The role of the hospital in medieval England

Gift-giving and the spiritual economy

Sheila Sweetinburgh

'The real contribution that the book makes is through its careful analysis of the complex processes of charitable giving in one region: by concentrating on Kent Sweetinburgh has deepened our understanding of the history of medieval hospitals in England as a whole', Andrew Brown, Ricardian.

‘Although a full-scale history of the institutions founded in England between the Norman Conquest and the dissolution of the monasteries has yet to be written, new publications, such as Sheila Sweentinburgh’s investigation of the place of the hospital; in the spiritual economy of medieval Kent, continue to extend our knowledge', Carole Rawcliffe, Speculum.

‘Dr Sweetinburgh has given us a significant addition to the literature of later medieval charity …. Hospital historians will find much to welcome in the book', Peregrine Horden, Medical History.