Quand l'hôpital s'érige en pouvoir: le serment au maître de l'hôpital Comtesse de Lille (1515)

Abstract

Assistance should not only be regarded as a duty for the secular or ecclesiastical urban elites. It could also turn into a real stake for power, and sometimes, assistance can even be considered a form of urban power per se. In 1515, the master of Our Lady’s Hospital of Seclin took an oath of submission to the master of the Hôpital Comtesse. Founded in 1237 by Countess Johanna of Constantinople, the so-called Hôpital Comtesse was a very strong economic power with a very unique institutional structure. It maintained close relationships with many charitable houses, not only in the town itself, but also in its castellany. The Hôpital Comtesse’s master was often an auditor de officio of those places. He also received the vows of the brothers and sisters of the hospital community. Historiography has often presented hospitals as being characterised by a process of municipalisation at the end of the Middle Ages. On the contrary, in Lille, aldermen were strictly prohibited from interfering with the Hôpital Comtesse’s affairs. Moreover, this oath could reveal a desire for the Hôpital Comtesse to be not just a religious authority through vows, but also an urban power, with some well-known attributes. Indeed, this single oath, discovered in the archives of Lille hospitals, offers a new perspective on the links between power and assistance.

Assistance should not only be regarded as a duty for the secular or ecclesiastical urban elites. It could also turn into a real stake for power, and sometimes, assistance can even be considered a form of urban power per se. In 1515, the master of Our Lady’s Hospital of Seclin took an oath of submission to the master of the Hôpital Comtesse. Founded in 1237 by Countess Johanna of Constantinople, the so-called Hôpital Comtesse was a very strong economic power with a very unique institutional structure. It maintained close relationships with many charitable houses, not only in the town itself, but also in its castellany. The Hôpital Comtesse’s master was often an auditor de officio of those places. He also received the vows of the brothers and sisters of the hospital community. Historiography has often presented hospitals as being characterised by a process of municipalisation at the end of the Middle Ages. On the contrary, in Lille, aldermen were strictly prohibited from interfering with the Hôpital Comtesse’s affairs. Moreover, this oath could reveal a desire for the Hôpital Comtesse to be not just a religious authority through vows, but also an urban power, with some well-known attributes. Indeed, this single oath, discovered in the archives of Lille hospitals, offers a new perspective on the links between power and assistance.

A2