Did medieval people love their children?

What was childhood like in the medieval world? Support my work on Patreon:
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[@RealCrusadesHistory]

Join me on my second channel: kzbin.info

[@nightrunner3701]

Looks like a music channel!

[@Jujudeze22]

Real Crusades History I like the music at the end, I’m going to go back and check out your other music channel. You tube recommended this.👍🏻

[@sparkybolt2085]

I'm not a historian, but from what I've learned from history is that humanity never changes. People loved and hated. They were all people living in their time period. That's what I find so fascinating about history, is learning about all these people and how they lived.

[@juanpablogonzalez8528]

There is some evidence that even neanderthals did

[@kimbo99]

Romans insisted mourning dead children was a serious weakness. Loud they were about that.

[@kimbo99]

@Sunbro Yes maybe a sort of lionesque attitude was championed culturally.

[@galenusv7831]

One thing that annoys me the most is when they say that most persons in the medieval period would reach 30 years old and then die. They don't understand that life expectancy is an average, and it was really low because of death in childbirth and early infancy. Something we still had up until the end of the 19th century, when Ignaz Semmelweis posted the antiseptic procedures. But if you got past after infancy, then you would likely reach 60 years old, or even more.

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

This is absolutely correct.

[@ingridsantos7815]

Fews have the talent to interpretate a formula

[@the-m3y5s]

Excited to see someone debunk misconceptions about this topic

[@jacopoarmini7889]

I believe that, since back in the day child mortality was quite high, parents had to grow a bit detached to endure the trauma. But the mere fact that children were baptized as soon as they were born implies that they were very much loved and cared for.

[@danshakuimo]

I think this is even a question is what you said about detachment.

[@joanl.7543]

The people of the Middle Ages had a profound devotion to the Virgin Mary, who was, of course, the very model of devoted motherhood. It does not stand to reason that they would, typically, have been indifferent toward their children.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

The Bible also says be fair to your children. Don't beat them, but be stern.

[@Chilly_Billy]

Joan, very well said.

[@harbl99]

"You will live to see your son tortured and murdered. This will be for the betterment of the whole world." Can you even imagine what a mother has to feel about that?

[@RezaChity-G]

@@tombillard5264 Medieval Christians were Catholic or Orthodox, I am pretty sure both believe in the Blessed Mother's perpetual virginity. I know I do.

[@thebigpicture2032]

DrWho1980Productions - Why would you believe that? Please reference the scriptures. On a side note, virgin births are a central theme of many religions stretching back into antiquity. Its likely this concept was passed from Egyptians to Christians.

[@andymccoy2872]

I was gonna say. Of course they did lol. Never figured I’d have to weigh in on your channel which being a lover of history. I enjoy your content

[@StephenMortimer]

Children were VALUED more then . (I know even in the forties (19) a new pair of hands were welcome)

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

Though there have been and will always be exceptions, parents throughout time and space have loved their children. Parental love may have been expressed differently in that era, but it was there.

[@galenusv7831]

Man, you are one of the best historians who teach to the public that I have encountered. You slaughter them with facts and sources.

[@annadrift4]

What an absurd notion to think that the bond between mother and child & father and child is any different throughout history. Thank you for debunking this with some very touching accounts.

[@jonjonboi3701]

This video also debunked the history of marriage from that ted talk video

[@travisjohnson6676]

I can't remember where I read it but I came upon a quote that said "They loved their children but they didn't worship them"

[@giorgiannicartamancini3917]

@Anita McGuire Jeez, where are you from? If you don't mind me asking

[@lorenwegele4250]

Some people think that if you don't coddle or spoil a child, you don't love them. That couldn't be further from the truth.

[@Veedon7]

Our modern lives are so seriously bereft of real experience or the qualitative values in general that it is incumbent on the modern elites to constantly tell us that life is so much better now and aren't we lucky that we didnt live in the middle ages.

