ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses that there is substantial evidence that epidemic management acted as a barometer of central government power and organisation throughout the early modern period. Lisbon was hit again in the late 1520s, and the earthquake of 1531 that rocked the capital and the Tagus valley was quickly followed by another outbreak lasting from May to October, which had a severe impact on the Alentejo but this time also devastated the north of the country. Although permanent hospitals were not established, since they would require local funding, the directives setting out prevention measures and rules to be followed during quarantine periods. A few years of abeyance followed the sequential plague outbreaks of the early part of the century, but in 1557 it struck again in the Coimbra region, spreading to several areas in central and northern Portugal in the early 1560s.
