CHARITY AND WELCOME AT THE MONASTERY

The aim of the research is to analyse the functions and intercon-nections with social and political life in a diachronic way, but also to show an example of institutionalized medieval charity


Summary
The early medieval coenobitic tradition, starting from the ancient monastic rules, has developed a discipline on the practice of charity, which reflects social conditions and mentality proper to its time.The precept of love towards the others is also distinguished in the care for the sick in need of assistance, the guests who arrive at the monastery and the poor knocking at its door or wanderers asking to be housed.
The Benedictine rule says that the guest is accepted by the prior or brothers with all charity and they pray together; the distribution of bread, food, wine and the assignment of a bed are contemplated.It is an evangelical command of monastic life.
According to the Regula Benedicti handed down by Ildemaro of Corbie the hospitale pauperum is directed by the eleemosinarius monk, while the hospitale nobilium looks like lodgings in which to host the patrons of the Abbey, high prelates or influential characters, with whom the monks establishes useful public relations.
The structure of the hospital of Santa Giulia, historically and archaeologically studied through unpublished documents, was wide and fit for this task.It included a central claustrum overlooked by the palacium or main building, equipped with court-distributed accommodations, the church dedicated to San Remigio, the domus consisting of accommodations, the curia communis and many other service sites.
The nuns, sometimes assisted by a retrix hospitalis, performed their service into institutionalized charity in a hospital that was the largest and most important in Brescia, until the middle XV century.subject on which Giuliana Albini dwelt5 .The monastic institutions, in this sense, played a leading role in accordance with the dictates of the Gospel.It follows, as Father Jean Lequerq wrote, that the monastic order appeared for a long period as a hospital order, not only because of the action taken on behalf of pilgrims and the poor -hospitality and charity-, but also thanks to the motivations (pro remedio animae suae, donations, control of the territory), that brought kings and gentlemen to equip their monastic foundations with adequate means6 .
To meet these needs, rooms for the dispossessed, sick and wanderers were created by the coenobia, as well as next to parishes and churches, in order to practice the duties of Christian charity.A share of the tithes, that is the sacramental taxes that weighed on each diocesan ecclesiastical district, was aimed at this purpose.Giorgio Picasso's studies clearly show the relationship between abbeys and their charitable function, furthermore he highlights an inversely proportional relationship between the size and importance of the hospital and the control exercised by the monastery: the greater the development of the hospitium was so to become a wellorganized structure, the looser the bond with the monastic complex was, as it occurred in the hospital of Santa Giulia of Brescia.Anyway, the poor and needy, guests and pilgrims never disappeared from the horizon of monastic life 7 .
For the Lombard town of Brescia, except for Antonio Mariella's work 8 , there is not a monograph on hospitalia as a whole, but there are scattered contributions and various notes on numerous charitable and welfare foundations.From these it is possible to identify various elements, such as their number, types, relations with urban and extra-urban structures, functions, receptive capacity in relation to demographics and the capital solidity.Studying their relations with the town authority on one side and the local church on the other becomes essential to reconstruct the events in relation to the history of a city or of a wider territory 9 , in particular for the medieval period.
The few pages dedicated by Cinzio Violante to charity half a century ago offer a first overview still valid in its reference lines 10 .As regards an analysis on the welfare and charitable forms implemented in the ecclesiastic field, the notes by Cosimo Damiano Fonseca and Giuliana Albini are useful 11 , while, from the long-term local perspective, Antonio Fappani and Fausto Balestrini must be mentioned for the attention paid to the assisting and charity institutions 12 .The historiographical picture is enriched with the contributions of Giuseppe Brunati, Luigi Fé d'Ostiani and Paolo Guerrini, while the work of the above-mentioned Mariella is more thorough, although limited to the city hospitals, being the first essay giving some kind of overview on medieval foundations.The documents analysed by the author provide a general, albeit sporadic, picture on the functioning and management of these charities having sometimes different origins and administration 13 .
In the church of Brescia of the first centuries, as Giovanna Forzatti Golia claims 14 , the bishop Gaudenzio, at the end of the 4th century, dwelt in his homilies on the need to exercise charity in favour of the poor and needy 15 , while the conciliar provisions of the early centuries prescribed that «in every city there had to be a separate place for pilgrims, orphans and poor, called xenodochium» 16 , which, inserted in a precise hierarchical territorial context, was an instrument through which Christian charity was realized 17 and 13 Mariella, Le origini degli ospedali bresciani, p. 7-47.
