{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T10:57:18Z","timestamp":1777892238075,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":55,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2010,3,1]],"date-time":"2010-03-01T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1267401600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2010,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>This article discusses responses to disease in Aberdeen during a formative period in the provision of healthcare within the city. The foundation of King\u2019s College was followed, in 1497, by the establishment of the first royally endowed university Chair of Medicine in the British Isles, and its first incumbent, James Cumming, was employed by the local government as the first city doctor in 1503. His appointment had been preceded in 1497 by another legislative innovation in Aberdeen, when its council became the first civic body in the British Isles to implement regulations against the threat of the Great Pox (usually considered to be syphilis). It had subsequently to pass measures to prevent the spread of plague to the city, and these were typical of those already imposed elsewhere in Scotland and on the continent. Their apparent success in staving off plague lasted until 1514, when the city was struck by a severe outbreak which lasted two years.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.4997\/jrcpe.2010.114","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2010,3,15]],"date-time":"2010-03-15T06:29:24Z","timestamp":1268634564000},"page":"70-76","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Plague, pox and the physician in Aberdeen, 1495\u20131516"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"40","author":[{"given":"K","family":"Jillings","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Lecturer in History, School of History, Philosophy and Classics, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2010,3,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"bibr1-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"1 Tognotti E. The rise and fall of syphilis in Renaissance Europe. J Med Humanit 2009; 30:99\u2013113. doi:10.1007\/s10912-009-9079-3","DOI":"10.1007\/s10912-009-9079-3"},{"key":"bibr2-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"2 Sefton AM. The Great Pox that was\u2026 syphilis. J Appl Microbiol 2001; 91:592\u20136. doi:10.1046\/j.1365-2672.2001.01494.x","DOI":"10.1046\/j.1365-2672.2001.01494.x"},{"key":"bibr3-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"3Aberdeen City Archives: Council Registers [hereafter ACR]. vol. 7. p. 767 [21 April 1497]."},{"key":"bibr4-JRCPE.2010.114","first-page":"175","volume":"38","author":"Morton RS.","year":"1962","journal-title":"Brit J Vener Dis"},{"key":"bibr5-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"5 Arrizabalaga J, Henderson J, French R. The Great Pox: the French disease in Renaissance Europe. New Haven: Yale University Press; 1997. p. 36."},{"key":"bibr6-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"6 Marwick JD, editor. Extracts from the records of the burgh of Edinburgh, 1403\u20131528. Edinburgh: Scottish Burgh Records Society; 1869. p. 71\u20132 [22 September 1497]."},{"key":"bibr7-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"7 Simpson JY. Antiquarian notices of syphilis in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries. Edinburgh: Edmonston &Douglas; 1862. p. 14\u20135."},{"key":"bibr8-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"8 Contamine P. Scottish soldiers in France in the second half of the fifteenth century: mercenaries, immigrants or Frenchmen in the making? In: Simpson GG, editor. The Scottish soldier abroad, 1247\u2013 1967. Edinburgh: John Donald; 1992. p. 16\u201330."},{"key":"bibr9-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"9 MacDougall N. James IV. East Linton: Tuckwell; 1997. p. 128, p. 114\u20135."},{"key":"bibr10-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"10 Pearce JM. A note on the origins of syphilis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 1998; 64:542. doi:10.1136\/jnnp.64.4.542","DOI":"10.1136\/jnnp.64.4.542"},{"key":"bibr11-JRCPE.2010.114","first-page":"97","volume":"70","author":"Dunlop D.","year":"1991","journal-title":"Scot Hist Rev"},{"key":"bibr12-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"12 Macfarlane LJ. William Elphinstone and the kingdom of Scotland, 1431\u20131514: the struggle for order. Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press; 1985. p. 322\u20133."