Porady dla kobiet ciężarnych i rodzących w wybranych przekazach od późnego antyku do wczesnej nowożytności

Porady dla kobiet ciężarnych i rodzących w wybranych przekazach od późnego antyku do wczesnej nowożytności

Guidelines for women in pregnant and giving birth in select sources from late antiquity to early-modern period

Beata Wojciechowska

The care for pregnant and birth-giving women, as well as for the infant, has always been an integral part of human existence. The medieval medical knowledge was primarily based on the works of Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna and Soranus. Treaties, comments and notes were written based on the views of the ancient authors regarding the conception, pregnancy and delivery. The anticipation of a baby was very often associated with the desire for a son as a male descendant was the guarantor of prestige, continuator of the line, inheritor to the property and a helper at work. The anonymous medical note included in the BJ 796 code from the late fourteenth century provided a number of tips regarding the conception of a boy and a diagnosis of the gender of the conceived baby. In contrast, the anonymous author of the guidelines for pregnant women from 1425 (manuscript BJ 778) gave specific nutritional advice and information on the different stages of childbirth and possible complications. Such tips as well as detailed guidelines for the procedure during delivery were included in the sixteenth-century herbals. It was practical knowledge based on medicinal substances of plant and animal origin available and popular in the Polish lands.

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