Crimen sin castigo. Expósitos sin porvenir por el abandono institucional en Castilla en la primera mitad del siglo XIX

Abstract

A través de los testimonios de las fuentes judiciales, se rastrean los espacios y la vida de los hospicianos de ambos sexos, analizados como comunidad emocional desde la historia de las emociones, y su cuerpo objeto de excesos, desde la historia de las sensibilidades. Tras la rígida disciplina de estos centros, sus espacios no parecen tan estrictos y la comunidad emocional de los hospicianos es solidaria, se escandaliza, las amistades son de círculo muy corto y la violencia menudea más entre los varones que entre las féminas. Director y justicia no removerán del cargo a quienes cometen abusos (excepcionales, pero ciertos), primaron proteger la institución, igualmente apreciada por los expósitos.

Through the testimonies of court sources, the settings and living conditions of foundlings of both sexes are traced and analysed as a community of feelings from the perspective afforded by the so-called history of emotions, while their bodies are likewise considered as objects of abuse from the point of view of the history of sensibilities. Beyond the rigid discipline of these institutions, however, such spaces do not seem so rigorous; the emotional community formed by the residents proves mutually supportive and likely to experience a shared sense of outrage and to forster close circles of friendship, yet also violent responses which were nevertheless more common among males than among females. The orphanage administrators and the judiciary would not remove from office those who committed abuses (exceptional, but attested), but instead prioritized the protection of the institution, which was equally valued by the foundlings