O hospital real de todos-os-santos e seus agentes da cura

Abstract

The article explores the actions of king Dom João II (1481-1495), who spearheaded a major assistance reform in Portugal during the late fifteenth century, when charitable institutions were grappling with a serious crisis. The king and his queen, Dona Leonor, ordered two large, modern hospitals to be built, centralizing assistance work and cementing a new assistance model. Relying on chronicles and royal decrees from the period, the article focuses on the main hospital that was built then: Hospital Real de Todos-os-Santos, located in Lisbon. The king and queen also intervened heavily in the practice of health agents by regulating, overseeing, and inspecting the work of doctors and apothecaries.