Als zy vuyt haeren lichame sceyden sal: zielenheilsbeschikkingen in Mechelse testamenten (1548-1555)
| Authors: | ; |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | Dutch |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Amsterdam University Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Trajecta
Year: 2017, Volume: 26, Issue: 1, Pages: 7-44 |
| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBD Benelux countries |
| Further subjects: | B
Spiritual life (Christianity)
1500-1599
B Mechelen (Belgium) B Gifts Religious aspects Christianity B Social History 1500-1599 B Charitable bequests B Wills B Belgium Church history 1500-1599 |
| Item Description: | To what extent did townsmen in the Low Countries record pious bequests in mid-sixteenth-century wills? In order to answer this research question, 112 wills from the period 1548-1555 were analyzed in-depth to reveal the religious testamentary practices for the Brabantine city of Mechelen, and compared against results from Friesland (by Hans Mol) and Antwerp (by An Kint). Despite the social bias of the sources, exploring bequests ad pias causas ('for pious purposes') in last wills and testaments can shed some light on the religious behavior of the urban rich and the wealthy middle groups of city dwellers. 22% of the selected sources from Mechelen mentioned devotional stipulations. In more than half of the cases, these wills were drawn up by single women or widows. In 44% of the testaments with religious bequests, married couples acted as testators. Similar to the studies on Antwerp and Friesland, this article shows a clear regression in the number of pious bequests from the 1520s onwards. Bequests for funerals, but also recordings of ecclesiastical gifts or memorial services declined. On the other hand, the share of charitable donations increased. Unlike in Friesland and Antwerp, the proportion of wills from Mechelen with recorded devotional stipulations was rather low. Additional important differences were that, first, after 1540 Frisian testators no longer named mendicant orders as beneficiaries, while in Mechelen Augustinians, Carmelites and Franciscans were still endowed now and then during 1548-1555. Second, while citizens of Mechelen mostly made bequests to parochial charitable institutions or private almshouses, townsmen from Antwerp increasingly mentioned the central urban poor relief as beneficiary. In our opinion, local settings as well |
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| ISSN: | 2665-9484 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Trajecta
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