Further bills of health from Malta, 1576-1805

Abstract

The Bill of Health was a certificate drawn up by the sanitary authorities or by highly-placed state officials at seaports and delivered to a ship master at the time of his sailing from a harbour. This certificate declared either the existence of communicable disease, usually plague, at the port of departure (known as a Foul Bill of Health) or else it testified to the absence of such a disease (such a certificate being qualified as a Clean Bill of Health). In this article the author describes some of the Bills of Health recorded to be issued in Malta, testifying to the presence of good public health and to the absence of communicable diseases as early as 1576.