[@alex.scaraoschi]

In the lands that later became Romania people used to baptize their newborns even by sprinkling earth on the baby's head if they weren't able to procure water in a hurry and the child seems as if it were about to die. This usually happened when a pregnant woman entered labor while working the field and the child looked lethargic after birth.

[@xmaniac99]

These “researchers” should visit their local museum and read the epitaphs from Roman or post Roman time, and read the love held towards family, children and pets.

[@thecrew1871]

Children have been and always will be precious. Mothers especially bond quickly because we have hormones that trigger our bonding with our infants. A babies cry will trigger a mothers mild to let down & flow out of our breasts. So of course parents loved their children in the Middle Ages. You forgot to mention the training high born girls had to undergo. They must be educated in reading, writing, mathematics and have all the knowledge to run a household as a high born woman. Peasant women must have similar knowledge but using their skills to run a farm household or if she were a shop keepers wife. So, the young female of that day had to be trained to handle quite a but of responsibility. Keep up the good work I enjoy your videos a lot. Thankyou!

[@thecrew1871]

Anita McGuire I agree with you about women fulfilling many roles that required a vast array of skills. Women often were required to run the family business while their husbands were off fulfilling their duties to their lords. A high born woman could be left running vast estates for years while her husband was off on a Crusade. That is unless she went with him which also happened. My milk let down when my baby cried if it was time to nurse. As far a hiring out as a wet nurse the "letting down" was not necessary for a baby to nurse. As long as there's milk in the breast a baby can nurse & get it. There was a strict hierarchy in medieval times about what kind of activities a person (particularly a female) could engage in. While most woman earned money the way they earned it had to be socially acceptable. For instance selling eggs & hiring out as a wet nurse was acceptable because those are "womanly" things to do. Where as if she were to try to be a knight, traveling salesman or an iron smithy she might find herself being ostracized or worse yet called before the church answering for her unseemly behavior.

[@thecrew1871]

Anita McGuire very interesting. I was unaware of women owning such businesses. Mostly I have read about medieval life during my research of the Church and its control of people's lives. I will look up these things and learn more about them. Thankyou.

[@harbl99]

They loved their children, but knew they could lose them at any moment for reasons that surpassed their understanding. Anyone who's ever thought of having kids, just stop and think about the magnitude of that for a second. Our ancestors were not animals.

[@leighjordine4031]

African religion's are not the same as European.

[@MsAngelique]

Well ... physically they were animals. They sure weren't trees. Humans are technically animals. Highly intelligent and complex animals, but still animals.

[@MsAngelique]

@@leighjordine4031 Many Africans are Christians but then again Christianity isn't a European religion. It's Middle Eastern.

[@leighjordine4031]

@@MsAngeliquei mean before they were Christians

[@alithebettafish7890]

Id love if you could do a video more about "a day in the life of a medieval peasant mother"

[@jeffzang6047]

If anything, horrible treatment of children began with the Industrial Revolution.

[@feliciaf8]

let's say it again, The Industrial Revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race

[@MsAngelique]

@@feliciaf8 The Industrial Revolution also led to modern medicine, like anesthesia for surgery.

[@jacobitewiseman3696]

@@MsAngelique okay but it lead to vaccines that do seem to conveniently start when allergies started to emerge.

[@Nepetita69696]

@@jacobitewiseman3696 And is that a problem

[@mercistephens7325]

@@jacobitewiseman3696 You should educate yourself more if you did you would know correlation does not equal causation.

[@danomau]

When the number of children can reach into the 2 digit range, the amount of attention each child can get is going to be less than compared to now a days where couples just have 1 or 2, but that's just because time is finite and only so much attention can go around, it's not because of the lack of love. Also times were much much harsher (and you needed to prepare your kids for that), I suspect many people from the past would consider some modern day prisons and inmate life, almost a dream life.

