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Deborah
Youngs.
The
life-cycle in Western Europe, c.1300-c.1500.
Manchester
U.P., Jan 2006.
Manchester
Medieval Studies series.
216x138mm.
240pp.
Publisher's
recommended price
Hardback
ISBN
0719059151, £50.00
Paperback ISBN 071905916X, £15.99
This
is the first study to examine the entire life-cycle in the late
medieval period. Drawing on a wide range of secondary and primary
material, the book explores the timing and experiences of infancy,
childhood, adolescence and youth, adulthood, old age and, finally,
death. It discusses attitudes towards ageing, rites of passage, age
stereotypes in operation, and the means by which age was used as a form
of social control, compelling individuals to work, govern, marry and
pay taxes. The wide scope of the study allows contrasts and comparisons
to be made across gender, social status and geographical location. It
considers whether men and women experienced the ageing process in the
same way, and examines the differences that can be discerned between
northern and southern Europe.
The
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries suffered famine, warfare, plague
and population collapse. This fascinating consideration of the
life-cycle adds a new dimension to the debate over continuity and
change in a period of social and demographic upheaval.
CONTENTS:
1. Introduction
2. Age and life expectancy
3. Infancy
4. Boys and girls
5. Adolescence and youth
6. Adulthood
7. Old age
8. Endings
Bibliography.
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