| Popis: |
This chapter discusses the distinct interrelationship between reproductive and childbirth practices and religious beliefs and rituals. It explains how the religious atmosphere prevalent at court, such as almsgiving and devotional practices, influenced beliefs about conception and rituals surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, and recovery. Traditional folklore in addition to current medical knowledge also helped form the queens’ understanding and attitude toward reproduction, but religion especially influenced their lyings-in, their deliveries, the christenings of their children, and their own purification. This chapter finally evaluates the queens as mothers and stepmothers and examines their grief over the loss of their royal heirs. |