[@whatdoyouwantyoutub1]

In uni, I remember a study of Brazilian women in sugar cane plantations in Brazil 30yrs ago. Contraception was not a thing which the study wanted to look at the effect of. I think less than a hundred women of all ages from young to very old were asked about their children which ran into the many hundreds. Sugarcane in slavery times was work to death in Brazil. In more modern times, you can't grow anything else for many miles as land owned by a few owners. Food comes from owner sold via canteens at high prices which makes debt. You got to make money in certain seasons as no work in others. My mother's friends from the peasant movements went and saw only death for miles around. Bit dramatic, but it was a reoccuring event they saw in some form everywhere. The work can make you sick through the plants. So a very high death rate with children. The anecdotes from the mothers were that a culture developed where if you saw a baby being sick, you kind of give it less attention generally. If fate decided the child would die, fate killed the child and kind of forgotten. Strong ones were relished instead culturally and could maybe be help later. There may be modern research of non ideal situations to raises a family that might indicate how things could have been in the past?

[@David-lu4gq]

Just ordered your book, Why does the Heathen Rage. Really looking forward to it!

[@marijeangalloway1560]

One aspect of childhood in the Middle Ages is their chances could be high of having a stepparent. For example, maternal mortality during or after childbirth was also high, so

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

Very true. Also, it was common for a person to be raised by close relatives, aunts and uncles, etc. Many children also went to apprentice with someone who could teach them a trade. For a noble child, he might go live with a high ranking relative to go through his training as a knight. A noble girl might join the household of a high ranking relative as well.

[@delivertilidie8356]

Excellent content. I listen to it daily between stops on my route. Very detailed and informative.

[@thane9471]

this is why i love medieval times so much,too many misconceptions about it...and God bless you man, I stumbled upon your channel and I'm glad I have....been researching about middle ages for many years, even as a kid I saw inscription on gothic textura quadrata and I told to my mother that I wanna write someday like that...today that is my hobby :)

[@galenusv7831]

What I've always found quite interesting is that even the haters find the medieval period fascinating. Deep down inside of them, they too love it. But they are proud, and they are ruled by their irrational ideology.

[@Occhiodiargento]

You made me remember to a class I had at the University in Argentina. The teacher said something in line with what you are refuting, I was astonished when I heard they didn't see their children with love. At that moment I feel shock but I coundn't say anithing because I didn't have enough information for refuting her. Thanks for the video.

[@MariaCKouto]

Very nice pictures. Thanks for sharing ❤️

[@giorgiannicartamancini3917]

Regarding the fact that people are still people in spite of when they were born, I remember reading a letter circa 1300 about a father scolding his son because he didn't study at university, and menacing to force him back home, it made me genuinely laugh

[@9digitNo]

Did cat's take care of their kittens in the middle ages?

[@timmy-the-ute2725]

That leads to a good question. Were cat domesticated in medieval Europe? You get the impression that one of the reasons the plague spread so fast is because cats were not as common and didn't keep the rat population down.

[@MrJoshDoty]

No, most kittens were sold as food to local take out joints because their parents were addicted to cat nip.

[@Nepetita69696]

@@MrJoshDoty not funny

[@vytautasmikuciauskas222]

I know that in my country in xix and early xx century peasants said regarding childrens deat " God gave God took it away"

[@richardbenitez7803]

I read in A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman (14th century, black plaque era) that parents did love their children but didn’t dare because the mortality rate in children younger than 1 year was too high. She wrote the once the child attained 1 year or about they started the love parenting. Of course, parents did dote on the babies and purred and cared for them, but paid the consequences when they died.

[@arianegravenor7453]

I love your videos. I always learn so much, and much of it dispels myths which I came to believe. Thank you!

[@YoungChunds]

Did someone really say medieval people didn’t love their children!? Lol

[@MrRenegadeshinobi]

Unfortunately yes

[@lorenwegele4250]

I found this very enjoyable. I think you were spot on at the end that we as a society are more delusional about some of the realities of life.

