During the early modern period, the brotherhoods of Misericórdia were established not only in the overseas territories ruled by the Portuguese, but also beyond their empire, reaching as far as the Philippines and Japan. The twelve chapters of this book examine this expansion by discussing different dimensions of the Misericórdias, such as administration, politics, charitable practices, finances, and forms of discrimination related to social status, gender, and race. Filling a critical gap in anglophone scholarship on the Portuguese Misericórdias, this work's previous absence has been criticized by scholars who believe the Misericórdias are crucial to understanding the past and present of Portuguese communities, both at home and abroad.
Isabel dos Guimarães Sá, Ph.D. (1992), European University Institute, teaches Early Modern History at the University of Minho. She has researched widely in the fields of the history of Portugal and of its empire from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
Lisbeth Rodrigues, Ph.D. (2013), University of Minho, is an Assistant Professor of History at Nova School of Business and Economics, Nova University of Lisbon, and a researcher at ISEG, University of Lisbon. She has published widely on Portuguese welfare institutions and the credit market, including Debt Litigation and the Performance of the Law Courts in Eighteenth-Century Portugal (2019).
"This is the first extended study of the Portuguese misericórdias to be published in English, and thanks to its scholarly rigour and comprehensive scope will become the standard reference work in the field." â Nicholas Terpstra, in: Ler História, 85 (2024).
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
List of Maps, Figures and Tables
Introduction
âIsabel dos Guimarães Sá and Lisbeth Rodrigues
PART 1:The Misericórdias: Organization, Finances, and Relationship with Other Institutions
8 Caring for the Sick: Hospitals under the Administration of the Misericórdias
âAndreia Durães 9 Marrying with the Help of the Misericórdias
âMaria Antónia Lopes 10 The Misericórdias and the Preservation of Female Honor
âLuciana Gandelman 11 The Misericórdias and the Economy of Salvation: Inheritances, Masses, and Funerals
âIsabel dos Guimarães Sá 12 The Santas Casas de Misericórdia and Care for Foundlings in the Portuguese Empire (16thâ18th Centuries)
âRenato Franco
Epilogue
Glossary
Index
This book appeals to scholars interested in the history of Portugal and its empire, as well as in comparative perspectives between empires.