A quiz question · hard
The Chevalier Nicolas Roze used 100 condemned galley convicts to clear approximately 1,200 plague corpses from the Esplanade de la Tourette in Marseille in September 1720, promising survivors a royal pardon. How many of the 100 convicts survived?
Eight survivors received their promised royal pardons; their names are recorded in the Marseille municipal archive. The clearance took five days. Roze himself contracted plague during the operation and recovered — substantially the only senior plague-response officer in Marseille to do so. He died in 1733. The Tourette is now a public garden; a plaque near the Cathédrale de la Major commemorates the September 1720 clearance.
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The French Knight Who Took A Hundred Galley Convicts Into the Streets of Plague Marseille and Came Out With Eight The Chevalier Nicolas Roze organised the clearing of approximately 1,200 plague corpses from the Esplanade de la Tourette at Marseille in September 1720. He used condemned galley convicts as labour, promising their freedom if they survived. Eight of his hundred labourers did.
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