Old Age Coping Strategies of the Ionian and Maltese Poor, 1800–1865

Abstract

growing corpus of historical work is increasingly showing the complexity and diversity of old age, while proving that it was common for the elderly to remain active and continue working up till they became incapable, in different European societies and periods. Elaborating on this accumulating historical knowledge, the present study seeks to examine the survival strategies adopted by the aging poor in response to unanticipated changes in their life circumstances, due to disability, illness or financial mishaps, and to mitigate the more predictable vulnerabilities associated with advanced old age. This means focusing attention on the daily practices and tactics employed by old men and women to acquire provisions, social assistance and medical treatment from the intersecting social nets of the household, neighbourhood and the parish, from communal and formal state charity establishments. Most historical studies on old age point to the fundamental role, which the household and the neighbourhood played as a mainstay of social support and human care for the elderly during long-term illness. At the same time, on the whole, this literature corroborates Pieter Spierenburg’s conception that “‘a golden age’ of unequivocal respect for the elderly in which children, relatives and the