ABSTRACT
Mendicant orders in East Frisia, particularly the Franciscans in the Emden suburb of Faldern, collected alms specifically for the poor. An apparent increase in lay poor relief institutions in the opening decades of the sixteenth century indirectly implies a growing need for social welfare provision in Emden. An additional source, pre-Reformation law codes, can help to supplement the picture of Emden's poor relief institutions, by offering a few particular insights into the legal perceptions and expectations surrounding poor relief and poverty. The boundaries formed by the medieval religious situation are strikingly similar to the confessional lines formed after the Reformation: the area around Emden became predominantly Calvinist; the north-eastern portion of East Frisia was Lutheran, while Catholicism survived along the southern edge of the territory. The creation of religious confraternities resulted from just such individual zeal for good works, charity and religious patronage in order to ensure one's salvation.
