Lifecycles historians Flashcards
Aries - childhood
middle ages had no concept of childhood
Aldobrandino - importance of nurse
“her age, her form, her habits, her breasts, whether she had good milk”
beauty and ugliness down to nurses, “just as wax”
Dols - madness
“behaviour… judged to be abnormal or extraordinary by a social group at a specific time and place”
Hanawalt - children
depicted in art as little adults
Hanawalt - lives of saints
Cuthbert: engaged in rough and tumble games until the age of 8, then reached his calling/adulthood
Henry VI: miracles curing children e.g. one subject still nursing until 3
language- “careless and mischievous as children will be”
Hanawalt - miracles
older the children were the chance of miracles decreased
newborns went through exorcism and baptism, whereas older children more likely to experience miracles away from home e.g. ball games
teenagers: wrestling
Hanawalt- male babies
more likely to be nursed and thus greater chance of survival
fathers made greater effort to select wet nurse for sons rather than females
Hanawalt- abandoned babies
56% of abandoned babies were girls
Crawford- children
pictorial representations seen in the bible
argues adult outfits only worn in teenage years
Crawford - children and graves
children under 5 had few goods VS ages 11-15 had more personal goods, showing entry into adult world
Pollock- challenge to Aries
argues that model Aries used didn’t fit into european society
Demaitre- medieval definition of old age
varies:
some place it as 35, some at 70
Hippocratic argues 56 onwards, Galen said end of 60
Galen- arabic authors
depression is the “path to death”
believed life could be extended by diet and special remedies
Demaitre - applying modern day understanding
shouldn’t be done
can’t associate Alzheimers with medieval combination of symptoms e.g. forgetfullness, irritability and inability to form tasks
insanity was accepted as being old
Demaitre - medicine for old people
also dependent on humours: e.g. warmth from specific animals
