Women during the lying-in period, as Midwives, Distillers, and Brewsters

Within Early Modern Europe, women’s personality, role in society as a worker and a mother, and overall independence was limited by patriarchal ideologies that lacked understanding of women’s bodies. Patriarchal powers used perceived and distorted differences of the female body and mind to justify an unfair and highly scrutinizing culture towards women. Both religious changes, like the Reformation, and faux scientific ideas like the system of humours, served to firmly place women within a set of behavioral and societal parameters that were to be followed. For example, if a woman did not want to endure the pain of pregnancy nor if she did not express utter joy at the birth of her child, she was seen as unnatural and such behavior “challenged views of what being a woman was about”.^[i] Yet despite this lack of control or true independence, there existed several key institutions and opportunities that not only allowed women to gain their own kind of agency, but also heavily relied on women to properly function which will be explored in this paper. Additionally, European society’s lack of anatomical understanding of women’s bodies sometimes worked in women’s favor like in the case of pregnant women in the lay-in period, a time before the child was born and the wife gained arguably more power in the male-female relationship. Feminist scholars like Judith Bennet, Ulinka Rublack, and Natalie Zeamon Davis have each posited the idea of women’s ability to find agency, individuality, and identity amidst male influenced and controlled social systems and occupations. Albeit these scholars have analyzed separate areas of female life, there exists a common pattern that connects their research that this paper will seek to highlight and expand upon. Female Brewsters, female Midwives, pregnant women during the lay-in period, and upper-class women with access to the tools necessary for medical distillery showcase varying degrees of agency within their patriarchally influenced and dominated social fields.This paper will seek to tie these realms of female existence and agency together, with the common goal of exploring how this agency came to exist and how it manifested itself.

Women found agency in the manifestation of the lying-in period because of inadequacies in societal anatomical knowledge that allowed them to claim respect and maintain a semblance of control. There was scarce accurate information on the female body available in Protestant Reformation society, and an abundance of superstitious ideas tied towards explaining what was healthy and proper for ensuring a child’s healthy birth. Childbearing was an immensely important aspect of society^[ii] and many measures were taken to support this pillar of society. Specifically women were enabled to engage in the “lying-in” period; a time when husbands were much more lenient with their wives and women had somewhat more power. Women were able to use the threat of harm to their bodies and thus possibly male child to further their own aims and gain slight power within a community. Despite this respect and importance given to these women, it's important to note that they received intense scrutiny immediately following the birth. As if once the child left the body, there no longer existed a need to give them that power in the husband-wife relationship. Regardless, the lying-in period is an important idea that Ulinka Rublack analyzes and explores the importance of. This analysis serves to show one of the primary opportunities that most women had for gaining agency.

Midwives, more often female than male, were seen as instrumental in ensuring a healthy birth. And because of this importance, there existed many rules, guides, and overseers to ensure that all was done to guarantee a healthy child’s birth. Various pamphlets and books were distributed for both mothers and primarily female midwives, such as one by James Guillimeau, and emphasized the importance of midwives in the child-birthing process while including very gendered language. During the early modern era, midwives were typically understood to be women and in fact as an instructional pamphlet on child-bearing would suggest, not including midwives in the child-bearing process “would draw his[a child’s] death after him”.^[iii] Guillimeau characterizes the lack of an educated midwife's presence during a birthing as akin to allowing that child to die. His foreword suggests that not only were female midwives important, but they were seen as inseparable from the idea of child-birth. Including a midwife in the child-bearing process served as a strategic decision. Strategic in the sense that the midwife’s inclusion would ensure the child was healthy and suitable for introduction into society, a fear of the disabled and malformed pervaded European society at the time both due to ignorance and religious persecution. Even when midwives were the ones actually involved in child-birthing events, they were still subject to male control and authoritarian presence. Much of this increased attention towards midwifery was very much a result of a society now influenced by the Protestant Reformation. A society that placed motherhood as one of the most important pillars of society. This presence manifested itself in not only the legal consequences and counsel set in place to oversee midwives and their rules, but also the wording and language used to describe the profession and directly create gender hierarchies. Both government officials and most midwives used expressions “associated with the moral qualities of kindness and responsibility”.^[iv] The previous quotation comes from an article written by Maï Le Dû and Aude Ferrachat in which the two scholars make the claim that the role of midwife had an ambiguous nature in its professional identity. Midwives in France had stood at the “crossroads of cure and care, of masculine and feminine”.^[v] There is a clear gendering of the midwife profession that would seek to limit the profession to those with certain qualities associated with women that Le Dû and Ferrachat recognize. These scholars' ideas of the ambiguity of the midwife role serves as an important part of explaining how midwives had their own sort of agency and power. Despite being in contention with physicians and also under greater scrutiny as a result of Reformation, the ambiguity of the midwife as an inherently care-oriented and female-dominated role while also occupying the same space as men showcases some of the independence that midwives could ascertain for themselves. Independent practitioners of midwifery and women who chose to become traveling midwives as opposed to living the house-wife lifestyle experienced access and freedom of movement not so freely available to housewives and non-midwives. The recognition by the common man and religious authorities that female midwives were an important part of society also adds to their own capacity for independence and identity.

