Economical Aspects of Everyday Life in German Leproseries in the 12th — 14th Centuries

Abstract

The highest point of spread of leprosy in Western Europe in 12th—14th centuries coincided with the transition of clerical charitable institutions, hospitals for the poor (hospitale pauperum) and leproseries to the jurisdiction of town’s communes. The “communalization of care for the poor” and the rationalization of management and control, however, did not mean that the institution of social assistance itself became secular: it retained its sacred function of sacrifice to the Lord (Matt. 25: 35—36), changing only its administration. This article examines the most important aspects of the economic history of the leproseries of German cities in the late Middle Ages and early Modernity: what were sources of income and main items of expenditure in leproseries, standards of provision for patients, opportunities and consumption structure. Leproseries were funded from various sources and in different proportions, but there were four main channels: funds from funders, donations from philanthropists, “internal sources” (entrance fees of lepers, income from their own household and entrepreneurship) and alms, which should not be ignored. Establishment of the entrance fee, which varied basing on the lepers’ wealth, provided a guaranteed maintenance proportional to the contribution (fnhd. pfründe, prebend) and a share in the income of the leprosery. This differentiated prebend made it possible to maintain the standards of life of a certain estate even after being placed in a charitable institution. The economic activity of large and rich leproseries resembles other socio-economic processes taking place in Medieval cities: capital accumulation in 15th—16th centuries; surplus income investments in the purchases of houses and towns’ lands; money lent primarily to urban communes. In such manner leproseries become not just independent structures of the founder-town, with finances, property, “special rights” (statutes), but also play an important role in its development.