Protecting Yourself from the Plague with Smells: The History of the vinaigre des quatre voleurs
Here is one of the most fascinating legends in the history of smells, at the crossroads of perfume, medicine and crime. A story of thieves, plague and a scented vinegar that supposedly made its wearers invincible against the most terrible of epidemics. The vinaigre des quatre voleurs remained, for more than a century, an official preparation of French pharmacy. But behind the legend lies a deeper truth about how humanity long believed that smells could save lives.
A legend of plague and theft
The tale, for it is one, takes place during the great plague epidemics that ravaged the south of France, in Toulouse around 1628, then in Marseille in 1720, during the last major plague the country experienced, which caused nearly one hundred thousand deaths in Provence.
It is said that four thieves took advantage of the epidemic to rob the sick and the dead, entering infected houses without ever contracting the disease. An impunity that intrigued. Arrested and brought to trial, they allegedly traded their secret for the judges' leniency: each day they rubbed their bodies, hands and faces with a maceration of aromatic plants in vinegar. This potion, they claimed, kept them safe from contagion.
I must insist on one point, as an honest historian: everything in this account varies according to the sources. The date, the city, the exact number of thieves, their names never recorded, the outcome of their trial, sometimes hanged, sometimes pardoned, and even the composition of the remedy. It is a legend with multiple variations, transmitted and rewritten over the centuries. What is certain, however, is that a leaflet dated 1721, found in the parish registers of Couiza, in Aude, attests in black and white to the formula and its name: “Remedy to prevent the plague, called vinaigre des quatre voleurs.”
What did this famous vinegar contain?
Here again, the recipes differ, but a common core emerges. The vinaigre des quatre voleurs was a maceration, for one to two weeks, of aromatic plants and spices in vinegar. One finds rosemary, sage, thyme, mint and especially lavender, those southern plants so dear to Provence, to which were added garlic, cinnamon and clove.
The strongest historical formulas also contained substances now considered too powerful, even toxic: camphor, absinthe and rue, reserving the product then for external use, by rubbing. Reading this list makes it clear that the vinaigre des quatre voleurs was a concentrate of everything the aromatic pharmacopeia of the time counted as most antiseptic and most fragrant. A true medicinal bouquet, on the border between remedy and perfume.
Why did people believe in smells against the plague?
This is where the story meets that of perfume, and where it becomes fascinating. To understand why one could believe that a scented vinegar protected against the plague, one must remember the theory that dominated medicine at the time: the miasma theory. According to this belief, diseases were transmitted by foul air, bad smells, putrid exhalations. The logic was relentless: if stench made you sick, then pleasant smells, strong aromatics, must protect.
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