The Rescue of the Innocents: Endangered Children in Medieval Miracles, and: Medieval Children (review)

Ronald Finucane's book in its first edition (1997) received glowing reviews, and barring the addition of a short preface with some additional references, this second, paperback edition appears to be substantially unchanged. Finucane had the excellent idea of examining eight substantial collections of miracles of contemporary figures for evidence about children in England and northern and southern Europe from the twelfth through the fifteenth centuries. Although his data come from some 600 cases involving childbirth, accidents, illnesses, and miraculous revivals, they are limited by the local nature of the miracles and their workers: St. Thomas à Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1173); St. Thomas Cantilupe of Hereford (d. 1282); King Henry VI of England (d. 1471); Dorothea von Montau of Poland (d. 1394); St. Louis, Bishop of Toulouse (d. 1297); the Umbrians St. Clara of Montefalco (d. 1308) and St. Nicholas of Tolentino (d. 1305); and Pope Urban V (d. 1370 and buried in Marseilles). With the possible exception of Becket, who cured children at a distance through the medium of "Becket water," the miracles largely took place at or close to the saints' tombs. Nevertheless, Finucane's general conclusions are so unsurprising, and so much in line with the findings from underdeveloped countries today, that it is reasonable to suppose that they hold generally true for children elsewhere in medieval Europe. For example, boys are valued over girls; they are more likely to incur accidents (and accidents outside the home); illnesses are more likely to strike younger than older children; childbirth is a perilous time for both mother and infant; parents are genuinely stricken by their children's mishaps, but mothers show their sorrow more readily than fathers; and when there is an extended family structure, as in Italy, family members, rather than neighbors and friends, are more likely to discover accident victims.

There are some good stories here, and children's book authors of medieval historical novels should find Finucane useful, especially the story of the little girl from Hereford who drowned in a pond and was revived to dedicate her virginity to Thomas of Cantilupe. The story begins on page 117 and involves revelers dancing past the pond, suspecting that someone had fallen in but ignoring the evidence because they didn't want the hassle involved in finding the body; the parents were at a pub and failed to pay attention to the little brother's cries. An appendix gives the actual testimony before the miracle commission and makes fascinating reading. I have one criticism of The Rescue of the Innocents, which may be due to a publishing decision. The "Selected Bibliography" is not terribly helpful, and for primary and many secondary sources one must go to the footnotes, which give only short citations after the first mention of a reference. Nevertheless, Finucane's book is a worthwhile contribution to the field of children's studies.

Far more useful, however, particularly to those interested in medieval children's literature, is Medieval Children, by the distinguished English scholar Nicholas Orme. Since Orme's important first book, English Schools in the Middle Ages, appeared in 1973, most of his thirteen scholarly books and numerous articles have been on the subject of British medieval and early modern children and their schools. Thus it is no surprise that his most recent work, Medieval Children, should turn out to be an authoritative survey of the subject as it applies to England and Wales. Indeed, subsequent scholarship will probably concentrate on enlarging upon, discussing, and perhaps disagreeing with Orme's conclusions rather than writing a new history of medieval British children, at least for some time.

Orme introduces his work with the now standard (at least among medievalists) refutation of the Ariès thesis, and a discussion of the terms for children...