Sethina Watson is a Senior Lecturer at the University of York. Her research interests range widely across the social and institutional history of medieval Christianity.

• Canon Law and the 'Revolution in Charity' (c.1150-c.1250)


• 1: Introduction: The Sheep and the Goats


• 2: Reading around the edges: Welfare houses and the general councils, 1139-1215


• A Western Model (c.400-c.900)


• 3: The Question of Francia (c.400-817)


• 4: Carolingian Lombardy (c.780-c.860)


• 5: Roman Law and the Western Tradition


• 6: Claims and Innovations


• Stalking the Borderlands (1100 -1320)


• 7: Canonists and Commentators, at the edges of canon law (1100-1260)


• 8: Robert de Courson and the Council of Reims (1213)


• 9: The Council of Vienne and Late Medieval Hospitals (1312)


• Conclusion


• Appendix A: Ad Petitionem: A lost decretal of Alexander III


• Appendix B: Robert de Courson's Hospital Decree (1213)

A ground breaking study, On Hospitals explores welfare institutions in western law in the middle ages and establishes a legal model for the hospital. Running against orthodox opinion, Watson places welfare institutions, rather than Church-run organisations, at the heart of the medieval hospital's history.