Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej (Jul 2014)
Kopacze: grabarze morowi w miastach Rzeczypospolitej XVI–XVIII wieku
Abstract
Plague gravediggers in Polish towns in the 16th–18th century The article analyzes a group of low functionaries employed during epidemics, frequent in the early modern era, the so-called plague gravediggers. Their task was to transport the bodies of epidemic victims to special cemeteries and bury them in mass graves. The gravediggers came from the lowest urban classes; they wore special clothes to single them out and were relatively well paid for their dangerous job. Depending on the duration of the epidemics the town had to employ from several to about twenty gravediggers. They were deeply despised by urban communities since they often behaved brutally and were suspected of robbing the dead. Furthermore, they were sometimes accused of spreading the disease intentionally, which led to court trials and bloody executions.
