Henry VIII, a randy sort of ruler, went through wives like fish go through water. Though there are political reasons for some of his marriages and dissolution's, in many cases Henry decided to dump his wife because she had not produced a male heir. Medical science would later show that it is the male chromosome that determines gender in offspring. Louis XVI, King of France and spouse of the flamboyant and sensual Marie Antoinette, suffered from infertility. Medical scholars still debate whether the king suffered from hydrocele, a collection of fluid around one testicle, or phismosis, a condition that causes the foreskin of the penis to become painfully tight and restrictive.
Infertility can be just as stigmatizing to day as it was in previous days.
Potions, Prayers, and Plants An infertile woman of Renaissance England would have been advised by her barber surgeon to swallow an elixir of mare's milk, rabbit's blood and sheep's urine. By the 1600s, infertile women in England had had enough imbibing of blood and urine and had switched to catnip tea. According to the 17th century herbalist, Nicholas Culpepper, women of his day believed breathing in the fumes of catnip tea would cure their barrenness. If the subject was even broached, a physician in Victorian times would have instructed his barren patient, in a most proper manner of course, to take to the medicinal waters. That is, he would have suggested she take a relaxing holiday to one of the coastal towns and spend her time soaking in hot baths.