Philanthropy in 18th-Century Central Europe: Evangelical Reform and Commerce

Abstract

This article focuses on the close linkage between domestic philanthropy and commerce at the end of the early modern period, and the sophistication with which well-connected evangelical institutions transcended the confines of established religion and territorial boundaries. Use of a large set of primary and secondary sources that are relatively unknown in the history of the voluntary sector permits the examination and analysis of several notable aspects of the Francke Orphanage Foundations, an 18th-century central European institution of evangelical reform and colonial mission. Particular attention is given to the innovative efforts of their founder, August Hermann Francke, to secure an independent financial base for his institutional goals. These goals, which were supported in large part by members of the German nobility and of merchants in the imperial cities, included but were not limited to reform of charity care and education. From the outset, a close network of personal supporters and evangelical institutions that extended throughout Protestant Europe proved essential for both trade and evangelical mission; this network permitted expansion into Russia and the Baltic provinces, Hungary, the Near East and India, and eventually the British North American colonies.