"In an age of widespread poverty and disease, the medieval hospital performed a number of important charitable functions, many of which addressed the spiritual rather than the physical health of the individuals it sought to help. Changing attitudes to the sick poor, prompted by the social and economic upheavals of the later Middle Ages, had a dramatic impact on these institutions, whose rise and decline also serve as a useful indicator of urban prosperity." "This book presents the first detailed study of Norwich's nineteen medieval hospitals and leper houses, set against a wider background of contemporary ideas about sickness and health and of society's obligations to the poor. It draws upon a wide range of archival material to broaden our knowledge of patrons and patients, as well as of the financial problems which made survival so difficult."--BOOK JACKET.