Poverty and charity in Aix-en-Provence, 1640-1789
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Poverty and charity in Aix-en-Provence, 1640-1789
（The Johns Hopkins University studies in historical and political science, . 94th ser. ; 1）
Johns Hopkins University Press, c1976
Available at 29 libraries
Note
Bibliography: p. 184-191
Includes index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Originally published in 1976. This book is a study of the charitable institutions of one French town, Aix-en-Provence. It begins with their foundation during the Counter-Reformation and ends with their dissolution during the Revolution. It details the impulses behind their foundation and describes how they were financed and administered. It also explores the lives of the people they helped. The study is based primarily on surviving records of the charities. These are the same sort of records that charitable institutions today accumulate: entrance registers, minutes of board meetings, account books, and fund-raising pamphlets. Records of the local and central government and court records were also consulted. One purpose of this study is to bring readers closer to the reality of the problem of poverty in Old Regime France. Another purpose is to historicize contemporary perceptions of poverty in the minds of French historical actors.
Chapter 1 outlines the social and economic makeup of Aix-en-Provence. Chapter 2 deals with the attitudes and assumptions behind the foundation of the charities. Chapter 3 describes how the institutions were administered and financed, and the many important roles they played in the community at large. Chapter 4 describes the types of assistance available to the poor and the types of people who received it. Chapter 5 discusses the most important alternatives to charity for the needy-beggary and crime. After 1760, the traditional charities entered a period of decline. Both the economic and social realities of poverty, and popular perceptions of those realities, changed drastically after 1760. Flooded by increasing numbers of the poor, paralyzed financially because of declining donations and general mismanagement, repudiated by public opinion, and subject to increasing control by the state, the charities were ineffective and indeed almost moribund after 1760. Chapters 6 and 7 detail these developments.
Table of Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
Preface
Part I. Charity
Chapter 1. Aix-en-Provence, "Ville Hospitaliere"
Chapter 2. The Charitable Impulse
Chapter 3. Administration and Finances
Part II. The Poor
Chapter 4. The Poor of the Charities
Chapter 5. The Poor outside the Charities
Part III. The Crisis of Traditional Charity
Chapter 6. The Financial Crisis
Chapter 7. From Charite to Bienfaisance
Conclusion
Part Four: Abbreviations, Notes, Bibliography
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index
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