The Epidemic, an old Ghost of Villafranca. His traces in the Archives

Abstract

Villafranca de los Caballeros is a village in the province of Toledo and part of the Campo de San Juan region, the town has suffered many epidemics throughout its history. The documents that can be found in different archives allow us to report on some of the incidents that took place from the second half of the 17th century, up to the 20th century. With this information we can reconstruct, to the extent possible, part of the economic and social environment, the medical facilities, the used medicines, the isolation measures and the defenses against widespread contagion, as well as the mortality rate amongst the total of its inhabitants.