Hospital Politics in Seventeenth-century France

This book explores poor relief and charitable health care in French cities during the seventeenth century, a period that witnessed much reform and change in the way these services were administered. By reintegrating the social aspirations of urban elites into the history of French poor relief, it shows how they initiated reform in towns and cities when it suited them, but where such reforms were not perceived as needed, or not affordable, they ignored central government edicts to build new institutions. In other words, reforms of poor relief and health welfare were local and shaped by local experiences, not as part of the crown's drive towards centralization.