Ideas of professional and regulated systems of professional care have historically been framed by patriarchal ideologies as superior to the more grassroots style of domestic care, and a strong tendency to portray midwifery as a woman’s role. A reflection of the gendering of language can be seen in an instructional guide to midwifing written for midwives by Nicholas Culpeper, in which he states the most important quality for a midwife to have: “All the affection that can be in a Woman, ought to be in a midwife”.^[vi] Culpeper was a renowned English herbalist and physician who, as opposed to the more distant and less available physicians of the norm, made himself very accessible and available to the public. His wife’s publication of his “secrets” is significant evidence pointing towards his closeness to the public.^[vii]It’s significant that one of the more well-known physicians was shaping the rhetoric and guidelines of what a midwife should be, directly contributing to the segmentation of women as midwives and men as doctors or physicians. What’s interesting about this directory, is that it frames women as the most capable and emotionally suited to become midwives, suggesting that women are limited to the more emotional side of science and society, rather than the more masculine and logical field of being a doctor. Maï Le Dû and Aude Ferrachat identify the same case of the masculinization of physicians.

Doctors and midwives eventually came into conflict with each other, particularly in seventeenth century France, that showed the growing divide in social perceptions of women’s abilities and the general distancing of women in prominent occupational positions. As the seventeenth century went on, midwives became increasingly distant in child-birthing on the grounds of a perceived lack of scientific thought and a lack of proper organization or oversight. Both doctors and patriarchal authorities published pamphlets and distributed items that chipped at the legitimacy and safety of a domestic medical practitioner. These sentiments couldn't be further from the truth, because in fact there was organization and basic rules to be followed. Midwives were very strictly supervised and rules on who could and couldn’t become one were highly regulated. A pamphlet dictating rules and tips of midwifing containing over 100 entries covering the gambit of both medical knowledge and spiritual knowledge showcases the vast range of knowledge necessary to become a midwife. Knowing how to position a pregnant woman’s body, or taking measures to lower certain infectious diseases or parasites was an important part of any midwife’s knowledge. Doctors and other male-dominated institutions did not acknowledge nor give legitimacy towards this “home-style” of medical practice. When in fact women in domestic medicine were quite important and were required to have skill to engage in such a profession. Doctors saw domestic medicine as antithetical towards the goals of regularization and institutionalization of medicine. The fact that these female “home-style” medical practitioners were able to continue in their practice and even be recognized as some sort of threat towards a patriarchal system in which they were not welcome represents a certain kind of victory and gain of agency. Women who chose to continue to their efforts despite forces attempting to sway them.

Women found agency within domestic medicine, or outside of patriarchal medical institutions. With skills like distilling and use of medicine within the home being reliant on time-consuming and often-difficult techniques. These techniques and the separation of the physician from the domestic centre of medicine, prevented men from intruding on this particular venue of agency. Male physicians had already set up the boundaries between the domestic and the institution of medicine, and thus the protections were already in place for women to have this agency. The role of women in medicine developed in different ways going into the eighteenth century. Distilling household medicine was an activity that showcased the individualism and identity that women had, outside of those placed onto them by male religious and legal authorities. Distilling was not an easy activity, and did not really allow itself to simply be considered a hobby or side activity, with most distilling “requir[ing] technical skill, time, money, and extensive knowledge of ingredients”.^[viii] Unlike the midwives who were of typically lower class, as the bar to entry was much lower than that required of a medical distillery, those women who distilled were of a higher class and distillation offered an opportunity for individual agency and also “experimental aptitude and an interest in both the written tradition of distillation recipes and the technical process itself”.^[ix] The use of recipe books and communication among women about such subjects of alchemy and science showed interest in expanding women’s role in the development of medical knowledge, but also the different ways that this knowledge was spread. Medical institutions barred women from entering, but activities like distilling allowed for both spiritual and empirical stimulation. Women’s freedom of experimentation allowed for the development of more concentrated areas of female identity and independence.

