Migrant Charity, Collective Life, and the Poor in the March of Ancona, 1400-1460

Abstract

In the first half of the fifteenth century, traditional social functions of religious brotherhoods in the Papal States, specifically the March of Ancona, gave way to more flexible and innovative collectives that helped create political leverage for migrants from the eastern Adriatic world. While the landscape of lay Christianity changed throughout the March during this period, structures based on charity and its function in society continued, as seen in a variety of sources, including testaments, chronicles, and notarial contracts. Collective charity was crucial for migrants, especially as the eventual approval of confraternity charters provided protection from civic exclusion.