Lisbon’s House of Saint Lazarus in the early modern period

Abstract

This article aims to understand some of the components that characterized Lisbon’s House of Saint Lazarus, an institution designed  to receive individuals suffering from leprosy, during the early modern period. Firstly, we will focus on aspects relating to the  organization of the institution, concerning, in particular, its officials and employees, the patrimony and the incomes it had at its  disposal, and the spaces which made it up. Secondly, we will analyse the administrative aspects, following some of the episodes that  marked the jurisdictional disputes for the control of the administration of the leper-house. Finally, we will advance the possible conclusions about the patients who lived in the house and about their experience in the institution.