Strategic voices of care and compassion. Describing the mad, their afflictions and situations in Amsterdam and Utrecht in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Abstract

Painting a picture of the lives of the early modern mad outside institutions has not yet been done in the Netherlands. However, by looking at notarial documents and admission requests, we can learn more about how the mad were cared for outside the institutions, and the impact their behaviour had on the people close to them. Investigating these sources for both Amsterdam and Utrecht in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has unravelled a story of community care in which families played a key role and used their options strategically. Furthermore, it has also revealed a complicated story about the way communities dealt with the behaviour of the mad, involving great personal struggles, breaking points and compassion.