Ogier Ghiselin De Busbecq. The Turkish Letters of Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq, Imperial
Ambassador at Constantinople (1554-1562). 1968, 68-69.
330 Dukas, Bizans Tarihi, 203.
331 Veinstein (1996: 158) cites the testimonies of Théodore Spandouyn Cantacassin, as well as that
of Luigi Bassano and Giovan Antonio Menavino, who all lived in the Ottoman Empire in the first
half of the 16th century. Veinstein, Les Ottomans et la Mort. Permanences et mutations, 158.
332 The regulation that a burial site could not be used for anything else, which is among others
reflected in certain fetvas of Ebû-s-Su'ûd Efendî, was only valid for Muslims. Veinstein, Les
Ottomans et la Mort. Permanences et mutations, 163.
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