Secundum Regulam: care for the sick and elderly in Hispanic-Visigoth monastic rules

Abstract

Rules for the organization of daily life in the monastic communities that proliferated around the Mediterranean during Late Antiquity are a privileged source of information on the life circumstances of sick and elderly people during this period. The objective of this study was to use this information to determine the situation of these two populations at the end of Late Antique Hispania. The four monastic rules preserved were formulated during a chronological period extending from the second half of the 6th century to the second half of the 7th century, largely coinciding with the duration of the Hispanic-Visigoth Kingdom of Toledo. They reveal the importance of social welfare among the habitual duties of the different monasteries, which adopted them as rules. In this way, these monasteries became vital places for the care of the sick and elderly. The rules show how they were organized to carry out these duties and how restrictions on cohabitation could be modified to enable the delivery of appropriate care. They also reveal the type of food considered medicinally useful, the requirement to treat the sick in places physically separated from the monastic area, and the most appropriate people to provide care. The rules also establish that this care was offered not only to members of their community but also to outsiders. The practice of admitting elderly people into monasteries became extensive in the North-West area, largely for the health emergencies that characterize old age.