Urban hospitals in La Rioja in the XVI and XVII centuries. Administrative organization and funding

Abstract

Following the inclusion of secular elements in the administrative structures of charitable institutions and the first steps in the unification and rationalization of assistance facilities by a royal mandate in the late fifteenth century, a turning point in the evolution of the hospice system on a national level, which in the case of La Rioja implies a fast municipalization of hospital assitance centered on urban settlements, thanks to the previous existence of a large number of hospitals as a consequence of the Camino de Santiago and the political and economic traits of the region.