The European Philanthropy Genesis in the Middle Ages (6th-15th Centuries)

The article discusses the genesis of European philanthropy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire (476) to the beginning of the European countries transformation in the sixteenth century. The Middle Ages are characterized by contradictions and ambiguity of socio-economic dynamics spanning a whole millenium. The new conditions after the collapse of civilization structures forced the population of Western and Central Europe to return to the old forms of mutual assistance. Types of assistance were diverse. In addition to the traditional Indo-European community types of support (orphans, widows, the elderly, the maimed), assistance included such sensitive issues as the resettlement of new members to villages, which was an undoubted good for the resettlers. Archaic forms of population support were based on adequate values and ideals of the barbaric era. "Give and donate" were the main virtues of this era. Social ties between community members were more "tight", "sincere" and were based on mutual help, which had long been the main method of self-defense and survival of the Medieval Europe's population. The Christian Church in the early Middle Ages could not become the main subject of charity care as it did not have sufficient economic resources and many areas of Europe were not yet christianized. The situation gradually changed: the church played a dominant role in charity matters. This process and its analysis are the aim of this article. The author analyzes the transformation of the values, norms and ideals of the period under review. The intentions of the New Testament for a long time determined ethics and specific social practices in the support of various categories of population in the Middle Ages. In rural areas, monasteries (like in Russia) came to play a significant socio-economic role in helping the homeless and feeding the local poor. The economic recovery in Western Europe in the twelfth century contributed to the increase of charitable activities, the institutionalization of the basics of internal accounting and control in charitable institutions. New types of charity institutions appeared, for example, along with hospice and children's shelters leper colonies, orphanages for the blind ("The Hospital of the Three Hundred" in France), houses of Sisters of Mercy were built with the active participation of the royal power. The author concludes that the role of the Church in supporting marginalized population was large enough, but in the late Middle Ages the role of the state and municipal authorities and self-organizing communities in the field of charity increased.

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