Sepultureros y enterradores: La manipulación de cuerpos y objetos en época de peste durante la baja Edad Media y la temprana modernidad europea (pp.)

in the european low middle age and early modernity, the plague introduced a new, wild and sudden death, almost in a brutal way. the disease was identified with fatality, therefore, interpersonal relationships between the community of the living and the world of the dead suffered changes. everyday reality fell into chaos and preventive ambition focused on being away from all impure contact. as the transmission of the disease was attributed to proximity, this became dangerous. but not everybody was able to put into practice the advice about escaping from the place. poor people had to work in order to survive and devoted themselves to the most dangerous and unpopular tasks in those times of plague: they took care of sick people, they carried infected people to the lazaretto, they kept an eye on closed houses, they transported and buried corpses, they burnt corrupted objects, cleaned and purified infected properties, among other actions of enormous risk for health. the aim of this work is to trace those activities, essential but risky and infamous, which meant the manipulation of infected bodies and objects, and the direct contact with the horror of the plague, comparing contemporary sources from different places.