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English Birth Girdles - (Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture) by Mary Morse (Hardcover)
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About this item
Highlights
- In medieval England, women in labor wrapped birth girdles around their abdomens to protect themselves and their unborn children.
- About the Author: Mary Morse specializes in medieval women's devotional and childbirth practices.
- 479 Pages
- Literary Criticism, European
- Series Name: Research in Medieval and Early Modern Culture
Description
About the Book
This edition offers the first compilation of Middle English and Latin texts from nine English birth girdles produced between the reigns of Richard II and Henry VIII. Artifacts of lay devotion practiced by women only in the birthing chamber, the girdBook Synopsis
In medieval England, women in labor wrapped birth girdles around their abdomens to protect themselves and their unborn children. These parchment or paper rolls replicated the "girdle relics" of the Virgin Mary and other saints loaned to queens and noblewomen, extending childbirth protection to women of all classes. This book examines the texts and images of nine English birth girdles produced between the reigns of Richard II and Henry VIII. Cultural artifacts of lay devotion within the birthing chamber, the birth girdles offered the solace and promise of faith to the parturient woman and her attendants amid religious dissent, political upheaval, recurring epidemics, and the onset of print.
From the Back Cover
In medieval England, women in labor wrapped birth girdles around their abdomens to protect themselves and their unborn children. These parchment or paper rolls replicated the "girdle relics" of the Virgin Mary and other saints loaned to queens and noblewomen, extending childbirth protection to women of all classes. This book examines the texts and images of nine English birth girdles produced between the reigns of Richard II and Henry VIII. Cultural artifacts of lay devotion within the birthing chamber, the birth girdles offered the solace and promise of faith to the parturient woman and her attendants amid religious dissent, political upheaval, recurring epidemics, and the onset of print.
Mary Morse specializes in medieval women's devotional and childbirth practices. She is Professor Emerita of English and past director of the Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Rider University.
Review Quotes
"[T]his is a sustained and thorough work of scholarship that brings all Morse's previous work on the rolls together, along with a large amount of new material, into a compelling whole." (Sophia Adams in: Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History 27 (2024), 231)
"This book will be invaluable to anyone working on birth girdles, medieval childbirth culture, and women's devotional practices. [...] As a culmination of years of scholarship, English Birth Girdles integrates Morse's existing work with new material, providing an enormously valuable, comprehensive, and detailed companion to the birth girdles." (Kierri Price, in: The Medieval Review, Oct. 8, 2025, https: //scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/tmr/article/view/42339)
About the Author
Mary Morse specializes in medieval women's devotional and childbirth practices. She is Professor Emerita of English and past director of the Gender and Sexuality Studies program at Rider University.
