Infanticide in Tudor and Stuart England

Billingham, Josephine.

Infanticide in Tudor and Stuart England - Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, (c)2019. - 1 online resource (351 pages). - Gendering the Late Medieval and Early Modern World Ser. .

Description based upon print version of record. Image 6: Woodcut from Bloody Newes from Dover (1646).

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover; Contents; Acknowledgments; Author's notes; 1. Losses, Lacunae and Liminality; Investigating the invisible; Historiography; The age of an infant; Primary sources: a dual approach; Archival sources; Literary sources; Secondary sources: the role of liminality; 2. European and Medieval Contexts of Infanticide; Infanticide in medieval Europe; Infanticide in early modern Europe; Representations of infanticide in Europe; Infanticide in medieval England; Representations of infanticide in medieval England; 3. The liminal child and mother; Beliefs and attitudes toward new lives Death and the unwelcome infantKilling and caring; Throwing; The liminal world of childbirth; Unmarried women and pregnancy; 4. Love, Law and Liminality; The 'betwixt and between' of betrothal and marriage; Liminal marital states in literature; Bastard bearing, punishment and liminality; Social seclusion and separation; Literary death; The rituals of socially inclusive punishments; Self-imposed punishment and liminality; Avoiding the shame of pregnancy: 'A dose of the Doctor'; 5. Constructing Outsiders, Constructing Killers; Lack of money; Mirth and misery: single pregnancy in literature Seeking marriage and securityWandering; Prostitution; Constructing killers; 6. Not the Usual Suspects: Communities and Accomplices; Communities; Accomplices: 'feloniously aiding and abetting'; Devilish influences; 7. Not the Usual Suspects: Married Women; Vengeful women; Death and the maternal breast; Choosing not to nurse; 8. Not the Usual Suspects: Men; The sins of the fathers; The unborn child; Newborn and very young infants; Aiding and abetting; Money and motive; Sexual shame and motive; Infant murder and monarchy; More violent than liminal; 9. Interlude: Infanticide 1700-1950 The liminal motherThe liminal child; Liminal places: water; Not the usual suspects; 10. Epilogue: Echoes of the Past; Introduction; Reality and fiction; Killers, communities and accomplices; Liminality and marginality today; Performing modern Medeas; The language of monstrosity; Why?; Finally; Appendix 1. The 1624 Infanticide Act; Appendix 2. Note on Sussex Coroners' inquests; Appendix 3. Sussex Cases of Violent, Unnatural, Unexplained Infant Death 1547-1686; Appendix 4. Sussex Infant Deaths Involving Water; Appendix 5. Sussex Infant Deaths Involving Throwing Appendix 6. Sussex Infant Deaths Involving Bloodshed or Extreme ViolenceAppendix 7. Sussex Infant Deaths Showing Direct Involvement of Men; List of Illustrations; Image 1: The Age and Life of Man described and depicted in Peter Fancy's ballad (1650-1665?); Image 2: Woodcut from The Mourning Conquest (1674-1679).; Image 3: The ages of man schemes suggest infant liminality by showing them not yet on thestairway of life.; Image 4: Woodcut from the title page of A Pittilesse Mother (1616).; Image 5: Hidden crime: detail of title page of The Wicked Midwife (1640).



9789048538164 9048538165


Infanticide--History.--England


Electronic Books.

HV6541 / .I543 2019