Staff, inmates and organisat. structure of Vienna Publ. Hospital in Early Modern Period

In the early modern period, the Wiener "Bürgerspital" (Vienna Public Hospital), founded in the mid-13th century, formed the city`s central hospital, almshouse and old age home as well as at the same time a huge financial operation and large manor. Whereas the medieval history of Austria`s largest hospital has already been generally researched, the early modern history of this multifunctional facility largely remains unknown. After the Viennese Imperial court, Vienna Public Hospital presumably represented the largest organisational structure in the royal capital. The huge complex of the hospital with its many varied courtyards, which was abolished in 1784/85 by Joseph II. and finally pulled down in 1880, represented a veritable town within the city. Today, the hospital has almost completely disappeared from the cityscape and the city`s collective memory. As shown in numerous studies, in recent years hospital history has established itself as an important factor in the fields of social, economic and town history. Despite the growing interest, some aspects have barely been researched, in particular the inmates of the hospitals, the staff charged with their care and supervision as well as the internal organisation of these institutes. These aspects are at the main focus of the presented project. Since very little preliminary work on the early modern period of Vienna`s Public Hospital is available, at the start of the project the hospital as a whole must be subjected to a structural analysis, at least as a general overview. The aim of the project is to generate, in a first step, a summary of the tasks and functions of the public hospital in the early modern era, and, in a second step, to create an in-depth study of life and work in this facility. Today the archival records of the hospital form a record group within the "Wiener Stadt- und Landesarchiv" (Vienna City and State Archive, WStLA). The modelling of a structural history of the public hospital is to be realised by means of an evaluation of the books of accounts (annual balance sheets) of the hospital manager. These books and also the directories of inmates should be evaluated example-based with the help of a database, whereas the files need to be perused individually and to be examined qualitatively. Additionally, other archives, museums and libraries will be visited. For the processing of the project, with is supported not only by the WStLA and the Institute for Austrian Historical Research (Institut für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung) but also by renowned hospital historians, Mag. Sarah Pichlkastner, who has already familiarised herself with the material, is at the disposal.

The project focused on the early modern Vienna Civic Hospital (Wiener Bürgerspital). This hospital was probably at that time the main institution of poor relief and health care within the imperial capital and the biggest civic hospital of todays Austria. The state of research was hitherto contrary to its size and significance. Like other medieval and early modern welfare institutions, the Vienna Civic Hospital was a multifunctional facility caring for different types of inmates (physically and mentally ill people, injured people, pregnant women and women who had recently given birth, children and elderly people, physically and mentally disabled persons, pilgrims). In the course of the Early Modern Period as the project results show the inmates were increasingly differentiated and accommodated separately. Newly established branches and incorporated hospitals facilitated the latter. Contrary to today, medieval and early modern welfare institutions had to rely on self-financing. Therefore, they were at the same time potential economic enterprises. The project could show the hospitals different fields of activity (viniculture and other agricultural activities, beer production, manorial activities, credit business etc.). It represented an important economic factor in the city and its surroundings. In the course of the Early Modern Period changes can be observed that led to new forms of financing (capital investment, payments for or from inmates, public subsidiaries). Thus, the Vienna Civic Hospital represents one of the most important precursors of the specialized institutions established by the reforms of Joseph II in the 1780s (General Hospital with Birthing House/Maternity Home and Madhouse, Foundling Home, several poorhouses). This does not only concern the financial basis but also institutional, organizational and administrative aspects. The Civic Hospital only remained responsible for Viennese burghers and their relatives in need, a small group of the former inmates.