[@brewcity44panthers60]

Good video. Like the ice-skating for contact sport part.

[@AMCmachine]

Can't remember now exactly where I read it, but I recall coming across an account of a French peasant or middle class father who was killed defending his daughter from rapists. Oh wait, I JUST posted this before you mentioned it. Timing!! : )

[@brianfuller7691]

No, good mothering is not an invention of modernization. Modern times actually diminish both the mother and family. It's worth pointing out that in Catholic Europe, the Virgin Mary as Mother of Christ and Mother of Humanity was a central figure. In fact, she was the model for motherhood. And, the family was the central part of an agrarian society. Indeed, infant mortality was quite high.

[@basreiziger6689]

Good video this time. I remember this topic being discussed in uni. The idea that there was less love between parent and child is an old fashioned one today

[@michaelpettersson4919]

Those combat based games where probably a good foundation for someone that later end up in a military outfit.

[@naus6081]

Enlightening as always- the human heart truly hasnt changed in all its time. Could we perhaps get a video on like, how the people treated their dogs?

[@creepellascarvella5138]

Love your work 🤘🖤

[@s.kennedy8380]

Since medieval European people had a different outlook on death then modern people, did they have the same reaction to death as we do now? (i.e. did they grieve, celebrate their passing on, etc.) Great video! I look forward to future content.

[@birdieberry]

Yet another example of "modern bias"-- we're not necessarily as "culturally evolved" as we like to think we are-- especially when it comes to the most basic, universal, and timeless of emotions as love and fear.

[@KenDelloSandro7565]

Something about the three estates of the Ancien Régime makes sense: those who pray, those who fight, those who work.

[@perrydowd9285]

I would like to know the details of the case brought before King John of England which led the King to rule that a child under the age of ten years was not criminally responsible. This appears to be a landmark as important as The Magna Carta but I can find almost nothing about the case.

[@GarfieldRex]

Extremely interesting and obvious, the current narrative to depict middle ages as ignorant is just unfair. Thank you, I'll share 🙌

[@vociferonheraldofthewinter2284]

I would love much more information on this topic.

[@Cory_Dora]

Seriously? This is a question?

[@Hamann9631]

Kacey's Tanks. Great comment. There are many people denying reality. You and I don't but others do.

[@zoetsiagkouris4031]

I’d be really interested in learning more about what childhood was like for the daughters of the nobility I’ve seen you cover the sort of training a son would’ve had to become a knight and it would be interesting to see how similar or different it would have been to how their sisters grew up

[@jennifersantiago8747]

Those daughters would be sent to some convent, raised and educated there to be a lady, developing skills as knitting, broidering, learning languages like Latin or French and getting prepared for marriages of convenience in most cases!!

[@chrisbritt4266]

Great video glad I found your channel recently say this I used to be a voracious reader Brad never been one for school so I have no degrees but I've even read about how people felt about their children the sadness they had from passing the joy they had from the children so to have people say that people didn't care as much about children in that time. Sounds to me more like those people have prejudices about how everyone in the past must have been lesser beings emotionally mentally all that and help today we're so much better so obviously we took care of our children better love them of the people in the past couldn't have because prejudice against the people of the past I mean after all they didn't have cars right so they must not have been as great or whatever the big thing is at any given stage of Life they didn't have staying power I must not have been anything I couldn't love their children which is garbage it's obvious people in the past love their children just like we do

[@MjlovesMinivans]

I feel like their were people in the past that are like people know who shouldn’t be parents and care more about themselves the. Their kids. And I also think their are just as many loving moms who care and have a good connection with their kids in the past and present I believe that in any area their are good and bad parents

[@ceranko]

Good video

[@heroesytumbas]

Academics just making up stuff with no evidence or common sense? You sure jest... Joke aside, great video.