Considering the dictate of the Benedictine rule in chapter XXX-VI, that states that «the assistance to be given to the sick must come before and above everything else, so that in them Christ is truly served» 21 , it can be noted that the coenobia, which, at least until  Dall'ospitalità alla locanda, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2000, p. 128 ss. 20 Albini, Città e ospedali nella Lombardia; Marina Gazzini, La Lombardia medioevale: forme, protagonisti e spazi dell'assistenza ospedaliera, in Il bene e il bello.I luoghi della cura.Cinquemila anni di storia, Electa, Milano, 2000, p. 79-88. 21 Mario Galeazzi, Il contributo dell'Ordine di S. Benedetto allo sviluppo della spedalità, in Atti del Primo congresso italiano di storia ospedaliera, Reggio Emilia, 14-17 giugno 1956, Arcispedale di S. Maria Nuova, Reggio Emilia, 1957, p. 308-322; Lucia Gai, I "Santi di Dio" e la carità organizzata.Accoglienza e assistenza di poveri, malati e pellegrini durante il medioevo, in L'ospitalità in Altopascio.Storia e funzioni di un grande centro ospitaliero.Il cibo, la medicina e il controllo della strada, edited by Alessandra Cenci, Cassa di risparmio di Lucca, Altopascio, 1996, p. 58-82; Fonseca, Forme assistenziali e strutture caritative, p. 227; Picasso, I monasteri e la tradizione della carità, p. 67-77; Atti del Primo congresso europeo di storia ospitaliera, Centro italiano di storia ospedaliera, Reggio Emilia, 1962, p. 122; Cinzio Violante, Ricerche sulle istituzioni ecclesiastiche the 12th century, had erected a hospital, provided for its management, appointed the manager (minister), received his obedience, accepted both brothers and sisters and lay sisters and brothers for the service of the needy, and also fixed the amount of goods necessary for its functioning and all the necessary 22 .Gradually from the 13th century, the protagonists of the assistance were not only monastic orders and churches 23 , but also hospital orders, lay people and municipalities which adapted care facilities to the new needs of the socio-economic and environmental habitat 24 .In particular, xenodochium, hospitalis, domus, mansio, domus pontis are some of the terms found in the XII-XIV centuries documentation to define the places of reception and shelter, without, however, indicating differentiated structures 25 .
dell'Italia centro-settentrionale nel Medioevo, Accademia nazionale di scienze, lettere e arti, Palermo, 1986, p. 341. 22 On the extension of hospital facilities see Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, Ospedale e habitat: l'evoluzione storica delle tipologie ospedaliere, in Ospedale e habitat, Atti del convegno internazionale di studio (Arezzo, 6-8 marzo 1975), Fiaro, Roma, 1975 (Quaderni di ospedali d'Italia, 4), p. 30-39.André Vauchez speaks about the 12th century of the "rebirth of charity", Idem, La spiritualità dell'Occidente medievale.Secc.VIII-XII, Vita e Pensiero, Milano, 1978, p. 132; Comparsa e affermazione di una religiosità laica (XII secolo -inizio XIV secolo), in Storia dell'Italia religiosa, I. L'Antichità e il Medioevo, edited by André Vauchez, Laterza, Roma- Bari, 1993, p. 397-425. 23 Michel Mollat, I poveri nel Medioevo, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 1982, p. 102-133; Ovidio Capitani nell'Introduzione, specialmente alle p. XX-XXV.On the importance that the canonical institutions had in the field of welfare, compare Emilio Nasalli Rocca, Ospedali e canoniche regolari, in La vita comune del clero nei secoli XI e XII, Atti della Settimana di studio: Mendola, settembre 1959, Milano, 1962, p. 16-25;, p. 16-25;Cosimo Damiano Fonseca, Canoniche e ospedali, in  With the passage of time, the combination of the terms charityprivate-religious was replaced between the 13th and 14th centuries by the concepts of welfare-public-secular.This does not clarify, at diachronic level, the complexity of a development that was not linear at all; in fact, the medieval Italian town produced new experiments from the social and institutional point of view, so the problems connected with poverty were often perceived as issues concerning the society as a whole, expressing a sort of "civic religiosity" 26 .Any individual welfare action that did not pass through an institution was somewhat diminished, while the work involving associative or institutional levels found even more ideological and planning support by the church, the municipality, the town and the lord.The progressive multiplication within the towns of hospitals with the most different origins and religious connotations and fraternities that managed charity and assistance to the poor went hand in hand with a reflection on the issues of poverty and assistance.
