Early Modern Orphanages between Civic Pride and Social Discipline: Francke’s Use of Dutch Models

The Orphanage of Halle was an institution that had no match in early modern Europe. It was by no means an ordinary orphanage, but rather a powerhouse of the pietist movement. Missions both on the Continent and abroad were supported by the resources generated by the very modern mass-propaganda Francke launched around the successes of his charitable foundation, by its printing press and its patent-medicine production. Through its Bible institute and its schools the orphanage was a machine for the world-wide propagation of the distinct faith of the German pietists, and, as a modern British schola... Mehr ...