The history of childhood has been a topic of interest in social history since the highly influential book Centuries of Childhood, published by French historian Philippe Ariès in 1960. He argued "childhood" as a concept was created by modern society. Ariès studied paintings, gravestones, furniture, and school records. He found before the 17th-century, children were represented as mini-adults.
Other scholars have emphasized how medieval and early modern child rearing was not indifferent, negligent, nor brutal. The historian Stephen Wilson argues that in the context of pre-industrial poverty and high infant mortality (with a third or more of the babies dying), actual child-rearing practices represented appropriate behavior in the circumstances. He points to extensive parental care during sickness, and to grief at death, sacrifices by parents to maximize child welfare, and a wide cult of childhood in religious practice.Stephen Wilson, "The myth of motherhood a myth: the historical view of European child-rearing", Social History, May 1984, Vol. 9 Issue 2, pp. 181–198
Preindustrial and medieval
Historians had assumed traditional families in the preindustrial era involved the extended family, with grandparent, parents, children and perhaps some other relatives all living together and ruled by an elderly patriarch. There were examples of this in the Balkans—and in aristocratic families. However, the typical pattern in Western Europe was the much simpler nuclear family of husband, wife and their children (and perhaps a servant, who might well be a relative). Children were often temporarily sent off as servants to relatives in need of help.King, M. L. "Concepts of Childhood: What We Know and Where We Might Go", Renaissance Quarterly (2007). .
In medieval Europe there was a model of distinct stages of life, which demarcated when childhood began and ended. A new baby was a notable event. Nobles immediately started thinking of a marriage arrangement that would benefit the family. Birthdays were not major events as the children celebrated their saints' day after whom they were named. Church law and common law regarded children as equal to adults for some purposes and distinct for other purposes.Nicholas Orme, Medieval Children (2003)
Education in the sense of training was the exclusive function of families for the vast majority of children until the 19th century. In the Middle Ages the major cathedrals operated education programs for small numbers of teenage boys designed to produce priests. Universities started to appear to train physicians, lawyers, and government officials, and (mostly) priests. The first universities appeared around 1100: the University of Bologna in 1088, the University of Paris in 1150, and the University of Oxford in 1167. Students entered as young as 13 and stayed for 6 to 12 years.Olaf Pedersen, The First Universities (1997).
Early modern periods In England during the Elizabethan era, the transmission of social norms was a family matter and children were taught the basic etiquette of proper manners and respecting others. Some boys attended grammar school, usually taught by the local priest. During the 1600s, a shift in philosophical and social attitudes toward children and the notion of "childhood" began in Europe. Adults increasingly saw children as separate beings, innocent and in need of protection and training by the adults around them.
English philosopher John Locke was particularly influential in defining this new attitude towards children, especially with regard to his theory of the tabula rasa, promulgated in his 1690 An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. In Locke's philosophy, tabula rasa was the theory that the (human) mind is at birth a "blank slate" without rules for processing data, and that data are added and rules for processing are formed solely by one's sensory experiences. A corollary of this doctrine was that the mind of the child was born blank, and that it was the duty of the parents to imbue the child with correct notions. Locke himself emphasised the importance of providing children with "easy pleasant books" to develop their minds rather than using force to compel them: "children may be cozened into a knowledge of the letters; be taught to read, without perceiving it to be anything but a sport, and play themselves into that which others are whipped for."
During the early period of capitalism, the rise of a large, commercial middle class, mainly in the Protestant countries of Holland and England, brought about a new family ideology centred around the upbringing of children. Puritanism stressed the importance of individual salvation and concern for the spiritual welfare of children. It became widely recognized that children possess rights on their own behalf. This included the rights of poor children to sustenance, membership in a community, education, and job training. The Poor Relief Act 1601 in Elizabethan England put responsibility on each parish to care for all the poor children in the area.Vivian C. Fox, "Poor Children's Rights in Early Modern England," Journal of Psychohistory, Jan 1996, Vol. 23 Issue 3, pp 286–306
Childhood in Early Modern England
Throughout the course of the Early Modern Period, childhood was split into multiple sections: adolescence, working and familial jobs, education, and sexual relations and marriage. However, the ages defining these different steps in development were arbitrary. Regardless of the age descriptions of each developmental stage, each person went through these stages in their life. This research will focus on the stages of childhood within early modern England, specifically the mid-sixteenth century through the mid-seventeenth century.
