The Political and Social Dynamics of Poverty, Poor Relief and Health Care in Early-Modern Portugal (Paperback, 1)

Contents: Introduction. Part I Charity and Poor Relief in Portugal at the Dawn of the Early Modern Period: The Organisation and Consolidation of Crown Authority: Social and political contexts; ‘For the benefit of the body’: hospital and health care reform; Epidemic control; The foundation of the misericordias; The organisation of the welfare services; The funding of poor relief. Part II Institutions as Social Actors Mediating between Society, the Authorities and Individuals: Poor relief in an institutional context; The movement to found confinement institutions; The population of female recolhimentos: ‘wives, nuns and prostitutes’; Hospitals and their users; Prisons and misericordias; Conclusion; Manuscript sources; Printed sources; Bibliography; Index.