Financing poor relief through charitable collections in Dutch towns, c. 1600-1800 / Daniëlle Teeuwen.

Format:

Book

Thesis/Dissertation

Author/Creator:

Teeuwen, Daniëlle, author.

Series:

Amsterdam studies in the Dutch golden age

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Charities--Netherlands--Finance--History--17th century.

Charities.

Charities--Netherlands--Finance--History--18th century.

Charities--Finance.

Finance.

History.

Netherlands.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

230 pages: illustrations, map ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, [2016]

Summary:

In the Dutch Republic, a substantial part of poor relief was financed from collection gifts. Collections were organized both in the churches and in the streets on a regular basis. This hook studies the policies of town councils and church boards in organizing these charitable appeals as well as the population's giving behaviour. Based on archival research in the towns of Delft, Utrecht, Zwolle, and 's-Hertogen-hosch, the author shows that secular and religious authorities made use of both organizational and rhetorical tactics to influence giving behaviour. Overall their fundraising campaigns, in which creating awareness, establishing trust, and exerting pressure formed the key components, can be described as successful. Not only did many relief institutions manage to collect large amounts year after year, moreover, large parts of urban society contributed. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 9

Poor relief in the Dutch Republic 10

Research design 14

2 Organizing poor relief 23

Reforming medieval social care 23

Poor relief in a Golden Age 31

The system under pressure 36

Conclusion 39

3 Financing outdoor poor relief 41

Income 42

Collections and alms boxes 44

Testamentary bequests and inter vivos gifts 49

Income from capital and real estate 50

Subsidies 54

Developments in the financing of poor relief over time 56

Tolerated religious charities 59

Expenditure 61

Financial management 62

Balancing income and expenditure 65

Crisis management 66

Conclusion 71

4 Organizing collections 73

Types and frequency 74

Regulation and control 82

Between nudge and obligation 90

Conclusion 96

5 The rhetoric of giving 99

Perceptions of poverty and charity 99

Civic exhortations to give 102

Charity as a civic and religious duty 103

Methods of persuasion 106

Religious exhortations to give 110

Preaching in the early modern period 112

Views on wealth and poverty 114

Charity as a Christian duty 116

Guidelines for giving 118

Conclusion 120

6 Donating to collections 123

The donors 123

Collection gifts 132

Effective policies 132

The boundaries of voluntarism 136

Paying for poor relief 142

Conclusion 146

7 Conclusion 149

Financing poor relief in the Dutch Republic 149

Encouraging charitable giving 151

Donating to collections 154

Differences between localities and developments over time 156

Explaining the success of charitable collections in the Dutch Republic 159.

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis.

Ph. D. Utrecht University 2014.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 213-225) and index.

ISBN:

9089647937

9789089647931

OCLC:

916737137