Les comptes d'un hôpital portugais, 1379-1383

The Accounts of a Portuguese Hospital 1379-13830. After examining the accounts kept by the scribe of a small Portuguese hospital from 1379 to 1383, this article explains how these and similar documents can better our understanding of Portugal's late medieval agrarian economy. In addition to revealing the corruptibility of the administrators who generously helped themselves to the institution's resources, and the yields of a small property worked by a single peasant, the accounts indicate that, despite being shortchanged, the hospital inmates received a ration of grain definitely superior to their minimum requirements. Taking into consideration this relative prosperity, the article questions the validity of recent interpretations of 14th century Portuguese living standards

Agrarian society · Agriculture · Archaeology · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Humanities · Institution · Linguistics · Peasant · Political science · Portuguese · Prosperity · History · Law · Medieval and Early Modern Iberia · Philosophy