Childhood in the Middle Ages

"This is a presentation I did in Mr. Ganse's class. We were each given different topics regarding the Middle Ages, and mine was 'Childhood in the Middle Ages'. After the presentation, which consists of a 10~15 minute brief summary of what you have found through research on the topic, we are to write a long, over 20 page paper, which will probably suck my life out. But, for the presentation, I actually got a comment from Mr. Ganse that my presentation was pretty good, so enjoy!"

Childhood in the Middle Ages

131136 Woo-Hyun Cho

1. Definition

<from dictionary.com> : the state or period of being a child, a person between birth and full growth.

<what I am going to talk about> : the state or period of being a person from birth to age 14, or until they reach adolescence, or until they leave home.

2. Wrong held beliefs about children in the Middle Ages.

There are two wrong held beliefs

A. Some people say that there was no recognition of childhood as a distinct category of development in the middle ages. – this idea comes from some medieval artwork of children dressed in adult clothing (if children wore like adults, they must have acted like adults, too)

The idea that children were treated like miniature adults as soon as they could walk and talk is a common one.

NOT TRUE – some medieval laws protected the rights of orphans and medieval medicine had different treatment standards for adults and children. à Children were recognized as vulnerable, and in need of special protection, just like the present modern days.

B. Another wrong belief held by some people is one that says children were not valued as much as they are in the modern days by their families in the Middle Ages. – This idea comes from rarely mentioned childhood details in biographies and literature works. Childhoods of heroes are rarely mentioned, if not at all, and this also applies to the movies that we watched – they don’t depict childhood too much.

NOT TRUE – In the Middle Ages, one of the most important works for a family was farming. Thus, having more workers was always better. Therefore, children were one of the primary reasons to marry. Plus, due to high mortality rate in children also raised the value of children; it has been suggested that 25% of them may have died in their first year, half as many (12.5%) between one and four, and a quarter as many (6%) between five and nine.

3. From Birth to Grown-up

A. Birth

i. Due to the reasons I mentioned just now, childbirth was usually a joyful thing, but there were many possibilities where the birth could go wrong. Birth defects, breech births, and many other complications could cause both mother and the child to die.

ii. In the room where a mother would give birth to a child, there were only women. Midwives would assist the giving of birth, and female relatives or friends would be also present to wish the mother good luck.

iii. If everything goes well, the baby is swaddled in a way so to help the baby’s arms and legs grow straight.

B. Children before teenage (~12)

i. Children at ages near seven ‘played’ most of the time. However, children at this age group also had increased responsibilities to do house chores, especially if they were peasant children.

ii. As children grew up, parents taught their sons and daughters manners, personal hygiene, and other skills to get along with other people. This applied especially to nobles, where polite manners were considered very important. Later in the Middle Ages, instruction manual books came out, which included many different things that are needed in daily lives.

C. Children from age 12 ~ 14, to adolescence

i. Children at the age 12 sometimes left their houses. There were various reasons to it, and here are some of them. For children of noble birth were sometimes sent to live with family that they were engaged to marry. Sons of knights started training in the castles, and they could start the training as early as seven, to as late as eighteen. Children of poor births sometimes went out to earn money by working as servants for high-status families. Lastly, apprenticeship also started from age thirteen, and some children left their homes to follow their masters and teachers. Those who did not leave their home stayed in their households to do serious work, assisting in agriculture and crafts.

4. References

A. Orme, Nicholas. "Historical Essays: Childhood in Medieval England." Historical Essays: Childhood in Medieval England. Nicholas Orme, n.d. Web. 21 May 2013. <http://www.representingchildhood.pitt.edu/medieval_child.htm>.

B. Snell, Melissa. "The Medieval Child." About.com Medieval History. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2013. <http://historymedren.about.com/od/medievalchildren/a/child_toc.htm>.

C. Hanawalt, Barbara. Growing up in Medieval London: The Experience of Childhood in History. New York: Oxford UP, 1993. Print.

D. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 21 May 2013. <http://dictionary.reference.com/>.

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Here is a documentary from BBC four, titled "Too Much, Too Young: Children of the Middle Ages". This will really help your understanding of medieval children, as much as it did to mine!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00jtg6k