[@maryannkelley7039]

That was interesting. 👍

[@ghourmi]

Very interesting. Do you know more about childhood in german tribes during the early middle ages?

[@NomadX7]

Please make a piece about Gualdin Pais. Firts Poetuguese Templar Maister! 1st Knight of King Afonso Henriques! He went in the first years of the second decade of the 11th century, to the holy land and stayed 5 years there! With his return Portugal went on a winning strike in the Reconquista. Please mate! You will be suprised with the history of this great heroe! Thanks.

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

He is great! I made this short video about him: kzbin.info/www/bejne/b5KqgaOIZbWYmck

[@jamaicanification]

Fascinating video. I know this is off topic but I see on your channel there have been videos on the Albigensian Crusade. How do you respond to the charge made by some scholars that the Albigensian Crusade constituted a genocide. Scholars who have made this charge include the founder of the word genocide, Raphael Lempkin. People who oppose the use of that term include scholars like Robert Lerner. What's your position on that?

[@Vivie17]

Really fascinating to learn about the role of midwives in baptizing infants as needed.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

I also would love to see a video on female physicians.

[@antoinelambert938]

Physician was originaly the name of female medecine practicionner so female physician is redondant... at least in old french.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

@Charles Lee Ray Because... It's interesting?

[@blacktigerpaw1]

@Anita McGuire And?

[@Roofhack]

Watched Today I Found Out's video "Did Any Medieval Knight Ever Actually Rescue a Damsel in Distress?" and thought on your channel and expertise and whether their 'conclusions' are actually true.

[@MsAngelique]

Why can't both videos be true?

[@tiborkovacs5317]

Im just getting into history it would seem some dont like the Middle Ages but so far its a Great time with lots going on.

[@uncleouch9795]

I don't believe that. My parents are from the old country Balkans. Much in the rural areas hasn't changed significantly for hundreds of years. We love our Kids.

[@SirDehumanized]

I’ve heard that in a few sieges in the Middle Ages the sieging army had captured the children of the Lords or Ladies of the castles and threatened to kill them if they didn’t surrender and the Lords or Ladies would show their genitals to mock the besiegers( essentially saying go ahead I can make more) Did events like these happen or are these myths. It sounds like something out of Monty Python.

[@floridaman318]

Sounds like something that maybe happened once and got blown out of proportion.

[@beverlybalius9303]

Sir Dehumanized Maybe it did happen once in awhile, but lords n ladies probably didn’t tend to their own children but that does not mean that parents in general didn’t love their kidd

[@giorgiannicartamancini3917]

A siege is quite a tense situation, they might have wanted to use inverse psychology or just thought their kids were less valuable than their whole dominion, not exactly an index of bad parenting, if the story is even true that is

[@joshrussell152]

@@floridaman318 Caterina Sforza is the one. Who knows if even that really happened. Pretty sure in the story the child is her adult son.

[@berserker_bo]

Great video neighbor. It's all subject and relative to some indoctrinated academic. Of course they loved them!

[@antoinelambert938]

1 quote from university of iseng... euh toronto, yeah it was going to be dubious. 2 there are examples of bad parents (melissande toward Baudouin 3, alienor toward John the landless and even a mother who wanted to inherit her daugther, heloise's father and so on), but they seem to stand out as exceptions and there are even more examples of good parents with on the far end of the spectrum saint Louis' mother. 3 how is your translation going along ? Need anything ? 4 child playing at figthing, we haven't changed.

[@MrJoshDoty]

People have such strange ideas.

[@mbgal7758]

It’s ridiculous but I can see why people looking back might think that but I don’t understand why an educated person would think so. In those times people well let me be more specific, members of the nobility or royals didn’t seem to spend much time caring for their children. They were left in the care of others and sometimes parents didn’t see their children for years or maybe never. Now lower class people and peasants seemed to have always loved their children immensely. I’m sure the nobility loved their children in their own way too but they expressed it in different ways because of the differing upbringings and expectations.

