2024/12/02 by Elizabeth Foyster · 1 voice
Arts and Humanities · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Historical Legal Studies and Society #Reformation and Early Modern Christianity
paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/1081602x.2024.2431489
openalex publication_date 2024/12/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/04/27
Fathers'; mothers'; parentingWhat shaped how mothers and fathers parented their children in medieval and early modern Europe?The articles in this Special Issue provide insights into a diverse range of parents living in northern Europe over some 700 years.From royalty to paupers, parenting presented adults with challenges and rewards.Drawing upon primary sources that include material objects, personal correspondence, court diaries and petitions, the contributors to this Issue demonstrate the profound impact that parenting had upon individuals, their families and communities.Indeed, in elite and royal circles, becoming a parent, mothering and fathering, was of importance well beyond the family unit, having political implications for lines of succession and the transfer of property and power.Parenting was regarded as so essential in medieval and early modern Europe, that it was never a matter just for biological mothers and fathers.Instead, these articles explore the vital role played by other types of parent, whether stepparent, grandparent, godparent, wider kin, tutor, paid carer, adoptive or foster parent.By widening the lens on parenting, this history of the family increases the number of participants in mothering and fathering, giving a more accurate picture of the multiple ways in which children were parented in the past.From the outset of research on mothers and fathers in this period, historians have insisted that parenting was shaped by the social, economic and political context in which families were situated.As such, mothering and fathering has a history.It is striking that for all the differences of social status, place and time presented in these articles, there were three common influences upon mothers and fathers in this period.Exploring each of these in turn, this research note will highlight their impact on mothers and fathers, as well as suggest possible ways in which future research might progress the ideas presented in this Issue.