Misericórdias

The history of medicine in late fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Portugal cannot be dissociated from the evolution of the monarchy and overseas expansion. Kings and queens were responsible for changes in the institutional structures of charity, creating new hospitals (especially Nossa Senhora do Pópulo in Caldas and Todos-os-Santos in Lisbon) and a new set of confraternities – the Misericórdias – that would take charge of most hospitals in the kingdom from 1564 onwards. Overseas expansion made possible the transformation of the island of Madeira into one of the main producers of sugar, which was then distributed by private persons and institutions, including charitable ones, forming part of medical treatment for the sick poor. Asian spices, also, became common in public and private pharmacies early in the sixteenth century. Through hospitals, which were linked to the royal network of patronage, substances such as sugar and spices became available to the poor.

Urbanization, poverty and clothing are central concepts for the comprehension of the societies of the Modern Age. The power of the elites was becoming visible through the signs and coded messages emanated and received. On this system, clothing is the central element, having been monitored and controlled throughout modern age. The relation of power summarized by clothing was made with the body of the individual and from it to other bodies, entailing competition between powers, limiting different social frameworks. Market availability, namely, supply and demand of specific goods, conditions or boosts ways of dressing and seem/pretend. The city affirmed itself as the preferred scenario for the practise of charity work, sharing with fashion the same competition context between diverse groups and their powers. Poor and rich establish, on cities’ streets, material and symbolic communication mechanisms.
Santas Casas, brotherhoods of immediate royal protection, asserted themselves, in Modern Portugal, as framing centres of the local elites through charitable practices inspired by the 14 works of mercy, on imitatio Christi and commitment to the salvation of the soul. Unmarried and widowed women, orphans of father and mother or craftsmen are groups who received great attention by charitable institutions due to their vulnerability to economic crises.
With Accounting Books of Santa Casa and the spending with clothing, we undertake an analysis and problematisation about gender, situation and state of the poor assisted by Misericórdia de Braga between 1650 and 1750. We also analyse which clothing typologies better adapt to the beneficiary of charity and to the specific market conditions which restrict choices. We want to contribute to the historiographic discussion around urban poverty and the role of Santas Casas for the maintenance of social order and stabilization of the prevalent family system.