In the very long history of cinema and television, the nun at the bedside of the sick person is a classic image that can be found in many films. This cliché confirms that even the film industry has understood a reality: that the hospital is an institution closely linked to Christianity. This new issue of “Au Risque de l’Histoire” aims to understand why these links are so important and looks at the appearance of the first hospitals and the context in which they developed. “We must understand that monasteries have a power, one could say, capitalistic. They form communities, own land, collect significant donations and sometimes receive legacies from noble, important families. It is this set of sources of income and this organization that gives these monasteries the means to provide for the additional needs, particularly health, of the poorest”, explains François-Olivier Touati, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Tours. “The hospital community is often religious and therefore depends on a structure that is always placed under the authority of the bishop. Basically, it is an ordinary religious community, which follows a rule and obeys vows to which is added the obligation to have to care for the sick and welcome passers-by”, continues Catherine Geleyn, sociologist, researcher.
