History of childbirth
Subtitle: fertility, pregnancy, and birth in early modern Europe
By: Jacques Gélis ; translated by Rosemary Morris.
Publisher: Northeastern University Press
Published: 1991
Place of publication: Boston
Language: eng
Number of pages: 326
Subjects: Childbirth -- France -- History.; Pregnancy -- France -- History.; Birth customs -- France -- History.
Description: "Highly detailed and clearly written, this book is the first full-length study of the complex system of practices, beliefs and taboos which surrounded conception and childbirth in early modern Europe. In a rich and scholarly study, Jacques Gelis reconstructs the activities and attitudes of the midwives and mothers, and the sufferings they had to endure. He continues with an examination of the role of the Church, the herbalist and the mineral world (touchstones and talisman) in the explanation of the mysteries of procreation."--amazon.ca.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 306-310) and index.
Translation of: L'arbre et le fruit.