Social Welfare and brotherhoods in the Ancien Regime. Historiography, research lines and perspectives

Abstract

The promotion of the public cult was the main task that brotherhoods carried out during the Ancien Regime. However, in a society with plenty of material and spiritual needs, many brotherhoods chose to perform a charitable and social work. This answer in the presence of such poverty was established, especially since the Counter-Reformation, as a prime way for the salvation of the man. The current article expects to analyze this phenomenon through a revision of the historiography since the XIX century, by way of the 70's, when the issue aroused an unusual interest, while new perspectives started. Finally, some areas that are still a challenge to all researchers willing to think about these matters, will be analyzed.