Charity in Medieval Europe

As a medieval theological concept, caritas (the root of the English word “charity”) referred to the “love of God '', suggesting that the best way one can show love to God is by offering help and assistance to the needy. This could be done either through personal acts of service (i.e., hospitality, guidance and counsel), or directly through material donations including money, food and clothing. Medieval sources often cite the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35–36, enumerating what came to be understood as the six corporal works of charity or mercy:'' For_ I was hungry, and you gave me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you took me in: naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me_”. In this context, donations to churches and monasteries were also considered a form of caritas, and a way of fulfilling one’s duties both to Christ and the poor. The Council of Tours officially institutionalize the practice of tithing in 567 (a 10% tax on earnings and income to be collected by the clergy), and the Roman Catholic Church became one of the main regulators of charity, redistributing alms to those in need and running basic hospitals, orphanages, providing places of shelter and sanctity, as well as sponsoring charitable institutions and educational initiatives.

Church Fathers such as Saint Ambrose (374-397 C.E.) and Saint Augustine (354-430 C.E.) popularized the notion that almsgiving had the capacity to erase sin and deliver the almsgiver from death. In parallel, the Church increasingly depicted the poor as divinely elected and as Christ’s representatives on earth. In fact, a key** **tenet of Christian charity is reflected in Christ’s words: “As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me”, _underscoring that helping the poor and needy is equivalent to helping Jesus himself. As the idea of redemptive almsgiving_ remained a central force underlying charity during the medieval period and beyond, the Roman Catholic Church became increasingly wealthy and powerful, making large amounts of money off the people’s desire to attain eternal salvation and escape damnation, while using this money to fund the Crusades and expand its wealth.  

Later in the 12th and 13th centuries, Latin Christendom experienced a true charitable revolution through the proliferation of new charitable institutions. With a rapidly growing urban population, the rise of poverty, and the spread of several important diseases, the Church started funding large numbers of leprosaria and hospitals for the sick and poor, as well as overseeing the creation of confraternities ( organizations dedicated to charity, mutual support, and religious devotion), as well as associations and religious orders engaged in intensive charitable work. Bishops and monks founded many of the new hospitals and sustained them with their funds and labor. Laypeople, such as lords, knights, and townsfolk, also began shouldering the charitable load. This period in the West represented a turning point in the ways ordinary women and men conceived of charity and acted toward the poor and needy. Among thirteenth-century testaments (wills) in Flanders, 85 percent included charitable provisions to aid lepers, hospitals and widows, and 44 percent included a significant donation to at least one hospital. Similarly, in East-Central France, two-thirds of all wills included distributions of money and/or food to the poor. 

Contributor: Maha Tazi