Dangerous and difficult for both mother and child--what was the birth experience like in the Middle Ages? Dependent, in part, on social class, what pastimes did children enjoy? What games did they play? With often uncomfortable and even harsh living conditions, what kind of care did children receive in the home on a daily basis?
These are just a few of the questions this work addresses about the day-to-day childhood experiences during the Middle Ages. Focusing on all social classes of children, the topics are wide-ranging. Chapters cover birth and baptism; early childhood; playing; clothing; care and discipline; formal education; university education; career training for peasants, craftsmen, merchants, clergy and nobility; and coming of age.
In addition, three appendices are included. Appendix I provides information on the humoral theory of medicine. Appendix II offers examples of medieval math problems. Appendix III covers a unique episode in medieval history known as "The Children's Crusade."
Author(s): Paul B. Newman
Publisher: McFarland Books
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 556 (311)
City: Jefferson
Tags: medieval, middle ages, daily life, childhood, growing up
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1
Birth and Baptism
Prenatal Care
Assistants for Delivery
Physicians
Midwives
Delivery
Difficult Deliveries
Other Difficult Births
After the Birth
Mortality in Childbirth
Baptism
The Need for Baptism
The Ritual and Sacrament
Godparents
The Ceremony
Emergency Baptism
Naming
Sources of Names
Family Names
Circumcision and Naming in the Jewish Community
Birth Defects
Infanticide
Abandonment, Foundlings, and Adoption
Adoption
2
Caring for Infants and Children
Nursing
Wet Nursing—An Overview
Why Would a Woman Become a Wet Nurse?
Slaves
Free Women
Noble Ladies
Wet Nurses for the Nobility
Wet Nurses for Commoners
Selecting a Wet Nurse
Wet Nurses of Different Faiths
The Impact of Wet Nursing on the Infants
Animal Milk and Pap
Solids and Liquids
Weaning and Teething
Bathing and Cleaning
Swaddling
Diapers
Toilet Training
Cradles and Other Sleeping Arrangements
Learning to Walk
Supervision
Caring for Sick Children
Mourning and Burial
Role of Fathers
3
Play
Infants
Older Children
Imitative Play
Toys
Wooden Toys
Kites
Balls and Marbles
Metal Toys and Toy Castles
Dolls
Imaginative Play and Improvised Toys
Musical Instruments
Staged Entertainments
Sports
Swimming
Water Jousting
Ice Skating and Other Winter Activities
Ball Games
Football
Tennis
Baseball and Cricket
Wrestling and Stone-Throwing
Archery
Horseback Riding and Horse Racing
Games
Cherry Pit or Cherry Stones
Knucklebones
More Physical Games
Board Games
Chess
Reading
Riddles and Word Games
Pranks
Less Wholesome Entertainments
Pets
Adolescent Pastimes
Youth Groups
Vandalism
Drinking and Gambling
Dancing
Music
4
Clothing and Dress
Boys’ Clothing
Girls’ Clothing
Fabrics and Colors for Children’s Clothing
5
Care and Discipline
Caring for Children
Parental Instruction of Children
Discipline and Punishment
6
Formal Education
Education in Europe Before the Middle Ages
Education After the Fall of Rome
Barbarians and Education
The Church and Education
Monastic Schools
Bishops and Cathedral Schools
Priests as Teachers
Secular Education
The Growth of Secular Schools
The Value of an Education
The Faculty
Schooling for Girls
Facilities
Village Schools and Itinerant Teachers
Teaching and Disciplinary Techniques
Teaching Reading and Writing
Teaching Math
Discipline and Corporal Punishment
Student Amusements
Jewish Education
7
University Education
The Rise of the Universities
The Students
Student Qualifications
The Age of Students
Student Organizations and Foundations
Nations
Housing and Halls
Colleges
The Faculty
Subjects Taught at the Universities
Methods of Instruction and Learning
Lecturing
Disputations
Dissections
Taking Notes
Reading
The Texts
The Facilities
Life in the Universities
New Students
Benefit of Clergy and the Special Status of Scholars
Violence
Student Pastimes
Clothing
Discipline
The School Day and School Year
Completion of Studies
Length of Studies
Examination and Graduation
The Cost of a University Education
Jews and the Universities
8
Training for a Career and Earning a Living: Peasants, Craftsmen, and Merchants
Peasants
Older Boys’ Chores
Older Girls’ Tasks
Employment and Training Outside of the Family Farm
Craftsmen and Merchants
Learning a Craft
Learning to Be a Merchant
Daughters of Craftsmen and Merchants
Guilds and Apprenticeships
Who Became an Apprentice?
Selecting an Apprenticeship
Qualifying for an Apprenticeship
Fees for Apprenticeships
The Age of Apprentices
The Length of Apprenticeships
Numbers of Apprentices Permitted to Each Master
The Training
Relations Between Masters and Apprentices
Apprentices’ Conduct Outside of the Workplace
Completion of Apprenticeship
Apprenticeships for Girls
Other Training for Trades
Servants
Who Employed Servants?
Becoming a Servant
Servants’ Pay
Serving the Nobility
Servants’ Relationships with Their Employers
Training for Less Reputable Trades
Child Labor
Training for Jewish Children
Trades for Jewish Children
9
Training for a Career and Earning a Living: The Clergy and Nobility
The Ties Between the Nobility and the Clergy
Who Became Clerics and Why
Youngest Sons and Careers in the Church
The Secular Clergy and the Regular Clergy
Simony
Entry into the Secular Clergy
Training to Become a Priest
The Minor and Major Orders
The Higher Secular Clergy
Entry into the Regular Clergy
Oblation
Other Boys in the Monasteries
Becoming a Monk
Lay-Brothers
Canons Regular
Friars
Nuns
Why Girls Entered the Cloister
Other Girls in the Nunneries
Becoming a Nun
Lay-Sisters
Runaway Monks and Nuns
The Nobility
Training for the Nobility
Placement in Other Noble Households
Training for Noble Boys
Discipline
Courtesy
Riding
Hunting
Physical Fitness and Combat
The Ideal Progression to Knighthood and the Reality
Training for Noble Girls
Learning to Be a Virtuous Woman
Managing a Household
Defense of the Home and Children
Courtesy
Riding and Hunting
Embroidery and Other Cloth-Work
10
Coming of Age
Physical Maturity
Adulthood Under the Law
Criminal Liability
Adulthood Under Civil Law
Adulthood Under the Laws of the Church
Confirmation
Emancipation
Marriage
Marriage and the Church
Church Regulation of Marriage
Polygyny and Concubinage
The Ages of Brides and Grooms
Ages for Noble Marriages
Ages for the Marriage of City-Dwellers
Ages for the Marriage for Peasants
Arranged Marriages
Family Approval for Marriages
Other Approval for Marriages
Courtship
Betrothal
The Financial Arrangements for Marriages
Dowry and Dower
Trousseaus
The Development of the Wedding Ceremony
The Wedding Ceremony
Wedding Celebrations
Abduction
Clandestine Marriages
Love
The Indissolubility of Marriage
Orphans and Wardship
Middling and Poor Orphans
Wealthy Orphans and Wardship
Noble Orphans and Wardship
Coming of Age in the Jewish Community
Jewish Marriages
The Wedding Ceremony
Appendices
Appendix 1: The Humoral Theory
Appendix 2: Medieval Math Problems
Appendix 3: The Children’s Crusade
Bibliography
List of Names and Terms
