Tending mothers and the fruits of the womb : the work of the midwife in the early modern German city / by Gabrielle Robilliard.

  • Robilliard, Gabrielle
Date:
2017
  • Books

About this work

Description

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.

Publication/Creation

Stuttgart : Frank Steiner Verlag, 2017.

Physical description

309 pages : black and white illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Notes

Based on the author's thesis (doctoral)--University of Warwick, 2011.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references (p. [285]-303) and indexes.

Contents

List of figures and tables -- Acknowledgements -- Glossary of German and medical terms -- Introduction -- Midwifery in leipzig -- Histories of midwifery -- Midwifery and enlightenment -- Time and place : leipzig, 1650-1810 -- Sources -- Overview -- Midwifery, the city and the state between tradition and reform -- Regulating midwifery from the middle ages to the reformation -- From oath to instruction : midwifery regulation in Leipzig -- Midwifery and the state -- Reforming midwifery in Leipzig, c. 1650-1740 -- Conclusions -- The midwifery landscape -- Sworn midwives -- Beifrauen (sworn apprentices) -- Wickelweiber (swaddling women) -- Gassenmagde (female street servants) -- Healers and nurses -- Appointing midwives -- The changing structure of the midwifery landscape -- Life-cycle, the household oeconomy and the meaning of midwifery work -- The data -- Age : the demise of maturity -- Marriage and motherhood : from matron to working mother -- Socio-economic milieus : the artisan midwife -- Midwifery, family and household -- Midwifery and the household oeconomy : the forces of poverty -- Midwifery as a family tradition -- The social and ideological meaning of midwifery -- Conclusions -- The moral economy of midwifery -- The moral economy as a dialogue -- Encroachment and the moral economy of early modern work -- Patterns of encroachment -- Conclusions -- Midwives, clients and trust -- The social and geographical patterns of client networks -- Midwifery : a matter of trust -- Mistrust : midwives, illegitimacy and infanticide -- Defending a clientele, defining a client -- Conclusions -- Midwives, medical men and clients : demarcating the parameters of midwifery practice -- Defining midwifery in medical discourses -- Childbed maladies and childbed practitioners : the parameters of midwifery practice -- Midwives, accoucheurs and the power of the 'patient' -- The practice of municipal man-midwifery -- 'Natural' and 'unnatural' births -- Turning point? booking the accoucheur -- Conclusions -- The 'difficult birth' of clinical midwifery -- Maternity hospitals in Germany and Europe -- The stadtaccoucheur plans a 'hebammeninstitut' -- Midwifery in the lazarette -- Renewing plans for a 'hebammeninstitut' -- The triersches institut -- Conclusions -- Conclusion -- Appendices -- Bibliography -- Indices.

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Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    UM.37.AA6-8
    Open shelves

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Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9783515116688
  • 3515116680