Landlords' Medical Care for their Serfs in the Baltic Provinces of the Russian Empire

Abstract

This article details the opportunities of serfs to get medical care in the Baltic provinces of the Russian Empire before the abolition of serfdom in 1816―19. It argues that although at the beginning of the nineteenth century estates still played the main role as providers and mediators of medical aid to the peasantry, pressure to improve serfs' health standards had started to come from the state and the authors of popular enlightenment from the 1760s, In general, the landlords did not show any clear interest in providing medical care for their serfs, although they accepted it as one of their commitments. In the reign of Catherine II medical police became a part of state policy, and the private serf peasantry was not ignored. The state expected that the landlords would keep control over the spread of disease on their manors, but in cases of the discovery of communicable or venereal diseases the government showed its determination to intervene in private affairs.