Hospitals, Wet-Nurses, and Abandoned Children: a first look at Fifteenth-Century Brescia
Journal title CHEIRON
Author/s Eleonora Poli
Publishing Year 2025 Issue 2023/2
Language Italian Pages 25 P. 22-35 File size 513 KB
DOI 10.3280/CHE2023-002002
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This article investigates the organization and management of wet-nursing services in Brescia during the Fifteenth Century, with a particular focus on the role of healthcare institutions such as Santa Maria della Misericordia, San Cristoforo, and the Ospedale Maggiore. Alongside hospital sources, private sources are also taken into consideration, so as to reveal the similarities and differences between the wetnursing offered by welfare institutions and that carried out within the local aristocracy. Special attention is paid to the Ospedale Maggiore, which developed a structured administrative-management system aimed at reforming the management of abandoned children through a wet-nursing service that was extended both within and outside its walls. The study emphasizes how the care of exposed children was not merely an act of charity, but also required a solid organization, in which economicadministrative management and oversight of the wet-nurses played a crucial role in the smooth functioning of the service.
Keywords: wet nurses; abandoned Children; 15th century; hospitals; Brescia; Lombardy.
Eleonora Poli, Ospedali, balie ed esposti: un primo sguardo sulla Brescia del Quattrocento in "CHEIRON" 2/2023, pp 22-35, DOI: 10.3280/CHE2023-002002