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The Medieval Changeling - Health, Childcare, and the Family Unit (Hardcover)
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The Medieval Changeling - Health, Childcare, and the Family Unit (Hardcover)
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The first comprehensive study of medieval changelings and
associated attitudes to the health and care of children in the
period. The changeling - a monstrous creature swapped for a human
child by malevolent powers - is an enduring image in the popular
imagination; dubbing a child a changeling is traditionally
understood as a way to justify the often-violent rejection of a
disabled or ailing infant. Belief in the reality of changelings is
famously attested in Stephen of Bourbon's disapproving
thirteenth-century account of rites at the shrine of Saint
Guinefort the Holy Greyhound, where sick children were brought to
be cured. However, the focus on the St. Guinefort rituals has meant
some scholarly neglect of the wealth of other sources of knowledge
(including mystery plays and medical texts) and the nuances with
which the changeling motif was used in this period. This
interdisciplinary study considers the idea of the changeling as a
cultural construct through an examination of a broad range of
medical, miracle, and imaginative texts, as well as the lives of
three more conventional Saints, Stephen, Bartholomew and Lawrence,
who, in their infancy, were said to have been replaced by a demonic
changeling. The author highlights how people from all walks of life
were invested in both creating and experiencing the images, texts
and artefacts depicting these changelings, and examines societal
tensions regarding infants and children: their health, their care,
and their position within the familial unit.
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