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Childhood in the Middle Ages
In a work that confronts the theories of Philippe Aries's "Centuries of Childhood" , Shahar considers images of, and attitudes towards, children, and the concept of childhood in medieval culture from the nobility to the peasantry. This book should be of interest to students and teachers of social history.
352 pages, Paperback
First published March 26, 1992
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About the author
Shulamith Shahar
8 books3 followersShulamith Shahar was an Israeli historian. Shahar's 1981 study Fourth Estate: A History of Women in the Middle Ages was the first to specifically examine the role of women in the medieval period. The book is used as a text for gender studies and medieval history classes. This, and her subsequent books, have been published in both Hebrew and English. She wrote historical articles in these languages as well as French, and translated three books from Latin to Hebrew.
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November 9, 2015
The central thesis of this book, which Ms. Shahar drives home again and again, is that, contrary to what some historians have maintained, parents in the Middle Ages were emotionally invested in their children. She provides a preponderance of evidence for the emotional involvements that parents had with their children and makes her case well. This was not what I felt was the most interesting part of this book, though.
What I found interesting was the stages of childhood recognized by people in the Middle Ages and just how long they felt childhood lasted, even if children were expected to assume adult responsibilities. Until the age of 7 children were allowed the play and not expected to sit, toil and study, but after that they were expected to learn their trade. While they married young and worked young, childhood was considered to be over when a child reached full economic independence from their parents, which could be as late as 35! While 35 was the extreme, that people in the Middle Ages saw the mid twenties as the end of adolescents was somewhat common.
Unfortunately, Ms. Shahar chose Freud and Erickson's stages of development to draw parallels to modern schools of thought, even though those theories have fallen out of favor among people currently researching child development, even with consideration given for this book being written in 1990. This was frustrating, because the stages of development that were observed do tail nicely with Piaget and other theories that are currently evidenced based, not to mention brain studies that show that the human brain fully matures at 25, around the time that people in the medieval world considered a person to be a full adult.
The other thing I found interesting was that, far from having a monolithic way to raise children, even in the Middle Ages there were different schools of thought. Even the battle over corporal punishment was fought then, with some quoting "spare the rod" while others seeing it as barbaric. In short, differences of opinion over the best way to raise a child is nothing new.
Unfortunately this book did become rather tedious at times, with example after example demonstrating how people in medieval times really, really, really loved their kids. My interest in this book waned the further into it I got and was relieved to finally finish it.
What I found interesting was the stages of childhood recognized by people in the Middle Ages and just how long they felt childhood lasted, even if children were expected to assume adult responsibilities. Until the age of 7 children were allowed the play and not expected to sit, toil and study, but after that they were expected to learn their trade. While they married young and worked young, childhood was considered to be over when a child reached full economic independence from their parents, which could be as late as 35! While 35 was the extreme, that people in the Middle Ages saw the mid twenties as the end of adolescents was somewhat common.
Unfortunately, Ms. Shahar chose Freud and Erickson's stages of development to draw parallels to modern schools of thought, even though those theories have fallen out of favor among people currently researching child development, even with consideration given for this book being written in 1990. This was frustrating, because the stages of development that were observed do tail nicely with Piaget and other theories that are currently evidenced based, not to mention brain studies that show that the human brain fully matures at 25, around the time that people in the medieval world considered a person to be a full adult.
The other thing I found interesting was that, far from having a monolithic way to raise children, even in the Middle Ages there were different schools of thought. Even the battle over corporal punishment was fought then, with some quoting "spare the rod" while others seeing it as barbaric. In short, differences of opinion over the best way to raise a child is nothing new.
Unfortunately this book did become rather tedious at times, with example after example demonstrating how people in medieval times really, really, really loved their kids. My interest in this book waned the further into it I got and was relieved to finally finish it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review