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Position:Home>History> Pregnancy & marriage in the times of 1400-1600?Question: Pregnancy & marriage in the times of 1400-1600!? explain why parents would choose who their children married!?
why you had to have the same job your father had!? when you bore a child you had to stay in bed for the whole term!? things like that=] unlike most teenagers im intrseted in this stuff!.Www@QuestionHome@Com Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Parents did not always choose who their children married!. Although among the upper classes arranged marriages were often the norm, among the common people young people would generally choose their own marriage partners from among their peer group!. also marriages tended to take place later among the common people, upper class children were sometimes married off in their early teens, whereas among the populace in general the mid-twenties was more usual!. Young people would usually work until they were in a position to marry, either by establishing themselves in a business, or by inheriting a smallholding!. young people would generally socialise in groups, so that they could enjoy the company of the opposite sex without becoming too intimate!. This would mean that people would have got to know each other very well before they got to the courting stage!. People did not always have the same jobs as their fathers!. However, the majority of people lived by farming, and it would be usual for children to help their parents on the farm as they grew old enough to be useful!. But children could be apprenticed to a variety of trades, and a boy might become a clergyman (about one peasant boy in ten became a clergyman in medieval times)!. Women did not stay in bed for the whole term, that would not have been possible, since most women led extremely busy lives!. However, a woman was expected to retire to her bedchamber from four to six weeks before the baby was due!. However, there would probably be a lot of poorer women who would not have been able to do this, as their work was too important to the household to be left for so long!. But of course daughters and other female relatives would help out!. Childbirth was quite a risky business in those days, a lot of women died, (about 14 to 18 women per 1,000) and probably it was thought that a long rest beforehand was beneficial to her health!. It was customary for a woman to be attended in labour by her friends, who kept her company and helped the midwife, who would deliver the baby!. chidbirth was generally an all-female affair, men were not admitted!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Marriage was regarded as a contract and especially among monied people, there were many considerations!. As people married very young in those days - average age for a bride was 14 - they were deemed to need their parent's guidance!. And most of these marriages worked out very well!. Usually a young man had the same job as his father because he would help his father at work as soon as he was physically able!. There wasn't much schooling for children in those days, so unless you were the child of nobility, you apprenticed to your father!. Children of nobles were sent to other nobles' courts, to be pages and whatnot, and learn how the noble families operated!. You didn't have to stay in bed for the whole term!. If you were the wife of a working class man, you worked until the day you delivered!. If you were lucky you had a couple of days off, but that's it!. Ladies and nobility were able to take longer because they had servants who would look after things while they were in childbed!. But even then, they didn't stay in bed prior to birth - but they might have spent a lot of time in bed after - up to one month!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Staying in 'bed' for long periods before childbirth didn't really come around until maybe the 17-18th centuries because pregnancy was not a fashionable look for women due to the small waists and corsets that were in vogue!. Obviously, you could not corset in the later pregnancy months!. Working women would either try to mend their clothing or just halfway lace their corsets until birth!. However, wealthy women would 'take to their beds' which only meant that they did not go out socially!. Www@QuestionHome@Com Sorry!. But that was a long time before my time!. If you really want to know, though, then I would suggest you research those eras!. Www@QuestionHome@Com |