European University Institute Library

Ritual and conflict, the social relations of childbirth in early modern England, by Adrian Wilson

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 227-250) and index

index present

non fiction

Ritual and conflict

bibliography

841516570

by Adrian Wilson

The history of medicine in context

the social relations of childbirth in early modern England

This book places childbirth in early-modern England within a wider network of social institutions and relationships. Starting with illegitimacy - the violation of the marital norm - it proceeds through marriage to the wider gender-order and so to the 'ceremony of childbirth', the popular ritual through which women collectively controlled this, the pivotal event in their lives. Focussing on the seventeenth century, but ranging from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, this study offers a new viewpoint on such themes as the patriarchal family, the significance of illegitimacy, and the structuring of gender-relations in the period.--, Provided by publisher

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1 Legitimate and Bastard Births; Illegitimacy as a Risk; Regimes of Punishment; The Impact of Punishment; The Problem of Maintenance; The Fate of the Single Mother; Desperate Remedies; 2 The Bonds of Marriage; The Solemnisation of Matrimony; Worldly Goods; 'With my body I thee worship'; To Obey and Serve; Enforcing Obedience; The 'Patriarchal Family'?; 3 Gender and Power; Skimmingtons and Shrews; Narratives of Gender-relations; The 'Original' of Masculine Government; Collusion, Resistance, Contests; 4 The Ceremony of Childbirth; A Female Ritual; The Midwife's Office; Lying-in; Baptism; The Meaning of the Ceremony; Churching: A Safe Deliverance; Conclusion; Counter-power, Collective Culture, Interests; The Bodily and the Social; Bibliography; Index