LASTOVSKI STATUT I ZDRAVSTVENA KULTURA

Abstract

The aim of this article was to define the elements of health culture in the Statute of Lastovo, from its declaration in 1310 to amendments made in the 18th century. The source we used was a recently published translation of the Statute from Latin, in which we identified the lawmaker’s stipulations directly or indirectly related to public health of the times. The Statute stipulates several preventive measures to keep plague at bay and to control it if it breaks out. Stipulations on communal slaughterhouses and fish markets, even if not directly intended to address healthcare issues, brought a definite improvement to public hygiene and sanitation. Penal provisions for the perpetrators included death, whipping, branding, cutting fingers off, standing on logs, and pillorying. The article concludes that even though the Statute of Lastovo is quite comprehensive and voluminous, it does not give much space to health culture, in fact, even less space than other Medieval statutes of towns along the east coast of the Adriatic.