Expulsion of jesuits and marginality in Spain during second half XVIII century

Abstract

The "Pramática Sanción" of 1767 that ordered the expulsion of the members of Society of Jesus had a hard impact in the Spanish society. At once it was rumoured that some Jesuits tried to come back to Spain undergroundly, and this event caused the alarm of authorities. But, at the same time, the expulsion caused numerous cases of picaresque. This article analyses some litigations against vagrants and beggars that pretended to be Jesuits to obtain advantages in their marginal life: a new sign of the "art of mendicity" described by Bronislaw Geremek. But these cases show also the attraction that had a symbolical imagine of a medieval religiousness that exalted the poverty -reflected in these bogus Jesuits-, among some social groups.

Keywords

• expulsión de los jesuitas
• pobreza
• marginalidad
• vagabundos