},{"key":"bibr13-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"13Croft Dickinson W, editor. Early records of the burgh of Aberdeen, 1317, 1398\u20131407. Edinburgh: Scottish History Society; 1957. p. 211."},{"key":"bibr14-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"14 Leslie J. The historie of Scotland. Vol. 1. Edinbugh: Scottish Text Society; 1888. p. 47."},{"key":"bibr15-JRCPE.2010.114","first-page":"497","volume":"54","author":"Ell SR.","year":"1980","journal-title":"Bull Hist Med"},{"key":"bibr16-JRCPE.2010.114","volume-title":"The Black Death: a biological reappraisal","author":"Twigg G.","year":"1984"},{"key":"bibr17-JRCPE.2010.114","volume-title":"Plague? Jesuit accounts of epidemic disease in the sixteenth century","author":"Martin AL.","year":"1996"},{"key":"bibr18-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"18Cohn SK Jr. The Black Death transformed: disease and culture in early Renaissance Europe. London: Edward Arnold; 2002."},{"key":"bibr19-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"19 Carmichael A. Review essay: plagues and more plagues. Early Sci Med 2003; 8:253\u201366. doi:10.1163\/157338203X00080","DOI":"10.1163\/157338203X00080"},{"key":"bibr20-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"20 Scott S, Duncan C. Return of the Black Death: the world\u2019s greatest serial killer. Chichester: Wiley; 2005."},{"key":"bibr21-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"21 Theilmann JM, Cate F. A plague of plagues: the problem of plague diagnosis in medieval England. J Interdiscipl Hist 2007; 37:371\u201393. doi:10.1162\/jinh.2007.37.3.371","DOI":"10.1162\/jinh.2007.37.3.371"},{"key":"bibr22-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"22 Watt DER. Biographical dictionary of Scottish graduates to A.D. 1410. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1997. p. 538\u20139."},{"key":"bibr23-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"23 Munro AM, editor. Register of burgesses of guild and trade of the burgh of Aberdeen, 1399\u20131631. In: The miscellany of the New Spalding Club. Vol. 1. Aberdeen: New Spalding Club; 1890. p. 8, 12, 26, 28."},{"key":"bibr24-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"24ACR. Vol. 8. p. 543 [30 January 1506]."},{"key":"bibr25-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"25ACR. Vol. 13. p. 160 [22 May 1531]."},{"key":"bibr26-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"26ACR. Vol. 8. p. 278 [20 October 1503]."},{"key":"bibr27-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/2862709"},{"key":"bibr28-JRCPE.2010.114","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"28 Kinzelbach A. Infection, contagion, and public health in late medieval and early modern German Imperial towns. J Hist Med Allied Sci 2006; 61:369\u201389. doi:10.1093\/jhmas\/jrj046","DOI":"10.1093\/jhmas\/jrj046"},{"key":"bibr29-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"29ACR. Vol. 7. p. 934\u20136 [19 May 1498]."},{"key":"bibr30-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"30ACR. Vol. 7. p. 957\u20138 [17 May 1499]."},{"key":"bibr31-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"31ACR. Vol. 7. p. 963 [21 June 1499]."},{"key":"bibr32-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"32ACR. Vol. 7. p. 993\u20134 [25 October 1499]."},{"key":"bibr33-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"33ACR. Vol. 7. p. 1067\u20138 [21 August 1500]."},{"key":"bibr34-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"34ACR. 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Microbes Infect 2006; 8:273\u201384. p. 274. doi:10.1016\/j.micinf.2005.06.006","DOI":"10.1016\/j.micinf.2005.06.006"},{"key":"bibr49-JRCPE.2010.114","first-page":"508","volume":"57","author":"Carmichael AG.","year":"1983","journal-title":"Bull Hist Med"},{"key":"bibr50-JRCPE.2010.114","volume-title":"Plague and the poor in Renaissance Florence","author":"Carmichael AG.","year":"1986"},{"key":"bibr51-JRCPE.2010.114","volume-title":"Public health and the medical profession in the Renaissance","author":"Cipolla C.","year":"1976"},{"key":"bibr52-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"52 Palmer RJ. The control of plague in Venice and northern Italy, 1348\u2013 1600. PhD thesis, University of Kent at Canterbury; 1978."},{"key":"bibr53-JRCPE.2010.114","unstructured":"53 Henderson J. Epidemics in Renaissance Florence: medical theory and government response. In: Bulst N, Delort R, editors. Maladie et soci\u00e9t\u00e9 (XIIe-XVIIIe si\u00e8cles). 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