Confraternities of Misericórdia and the Portuguese Diasporas in the Early Modern Period

Isabel dos Guimarães Sá, Ph.D. (1992), European University Institute, teaches Early Modern History at the University of Minho. She has researched widely in the fields of the history of Portugal and of its empire from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Lisbeth Rodrigues, Ph.D. (2013), University of Minho, is an Assistant Professor of History at Nova School of Business and Economics, Nova University of Lisbon, and a researcher at ISEG, University of Lisbon. She has published widely on Portuguese welfare institutions and the credit market, including Debt Litigation and the Performance of the Law Courts in Eighteenth-Century Portugal (2019).

• AcknowledgementsNotes on ContributorsList of Maps, Figures and TablesIntroductionIsabel dos Guimarães Sá and Lisbeth RodriguesPART 1:The Misericórdias: Organization, Finances, and Relationship with Other Institutions1 Local Dynamics: Membership, Governance, and Relations with the CrownInês Amorim2 Bishops and Holy Houses of Mercy in the Portuguese Empire in the Early Modern Age: Welfare, Cooperation, and ConflictsJosé Pedro Paiva3 Financing Early Modern Misericórdias in Portugal and Its Overseas Territories (1500–1800)Lisbeth Rodrigues4 Transferring Inheritances across the Oceans: The Financial Role of the MisericórdiasSara Pinto5 Contested Philanthropy in Spanish Manila: The Santa Casa de la Misericordia (1594–1869)Juan O. Mesquida6 In Their Likeness: Japanese Misericórdias and the Limits of the Misericórdia in Japan (1553–1633)Rômulo Ehalt7 The Visual Culture of the Misericórdias: Art and IdentityJoana Balsa de PinhoPART 2:Charity8 Caring for the Sick: Hospitals under the Administration of the MisericórdiasAndreia Durães9 Marrying with the Help of the MisericórdiasMaria Antónia Lopes10 The Misericórdias and the Preservation of Female HonorLuciana Gandelman11 The Misericórdias and the Economy of Salvation: Inheritances, Masses, and FuneralsIsabel dos Guimarães Sá12 The Santas Casas de Misericórdia and Care for Foundlings in the Portuguese Empire (16th–18th Centuries)Renato FrancoEpilogueGlossaryIndex

"This is the first extended study of the Portuguese misericórdias to be published in English, and thanks to its scholarly rigour and comprehensive scope will become the standard reference work in the field." – Nicholas Terpstra, in: Ler História, 85 (2024).