Medieval Childhood

“For Elizabethan children, like children today, the early years were primarily a time for exploration, play, and learning. During this time children would explore their world and begin to learn some of the basic tools of interaction” (Salisbury and Morris World Wide Web). After six, boys and girls would begin learning life skills and most of their days were filled with household responsibilities. While wealthy boys began schooling, the low-class boys would learn to work. A child’s work would begin within the home and family. Young children would complete light tasks within the house or they would help with any younger siblings. In the rural area, children would be expected to work harvesting, binding and stacking grain when it was in high demand (World Wide Web). Young girls were taught how to run a household and the skills necessary including cooking, basic medical skills, dyeing, and spinning. To bring extra revenue into the home, children would help their mothers by carting wool to be spun into thread (World Wide Web).

What was expected of the female children was vastly different than what was expected of the adults. Unlike most cultures where the boys attend school and the girls learn housework, it is believed that neither attended school. Instead, boy’s learned men’s work and girls did work alongside the females in their life. They learned to cook, garden, and take care of domestic animals and make clothing. By the time the females are ready to marry at the expected ages,

Children in Medieval ages typically had hard, dull, and disciplined lives. Surviving the first few years was rough for a child during these times due to illnesses (English). However, if a child lived, he or she would begin to grow up learning duties to benefit his or her family. He would be expected to take on great responsibilities at a young age, while being forced to mature quickly. Daily routines, education, diets, and jobs were influenced by each family’s income. There was also a divide in how peasant children were raised in comparison to richer children. The rich were given more opportunities than the poor. The quality of one’s childhood in Medieval times was impacted by wealth, preparation for the future, and religion.

With the decline of the Western Roman empire Western Europe was a disjointed land that had no true unifying structure till the rise of Christianity. In Roman antiquity people used the State or empire of Rome to define themselves and give them a sense of unity despite having a diverse group of people within the empire. When Western Rome fell this belief based on a Roman cultural identity disappeared and no longer were people able to identify themselves with any particular group as they once have. The Christian religion was able to fill this vacuum by having the people associate themselves to a religion instead of a given state or cultural group. During Medieval Europe Christianity became the unifying force that would define what it

The dark ages is a term used to describe the middle ages, but was it really the dark ages. Yes the early middle ages were known as the dark ages, but to describe it as a whole as the dark ages is false. The middle ages brought many great people and things to the table like the Magna Carta, Joan of Arc, and the Kokin Wakashu Anthology. I believe that these three things are what made the middle ages substantial in history.

Children were taught to always respect and obey their parents. The wealthy children, both boys and girls would be punished for any sort of bad behavior (“Elizabethan Family Life”). Whenever children misbehaved there was immediate discipline. The parents’ discipline was usually physical which included spanking (Stewart 28). This is unusual today because parents don’t physically punish their kids, it more of taking away privileges. “Elizabethan Family Life” points out that “the children were almost considered servants to the adults in the family.” According to many historians, children were treated as small adults instead of children (Stewart 28). The children were mature at a younger age than they are nowadays. Stewart adds that “Children were expected to be well behaved, especially in dealing with parents and other adults. Parents taught their children the proper forms of address such as ‘sir’ and ‘madam’ for person of a higher rank” (28). Stewart analyzes, “Most couples wanted children, if not for sentimental reasons then for economic ones. Even though it certainly cost more to expand the household, children could help out a great deal as they got older” (28). With a high death rate, an average woman was pregnant at least six times during her lifetime (Stewart 27). The love for children almost wasn’t shown like it is today; they were almost taken care of as property. When babies

Almost every girl was trained from early childhood for the customary roles of the wife, mother, and housekeeper. They learned how to grind grain, how to cook and make beer, and how to spin cloth for clothing. Sometime women got a job outside of the house but it was just an expansion of her household duties. For example she might sell the beer that she had brewed that week. With childbearing came the call for a midwife usually so that was another job that women could have if you were a midwife you would create medicine that could help prevent pregnancy or terminate it.

Throughout the history of childhood development poor social and economic conditions contributed to the many hardships and poor treatment of children. During the early Middle Ages the "paternalist" family concept evolved and the father had authority and control over family matters including the welfare and safety of his wife and children. Discipline was severe, young children both poor and wealthy were subjected to strict rules and regulations and often beaten if disobedient. Children took on the responsibilities of adults at an early age, sharing in the work of siblings and parents. Girls from affluent families were educated at home and married in their teens. Some males were educated at a monastery and others became apprentices to

Women had great social pressure on them to marry. Young girls were often married by the age of 13 or 14 . It was socially unacceptable if women were not married by the age of 25 . Marriage was mostly for economic benefits, not romantic situations. A wedding, rather than a religious ceremony, was a civil contract that set the responsibilities and duties of husband and wife . Once married, they legally became one with their husbands. Married women had no control of their earnings, inheritance, property, and also could not appear in court as a witness nor vote . Their husbands, therefore, were responsible for all aspects of their wife including discipline .

Through looking on different cultures it seems that childhood is definitely a social construction. But a better way of trying to find out if it is or not is through looking back in time. Until the end of the Middle Ages, children in the West were often seen as miniature versions of adult. Their clothes and their bodily proportions were the same as those of adults. The main reason why they were classed as ‘miniature adults’ was because they were expected to participate in all aspects of social life alongside their parents. Special protection and treatment did not exist at this time. Children could be punished and frequently were, for social transgressions with the same severity that adults were.

Although children began doing chores at an early age, they still were able to play like children today. They played with toys and dolls enjoyed playing games that kept them in good physical shape such archery and toe toss. They even began riding horses at the early age of

Marriages were arranged usually when a woman was beginning puberty and typically to a man who was at least ten years her senior. Married women were expected to manage all the household duties; cook, clean, sew, raise the children, and supervise the slaves. A married women’s life was entirely in the home mainly separated from the rest of the household. Women were largely not permitted to leave the home unless supervised, and their affiliation with men was restricted to

The Christian religions rise to supremacy in the middle ages was the result of several factors. Christians had long been persecuted by the Roman Empire because the Romans felt that Christianity challenged and offended the Greco-Roman Gods and the Christians were prone to revolt against Roman rule. Christianity survived because it had many teachings that appealed to the downtrodden in Roman society, these teachings being that even though they were suffering they would gain equality and possibly superiority in the next life, Christianity gave them hope.

From a young age, women in the early 1900s were raised into becoming wives and mothers. They were expected to marry a man while she was still young and pretty, be dependent on him, and perform the duties such as the cooking and cleaning around the home. In tradition, girls were raised to know that they were expected to marry as soon as she was old enough, from the example of their own mother. It was seen as disgraceful for them to miss their

A set point in the historical time line stands as the medieval period. The medieval period in history was the era in European history – from around the 5th to the 15th century, coming after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, and preceding the start of the early modern era. This historical time period has been long since been the victim of film directors and romantic novelists, which has lead to the common, but false, idea of the medieval period consisting of knights and damsels in distress, wizards and dragons, and castles and battles. Although mainly wrong in most parts and being highly historically inaccurate – some aspects of the dramatic works do play true to the original time period.