As can be seen from the previous angles, the lines between gender roles and occupations for said gender were not always so black and white. With women having moments of their own agency, but still partly influenced or supervised by a male authority. What’s particularly interesting is when both men and women seem to occupy the same space but do not have an intense rivalry. Distillery offered this example, but certainly England's 17th century brewing industry cannot be said to have the same level of cooperation. In 1300, the brewing industry within England was not very profitable and not an extremely lucrative profession to become involved with. But in 1300, women were the primary brewers and the most hands-on within the business of the brewing industry.^[x] Perhaps because there were virtually no expectations, and the industry’s connections were not nearly as developed as they would become in 1600, but the brewing industry offered women a surprising amount of independence and opportunity for the development of more individualism. In an environment at one moment primarily dominated by lower class women, the brewing industry was an important part of the development of female identity and social consciousness. 300 years later, the industry becomes profitable and women’s role in this industry is transformed from primary initiator to ale-taster and salesperson. The actual brewing itself becoming “much more profitable and prestigious”^[xi] and thus passed into male hands. Women’s role was not completely erased and the job was not any less low-class. This industry shows yet another way that women of Early Modern Europe managed to create their own identity and economic awareness through both the presence of economic opportunities, but also managing to find activities of empirical stimulation within a system of male control.

Women were subjugated by male powers and institutions intent on limiting their independence and scientific and economic drive, yet women were able to find places like where they could expand their knowledge and find new ways to find agency. The lying-in period allowed pregnant women to find a very unique area of agency. Midwives, while fighting a system through intent on controlling them and eventually delegitimizing the role of domestic medicine through their sheer existence and resilience, managed to still find their importance as a tenet of society. Distillers offered new academic opportunities that male institutions did not allow, which offered greater scholarly and empirical stimulation among women of an upper class. Brewsters were their own economic pioneers that found their own agency within the brewing industry and created an increased awareness in job and economic opportunities for women within English society, despite the movement of male hands as the primary brewers over time.

Footnotes:

^[i] Roper, Lyndal, and Laura Pilsworth. Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality, and Religion in Early Modern Europe. Routledge, 2013. pp 92.

^[ii] Rublack, Ulinka. "Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Female Body in Early Modern Germany." Past & Present, no. 150 (1996): 84-110. Accessed December 8, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/651238. Pp 87

^[iii] Guillemeau, Jacques, 1550?-1613. 1635. Child-Birth Or, the Happy Delivery of Vvomen VVherein is Set Downe the Government of Women. in the Time of their Breeding Childe: Of their Travaile, both Naturall and Contrary to Nature: And of their Lying in. Together with the Diseases, which Happen to Vvomen in those Times, and the Meanes to Helpe them. with a Treatise for the Nursing of Children. to which is Added, a Treatise of the Diseases of Infants, and Young Children: With the Cure of them, and also of the Small Pox. Written in French by Iames Guillimeau the French Kings Chirurgion London, Printed by Anne Griffin, for Ioyce Norton, and Richard Whitaker. https://go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/docview/2240950713?accountid=14868. pp 3

^[iv] Le Dû, Maï, and Aude Ferrachat. "Synthesizing Cure and Care: Midwives Challenging Gender Norms in France." Clio. Women, Gender, History, no. 49 (2019): 139-53. Accessed November 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/26934703. pp 140

^[v] Le Dû, Maï, and Aude Ferrachat. "Synthesizing Cure and Care." Clio. Women, Gender, History, no. 49 (2019): 139-53. Accessed November 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/26934703. pp 151

^[vi] Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. 1700. A Directory for Midwives: Or, A Guide for Women in their Conception, Bearing, and Suckling their Children. the First Part Contains, 1. the Anatomy of the Vessels of Generation. 2. the Formation of the Child in the Womb. 3. what Hinders Conception, and its Remedies. 4. what Furthers Conception. 5. A Guide for Women in Conception. 6. of Miscarriage in Women. 7. A Guide for Women in their Labour. 8. A Guide for Women in their Lying-in. 9. of Nursing Children. to Cure all Diseases in Women, Read the Second Part of this Book. by Nicholas Culpeper, Gent. Student in Physic and Astrology London, printed, and are to be sold by most book sellers in London and Westminster. https://go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/docview/2240922313?accountid=14868. pp 5

^[vii]Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. 1655. Culpeper's Last Legacy Left and Bequeathed to His Dearest Wife, for the Publicke Good : Being the Choicest and most Profitable of those Secrets which while He Lived were Lockt Up in His Breast, and Resolved Never to be Publisht Till After His Death : Containing Sundry Admirable Experiences in Severall Sciences, More especially in Chyrurgery and Physick ... : With Two Particular Treatises, the One of Feavers, the Other of Pestilence, as also Other Rare and Choice Aphorisms ... Never Publisht before in any of His Other Works / by Nicholas Culpeper .. London, Printed for N. Brooke .. https://go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/books/culpepers-last-legacy-left-bequeathed-his-dearest/docview/2240960699/se-2?accountid=14868 .

