Baptism was the first sacrament that a medieval child was expected to receive, and it was considered vital in terms of salvation.. For this reason, it was officially forbidden to bury un
Trang 1infant mortality rate did not make such losses any less sad:
Ex-pressions of loss and regret are found in many medieval texts,
such as the Middle English poem Pearl, in which a dreamer
mourns the death of a little girl not yet two years old
Baptism was the first sacrament that a medieval child was
expected to receive, and it was considered vital in terms of
salvation Children were regarded as innocent, yet their souls
first had to be cleansed from original sin through baptism
For this reason, it was officially forbidden to bury unbaptized
children in hallowed ground The earlier theological stance
that death without baptism meant eternal damnation gave
way to the idea that the souls of unbaptized children would
be consigned to the limbus puerorum, which was a kinder fate
than hell but which did not offer any hope of ever attaining
heaven To prevent the perdition of an immortal soul, some
medieval preachers’ handbooks include instructions for
mid-wives on how to baptize an unborn child in extremis without
the help of a priest
Baptism of noble children could result in lavish
celebra-tions and exchanges of gifts, with godparents being carefully
chosen as sponsors for the child However, such feasts might
be abandoned or curtailed in favor of a hasty baptism if the
baby proved to be weak or unlikely to survive long In a
cer-emony known as churching, mothers were ritually received
back into the church after giving birth In continental Europe
bishops bestowed the sacrament of confirmation on older
children; in England, however, it was not unusual for very
young children to receive confirmation, as is illustrated in
many medieval depictions of the seven sacraments
Child care was regarded as a woman’s domain Babies
were breast-fed, and the Madonna suckling the infant Christ
(known as the Virgo lactans) became an increasingly popular
image in medieval art However, aristocratic and royal
moth-ers tended to employ wet nurses, who were carefully chosen
for the quality of their milk and for their moral behavior In
Italy it was customary to send newborn babies away to be
nursed in the country, though wealthier families preferred
live-in wet nurses Rich households usually had designated
nurseries, often with their own staff High-born babies might
even be attended by their own rockers to rock their cradles,
and extant lullabies prove that there were special songs for
babies Many examples in art attest to the existence of baby
walkers to help a toddler in learning to walk Games and play
were also important Depictions in art, literary texts,
docu-mentary evidence, and archaeological finds all prove that
medieval children had a wide variety of toys to play with,
ranging from simple objects made of wood or clay to more
expensive toy castles and swords for young princes
Medieval children were also distinguished by the clothes
they wore Few medieval items of clothing survive, yet there is
evidence that children’s dress was adapted to suit their needs,
in terms of both material and style An example is the 1494 portrait of the 26-month-old dauphin Charles Orland (1492– 95), who is shown wearing a white shift with a bib and a thick cap over his white coif to help prevent head injuries in case
of a fall The exception was the type of court costume repre-sented in early Renaissance depictions of high-born children, such as Hans Holbein’s (ca 1497–1543) portrait of Edward, the infant son of Henry VIII (r 1509–47), in his Tudor cap and gold-trimmed shift and robe Such dress was obviously intended for formal occasions and not for everyday wear Medieval education was different for girls and boys High-born sons often received private education, while other boys might be sent to school before receiving further train-ing in their future professions, either in apprenticeships or
at university Discipline was strict, and medieval schoolmas-ters are traditionally depicted with a birch Children learned their letters initially with the help of a hornbook, a tablet onto which the alphabet was copied Literacy became increasingly important for girls as well, though they were usually taught
at home The image of Saint Anne teaching the young Virgin Mary to read became a popular theme in art and thus an ex-ample to medieval mothers Monasteries and nunneries also often derived an income from educating pupils
Although young children were usually involved in the world of adult life and work, they were not treated as adults
In the countryside peasant children were gradually intro-duced into an active working role, usually with tasks to match their age and experience, such as running errands or tend-ing livestock Inevitably, accidents did happen, but authori-ties were apt to reprimand irresponsible parents who failed to recognize the limitations of young children or to exercise due care and attention
Families usually determined their children’s future An extreme example was the earlier practice of child oblation, through which parents could donate young children to the church and which was regarded as binding; the custom was questioned in the 12th century and was finally abandoned Apprenticeships were contracts that parents or families en-tered into on behalf of children in their care; these contracts were strictly regulated by the guilds and stipulated the dura-tion of the apprenticeship as well as the condidura-tions and fees Many sons followed their fathers’ careers, and many medieval artists and artisans were trained by their fathers or continued their fathers’ workshops, as in the case of the Louvain painter Dirck Bouts (ca 1400–75)
Marriage was another aspect over which children them-selves had little control They could be promised in marriage
at a very early age, though the church did not regard such marriages as legally binding until both parties had reached 1 children: Europe