The poverty and the poor in the Spanish Empire are being increasingly recognized as a historiographic problem, for example, when the charity and the pious works are analyzed, the justice with the urban and rural masses, the workers in commercial contexts, and the elite families and those of popular or subaltern sectors. Considering all this, the article proposes a definition of poverty, identifies types of the poor, and summarizes the institutions to attend the poverty at the end of the Ancient Regime.