This book tells the story of the 'Charity' of Montpellier, a city-wide distribution of alms held once a year from the 13th to the 16th century. Such Charities were very common in the towns and cities of Southern France in the Middle Ages but have never been the focus of an in-depth study.
Through the investigation of the emergence, history, and disappearance of the Montpellier Charity, the book argues that these city-wide annual distributions of alms, while merely symbolic, served a defining purpose: unifying the community around the shared value of charity and celebrating the community's civic identity.
The Charity constitutes a prism through which the religious, political, and social forces operating in Montpellier can be observed and through which we can gain a lively glimpse of the city's everyday life and activities. But this book goes beyond local history to argue that all medieval Charities cemented and united the social fabric in a manner that was unparalleled by other local charitable endeavours.
The book therefore demonstrates that the Charity of Montpellier's significance and longevity connect to the almsgiving's ability to, year after year, reinforce the community's cohesion, all while showcasing social unity and naturalising the city's internal hierarchies. The Charity, through its mise en scène, transcended and gave meaning to the great social divides that characterised late medieval societies.
Charity and Community in Montpellier, 13th–16th Centuries addresses graduates, postgraduates, and scholars interested in medieval history, charity, urban history, poverty relief, and the pivot towards the Renaissance.