English Birth Girdles: Devotions for Women in “Travell of Childe”

Mary Morse

Book

English Birth Girdles

Devotions for Women in “Travell of Childe”

Mary Morse

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2024

Published by

Medieval Institute Publications

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This book is in the series

Volume 38 | Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture

About this book

In medieval England, women in labor wrapped birth girdles around their abdomens to protect themselves and their unborn children. These parchment or paper rolls replicated the "girdle relics" of the Virgin Mary and other saints loaned to queens and noblewomen, extending childbirth protection to women of all classes. This book examines the texts and images of nine English birth girdles produced between the reigns of Richard II and Henry VIII. Cultural artifacts of lay devotion within the birthing chamber, the birth girdles offered the solace and promise of faith to the parturient woman and her attendants amid religious dissent, political upheaval, recurring epidemics, and the onset of print.

Author / Editor information

Mary Morse specializes in medieval women’s devotional and childbirth practices. She is Professor Emerita of English and past director of the Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Rider University.

Reviews

"[T]his is a sustained and thorough work of scholarship that brings all Morse’s previous work on the rolls together, along with a large amount of new material, into a compelling whole." (Sophia Adams in: Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History 27 (2024), 231)

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	I
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	V
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	VII
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	IX
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
Chapter 1 Philadelphia, Redemptorist Archives, olim Esopus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	41
Chapter 2 London, British Library, Harley Charter 43.A.14 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	83
Chapter 3 New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Takamiya Depository, Takamiya MS 56 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	93
Chapter 4 New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS 410 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	137
Chapter 5 New York, Morgan Library & Museum, Glazier MS 39 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	157
Chapter 6 London, British Library, Additional MS 88929 (Prince Henry’s roll) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	219
Chapter 7 London, British Library, Harley Roll T.11 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	271
Chapter 8 London, Wellcome Collection, Wellcome MS 632 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	301
Chapter 9 London, British Library, STC 14547.5 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	325
Conclusion From Orthodoxy to Heresy Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	345
Appendix 1 Two Childbirth Units in the Birth Girdles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	351
Appendix 2 New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Takamiya Depository, Takamiya MS 56 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	373
Appendix 3 New Haven, Yale University, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Beinecke MS 410 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	387
Appendix 4 London, British Library, STC 14547.5 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	395
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	401
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	453

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

May 6, 2024

eBook ISBN:

9781501513909

Hardcover published on:

May 6, 2024

Hardcover ISBN:

9781501518140

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

Front matter:

8

Main content:

471

Illustrations:

12

Coloured Illustrations:

4

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501513909

eBook ISBN: 9781501513909

Hardcover ISBN: 9781501518140

Keywords for this book

Virgin Mary; cult and worship; women; childbirth; devotional objects; England; religious life and customs; England; history

Audience(s) for this book

Medievalists, scholars of Historical Studies, Religious Studies, teachers and students

Safety & product resources

Manufacturer information:
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Genthiner Straße 13
10785 Berlin
productsafety@degruyterbrill.com

English Birth Girdles

Overview

About this book

Author / Editor information

Reviews

Topics

Table of contents

Bibliographic data