%0 Thesis
%9 Doctoral
%A Cavallo, S.
%B UCL Centre for the History of Medicine
%D 1993
%F discovery:1348923
%I University of London
%P 344
%T Systems of charity in Turin (1541-1789)
%U https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1348923/
%X The thesis represents the first thorough study of forms  of charity and medical and poor relief in an Italian city  in the post-Renaissance period. It complements the studies  of other Italian cities carried out for an earlier period  and contributes to comparison between European patterns of  charity. The study reverses the usual demand-centred  approach, which sees transformations in charitable  provision mainly as a response to changing demographic and  economic conditions, by focusing instead on the role played  by changes in the nature of "supply", i.e. in the social  composition of governors and benefactors and in the  indirect and symbolic meanings which charity embodied for  its dispensers. The main argument of this study is that  the nature of control over charity had a significant impact  on the form initiatives towards the poor took: dynamics of  conflict, prestige and patronage among the elites  contributed to forge charitable attitudes and definitions  of poverty to a much larger extent than it has been  recognised. Wills and other biographical material,  figurative representations of charity and analysis of the  architectural form of institutions have been used, besides  the more obvious sources, to trace shifts in the symbolic  implications of charity.  This study also contributes to a reassessment of the  periodisation and the features usually regarded as typical  of the 'Italian model' of charity and poor relief. It  argues, in particular, that the importance of institutional  forms of care and assistance has been exaggerated and the  role played by outdoor relief for the poor and sick  underestimated. Moreover, it emphasises the crucial  function of the municipal government as agency of relief  well into the early modern period.
%Z Thesis digitised by British Library EThOS. Third party copyright material has been removed.