Subordination or solidarity? Poor relief as an instrument of village elites in the 16th-century Southern Low Countries. University of Antwerp
In the 16th-century Low Countries, some 20% of all people were exempted from taxes due to poverty. It was a period of increasing prices - even hyperinflation – and wages not keeping up. Contemporaries also noted an increase in the poverty level, causing major reorganisations and reforms. Historians have labelled pre-modern poor relief either as a 'moralising' poor relief, a toolto regulate labour markets, or as an alternative to informal ...