Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/ydkx2c3zq9
Out of Dust and Ashes: Organization of the Hospitale Misericordiae After the Great Earthquake of 1667
Rina Kralj-Brassard
orcid.org/0000-0003-0312-6875
; Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Abstract
On the basis of the earliest accounting records of the Hospitale misericordiae initiated after the Great Earthquake of 6 April 1667 and other sources, the infl uence of the earthquake on the work of the foundling home has been examined. Payment frequency made to the wet nurses in the seven months after the earthquake suggests normalization of the activities of the state charitable institution during the crisis caused by the natural disaster. The swift recovery of the activities of the state foundling home, the fi rst payments being made some twenty days after the earthquake, points to the government’s intention to restore the work of the institutions whose role was not essential to the survival of the state. Thus the death of three out of four administrators and the likely heavily damaged building of the foundling home were clearly not an impediment to the payment of the wet nurses on 1 May, nor to the re-establishment of the regular accounting records on 15 June, nor to the reception of new wards. The majority of the wet nurses noted in the accounting records until the end of 1667 lived in Rijeka and Župa dubrovačka, the rural areas closest to the city. Some wet nurses cared for more than one ward, and at least half of the breastfeeding contracts made in the fi rst years after the earthquake lasted one year or longer. The state funding of the foundling home of 300 perpers per month proved adequate and was established promptly after the earthquake. The speedy recovery of the administration of the Hospitale misericordiae is an eloquent testimony to the accumulated knowledge and experience of Dubrovnik’s government in dealing with the crisis situation.
Keywords
earthquake; Dubrovnik; Hospitale misericordiae; seventeenth century; wet nurses; expenditures; crisis
Hrčak ID:
181194
URI
Publication date:
10.5.2017.
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