...This introductory chapter provides an overview of medieval hospitals. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, hundreds of hospitals and leper houses were founded all over Europe to care for the poor, sick, and vulnerable, and these new charitable institutions received broad support from...

... in need of support, or were there distinctive elements in their relationship to these charitable institutions, a number of which the counts had founded and which remained under their jurisdiction? The same question can be asked of Champagne's aristocracy, known for its benefaction of monastic houses...

...This chapter argues that the highly commercial environment of thirteenth-century Champagne infused pious giving with even greater meaning, particularly bequests made to a charitable institution like a hospital, which had as its central mission the performance of the works of mercy. During...

... Hundredfold reward centuplum accepturus Lay brothers and sisters Sacramental medicine economic power medieval hospitals Champagne income charitable institutions religious institutions economic growth investment urban economy According to twelfth- and thirteenth-century reformers, some religious...

...This epilogue reflects on the manifold ways that charitable institutions benefited from commerce—whether from their own commercial activities or those of their patrons. Church reformers criticized hospitals for accepting donati, who were permitted to receive room and board without...