| In 1701
epidemics of plague broke out in North Africa.
By 1705 it had reached Poland and by 1709
Curland. Estonia was especially susceptible to
the epidemics as the 1709 famine had broken
the people's stamina. Tallinn was full of war
refugees and Swedish garrison with their
families. There were numerous intestinal
infections and people suffered from
colds. |
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Living-conditions were downright unhealthy as
the living-quarters were overcrowded.
Suburbian houses had been burnt down. Adding
the shortage of food, the results were to be
expected.
When the plague approached and nothing much
was done for prevention, people began to die
in large numbers. The dead were not buried and
their names could not be entered in the parish
registers - there were too many of them. When
the town capitulated to the Russian army on
September 29. 1710, the plague still raged on
and subsided only when the cold weather set in
in December. The Town Council had had to renew
its councillors twice due to the deaths and
only three pupils returned to the gymnasium. |
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