The oldest example of charity and hospitality built in Brescia was the hospital of Santa Giulia 27 .According to Virginio Tamburini it would be dating back to the 9th century, if taking into account the dedication and the will of the nun Gisla in 877; instead for Gaetano Panazza, this would be due to a misunderstanding between Gisla's legal act and Angilberga's will (she was Ludovic II's wife) in favour of a coenobium in Piacenza, with annexed a hospital with twenty-  Brescia, 1992, p. 21-38; Gabriele Archetti, Il monachesimo bresciano nella storiografia di fine secolo, in Dove va la storiografia monastica in Europa?Temi e metodi di ricerca per lo studio della vita monastica e regolare in età medievale alle soglie del terzo millennio, Atti del convegno internazionale (Brescia-Rodengo, 23-25 marzo 2000), edited by Giancarlo Andenna, Vita e pensiero, Milano, 2001, pp. 457-471.four beds 28 recorded in the same year.Later Maria Bettelli Bergamaschi established that the comparison between the bishopric xenodochium of Peresindo and Santa Giulia was made on a strongly interpolated and probably false document (it is a charta securitatis et promissionis of 761) 29 .Lastly, Gianmarco Cossandi objected that the xenodochium of Peresindo, mentioned in the charta securitatis, was to be placed by the church of San Michele and it should not be identified with the one founded by Gisla next to the monastery 30 .However, both archaeological surveys and the late medieval location of the toponym Sanoloco, that is xenodochium, near the Julian hospital and the church of San Remigio, despite the problem of the Early Medieval documents mentioned before, allow us to reasonably identify the location of the monastic guesthouse near the one attested from the 12th century onwards and coinciding with the hospitalis Sancte Julie 31 .28 Virginio Tamburini, La beneficenza in Brescia, in Brixia, Apollonio, Brescia, 1882, p. 54.Mariella, Le origini degli ospedali bresciani, p. 9, he reports not having found the document; Gaetano Panazza, Brescia e il suo territorio da Teodorico a Carlo Magno, in I Longobardi e la Lombardia.Saggi, Milano, Azzimonti, Milano, 1978, p. 25; Maria Bettelli Bergamaschi, Seta e colori nell'alto Medioevo: il siricum del monastero bresciano di S. Salvatore, Cisalpino, Bologna, 1994, p. 9-29. 29 Bettelli Bergamaschi, Seta e colori nell'alto Medioevo, p. 9-19.For the aqueduct see also Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Brescia.S. Giulia, in Notiziario della Soprintendenza archeologica della Lombardia, Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Lombardia, Milano, 1987, p. 118; Idem, A proposito dell'organizzazione urbana nell'alto medioevo, Archeologia medievale, 14 (1987), p. 36; moreover, Gaetano Panazza, La documentazione storica del complesso architettonico, in S. Salvatore di Brescia.Materiali per un museo, II.Contributi per la storia del monastero e proposte per un uso culturale dell'area storica di S. Giulia, Grafo, Brescia, 1978, p. 22 ss. 30 For the edition compare Codex Diplomaticus Langobardiae, edited by Luigi Porro Lambertenghi, e Regio Typographeo, Augustae Taurinorum, 1873, n. 24, coll.47-48; repeated in Gianmarco Cossandi, Le carte del monastero di San Salvatore e Santa Giulia di Brescia, I. (759-1170), Fondazione Cisam, Spoleto, 2020 (Fonti storico giuridiche.Documenti, 4), p. 39-40. 31 For these aspects, reference is made to Carlo Zani, Lo xenodochio di S. Giulia, in S. Giulia di Brescia, p. 245-251; Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Brescia altomedievale.Urbanistica ed edilizia dal IV al IX secolo, Società archeologica, Padova, 1993 (Documenti di archeologia, 2), p. 108-110, 113; Gabriele Archetti, Per la storia di S. Giulia nel Medioevo.Note storiche in margine ad alcune pubblicazioni recenti, Brixia sacra.Memorie storiche della diocesi di Brescia», V (2000), 1-2, p. 32-33, 44; Idem, Pellegrini e ospitalità nel medioevo.Dalla storiografia locale all'ospedale di Santa Giulia di Brescia, in Lungo le strade della fede.Pellegrini e pellegrinaggio nel Bresciano, Atti della giornata di