Synopses & Reviews
A comparative study of social welfare institutions in Holland during the Reformation.
Review
"Both social and church historians will welcome this first comparative study of poor relief in Holland." Religious Studies Review"This lucidly written and persuasively argued study will be essential reading for students of early modern social, religious, and political history." Catholic Historical Review"This carefully researched contribution to the development of poor relief and conceptions of ecclesiastical charity leaves the reader with a sense of a work well done. This work is copiously provided with appropriate charts, tables, and comparative statistics. Select illustrations ably illumine the visions of charity assumed and practiced by specific communities, and could have been interpreted. An essential addition to one's library." Sixteenth Century Journal
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. The municipal community and parish charity in late medieval Holland; 3. The civic community and poor relief, 1500-1614; 4. Poor relief in a confessional community: the creation of the Dutch Reformed diaconate, 1566-1578; 5. The dynamics of the Reformed community: discipline and poor relief, 1572-1620; 6. Municipal welfare and the Calvinist diaconate, 1572-1620; 7. The pillars of a new society: religious pluralism and confessional identity in Reformation Holland; Bibliography; Index.