The European Catholic Dynasties and the Fight Against Smallpox: Bourbon Rulers Between Resilient and Resistant Actions

In the mid-eighteenth century, the threat of smallpox panicked the courts of Paris, Naples, Parma, and Vienna. In France, in 1756, Louis-Philippe I of Orléans decided to inoculate his sons despite the hostility of the Church, the physicians’ guild, and even King Louis XV. He called on the famous inoculator, the Swiss Théodore Tronchin, who had had a long career fighting smallpox. The news of the successful inoculations spread first in Paris, and from there to other countries and other branches of Bourbon dynasty. The Bourbons of Parma, after several more deaths in the family from smallpox, chose to follow the example of their French cousins by inoculating the young heir. The Habsburgs, who since 1761 had been losing family members to smallpox, with severe repercussions for its matrimonial strategies, followed suit when the Empress Maria Theresa decided to inoculate her family. All these rulers adopted similar resilience strategies, becoming fervent promoters of inoculation, despite the opposition at court, from the Church, and from the medical profession.