studio (Brescia, 16 dicembre 2000), edited by Gabriele Archetti, Associazione per la storia della Chiesa bresciana, Brescia, 2001, p. 69-129.As regards the institution, Mariella reported the existence of parchments related to tents and arguments relevant to the hospital, but they were generally independent from the ones belonging to the monastery; this shows that not only the structures were physically separated, but also differentiated from an administrative point of view 32 .Then Ezio Barbieri reconstructed the consistency of Santa Giulia's archive before its dismemberment 33 , from which studies have been made as regards functioning, hospitality and management of the charity in the hospital of Santa Giulia, confirmed by the registers published by Rosa Zilioli Faden 34 , on which Gabriele Archetti worked, showing the relevance of the Early medieval monastic reception and of the hospital complex of Brescia in the context of Carolingian monasticism 35 .Aspects taken up for the late Middle Ages by Elena Mazzetti, with reference to economic and administrative matters 36 .
These surveys confirm the centrality of the xenodochia and hospitalia, favoured by the laws of the church and, in the Julian case, of a reality directly managed over time by nuns or by specially dedicated people related to the coenobium.Therefore, the comment on the rule of the French reformer Ildemaro of Corbie is particularly interesting in this context, especially for those aspects related to charity and hospitality, which, in the context of the Royal and Imperial Abbey of San Salvatore -Santa Giulia in Brescia, seem to take on exemplary character 37 .Ildemaro arrived in Brescia around 840 following up the request of bishop Ramperto, to start the reform of the urban monastery of San Faustino; from here he retired to the 32 Mariella, Le origini degli ospedali bresciani, p. 8.

33
Ezio Barbieri, Indagini di storia monastica in Lombardia e a Brescia: il problema delle fonti pergamenacee, in Dove va la storiografia, p. 249-257.coenobium of Civate al Monte, where, around 845, he dictated the Expositio Regulae, a comment on the Benedictine rule that became the textbook of Carolingian monasticism 38 .
This text reflects the evolution of the Benedictine observance after the reform of Aachen (816-817), at the time of Benedict of Aniane and Adalard, but it has very different characteristics from those of Smaragdo's Expositio in regulam sancti Benedicti -the first official comment composed shortly after 816 -because its structure is closer to customary texts, full of references to the concrete ways in which the rule was lived and interpreted in various monasteries (Corbie, Saint Gallo, Richenau, San Faustino in Brescia, Leno, Civate or Bobbio) during the Carolingian age, if compared to a uniformity of the rule that was taking hold as a result of the reform 39 .
In Ildemaro's commentary charity, that is one of the duties of the monks, stands out.In fact, in the Expositio regulae ab Ildemaro tradita at chapter XXXVI it is quoted: «Libera nobis erat intelligentia quod in omni paupere Christus esuriens pasceretur, sitiens potaretur, hospes induceretur in tectum, nudus vestiretur, infirmus visitaretur» 40 .Further on, it is made clear that these good actions, starting from those made to the youngest brothers, were made as to Christ himself.Saint Benedict confirms that «first of all and above all it is necessary to take care of the sick»; both terms "first of all" and "above all" are very significant, because they indicate the urgency and, at the same time, the will to offer a service to the weakest and most miserable.The obligation of the Benedictine rule lies in these terms, and it is expressed in the humanitas and in the caritas that is the care of the sick and the weakest.So, it explains that «Ante omnia et super omnia, vult Sanctus Benedictus, ut antequam cetera, cura infirmorum fiat, cum majore dilectione et diligentia atque studio, quam cetera.Istud ante omnia et super omnia attinet ad domum, ad focum, ad victum atque potum et cibum et omnia necessaria infirmorum» 41 .
