How Did medieval Society React to the Constant Presence of the Paupers ?
Christians had an obligation to help the poor. Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of my brethren, you have done it to me. The Church administered a 10% tax on Europe’s total annual production (the tithe) to help the poor. But many felt that God had made the poor to give them the opportunity to gain merit through charity, so they did not attack causes. Instead, they took refuge behind the scriptural statement that The poor will always be with you. But as population grew in the 11th – 13th century, so too did the number of the poor. By the 1100’s, the middle class came to the aid of the Church with added endowments and with the establishment of private and municipal charitable institutions. With the Avignon papacy, however, the Church was no longer capable of adequately assisting the rapidly growing class of indigent, not even, given the break-up of the guilds and rise of capitalism, with the aid of the middle class. By about 1200, the matter had gotten entirely out of control. Ma
