In 1813, a major epidemic of bubonic plague occurred in Wallachia.
Verdict: ALMOST TRUE
Verdict details
Confidence: 70%
Evidence quality: MEDIE
**What was analyzed:** Historical claims from a religious article about the plague epidemic of 1813 in Wallachia (“Caragea's plague”), the number of victims, the behavior of the population, and testimonies attributed to Ion Ghica in “Letters to Vasile Alecsandri”. **What sources confirm:** Historical and documentary sources confirm that the epidemic occurred in 1812-1813 during the reign of Ioan Gheorghe Caragea, causing about 90,000 deaths in the country and hundreds of daily deaths in Bucharest. Quotes from Ion Ghica regarding the population's horror and the abuses of the gravediggers are faithfully reproduced. **Limitations:** Some folkloric or specific details (the sale of alcohol only through small windows, healing by touching turtles, or reports of drunken gravediggers) were not directly corroborated by the documents identified in the search. **Conclusion:** The general historical framework and quotes from Ion Ghica's work are accurate and historiographically confirmed, presentin…
Sources consulted
| Source | Domain | Date | What it says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ion Ghica - Scrisori catre V. Alecsandri | humanitas.ro | — | Publicarea scrisorilor lui Ion Ghica către Vasile Alecsandri se înscrie în demersul Editurii Humanitas de recuperare a celor mai pre ţioase mărturii dintr-o ... |
| ACTA MVSEI POROLISSENSIS | muzeuzalau.ro | 2019-01-01 | ... România. Dr. Tiberius BADER, Hemmingen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germania. Conf ... Epidemia de ciumă din anii 1659–1662, răspândită pe fondul unui război ... |
| Moartea neagră | ro.wikipedia.org | — | Moartea neagră sau Ciuma neagră a fost o pandemie de ciumă bubonică care a avut loc în Europa între anii 1346 și 1353. A fost una dintre cele mai mortale ... |
| Ioan Caragea | ro.wikipedia.org | — | Ioan Caragea, (cunoscut și sub numele său domnesc Ioan Gheorghe Caragea/ Ioan Vodă Caragea; în greacă Ἰωάννης Γεωργίου Καρατζάς, romanizat: Ioanni Georgiou ... |
| COMUNICATE DE PRESĂ | dspdolj.ro | — | Consumul uşor până la moderat de alcool (mai puţin de 20 g de alcool pur pe zi) a fost asociat cu 13,3% din aceste cazuri, echivalentul a aproximativ 23 000 de |
| Moaștele Sfântului Cuvios Dimitrie cel Nou | basilica.ro | 2011-10-22 | În vremea domnitorului Caragea, la 1814, întinzându-se ciuma în București, la cererea lui Vodă, călugării au scos moaștele Sfântului de la ... |
| După două sute de ani de la ciuma bubonică, moaştele Sfântului ... | universul.net | 2020-04-05 | O procesiune cu moaştele Sfântului Dimitrie cel Nou, ocrotitorul Bucureştilor, a avut loc, duminică, pe străzile Capitalei. Procesiunea, condusă de ... |
| Sfântul Dimitrie Basarabov – Cuviosul mai puternic decât ... | blog.bizanticons.ro | 2021-10-22 | În anul 1813, o mare epidemie de ciumă bubonică a avut loc în Țara Românească. Istoria i-a dat numele de „ciuma lui Caragea”, deoarece s-a ... |
Recommended next steps
- Consult the critical edition of 'Letters to Vasile Alecsandri' by Ion Ghica.
- Consult Romanian medical historiography regarding Phanariot epidemics (e.g., the works of Gheorghe Brătescu or Constantin C. Giurescu).
Analysis limitations
- Not all anecdotal details from daily life (the windows of taverns, healing practices with turtles) were found in the consulted digitized sources.
- The text includes religious appeals and conspiracy theories at the end, which do not pertain to the factual historical analysis of the plague.
- For the claim 'During the 1813 epidemic, people began to drink more and more alcohol believing that its disinfectant effect would save them from the disease,' the sources contain passages on the same theme, but none explicitly clarify it; the claim remains unverified, and the evidence found has been
- The central claim is verified only through secondary media reports — among the cited evidence, no primary source appears (the named publication, the court portal, the original document).
- A secondary claim remains problematic and is not covered by the general verdict: 'Tavern owners sold alcohol to people only through small windows, out of fear of the plague during the 1813 epidemic.'
- Identification of historical medical monographs or period treatises that attest to or refute the anecdote regarding alcohol consumption and folk remedies.
Manipulation techniques detected
- Appeal to Tradition
- Emotional Language
- Framing in Crisis
View full analysis on Justificat.ro
How to cite this
In-text citation: Justificat.ro, „In 1813, a major epidemic of bubonic plague occurred in Wallachia.", 2026-10-27, https://justificat.ro/en/analysis/afirmatiile-istorice-dintr-un-articol-religios-despre-epidemia-de-ciuma-din-1813-a7bffd61-b097-4eac-b3a0-492cabf20c5f
License: Verdicts and aggregate figures may be quoted freely with attribution and a link to Justificat.ro.