[History] Alfons Dewitte - Poverty control in Bruges (1250-1590) [PDF]

In this paper Alfons Dewitte charts the changing economic fortunes of the medieval city of Bruges, providing us with an analysis of the transformation of models of poverty relief and their accompanying practices between the middle of the 13th and the late 16th centuries. The story he tells traces a complex dynamic between the Church and State in sharing power and responsibility for Bruges’ various groups of poor inhabitants, identified according to their distinct geographic and social positioning in relation to the city’s centre, and by turns included or excluded from poverty relief programmes as a result of their categorization as ‘inside’ or ‘outside’ of the city.