'Zullen wy [...] malkanderen de hant niet bieden'. Policies of Asylum Care for the Insane in 17th and 18th-Century Dordrecht

Abstract

The present thesis proposes a new perspective on early modern asylum care for the insane, by exploring the case of the Dordrecht godshuizen. Evaluating and finally leaving the trodden paths of Whiggish and revisionist grand narratives, an argument is made for taking the viewpoint of urban charity functioning as an integrated system. Bourdieus's sociological concepts of the habitus, field and capitals are applied to give insight into the local 'charitable economy', in which the insane had a recognized but increasingly 'special' place.