Adolescence was a short-lived period in a child's life. Many historians debate this quick transition into adult life. Philippe Ariès performed a study on childhood and argued that in theory and practice, adolescence was almost unknown, stating that once a child had reached the age of six or seven, they would become part of the adult world.Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 4. Other historians have argued that, “adolescence - the blossoming or lustful age...could begin at the age of 9 but also at 14; you could span the years between 14, or 18, and up to 25, 28, or simply until marriage.”Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 11. It is difficult to properly assess the different stages of childhood because there was no defining moment that signaled the transition between stages. Thus making this arbitrary interpretation a conflict amongst historians. Regardless of this, there are still general categories that are somewhat all-encompassing despite age differences.
A wide belief shared amongst theorists describes human instincts as inherently sinful from adolescence, especially in infants, children and youth.Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 12. This links to the theory of the Greek physician, Galen. Within his theory, Galenic physiology believed that humans passed through four separate ages, each controlled by a humour.Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 16. "Small infants were dominated by the blood humour; mature persons were governed by the black choler; and old age by the phlegm. Youth was governed by the red choler, which was also associated with hotness and dryness, with the summer season, and with fire...The notion of youth as a period governed by hot temper, or humour, or fire...could be used to evoke a variety of qualities: boldness, arrogance, excessive activity, rashness, a spirit easily drawn to quarrelling and vengeance, and especially to disobedience, riot, and rebelliousness."Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 17.
This aggression and rashness associated with childhood adolescence resulted in a connection with sin in religion. Because of this, parents were responsible for providing their children with “constant and diligent nurturing, strict discipline, and a proper education," as part of the Catholic role in parenthood. Without these, their children would be tempted to do wrong. To add to that, about half of children would die before they reached the age of ten, so parents required strict discipline and hovered from using too much affection, which only increased the children's respect for their parents.Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E. Early Modern Europe 1450-1789 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 59. Within multiple autobiographies from the early modern period, authors even admitted to struggling between whether to follow God or Satan's invitations.Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994),16. However, most authors reprimanded themselves for having immoral thoughts,Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 18. and even resulted in an inclination to spiritual practices later in life.
Despite how these negative theories correlated with adolescence, sometimes these behaviors were acceptable because the general consensus was that these behaviors would eventually disappear with time. Therefore, not all associations with adolescence were unfavorable. It was important, however, that parents guide their children through these rough stages of adolescence to ensure complete elimination of these tendencies. Children valued their parents’ opinion and blessing,Shanley, Mary Lyndon, The History of the Family in Modern England (Signs 4, no. 4, 1979), 742. thus emphasizing the importance of the parent-child relationship during the stages of adolescence.
From a very young age, children were required to help with work within the family; these children were also expected to continue helping the family until they were able or willing to leave the house. As they grew, children were given more physically demanding or harder jobs. To add to that, boys and girls had different tasks growing up that normally fit within tasks they would have to perform later in life.
Children did have jobs within the household that they performed year round. This includes, “fetching water and gathering sticks for fuel, going on errands, assisting mothers in milking, preparing food, cleaning, washing and mending.Ben-Amos, Ilana Krausman, Adolescence and Youth in Early Modern England (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1994), 41. These tasks were dependent on the regions each family lived in; rural families taught children how to spin and card, and some girls were educated in stocking-knitting, hand-knitting, and lacemaking. These were useful skills for urban women to gain as they became popular industries in the 17th century.
In other seasons, children performed a myriad of tasks around the property. Younger children helped with harrowing, scaring birds away from corn, pulling weeds, gathering fruits, and spreading dung for food. During the winter, children still assisted their parents by “threshing, stacking sheaves, cleaning the barn and, in places and soils that required it in the winter, ploughing as well.”