Objective:

to determine the role of the hospitals in Vitoria (Álava, Spain) during the Atlantic plague epidemic (1598-1601).

Methods:

interpretative study of primary historical documentary sources (municipal minute books and preserved documentation from three of the five historical hospitals of Vitoria).

Results:

6 direct and several indirect reports link only one of Vitoria's hospitals, the Santiago, with the care of the plague victims during the epidemic. The main activity was carried out in a temporary hospital set up outside the city walls until it was saturated when the city inside the walls was invaded -one year after the beginning of the epidemic-, starting the assistance in the Santiago hospital since it could not avoid the infection among its patients.

Conclusions:

at least one hospital in Vitoria, the Santiago hospital, actively assisted the plague victims, but only when the strategy based on lazarettos outside the city walls failed.