A little further, at chapter LIII of the rule, Ildemaro says that «Omnes supervenientes hospites tamquam Christus suscipiantur» ("all guests arriving at the monastery must be welcomed like Christ") 42 .All means everybody, without distinction of social class, economic condition or origin.The reception in the coenobia of the time was intended in that way.If in ancient times it was possible and practicable to welcome all pilgrims, however, when only a few knocked on the monastery's doors, later such a habit had become difficult to practice -Ildemaro observes -because of the high number of pilgrims and poor, who arrived at coenobia.He even claimed that if in those days Saint Benedict had still been alive, he would have shut down the monastery door, because of too many guests and insufficient financial resources to accommodate them all 43 .In this spiritual climate, the foundation of the xenodochium of Santa Giulia and the adjoining chapel dedicated to San Remigio were planned.
Of course, we have to remember the gospel precepts that «every time you have done these things to one of my littlest brothers, you have done the same to me» (Mt 25,(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46) 44 and also «charity is patient, benign, it is not envious, it does not swell, it does not seek its interest, it endures everything» (1 Cor 13,4-7), as well as «through charity be at the service of one another» (Gal 5,13).Considering charity towards the poor, it is necessary to remember the precept «you will love the stranger as yourself» (Lv 19,34), but also «you won't close your hand in front of your needy brother» (Dt 15,(7)(8)(9)(10)(11) or «help the oppressed» (Is 1,17), «always have the poor with you» (Gv 12,8), «by working you have to help the weak» (At 20,35) and, finally, «they pray us to remember the poor» (Gal 2,10).Christ himself said «I was a guest and you welcomed me» (Mt 25,35): on these bases all the coenobia were committed to receiving the pilgrims.There were anyway guests of different kinds; in fact, the reception was not the same for everyone, there was a distinction based on social background, status and role.The rich were not to be treated like the poor, because that would not honour the monastery, in addition to causing derision for practices reserved to the noble, thus, the washing of the feet, the beans or simple foods did not suit the wealthy, to whom uplifting readings, refined foods and plenty of water to bathe were reserved.So, the guest was to be received according to the specific quality of the person, but Saint Benedict was against it, if it meant discrimination, because he stated that everyone should be given the same honour and above all a prompt care had to be given to pilgrims especially to the poor.The monks 42 Ildemaro,cap. 53,p. 501.43 Ildemaro,cap. 53,p. 501.44 Ildemaro,cap. 53, were required to do charity works to enter the kingdom of heaven, so each guest was to be welcomed and the poor preferred to the rich.
The rule reminds that the guest, once announced, was received by the prior or by the confreres with every charity service, being it both spiritual and material; humanity was realized in corporal ones, including the handing out of bread, wine, food, a shelter and a warm bed.The abbot had to pray together with the guests, entertain them, stop fasting and pour water for ablution in their hands; moreover, as all his congregation, he was obliged to wash the guests' feet.The reception differed then in the case of bishops, priests, canons or laity; always different according to the person 45 .
Christ was prayed by the guests, who arrived at or left the monastery, after tilting their head or prostrating the whole body to the ground; the abbot received the guests according to a strict code of conduct, which required a different level of prostration depending on the rank of the guests.Kings, bishops, abbots were to be welcomed prostrated on the ground following the example of the prophet Natan, who greeted King David in the same way; while when a monk met a queen, he was not obliged to greet her prostrating himself, but only kneeling on the ground or lowering his head.Moreover, the greeting prostrated on the ground was reserved for their own abbot; towards the confreres, priests and other monks it was enough simply to lower the head 46 .
These forms of ceremonial reverence were also carried out in the hospitale nobilium of Santa Giulia, place chosen to receive highranking guests, starting from the Royal court and the great officials of the empire, counts or dukes, often welcomed at the abbey 47 .It was a building separated from the women's monastery, but close to it, built around a claustrum or central courtyard overlooked by the palacium or main residential building, equipped with accommodation distributed at court, the church dedicated to San Remigio, the domus consisting of housing facilities distributed at court, the curia communis in which the fountain and numerous other service rooms, such as the kitchens, warehouses and the stables, were located 48 .If the first xenodochia were «buildings typologically not distinguishable» from the churches and monasteries to which they were connected, in the Julian case it was a rectangular domus of about 220 square meters, organized according to the "hall" model and renovated in the Romanesque style of the palacium at the end of the 12th century, articulated on two floors, with an east-facing façade, towards the monastery and the streets that made it easy to access 49 .
