Tending mothers and the fruits of the womb : the work of the midwife in the early modern German city / by Gabrielle Robilliard.

Author
Robilliard, Gabrielle [Browse]
Format
Book
Language
English
Published/​Created
Stuttgart : Frank Steiner Verlag, 2017.
Description
309 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.

Availability

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ReCAP - Remote StorageRG950 .R63 2017 Browse related items Request

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    Summary note
    The early modern period saw a fundamental shift in the history of childbirth from midwifery as a traditional, largely female occupation to modern obstetrics. The seeds of this transformation were sown in the cities, where municipal governments and their medical officials began reworking the often centuries-old systems of municipal midwifery. In Leipzig they overhauled midwife education and in the 1730s appointed a municipal man-midwife. But why all the commotion about midwifery? How 'novel' were these developments really? And how did all these changes affect the everyday work of the city?s midwives? Drawing on a vast array of administrative sources, Gabrielle Robilliard explores the world of Leipzig?s midwives and early man-midwives from 1650 to 1810. Employing a prosopographical approach, she illuminates in minute detail the occupational culture and structure of both official and unofficial midwifery within the city?including social and economic milieus, client networking practices, and inter- and intraprofessional rivalries?and examines the nature of the encounter between traditional practice and new ways of organising urban midwifery provision.
    Notes
    Revised version of the author's thesis (doctoral)--University Warwick, 2011.
    Bibliographic references
    Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-303) and indexes.
    Action note
    Committed to retain in perpetuity — ReCAP Shared Collection (HUL)
    Contents
    • List of figures and tables
    • Acknowledgements
    • Glossary of German and medical terms
    • Introduction
    • Midwifery in leipzig
    • Histories of midwifery
    • Midwifery and enlightenment
    • Time and place : leipzig, 1650-1810
    • Sources
    • Overview
    • Midwifery, the city and the state between tradition and reform
    • Regulating midwifery from the middle ages to the reformation
    • From oath to instruction : midwifery regulation in Leipzig
    • Midwifery and the state
    • Reforming midwifery in Leipzig, c. 1650-1740
    • Conclusions
    • The midwifery landscape
    • Sworn midwives
    • Beifrauen (sworn apprentices)
    • Wickelweiber (swaddling women)
    • Gassenmagde (female street servants)
    • Healers and nurses
    • Appointing midwives
    • The changing structure of the midwifery landscape
    • Life-cycle, the household oeconomy and the meaning of midwifery work
    • The data
    • Age : the demise of maturity
    • Marriage and motherhood : from matron to working mother
    • Socio-economic milieus : the artisan midwife
    • Midwifery, family and household
    • Midwifery and the household oeconomy : the forces of poverty
    • Midwifery as a family tradition
    • The social and ideological meaning of midwifery
    • The moral economy of midwifery
    • The moral economy as a dialogue
    • Encroachment and the moral economy of early modern work
    • Patterns of encroachment
    • Midwives, clients and trust
    • The social and geographical patterns of client networks
    • Midwifery : a matter of trust
    • Mistrust : midwives, illegitimacy and infanticide
    • Defending a clientele, defining a client
    • Midwives, medical men and clients : demarcating the parameters of midwifery practice
    • Defining midwifery in medical discourses
    • Childbed maladies and childbed practitioners : the parameters of midwifery practice
    • Midwives, accoucheurs and the power of the 'patient'
    • The practice of municipal man-midwifery
    • 'Natural' and 'unnatural' births
    • Turning point? booking the accoucheur
    • The 'difficult birth' of clinical midwifery
    • Maternity hospitals in Germany and Europe
    • The stadtaccoucheur plans a 'hebammeninstitut'
    • Midwifery in the lazarette
    • Renewing plans for a 'hebammeninstitut'
    • The triersches institut
    • Conclusion
    • Appendices
    • Bibliography
    • Indices.
    Other title(s)
    Work of the midwife in the early modern German city
    ISBN
    9783515116688 ((pbk.))
    OCLC
    1003287689
    RCP
    H - S
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