At the Cradle: Gender and Power in Seventeenth-century Parisian Society

Abstract

The chapter offers an overview of the historical context that gave birth to the Company of the Daughters of Charity. It argues that the urban development of Paris is a crucial backdrop: the contents and direction of the Company and its moral management were always handled from the motherhouse in Paris. Vital support for the Company came likewise from the devout networks of powerful elite Parisian women (the dévotes). Understanding the institutional changes in poor relief and nursing likewise sets the stage further for the analysis of the organization, execution, and contents of the moral management of the Daughters of Charity.