At the beginning of the 13th century the hospital was operating thanks to a community of lay brothers and sisters, headed by a superior nun called «prelata hospitalis», ministress, rectrix or administratrix, appointed directly by the abbess of Santa Giulia, in whose hands the sorores and the fratres promised their religious profession.The domina hospitalis reported to the abbess about the administration and functioning of the institution, she was among the guests at the banquet organized by the superior nun on Saint Stephen's day together with the clerics of Saint Daniel in her palacium, while, on the occasion of the celebration of San Remigio, the nuns gathered together with the sorores to celebrate the office ad hospitalem, followed by a banquet offered to all the people present 50 .The appointment of the ministra by the abbess took place with the consent of the majority of the hospital's lay sisters and brothers, then the newly elected one knelt at the feet of the abbess and swore loyalty in her hands, ensuring integrity in the management of the hospital assets and the full compliance with monastic decisions; in return she got the keys with which to open and close the hospital doors; in her turn she received the promise of obedience of lay sisters and brothers, who recognized her as «ministram et rectricem».
During the years of absence, the abbess ran directly the hospital until the appointment of the ministra who, from that moment on, had full autonomy on the assets of the institution, provided that they were used for the poor; real estate disposals were forbidden, without the consent of the abbess 51 .This means that the actions had to be carried out for the hospital sake, whose economic and capital resources were managed by the prelata or ministra, sometimes with the expertise of lay brothers or collaborators.To have an idea of its size, just remember that between the 13th and 14th centuries the other town hospitals did not exceed three units, while the Julian community was usually made up of more than ten members and could meet the needs of a hospital with at least fifty beds or maybe even more 52 , revealing a huge charitable effort, welcoming «omnes supervenientes hospites tamquam Christus» (RB 53,1).
The need of responding to requests of reception from clerics, monks or noblemen -without however subtracting the goods for the poor -urged the identification of other resources, which were found with the establishment on the "ninth", a portion corresponding to the share of the same monastic income (this explains the presence in the documentation sometimes of the expression "ninth and tenth") 53 .Ildemaro explains that «of all what is brought to the monastery, that is gold, silver, copper, wood, wine, fruit, animals or something else, or everything that is manufactured in the monastery, the tenth part of those products has to be destined for the hospital of the poor, in order for them to be fed», instead, resources for the hospital of nobles had to be found elsewhere.
The hospitale nobilium was financed by the "ninth" part of the Julian incomes, while the hospitale pauperum was fed by the "tenth" part of the revenue; originally it had to be probably located in the opposite area of the coenobium (exactly to the south-east, at the urban gate of Sant 'Andrea, that allowed access to pilgrims arriving to town from the east) 54 .Good management was fundamental and in general, according to Ildemaro, the hospitale pauperum was directed by the eleemosinarius monk 55 , while the hospitale nobilium was coordinated by the hospitalarius with different styles of hospitality and rooms.The hospitale nobilium was coordinated by the hospitalarius with different styles of reception and places, as the name of monastic assignments indicates.
The hospitale nobilium more than a place of charity appeared as a hotel or a welcoming structure for the patrons of the abbey, high prelates and influential people, accompanied by their representatives, with whom the nuns established profitable "public relations".
In 868 Ludovic II had entrusted the women's monastery of Brescia to his wife Engilberga together with all the monasteries and xenodochia that depended on it 56 ; also, the king Burgred of 52 Archetti,Pellegrini e ospitalità nel medioevo, RB 66,1-2; Archetti, Pellegrini e pellegrinaggi, p. 87.54 Archetti,Pellegrini e pellegrinaggi,p. 104. 55 For the term eleemosinarius until the 12th century, Wollasch, «Eleemosynarius».Eine Skizze, Die Urkunden Ludwigs II., ed. Konrad Wanner, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Diplomata Karolinorum, IV, Hiersemann Vaduz, München, 1994, p. Mercia and his wife Aethelwith spent some time in San Salvatore as indicated by the Liber vitae and a stopover in Lombardy, and more specifically in Brescia, was an obligatory passage to continue the pilgrimage to Rome.The sons of the king of the Angles, Alfred and Aethelred, together with the French abbot Marcuard were also housed in the guest house or hospitale nobilium 57 in the monastery of Brescia.
