The Kindness of Strangers - The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance (Paperback, New edition)

A moving yet scholarly study of the widespread ancient and medieval practice of abandoning unwanted children. Conditions of life in late antiquity and the Middle Ages, Boswell (History/Yale) shows, were such that families and individuals often found themselves burdened with children for whom they had no means of providing. A poor family might have more months than it could feed; a rich family might need to limit the number of heirs to maintain the integrity of its estate; and illegitimate children sprang from illicit unions and had to be disposed of somehow. Boswell makes clear that the abandonment or sale of children was a perfectly legal, accepted procedure, but one that gave rise to ambivalent feelings: on the part of desperate parents who left their baby in the marketplace or at the church door to be picked up and cared for by "the kindness of strangers'; and on the part of foster-parents who took in children without knowing their parentage. Boswell humanizes his study with heart-rending case histories, such as that of the "Nun of Watton," who was cruelly tortured when she became pregnant. At the end of the period surveyed here, the modern pattern of impersonal institutional solutions to social problems emerged, as unwanted offspring were consigned to foundling homes - seemingly benign establishments where many children died as a result of unhygenic conditions. A major work on a fascinating and disturbing social theme, and backed by documentation that almost equals the text in bulk. (Kirkus Reviews)

In this work, John Boswell argues that child abandonment was a common and morally acceptable practice from antiquity until the Renaissance. Using a variety of sources, including drama and mythological-literary texts as well as demographics, Boswell examines evidence that parents of all classes gave up unwanted chldren, "exposing" them in public places, donating them to the church, or, in later centuries, delivering them to foundling hospitals. This work presents a history of the abandoned child that helps to illustrate the changing meaning of family.

General

Imprint:	University of Chicago Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	November 1998
First published:	November 1998
Authors:	John Boswell
Dimensions:	203 x 135 x 3mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback
Pages:	506
Edition:	New edition
ISBN-13:	978-0-226-06712-4
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social welfare & social services > Child welfare Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social institutions > Family & relationships > General Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities > Age groups > Children Books > History > History of specific subjects > Social & cultural history Promotions
LSN:	0-226-06712-2
Barcode:	9780226067124

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