ABSTRACT
Thischapterwillbeconsideringtheoldermembersofamajorsectionofearly modernurbansociety.Fortheperiodinquestion,thelatersixteenthcentury, thepoorcouldbyvariouscriteriabedefinedasaquarter,athird,oraneven largerproportionofthepopulation,andsocannotberegardedasinsignificant.1Demographically,theelderlyamongthepoorcouldbeseenasmarginal, especiallygiventheircomparativelysmallnumbers,andtheirlackofrelevance totheengineoffertility.Ofthisgroup,thedisabledelderlypoorconstitutea smallergroupstill.Nonetheless,inhistoricaltermsthereiseveryjustificationfor analysingthesocialconditionsofthesesmallergroupsinsociety,evenifitis possibletouseonlyverysimplemethods.Theinterestandubiquityofconcepts andsocialpracticestodowithagewasdemonstratedsometimeagobyThomas.2 However,theelderlythemselves,andespeciallytheelderlypoor,arestillaneglectedtopicfortheearlymodernperiod,eventhoughtheirsituation,andeven morethatofthedisabled,constitutesakindofacidtestforanysociety.My mainconcerninthischapterwillbewiththeimperativesofsurvivalamongthe elderlypoor,theessentialplaceofworkandperhapsmigrationintheirlives, andthestrongpossibilitythathouseholdstructureamongthepoorwasinfluencedbytheneedtobalance,orcompensatefor,extremeformsofdisability.