Instead, the hospitale pauperum for the poor and pilgrims was situated in the eastern part, where monastic service rooms were located.The reception task was a competence of the cellarer, who, if necessary, could stop doing his normal duties, not neglecting his hospitalitas ones.During the busiest periods he was joined by other people, who took care of the welcome, continuing receiving bishops, abbots, counts and clerics, canons and monks from other communities.As regards the number of poor people and pilgrims, it was corresponding to that of available beds, whereas for the rich they also had to provide a place to their retinue, made of men and animals 58 .The hospitalarius was the monk in charge of hospitality; if his workload was heavy, he was joined by two or three brothers; moreover, the service by the hospital was an obligatory passage for everyone aspiring to cloistered life, who had to spend at least two months in the hospitum cell and perform his service humbly 59 .There, he was welcomed by the monk in charge and under his supervision he carried out the humblest works; after the probation period, he could make his entry into the monastery chapter.The time spent in the hospital was not supposed to be simple but it was an exercise both for the regular discipline and the charitable commitment; for example, the monk was not allowed to entertain the guests without the abbot's permission, «but if he met them or saw them, he had to greet them humbly and after asking for blessing, pass by» so not to get lost in pointless chatter 60 .Finally, exceptions to the daily timetable were allowed for the abbot engaged in entertaining guests.
From the second half of 12th century the structures of hospitale nobilium underwent a deep institutional renewal, consistent 159-161.

57
Archetti, Pellegrini e pellegrinaggi, p. 88-89; Janet Langhland Nelson, Viaggiatori, pellegrini e vie commerciali, in Il futuro dei Longobardi.L'Italia e la costruzione dell 'Europa di Carlo Magno. Saggi, edited by Carlo Bertelli, Gian Pietro Brogiolo, Skira, Milano-Brescia, 2000, p. 163-171.58 Ildemaro,cap. 53,p. 507.59 Ildemaro,cap. 58,4,p. 553.60 Ildemaro,cap. 53,[23][24]p. 501.with the movements taking place in the urban society, with the development of the municipality and the functions dictated by the new social requests related to charity and poverty support.Thus, the Benedictine dictate was renewed, adapting it to the new needs, becoming a reference point in the social field until the end of the 15th century.This charitable-welfare institution able to «welcome, give, take care», became therefore a hospitalization centre for needy people, a place of distribution of alms and care, according to the "multifunction" criterion, dictated by the needs of the poor 61 and by the civil engagement to the benefit of the population 62 .
The nuns carried out their service in charity, institutionalized in a hospital centre that was the largest and most important in Brescia until when the various hospitals existing in town were united and the Major hospital built.In this way, its nuns interpreted the dictate of the rule, offering their help to the needy, the poor and pilgrims.This hospital is still attested in 1561 in the register of the town sources, in a quotation which states that «a fountain that goes to the hospital of Santa Giulia and its opening is close to that hospital».It was by then the persistence of a toponym, dear to the collective memory, because it evoked an entity, which had been a point of reference and example of humanity.On 11th April 1615 the "hospital house", next to the monastery, was rented to Claudio Franzini and the charitable structures of the nuns' abbey changed their function and destination 63 .A story got to an end, but not its Christian meaning and the 1641 surveying documents do not mention the hospital in any way, but they merely indicate the church of San Remigio and "other small houses" in Santa Giulia's district, at a time when social welfare function was left to public structures of the town municipality.Irma Bonini Valetti, La Chiesa dalle origini agli inizi del dominio veneziano: istituzioni e strutture, in Diocesi di Brescia, 63 Brescia,Biblioteca Queriniana,ms. G.I.4, Giovanni Andrea Astezati, Indice alfabetico istorico-cronologico-perpetuo dell'archivio dell'insigne e real monastero novo di San Salvatore e Santa Giulia di Brescia della Congregazione Cassinese, p. 224, at the note "Contrada di Santa Giulia, locazioni di case e di terre", there is the last record of what was left of the hospital: a house, or better, a complex of rented facilities.