Sometimes. If the sentence is two independent clauses then they would need either a period or a semicolon. A comma would be used if you had an independent and dependent clause.
Most of the above passage includes descriptions of the tasks that the caretakers did for the sick, but if you look where Bradford first mentions those caretakers, you can see just how he feels about them. This phrase, "there was but six or seven sound persons, who, to their great commendations be in spoken, spared no pains, night nor day, but with abundance of toil and hazard of their own health" holds the key. If you look closely at this phrase, Bradford describes how many people acted as caretakers (six or seven) and includes a single word, "commendations," that means praise. To suggests they deserve "great commendations" tells the reader that Bradford feels like these caretakers deserve the highest praise for what they do. My answer, then, would be the word "commendations."
It connects the book's ideas about early bicycle variations.