^[viii] Allen, Katherine. "Hobby and Craft: Distilling Household Medicine in Eighteenth-Century England." Early Modern Women 11, no. 1 (2016): 90-114. Accessed November 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/26431441. pp 92

^[ix] Allen, Katherine. "Hobby and Craft: Distilling Household Medicine in Eighteenth-Century England." Early Modern Women 11, no. 1 (2016): 90-114. Accessed November 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/26431441. Pp 92/93

^[x] Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999. pp 7.

^[xi] Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999. pp 7.

Bibliography:

Allen, Katherine. "Hobby and Craft: Distilling Household Medicine in Eighteenth-Century England." Early Modern Women 11, no. 1 (2016): 90-114. Accessed November 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/26431441.

Bennett, Judith M. Ale, Beer and Brewsters in England: Women's Work in a Changing World, 1300-1600. New York, NY: Oxford Univ. Press, 1999.

Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. 1655. Culpeper's Last Legacy Left and Bequeathed to His Dearest Wife, for the Publicke Good : Being the Choicest and most Profitable of those Secrets which while He Lived were Lockt Up in His Breast, and Resolved Never to be Publisht Till After His Death : Containing Sundry Admirable Experiences in Severall Sciences, More especially in Chyrurgery and Physick ... : With Two Particular Treatises, the One of Feavers, the Other of Pestilence, as also Other Rare and Choice Aphorisms ... Never Publisht before in any of His Other Works / by Nicholas Culpeper .. London, Printed for N. Brooke .. https://go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/books/culpepers-last-legacy-left-bequeathed-his-dearest/docview/2240960699/se-2?accountid=14868

Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. 1700. A Directory for Midwives: Or, A Guide for Women in their Conception, Bearing, and Suckling their Children. the First Part Contains, 1. the Anatomy of the Vessels of Generation. 2. the Formation of the Child in the Womb. 3. what Hinders Conception, and its Remedies. 4. what Furthers Conception. 5. A Guide for Women in Conception. 6. of Miscarriage in Women. 7. A Guide for Women in their Labour. 8. A Guide for Women in their Lying-in. 9. of Nursing Children. to Cure all Diseases in Women, Read the Second Part of this Book. by Nicholas Culpeper, Gent. Student in Physic and Astrology London, printed, and are to be sold by most book sellers in London and Westminster. https://go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/docview/2240922313?accountid=14868.

Dennis, Abigail. "From Apicius to Gastroporn: Form, Function, and Ideology in the History of Cookery Books." Studies in Popular Culture 31, no. 1 (2008): 1-17. Accessed December 8, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44982180.

Guillemeau, Jacques, 1550?-1613. 1635. Child-Birth Or, the Happy Delivery of Vvomen VVherein is Set Downe the Government of Women. in the Time of their Breeding Childe: Of their Travaile, both Naturall and Contrary to Nature: And of their Lying in. Together with the Diseases, which Happen to Vvomen in those Times, and the Meanes to Helpe them. with a Treatise for the Nursing of Children. to which is Added, a Treatise of the Diseases of Infants, and Young Children: With the Cure of them, and also of the Small Pox. Written in French by Iames Guillimeau the French Kings Chirurgion London, Printed by Anne Griffin, for Ioyce Norton, and Richard Whitaker. https://go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.go.libproxy.wakehealth.edu/docview/2240950713?accountid=14868.

Le Dû, Maï, and Aude Ferrachat. "Synthesizing Cure and Care: Midwives Challenging Gender Norms in France." Clio. Women, Gender, History, no. 49 (2019): 139-53. Accessed November 22, 2020. doi:10.2307/26934703.

Roper, Lyndal, and Laura Pilsworth. Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality, and Religion in Early Modern Europe. Routledge, 2013.

Rublack, Ulinka. "Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Female Body in Early Modern Germany." Past & Present, no. 150 (1996): 84-110. Accessed December 8, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/651238.