Exodus zemřelých: Počátky medikalizace smrti v pozdně osvícenských Čechách. (Czech)

Exodus of the Dead: The Beginning of the Medicalization of Death in the Period of the Enlightenment (1750-1825). (English)

This article discusses the transformation of burial practices and forms of handling the dead body during the Enlightenment period. This is a key period, when for the first time in the Christian era an enlightened state adopted a whole set of measures, the aim of which was to marginalize interaction between the worlds of the living and the dead -- in the name of protecting public health. Thus, alongside the priest, the doctor now won a central place at the deathbed. The notorious 'burials in sacks' represent only a part of a large set of measures which challenged thousand-year old traditions and the sensibilities of the populations of the Czech lands and other countries. Rather unpopular practices were introduced, including the removing of cemeteries away from inhabited areas, introducing the 'institution of the morgue', notorious burying in sacks, as well as other 'novelties'. Among other things, the article discusses the responses to the above measures in the Czech lands. In spite of the tact that this is an area where the Enlightenment-era 'sanitation of public space' is possibly most distinct, Czech historiography has so far almost entirely overlooked it. The present study thus attempts to present the problem of 'banishment', 'malign bodies' (as well as resistance the new measures by common people), chiefly on the basis of research of hitherto unpublished (and unstudied) sources from the collections of the institutions České gubernium (Czech Vice-regency) and the Zemský protomedikát (Office of the country's highest appointed physician) deposited in the National Archive in Prague. These are naturally accompanied by period documents (mostly in German), primarily medical or police documents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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