The Medieval Economy of Salvation: Charity, Commerce, and the Rise of the Hospital by Adam J. Davis

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Medieval Economy of Salvation: Charity, Commerce, and the Rise of the Hospital by Adam J. Davis Elma Brenner Adam J. Davis. The Medieval Economy of Salvation: Charity, Commerce, and the Rise of the Hospital. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2019. xv + 317 pp. Ill. $43.95 (978-1-501742101). Much still remains to be discovered about the complex dynamics of charity in medieval Europe, especially regarding motivations for assisting the needy in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, an era of commercial growth, the multiplication of hospitals, and increasing concern by Christians about the salvation of their souls. Adam J. Davis’s 2019 book makes a vital contribution to this area through an in-depth study of rich archival material and published sources from the French county of Champagne, “the epicenter of European commerce and international exchange at the time” (p. 5). By focusing firmly on the people who distributed and received charity, his work also sheds light on the social networks, relationships, and diverse identities that shaped European society in the central Middle Ages. Davis’s book is anchored by an introduction and opening chapter that provide the broader spiritual, theological, social, and economic contexts of charity in medieval Europe. In a period of increased lay religious spirituality, where an [End Page 158] emphasis on Christ’s suffering encouraged Christians to be emotionally invested in both their own devotional lives and the needs of others, hospitals for the sick poor and leprosaria (specialist institutions for people with leprosy) were key foci for charitable action. Simultaneously, the financial prosperity of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries—experienced to a heightened degree by the merchants of Champagne—may actually have led to an increase in poverty. Charity was also bound up with many other aspects of economic life, from the testamentary arrangements of individuals to the status of hospitals as major property holders. The book goes on to demonstrate how the landscape of Champagne steadily became populated by hospitals, especially in the urban centers of Provins and Troyes. Hospitals and leprosaria are also contextualized alongside other “institutional channels for the provision of charity” (p. 112), from monasteries to parish churches, and sources of informal, non-institutional support, such as neighborly or familial aid. Here, Davis adds much-needed nuance to our understanding of the place of hospitals within medieval communities, showing that they were enmeshed with other sources of assistance. A substantial chapter addresses the social networks that surrounded hospitals, from elite aristocratic patrons to the townspeople who made modest donations and sometimes lived and worked in the hospitals. As well as demonstrating how charity created and reinforced social bonds, this analysis illuminates the complex web of economic relationships in medieval Champagne. Here and elsewhere in the book are mentions of transactions by Jews and converted Jews, highlighting the importance of the Jewish community in this highly commercialized region of France and that here, as in many other parts of Europe, charity operated in a multifaith setting. While Champagne’s hospitals had varying resources, some were very significant players in the economy, acting as creditors, renting out property, selling agricultural produce, and holding stalls at fairs and markets. Davis questions whether the way that some hospitals retained and invested the alms they received fit with donors’ expectation that their gifts would directly assist the sick poor. He demonstrates, however, that the commercial environment of Champagne necessitated that the hospitals engage widely in economic life, to sustain their work and achieve their charitable mission. The final two chapters address the staffing of hospitals and the care that they provided. A wide variety of people were attracted by the spiritual rewards and material support offered by hospital service. At the same time, “the boundaries between those giving and receiving assistance . . . were remarkably permeable” (p. 190). Davis shows that, especially through their prominent economic role, hospitals provided help in multiple ways that have not previously been appreciated, from overseeing distributions of poor relief at funerals, to releasing their personnel temporarily to care for affluent sick people in their homes. Here, the reader hopes for a little more comment on the medical expertise of hospital staff. While Davis acknowledges that there is little...