The book Medieval Children written by Nicholas Orme illustrates the activities and lives of medieval children in England lavishly, starting from the Anglo Saxon to the later parts of the medieval period. Orme’s attempt in this regard is the first in discussing this subject for the period prior to the Norman Conquests up to the sixteenth century. The book is of interest to the general reader and of immense help to those who seek to know of the history of childhood. It is very clear that the book aims to ‘reveal the richness of the material about medieval English children’ (p10). Orme has drawn together on the vast collection of disciplines and art, religion, literature, and history to comprehensively bring about a depiction of medieval childhood.
Having begun with pregnancy and childbirth, Orme has explored the different stages of the child’s growth towards adulthood. He has discussed baptism, the importance of ages and birthdays, family life that includes sleep, clothes, food, and the troubles of the underprivileged. He has gone to the extent of recording the hardships pertaining to childhood from illness, accidents, abuse, disablement, and death. He has very fascinatingly reviewed the special cultures of children by describing their games, toys, and rhymes, their religious beliefs and relationships with the Church, and their desire to be acquainted with the literature pertaining to children. The final chapter of the book goes into the details of how youngsters grew up and crossed into the world of adulthood. Amongst such a vibrant regeneration of childhood as prevalent in the middle ages, Orme has underscored the significance that society assigned to childhood. There is no doubt that childhood was considered to be a distinctive cultural phase of life, and children were regarded as both different and special as compared to adults.
There is no doubt that Nicholas Orme has more knowledge about childhood in medieval times than anyone else. He has drawn on some unusual sources such as stained glass windows, memorial brasses, details from miniatures and woodcuts, schoolboy scrawls on manuscripts, and toy utensils. The author has distinctly illustrated that the little faces reflected immense fun, humanity, and excitement in making the brilliant endorsement that childhood has always overflowed with immense magic and with high spirits, whether it was during the medieval period or in the present times. Orme has plunged deep in pointing out the world view of children, what pleasure meant to them, what was the process that made them learn, and what were the dangers they faced. It is evident that the author was more interested in exploring the inner child and has touched a little on dress and diet. He has brilliantly highlighted the concepts of children in regard to rhymes and play. Orme has provided a fascinating portrayal of childhood prior to 1550, which takes the reader to an entirely different world. All aspects of the child’s life were associated in some way with religion. Learning the alphabet also entailed punctuation with religious rites.
Orme has come out with a word that describes the past as being a rather unpleasant time for children. He has narrated the high incidence of infanticide, abuse, and death amongst children, but this negativity is balanced with the portrayal of cherishing and loving parents and a picture of happy children engrossed with play and comfortably entrenched in the family. The author has vividly presented an evocative and comprehensive picture of the existence of the child during the given period from birth to adulthood and explored the relationship amongst children and the cultural institutions that were thriving at such times. The evolvement of the child from birth to adulthood is portrayed by way of the paintings, chronicles, and the prevalent culture.
Orme has presented a picture of caring teachers, loving parents, and a judiciary that is considerate, which appears to give the impression of sweetening the past. However, it reflects on the determination with which he has attempted to portray the positive aspect of medieval parenting and childhood instead of concentrating on the brutal, grim, and unrepresentative materials that survive in the record rooms of coroners and courts. The author has not convincingly explained the cause of the obvious cruelty pertaining to the medieval children and has not provided logical reasoning about the medieval thought patterns and emotions as relevant to the present times. While writing about abandonment and infanticide, he has insisted that ‘medieval people, like us, regarded such deeds [as infanticide] with horror’ (p95). Later he writes that ‘the medieval families that came closest to modern ones in providing support for children’s reading were those of the wealthier and literate people’ (p274). While talking about the crowded sleeping arrangement during the later medieval periods, the author has cautioned that ‘people get used to sleeping in groups, and one can be as lonely in a dormitory as in a private room’ (p79). While talking about teenage sexual activity and pregnancy, he says they ‘could be as surprising and unwelcome to adults as they are today’ (p331). It is, however, difficult to believe the narration In regard to the notorious Italian relationship whereby an Italian visitor to London in the sixteenth century remarked that parents cruelly turned out their children from home to toil in menial jobs such as apprentices.
One difficulty that arises in regard to Orme’s book is the lack of progress during the given period of the history of childhood. The author has claimed to have covered the period from the seventh century up to about 900 years of development and social change, and except for the important and interesting debate on names, whereby the shift in the popularity of names is discussed from the Anglo Saxon period up to the Norman and Viking periods, the medieval childhood appears to be static during the period. The book has concentrated on theological upheaval, urbanization, agricultural changes, and conquests as related to medieval childhood in the context of reading for pleasure, nursery rhymes, and unwanted teenage pregnancies. But these tendencies are all similar to childhood tendencies in the modern world, and hence in this context, one can say that there becomes no purpose in studying the matter of childhood history.
It appears that the feeling created by this book leads to the belief that throughout the given period, the majority of the children had a similar childhood. Despite his stated intentions as given at the beginning of the book, Orme has frequently referred to the medieval child being engaged with some activities, thus implying that a child during the 9th century would have a similar lifestyle as a child during the 16th century. Hence the author has drawn himself into a trap as a result of the predictable contrast between the meager evidence of the Anglo Saxon period and the enormous documentation available from the end of the medieval periods. In effect, the book reveals very little about the history of childhood during the Anglo-Saxon period and a lot about the late medieval periods. Most part of the book does not throw light on the pre-conquest society; the discussion about various forms of apprenticeships and the shift of adolescents to towns are at most mentioned in general terms in conveying that this practice was common during the entire period. Orme has revealed in beginning a section on stories and memories that ‘it is easy to find evidence about medieval children as they were seen by others (p338). But this was not true in regard to getting the evidence pertaining to the Anglo Saxon period.
However, as indicated by Orme in discussing the names of children, it is evident that changes in society do result in impacting the childhood culture. Orme has successfully demonstrated, in keeping with what has been static throughout history, that parents had an attitude of caring for their children. What is pertinent to mention here is what parents have been doing at different times under varying circumstances in keeping with the best interests of children. The modern parent of today has to meet the pressures and demands in order to handle the internal conflicts related to coping with the child in regard to doing what is right for the child. In contrast, for an Anglo Saxon parent doing the right things for his children was entirely different as compared to the present times because society was entirely different, and hence the child too was different.
References
Nicholas Orme, Medieval Children, 2001, Yale University Press.