Financing Poor Relief in the Small Lower Rhine Town of Kalkar in the Late Middle Ages

Abstract Managing the poor’s funds in the Middle Ages was a great responsibility and a rather complex task that relied on the involvement and contributions of numerous persons, not least on the voluntary work of well-educated men. Using the example of the poor relief administration in the small German town of Kalkar in the Duchy of Cleves, this article deals with the efforts to generate the means that were necessary to provide for the resident poor and to allow the wider distribution of alms on a regular and reliable basis. This work particularly addresses the mechanisms of securing revenues and making investments by the urban authorities and their commissioners. It also serves as an introduction to poverty and poor relief in the Lower Rhine region, looking into the preconditions that were essential to guarantee its smooth functioning. Moreover, the paper considers the role of annuities and rents in the financing of poor relief and other means of generating income, endeavours to economise and avoid waste, and finally examines the types of credit used by the poor relief wardens themselves and their interactions with debtors.