[@beverlybalius9303]

They loved their children more!!! They were with them 24/7 mostly!!! They were not cared for by strangers.

[@jayasuryangoral-maanyan3901]

But we can see people today who experienced high mortality rates distance themselves from their young with milk names etc. They still grieve but there is an attempt at creating some distance

[@blacktigerpaw1]

It's interesting to see the age of marriage and child mortality. The older a woman, the less likely she is to die during childbirth. 18-20 is the best time, and it's the most fertile years. Child brides, and those married to older men, increased child mortality. In many cases, midwives were cleaner and obeyed hygiene laws better than the Victorians did.

[@blacktigerpaw1]

@Anita McGuire I'm referring to hygiene. Germ theory wasn't known then, yet Victorian doctors largely didn't wash their hands.

[@Nepetita69696]

"18-20 being the best time" are you sure about that

[@blacktigerpaw1]

@@Nepetita69696 For marriage? To someone within the same age range? Yes, lower divorce rates, greater fertility.

[@joanl.7543]

Thinking about concubinage, does it stand to reason that this, as well as outright polygamy, might have been more common in many past cultures because of the frequent death of men in warfare or hunting? It would have been importat for women to have children, even if there weren't enough men to "go around". Given that the Catholic Church has no moral place for open concubines or mistresses, how common could this practice have been? Why were the men and women who practiced this still able to receive the Sacraments? Or did they?

[@blacktigerpaw1]

Polygamy also increases inbreeding, as you're marrying off half siblings to each other. Paternal investment increased a man's survival chances and that off his offspring.

[@brewcity44panthers60]

I think--from things I have read related to power, and as well as "Sexual Selection" in Theory of Evolution--men having legal right to multiple wives is more about power. Marriage is a sociological (or sacramental) thing and not anything biological. Humans are the only species that marry via legal contracts and ceremonies. Any woman--like rape victims--can get impregnated and give birth without first marrying.

[@jenniferbrewer5370]

It sounds like illegitimacy wasn't nearly the issue for medieval people as it would be in the 18th, 19th and later centuries.

[@joanl.7543]

@@jenniferbrewer5370 Maybe, but the rules of the Catholic Church have always been very clear. So to be indifferent to whether a woman was a wife or not doesn't seem to stand to reason.

[@joanl.7543]

@Anita McGuire Yes; some kings give the impression that they were not really believers, but just accepted the Church as part of the reality of their times. I get the impression that those with power often have a different view of life than commoners.

[@timmy-the-ute2725]

Just by reading the Bible we get the impression that children were loved in previous ages.

[@OrkosUA]

Of course they loved them!

[@donleondevillafana7615]

Hey!!, What is the name of the female physician??

[@antoinelambert938]

A physician from the french physicienne.

[@chrismusix5669]

So when pro-hockey players get into fights, they're really just taking the sport back to its roots.

[@juniorberns]

Wow

[@Willy_Tepes]

I think much of childhood has been lost because of helicopter parents. When we were young our parents hardly thought twice about sending us out in the woods with a knife and bow/air rifle. They did not see us again until dinner time and we had no cell phones. There were some injuries but that only made us stronger.

[@hemidas]

Short answer: *Duh!*

[@davekingrey1009]

Ice jousting. Interesting.

[@The_Gallowglass]

Today children are mollycoddled and their childhood is prolonged. More was expected of children back then. Kids could get dirty, go out and play, build things, wrestle...all the things that kids could do only a couple of generations ago. Now they can't even walk a couple miles to meet a friend.

[@gingeroats896]

Note, football not soccer. Please let all americans know! Haha

[@tiffkungpoify]

What, People actually believe this? Ridiculous.

[@NCC1371]

So, boys have accident while playing with bow and arrow. Me: medieval evidence of arrow roulette?

[@RealCrusadesHistory]

Probably just boys wanting to play with the cool weapon.