Tag: pregnancy

Book Review: “Royal Childbirth in the Middle Ages: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth” by Michele Schindler

On By hmalagisiIn Book Reviews1 Comment

Throughout history, many aspects of life have changed drastically, but one thing has remained the same: the different stages of life—birth, youth, adolescence, adulthood, old age, and death. It is the first stage of life, birth, that tends to get the least amount of attention when it comes to historical research. In recent years, it has been gaining more and more attention, especially when it comes to royal births, which have the most amount of written records. Michele Schindler has chosen to focus on the aspects of medieval childbirth in her latest book, “Royal Childbirth in the Middle Ages: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth.”

I would like to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I have enjoyed the previous book that I have read by Michele Schindler, and so when I saw that she had a new book about the medieval period out, I was excited to read it. I have read a few books that featured childbirth, primarily in the Tudor period, but never when it comes to the medieval period, so I wanted to learn more.

Schindler has decided to divide her book into sections, each part focusing on a different stage of childbirth: conception, pregnancy, birth, baptism, infant care, and how society as a whole understood childbirth as part of a woman’s life. Each section has sub-sections that explore aspects like miscarriages, twins, confinement, stillbirths, wet nurses, and deaths during infancy. These are very heavy topics, but they are discussed in a respectful manner.

To give context to the topics discussed, Schindler uses examples from multiple centuries to show how royal and noblewomen dealt with childbirth and its struggles. Some of the women featured in this book include Margaret Beaufort, Margaret of Anjou, Eleanor Cobham, Isabella of Castile, Alice Chaucer, Anne Neville, and Elizabeth of York. She also compared these lives and how they experienced childbirth to the common people to show the difference in status and the importance of ceremonies like confinement to the nobility.

Overall, I found this book to be really well researched, as well as being pretty easy to follow along with. I found a deeper appreciation for medieval women and what they had to go through to have a child. If you want to learn more about medieval childbirth practices pertaining to the higher echelons of society, I would recommend you read “Royal Childbirth in the Middle Ages: Fertility, Pregnancy and Birth” by Michele Schindler.

Book Review: “Raising the Tudors: Motherhood in Sixteenth-Century England” by Stephanie Kline

On By hmalagisiIn Book ReviewsLeave a comment

Throughout history, women have had one major job: giving birth and raising future generations. Each new generation had different ways of dealing with childbirth and raising children, and the Tudors were no exception. While the Tudors lived in the 16th century, the joys and fears of being a mother were similar to those of the modern age. However, the way women approached different stages of life in the 16th century is unique compared to the ways of modern women. So, how did Tudor women approach motherhood? Stephanie Kline hopes to answer this question in her latest book, “Raising the Tudors: Motherhood in Sixteenth-Century England.”

I would like to thank Pen and Sword Books and Net Galley for sending me a copy of this book. I enjoy looking at different aspects of Tudor life, so when I saw the title of this book, it was an appealing concept.

Kline begins by explaining how women did not have many options for life other than marriage and a religious life. In the male-dominated world, women were destined to become wives and mothers. Kline’s book examines a Tudor woman’s life, from menstruation to menopause, covering marriage, pregnancy, and raising children. It is quite a lot of information to include in one book, but Kline does it with such care and attention to detail.

What Kline does extremely well is balance the stories she includes of women from all walks of life with what men and women were writing about during this time about women’s health. We get to see how much the Four Humours Theory affected every aspect of a woman’s life and her health, which included what recipes they would use to help their child. The pregnant portraits and the way women dealt with their pregnancies mirror the modern age with pregnancy photo shoots and special diets for both mother and child. While methods like confinement are drastically different than the 21st century, it is the love and care for a family that remains the same over centuries.

Overall, I found this book quite interesting, with stories and facts about the lives of Tudor women, from the time they transitioned from a girl to a woman until they died. I think the only thing I wanted was more stories of women from the middle and lower classes to get a better picture of how the different classes dealt with motherhood in their unique ways. I think if you want a solid book as an introduction to Tudor motherhood, I recommend you read, “Raising the Tudors: Motherhood in Sixteenth-Century England” by Stephanie Kline.