ABSTRACT
This chapter mainly focuses on the motives and beliefs behind small-scale, everyday almsgiving in late-eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Copenhagen. In medieval Catholic Europe, attitudes to the poor, poverty, and almsgiving were strongly marked by Christian ideals and norms. It was believed that good works could lead to earthly happiness and the soul's salvation from purgatory. It was not just in connection with illness or births that one hoped for God's blessings. Many feared the criminal elements in society, and therefore all forms of criminality were the subject of prayers. Generally, many prayers and thanksgivings concerned the various undertakings that were part of people's basic life. Some donors wanted the assistance of the poor to thank God. Others sought to call down the grace of the Lord on themselves, with the help of the intercession of the poor. Charity was part of a gift-giving system in which a gift was expected to be repaid by another.
