Curing souls and charity at the Royal Hospital of Granada (1526-1580)

Abstract

This study explores religious practice at the Hospital Real of Granada between 1526 and 1580. Particular attention is paid to the curing of souls, charitable acts and the attitudes and behaviours of its administrators and officers. At the Hospital Real, the renewed Catholic spirituality of the Lridentine era scarcely germinated. Lhe practice of charity was mediated by networks of patronage and client subordination and by the survival strategies of its ministers and officials. At the hospital, a human space was shaped with highly fractured forms of sociability, in which discipline and corporative action were largely absent. Lhe lack of social integration of the individuáis responsible for care diminished the charitable work of the hospital and created an almost insurmountable barrier for its confessional mission.