Chapter 20Part 1

Life in the 18th Century

Marriage and the family before 1750

The Nuclear family still most common in pre-industrial Europe

Young married couples established their homes apart from their parents

Sometimes, though, 3-generations: an older parent sometimes went to live with a married child

Before 1750 marriage age was high

Especially for poorer classes Late 20’s or older for both men and

women A couple could not marry unless they

could support themselves Sometimes young men had to wait

until their fathers died to gain land through inheritance

Young women and their families had to come up with a dowry

In some areas legal permission from the local lord was needed to marry

Austria and many German states had legal restrictions on marriage well into the 19th century

Belief that without legal restrictions regulating marriage, lower classes would create more paupers and abandoned children and more government money would be needed for welfare

BUT Often these legal restrictions helped

to maintain some balance between population and limited resources

Many never married 40-60% of women between the ages

of 15 and 44 were unmarried at any given time

Children (Before 1750) Illegitimate birth rate was fairly low

Due to the powerful social controls of traditional villages, especially the open-field ones

If a pregnancy occurred parents, priests, landlords, village elders pressured the couple to marry

Premarital sex Was generally limited to couples who

were considering marriage anyway

Numbers of children per family

If the husband and wife lived to the age of 45, about 50% gave birth to 6 or more children

High infant mortality rate: 50% survival rate into adulthood was considered good

20% in economically viable areas 33% in poorer areas

After 1750 New patterns of marriage and

legitimacy

The increased incomes resulting from cottage industries meant more married for love instead of just for economic reasons

Young people became financially independent earlier

Arranged marriages For economic reasons declined Laws and regulations on marriage

(especially in Germany) were ignored

After 1780 factory workers followed the same pattern as cottagers

Between 1750 and 1850 The explosion of births was due to

the explosion of illegitimate births

Fewer girls abstained from premarital sex

Fewer boys were willing to marry the girls they impregnated

Mobility Encouraged new sexual and marital

relationships

In towns and cities young people were removed from the pressures of the village elders, landlords, parents, and priests

In Germany, though, it was different

Germany Illegitimate births were the result of

an open rebellion against the legal restrictions

How do we know?

The illegitimate birth rate declined when the restrictions were removed

Women Women in cities and factory towns had

limited economic independence

Young women were NOT motivated by hopes of emancipation and sexual liberation

Most hoped for marriage as a way to escape their difficult lifestyles

Often poor economic and social conditions scared men away from commitment

Changing attitudes toward children in the 18th century

Poorer women breast –fed their children much longer than women in the 20th century

The decreased fertility while breast-feeding aided in the spacing of children to 2 to 3 years apart

Mothers’ milk was healthier than other foods anyway and more infants survived

But Women who were aristocrats and upper

middle class women (also wives of well-to-do artisans) rarely breast-fed

They believed that breast-feeding was crude, common, and beneath their dignity

Many sent their children to the countryside

Wet-nurses were hired to breast-feed these children

Children were wet-nursed there for 2 to 3 years

Negligence was not uncommon…Killing Nurses

Infanticide The early Medieval Church viewed

each life as sacred and denounced infanticide

BUT severe poverty was an issue throughout human history and infanticide was rampant

Often “overlaying” occurred: a parent rolling over and suffocating a child in bed

Foundling Hospitals Many poor women left their infants on

the doorsteps of churches

By 1770 1/3 of all babies born in Paris were immediately abandoned

1/3 of these babies were from married couples

Foundling hospitals in Paris first then all over

St. Vincent de Paul began as a Foundling Hospital group

St Petersburg A foundling hospital in St.

Petersburg cared for 25,000 babies in the early 19th century

The above received 5,000 a year

Half of those babies died within a year

In some foundling hospitals 90% died the first year

Some claimed That Foundling Hospitals promoted

“legalized infanticide”

Child-rearing High infant mortality rates discouraged

parents to become too emotionally attached to their children

Doctors often refused to treat sick children believing that little could be done

Children were often treated with indifference

Wet-nursing is a good example

Daniel Defoe: Wrote Robinson Crusoe Said, “Spare the rod and spoil the

child.”

Many believed that a parent’s job was to break the will of the child and make him obedient

Children were subject to harsh discipline

The Enlightenment and Humanitarian Movements

Encouraged better treatment of children

Rousseau encouraged greater love and understanding

Children began to survive infancy and live longer

Parents began to grow closer to their children

Work away from home In the countryside, young people

worked within their families until they could start their own households

Boys ploughed in the fields or wove in the cottage industry

Girls spun thread and tended the farm animals

Increasingly, Boys worked away from home

Boys in towns had opportunities to apprentice themselves to a craftsman for a period of 7 to 14 years

Boys could learn a trade or be admitted to a guild after the apprentice period

They could not marry during this period

Most drifted from one tough job to another

Girls working away from home

Had limited opportunities The most common job was domestic

service in another family’s household

Most hoped to send money to their parents or save money for marriage

Was one less mouth for their parents to feed

Servant Girls Had little real independence They were vulnerable to physical

mistreatment by their mistresses They were vulnerable to sexual advances

of their male employers

The upper classes often exploited their servants

A pregnant servant girl was quickly fired Petty theft and prostitution were the only

other options

Education The beginning of formal education

for the masses took root Was inspired by Protestantism and

the belief that all Christians should be able to read the Bible

The aristocracy and wealthy had a two-century head start with special colleges run by Jesuits

In the 17th century “little schools” of elementary

education began to appear

Boys and girls 7-12 were instructed in basic literacy and religion

By 1682 France established Christian schools which taught reading, writing and religion

England The Church of England and other

dissenting religious groups founded “charity schools” for poor children

In 1717 Prussia was the first for compulsory education

Remember…an educated citizen could better serve the state

Scotland Created a network of parish schools

for all citizens to be able to read the scriptures

The Enlightenment Philosophers and philosophes

believed that education was the key to human progress

Had a commitment to critical thinking and reinforced interest in education throughout Europe

Results 1600 1800

Scotland 1 in 6 (males) literate 90%

England 1 in 4 (males) literate 50%

France 1 in 6 (males) literate 66%

Women increasing literacy but lagged behind men