Plague Riot was a riot

Riot

A riot is a form of civil disorder characterized often by what is thought of as disorganized groups lashing out in a sudden and intense rash of violence against authority, property or people. While individuals may attempt to lead or control a riot, riots are thought to be typically chaotic and...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

 in 1771 between September 15 and September 17, caused by an outbreak of bubonic plague

Bubonic plague

Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...

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History

The first signs of plague in Moscow appeared in late 1770, which would turn into a major epidemic

Epidemic

In epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...

 in the spring of 1771. The measures undertaken by the authorities, such as creation of forced quarantine

Quarantine

Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....

s, destruction of contaminated property without compensation or control, closing of public baths, etc., caused fear and anger among the citizens. The cities economy was mostly paralyzed because many factories, markets, stores, and administrative buildings had been closed down. All of this was followed by acute food shortages, causing deterioration of living conditions for the majority of the Muscovites. Dvoryane (Russian nobility) and well-off city dwellers left Moscow due to the plague outbreak.

The first outbursts of mass protest against the measures undertaken by the authorities took place on August 29 and September 1 in a neighborhood of Lefortovo

Lefortovo District

Lefortovo District is a district of South-Eastern Administrative Okrug of Moscow, Russia. Population: It is named after a close associate of Tsar Peter the Great Franz Lefort, whose troops were stationed nearby at the German Quarter. The district is considered to be founded in 1699. In the 18th...

. By early September, the rumors of an imminent uprising had already been circulating. An attempt by the Archbishop Ambrosius of Moscow to prevent the citizens from gathering at the Icon of the Virgin Mary of Bogolyubovo

Theotokos of Bogolyubovo

The Bogolubskaya Icon of the Theotokos is a Wonderworking Icon of the Theotokos which is venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church...

 (Икона Боголюбской Богоматери) in Kitai-gorod

Kitai-gorod

Kitay-gorod , earlier also known as Great Posad , is a business district within Moscow, Russia, encircled by mostly-reconstructed medieval walls. It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by Red Square. It does not constitute a district , as there are no resident voters, thus, municipal elections...

 as a quarantine measure served as an immediate cause for the Plague Riot. On September 15, huge crowds of Muscovites began to flow towards the Red Square

Red Square

Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. The square separates the Kremlin, the former royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia, from a historic merchant quarter known as Kitai-gorod...

 at the sound of the alarm bell. Pushing aside a military unit, they burst into the Kremlin

Moscow Kremlin

The Moscow Kremlin , sometimes referred to as simply The Kremlin, is a historic fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River , Saint Basil's Cathedral and Red Square and the Alexander Garden...

 and destroyed the Chudov Monastery

Chudov Monastery

The Chudov Monastery was founded in the Moscow Kremlin in 1358 by Metropolitan Alexius of Moscow. The monastery was dedicated to the miracle of the Archangel Michael at Chonae...

 (archbishop

Archbishop

An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...

's residence) and its wine cellar

Wine cellar

A wine cellar is a storage room for wine in bottles or barrels, or more rarely in carboys, amphorae or plastic containers. In an active wine cellar, important factors such as temperature and humidity are maintained by a climate control system. In contrast, passive wine cellars are not...

s. Archbishop Ambrosius managed to escape to the Donskoy Monastery

Donskoy Monastery

Donskoy Monastery is a major monastery in Moscow, founded in 1591 in commemoration of Moscow's deliverance from an imminent threat of Khan Kazy-Girey’s invasion...

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On September 16, the riot gained in strength. Angry citizens captured the Donskoy Monastery, killed Archbishop Ambrosius, and destroyed two quarantine zones (Danilov Monastery

Danilov Monastery

Danilov Monastery, in full Svyato-Danilov Monastery or Holy Danilov Monastery , is a monastery on the right bank of the Moskva River in Moscow, Russia...

 and the one beyond the Serpukhov Gates). In the afternoon, most of the rebels approached the Kremlin and were met by a number of military units. The crowd demanded the surrender of Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General

Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....

 Pyotr Yeropkin

Pyotr Yeropkin

Pyotr Mikhailovich Yeropkin was a Russian architect credited with replanning Saint Petersburg after Peter the Great's death. It was Yeropkin who designed the famous Trident of the Nevsky, Voznesensky, and Gorokhovaya thoroughfares as the city's structural center...

, who had been overseeing the affairs of Moscow after Pyotr Saltykov

Pyotr Saltykov

Count Pyotr Semyonovich Saltykov was a Russian statesman and a military figure, russian general-fieldmarshal , son of Semyon Saltykov....

's departure. As soon as the Muscovites tried to attack the Kremlin's Spasskiye Gates, the army opened fire with buckshot

Shotgun shell

A shotgun shell is a self-contained cartridge loaded with lead shot or shotgun slug designed to be fired from a shotgun....

, dispersing the crowd and capturing some of the rebels.

On the morning of September 17, around 1000 people gathered at the Spasskiye gates again, demanding the release of captured rebels and elimination of quarantines. The army managed to disperse the crowd yet again and finally suppressed the riot. Some 300 people were brought to trial. A government commission headed by Grigory Orlov was sent to Moscow on September 26 to restore order. It took some measures against the plague and provided citizens with work and food, which would finally pacify the people of Moscow. The commission improved services in quarantines, put an end to the burning of property, reopened public baths, permitted trade, increased food deliveries, and organized public works

Public works

Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...

. At the same time, the commission was engaged in prosecuting those who had taken part in the Plague Riot. Four of them were executed; 165 adults and twelve teenagers were subjected to punishment. With the onset of cold weather, the outbreak began to subside. Around 200,000 people died in Moscow and its outskirts during the plague.

There was another unlikely convict—the church bell that was used to start the alarm. By the order of Catherine II, an executor cut the tang from the bell. For more than thirty years, the silent bell hung on the bell tower. Eventually, in 1803, it was removed and sent to the Arsenal and, in 1821, to the Kremlin Armoury

Kremlin Armoury

The Kremlin Armory is one of the oldest museums of Moscow, established in 1808 and located in the Moscow Kremlin .The Kremlin Armoury originated as the royal arsenal in 1508. Until the transfer of the court to St Petersburg, the Armoury was in charge of producing, purchasing and storing weapons,...

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