Approaches to Poverty in Medieval Europe

Complexities, Contradictions, Transformations, c. 1100-1500

Edited by Sharon Ann Farmer

Book cover: Approaches to Poverty in Medieval Europe

Extent: 252, 252 pages

Publisher: Brepols Publishers

Subjects: Medieval Studies, Social Sciences 

Series: International Medieval Research

Series volume number: 22

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(March 2016)

ISBN: 9782503555478

Price: $120.00

On back order

Drawing on a variety of sources from England, France, Italy, the Low Countries, and Iberia, the essays in this volume bring new perspectives to the history of the medieval poor.


The essays in this volume re-examine two major medieval turning points in the relationship between rich and poor: the revolution in charity of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, and the era of late medieval crises when the vulnerability of the poor increased dramatically and charitable generosity often declined. Drawing on a variety of sources from England, France, the Low Countries, Italy, and Iberia, the contributors to this volume add new perspectives on the agency of the poor, the influence of gendered forms of devotion, parallels in Christian and Jewish representations of the deserving and undeserving poor, and the effect of mendicant piety on the status of the involuntary poor. A broader implication of the volume as a whole is that medieval studies of poverty and wealth need to pay more attention to the role of rulers, ruling elites, and public policy in shaping the experiences of the poor.

  • Edited by Sharon Ann Farmer