Entre la beneficencia y la filantropíala ciudad de Murcia durante la Guerra de la Independencia,1808-1814

Laburpena

Is a doctoral thesis which touches upon the role of charity institutions through the transition from the Ancient Regime to Liberalism; and more specifically upon the role of rear guard cities, like Murcia, during the Spanish Peninsular War. Once detected the still-existing historiographical research gap in that context, it is significant to analyse this socio-sanitary work, understood as an important tool to achieve two main objectives: the needed military assistance to protect the Nation from the French enemies and to guarantee some (apparent) socio-political stability. As a rear guard area, Murcia city (the capital from the Kingdom of Murcia, in the south-east of Spain) had the perfect qualities, where its citizens, soldiers and marginalized people, like indigents, orphans, widows and delinquents, lived together in a very complex atmosphere. This city and its countryside (included the agriculture zone of Murcia) had been suffering a critical situation from the last third of the eighteenth century with droughts, floods, epidemics (like yellow fever) and the increase of violence, due to the absence of basic consumer goods for diet, like wheat and barley. Therefore, when the Peninsular War arrived in Murcia City, this dramatic situation opened Pandora´s box. Thus… What events occurred in relation to the historical charity assistance of this city? And what about its charity centers, such as hospitals, brotherhoods of blessed souls and houses of Mercy? Who were the poor and the marginalised according to society’s popular imaginary? Who were the assistants? Were the poor and soldiers aided under the same conditions? Did this beneficent system change? What areas of Murcia City were the most affected? To answer all these questions, the main following objectives have been taken into consideration: to address a study related to the socio-sanitarian and spiritual assistance in the city of Murcia during the Peninsular War as an example of a rear guard area; to discover who the attendees and the aided individuals were according to the characteristics of the city and its circumstances; to examine the assistance work undertaken in the Royal House-Hospice of Mercy and San Juan de Dios Hospital in connection with the historical charity discourses of the Diocese of Cartagena, the Cathedral and City Council, and as an example of the History of pauperism and inequality in the origins the Spanish Contemporary History; to detect whether these institutions applied or not with the stipulated charity principles and philanthropic roles for the eradication of poverty. Added to this, we have followed a methodology based on a comparative analysis of similar cities under the same conditions and on documental research conducted via descriptive statistical processing and text analyses in local, regional and national historical Archives, digital libraries, databases and digital repositories. Our interpretations have been collected and reflected on six chapters (data charts are included) where the reader is be able to consult relevant contributions, such as the first incursions of the French soldiers in the city, the first evidences of the change of mentality towards liberalism for the sake of public health (even after death, with the study of St. Mary’s Brotherhood of the Blessed Souls), the areas that have remained until now in identical conditions of misery and inequality, as an example of inefficient management against poverty and discrimination, and finally the significant role that rear guard cities, like Murcia, had for the safeguard of the Spanish acephalous throne.