Robilliard Tending Mothers and the Fruits of the Womb

The Work of the Midwife in the Early Modern German City
1. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-3-515-11669-5
Verlag: Franz Steiner
Format: PDF
Kopierschutz: 1 - PDF Watermark

E-Book, Deutsch, Englisch, Band 64, 309 Seiten, E-Book-Text

Reihe: Medizin, Gesellschaft und Geschichte ? Beihefte

The early modern period saw a fundamental shift in the history of childbirth from midwifery as a traditional, largely female occupation to modern obstetrics. The seeds of this transformation were sown in the cities, where municipal governments and their medical officials began reworking the often centuries-old systems of municipal midwifery. In Leipzig they overhauled midwife education and in the 1730s appointed a municipal man-midwife.

But why all the commotion about midwifery? How 'novel' were these developments really? And how did all these changes affect the everyday work of the city’s midwives? Drawing on a vast array of administrative sources, Gabrielle Robilliard explores the world of Leipzig’s midwives and early man-midwives from 1650 to 1810. Employing a prosopographical approach, she illuminates in minute detail the occupational culture and structure of both official and unofficial midwifery within the city—including social and economic milieus, client networking practices, and inter- and intraprofessional rivalries—and examines the nature of the encounter between traditional practice and new ways of organising urban midwifery provision.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Robilliard, Gabrielle

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Sozialethnologie: Familie, Gender, Soziale Gruppen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte Deutsche Geschichte: Regional- & Stadtgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1;Contents;6
2;List of Figures and Tables;8
3;Acknowledgements;10
4;Glossary of German and Medical Terms;12
5;Introduction;14
5.1;Midwifery in Leipzig;15
5.2;Histories of midwifery;17
5.3;Midwifery and Enlightenment;23
5.4;Time and place: Leipzig, 1650–1810;28
5.5;Sources;35
5.6;Overview;39
6;Chapter One: Midwifery, the City and the State Between Tradition and Reform;41
6.1;Regulating midwifery from the Middle Ages to the Reformation;41
6.2;From oath to instruction: midwifery regulation in Leipzig;44
6.3;Midwifery and the state;49
6.4;Reforming midwifery in Leipzig, c. 1650–1740;57
6.5;Conclusions;78
7;Chapter Two: The Midwifery Landscape;82
7.1;Sworn midwives;85
7.2;Beifrauen (sworn apprentices);97
7.3;Wickelweiber (swaddling women);101
7.4;Gassenmägde (female street servants);104
7.5;Healers and nurses;107
7.6;Appointing midwives;109
7.7;The changing structure of the midwifery landscape;115
8;Chapter Three: Life-Cycle, the Household Oeconomy and the Meaning of Midwifery Work;121
8.1;The data;124
8.2;Age: the demise of maturity;126
8.3;Marriage and motherhood: from matron to working mother;133
8.4;Socio-economic milieus: the artisan midwife;137
8.5;Midwifery, family and household;148
8.6;Midwifery and the household oeconomy: the forces of poverty;154
8.7;Midwifery as a family tradition;158
8.8;The social and ideological meaning of midwifery;161
8.9;Conclusions;166
9;Chapter Four: The Moral Economy of Midwifery;168
9.1;The moral economy as a dialogue;169
9.2;Encroachment and the moral economy of early modern work;174
9.3;Patterns of encroachment;178
9.4;Conclusions;194
10;Chapter Five: Midwives, Clients and Trust;196
10.1;The social and geographical patterns of client networks;197
10.2;Midwifery: a matter of trust;202
10.3;Mistrust: midwives, illegitimacy and infanticide;208
10.4;Defending a clientele, defining a client;211
10.5;Conclusions;215
11;Chapter Six: Midwives, Medical Men and Clients: Demarcating the Parameters of Midwifery Practice;217
11.1;Defining midwifery in medical discourses;220
11.2;Childbed maladies and childbed practitioners: the parameters of midwifery practice;223
11.3;Midwives, Accoucheurs and the power of the ‘patient’;229
11.4;The practice of municipal man-midwifery;231
11.5;‘Natural’ and ‘unnatural’ births;236
11.6;Turning point? Booking the Accoucheur;243
11.7;Conclusions;247
12;Chapter Seven: The ‘Difficult Birth’ of Clinical Midwifery;249
12.1;Maternity hospitals in Germany and Europe;250
12.2;The Stadtaccoucheur plans a ‘Hebammeninstitut’;253
12.3;Midwifery in the lazarette;256
12.4;Renewing plans for a ‘Hebammeninstitut’;260
12.5;The Triersches Institut;268
12.6;Conclusions;270
13;Conclusion;272
14;Appendices;279
15;Bibliography;286
16;Indices;305

Über Autor(innen)

Robilliard, Gabrielle
Gabrielle Robilliard is an independent scholar and academic translator specialising in the history of medicine, in particular early modern midwifery and obstetrics in Germany, as well as the history of early modern work. She completed her doctorate at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom, and has lectured in the history of medicine at the Universities of Bremen and Lüneburg.