E-raamat: Charity and Community in Montpellier, 13th-16th Centuries: The Multiplication of Loaves

Acknowledgements viii

List of figures ix

Introduction 1

0.1 Montpellier and its Charity: an overview 2

0.2 The Charity: linchpin of social cohesion and civic identity 3

0.3 The Montpellier Charity and the history of charity 4

0.4 Timeline and book structure 6

0.5 Archival sources 8

1 Dawn: Montpellier and the early Charity 17

1.1 Montpellier and the Charity in the thirteenth century 18

1.1.1 The ladders: building blocks of the citys administration 18

1.1.2 The Charitys and consulates early years 20

1.1.3 Montpelliers expansion and religious life 22

1.2 Golden age to crisis: late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries 23

1.2.1 The consuls and their lords 24

1.2.2 Hardships in the second half of the fourteenth century 25

1.2.3 Electoral reforms 27

1.3 The Charity in the fourteenth century 28

1.3.1 The early barriers 28

1.3.2 The consuls rights 30

1.3.3 The Charity in the eye of the storm 30

2 The Charity: A performance of community 44

2.1 First act: processions and civic religion 45

2.1.1 Prelude: the lesser Rogation days 46

2.1.2 Processions of the Charity 46

2.2 Second act: the molon and communal Charity 49

2.2.1 Inside or outside of the walls? 49

2.2.2 A religious teaching 50

2.3 Third act: the barriers of the Charity: anonymity in almsgiving 52

2.3.1 Location, structure, history 52

2.3.2 The barriers symbolism 55

2.3.3 A universal almsgiving 56

2.4 Fourth act: the day after the Charity 57

2.4.1 Remaining loaves 58

2.4.2 The religious poor 59

2.5 Conclusion: specificities of the Montpellier Charity 60

3 A Grassroots celebration: Guilds and the Charity 73

3.1 Guilds, community, and the Charity 73

3.1.1 The guilds charitable purpose 74

3.1.2 Craft Charities and the Charity 77

3.1.3 Merging guilds Charities 78

3.2 Union and concord are most pleasing to God 79

3.2.1 Logistics of mergers 80

3.2.2 Love-hate relationships 81

3.2.3 The butchers Charities 82

3.3 Guilds bread 83

3.3.1 Consistent bread provisioning 83

3.3.2 Small and large donations 85

3.3.3 Financing the Charity 90

3.4 Barriers and the citys organisation 91

3.4.1 Who was at the barriers? 91

3.4.2 The barriers partition (1357c. 1510) 93

3.4.3 The poor in the foreground 94

4 Collective governance and mutual accountability 107

4.1 The consuls roles 107

4.1.1 Continuators and wardens of the Charity 108

4.1.2 Facilitators, arbitrators, and memory holders 109

4.2 Collective decision making 110

4.2.1 General councils: extraordinary decisions 110

4.2.2 The guilds legitimating and representative functions 112

4.3 Accountability and political communication 114

4.3.1 Books of the craft consuls 114

4.3.2 Guilds finances: the honour of the almsgiving

and the mestier 116

4.3.3 The difficult clergy of St. Firmin 117

4.3.4 The king and royal officers 119

5 The multiplication of the loaves 131

5.1 The Charity bread 131

5.1.1 How many loaves? 132

5.1.2 Bread regulation in Montpellier 133

5.1.3 Regulation of the Charity bread 135

5.1.4 Hefty charity loaves 137

5.2 The consuls bread 138

5.2.1 Closely watched loaves 138

5.2.2 Charitys expenses, c. 13551370 139

5.2.3 Small expenses: the Charitys cost in the fifteenth century 140

5.2.4 Revenues 141

6 Dusk of the Charity (c. 15201550)150

6.1 When was the Charity discontinued? 151

6.2 A city in transition: the barriers of the Charity 153

6.2.1 Montpelliers economic decline 153

6.2.2 An administrative centre: the sixteenth century 154

6.2.3 Opening of the barriers of the Charity 156

6.3 The Charitys universal purpose 158

6.3.1 The Charity of 1501 159

6.3.2 Lists of deserving Poor: the second round of alms 162

6.3.3 Early modern poverty relief in Montpellier 163

6.3.4 The end of the Charity 164

6.4 Why was the Charity discontinued? 165

Appendices 177

A.1 Establishment of the four procurators of the Charity (1247) 177

A.2 The bailiff seizes the Charity bread (1329) 178

A.3 Butchers processions to the molon (1365) 179

A.4 The scandal of 1464 182

A.5 Report of the 1501 députés of the Charity, May 1502 183

A.6 Note on corratiers, coyratiers, and corregiers 185

A.7 Number of loaves counted at the molon (14161528) 186

A.8 Rural and town-based charities (diocese of Maguelone) 187

Lucie Laumonier is an affiliated assistant professor at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. Her research focuses on the social history of late medieval Languedoc, with an eye towards religious practices and family history. Her first monograph was Solitudes et solidarités en ville, Montpellier 13e15e sičcles (2015).