Cover 1
Contents 6
Acknowledgments 12
Author’s notes 14
1. Losses, Lacunae and Liminality 16
Investigating the invisible 16
Historiography 18
The age of an infant 24
Primary sources: a dual approach 27
Archival sources 30
Literary sources 36
Secondary sources: the role of liminality 40
2. European and Medieval Contexts of Infanticide 52
Infanticide in medieval Europe 53
Infanticide in early modern Europe 57
Representations of infanticide in Europe 63
Infanticide in medieval England 66
Representations of infanticide in medieval England 70
3. The liminal child and mother 78
Beliefs and attitudes toward new lives 79
Death and the unwelcome infant 87
Killing and caring 92
Throwing 94
The liminal world of childbirth 99
Unmarried women and pregnancy 103
4. Love, Law and Liminality 114
The ‘betwixt and between’ of betrothal and marriage 115
Liminal marital states in literature 119
Bastard bearing, punishment and liminality 122
Social seclusion and separation 123
Literary death 126
The rituals of socially inclusive punishments 128
Self-imposed punishment and liminality 133
Avoiding the shame of pregnancy: ‘A dose of the Doctor’ 136
5. Constructing Outsiders, Constructing Killers 152
Lack of money 157
Mirth and misery: single pregnancy in literature 160
Seeking marriage and security 168
Wandering 173
Prostitution 176
Constructing killers 178
6. Not the Usual Suspects: Communities and Accomplices 192
Communities 193
Accomplices: ‘feloniously aiding and abetting’ 206
Devilish influences 211
7. Not the Usual Suspects: Married Women 220
Vengeful women 226
Death and the maternal breast 235
Choosing not to nurse 239
8. Not the Usual Suspects: Men 254
The sins of the fathers 254
The unborn child 256
Newborn and very young infants 260
Aiding and abetting 262
Money and motive 264
Sexual shame and motive 267
Infant murder and monarchy 275
More violent than liminal 279
9. Interlude: Infanticide 1700–1950 284
The liminal mother 285
The liminal child 286
Liminal places: water 288
Not the usual suspects 289
10. Epilogue: Echoes of the Past 296
Introduction 296
Reality and fiction 298
Killers, communities and accomplices 300
Liminality and marginality today 309
Performing modern Medeas 313
The language of monstrosity 316
Why? 317
Finally 320
Appendix 1. The 1624 Infanticide Act 328
Appendix 2. Note on Sussex Coroners’ inquests 329
Appendix 3. Sussex Cases of Violent, Unnatural, Unexplained Infant Death 1547–1686 330
Appendix 4. Sussex Infant Deaths Involving Water 339
Appendix 5. Sussex Infant Deaths Involving Throwing 341
Appendix 6. Sussex Infant Deaths Involving Bloodshed or Extreme Violence 343
Appendix 7. Sussex Infant Deaths Showing Direct Involvement of Men 345
List of Illustrations 8
Image 1: The Age and Life of Man described and depicted in Peter Fancy’s ballad (1650-1665?) 27
Image 2: Woodcut from The Mourning Conquest (1674-1679). 39
Image 3: The ages of man schemes suggest infant liminality by showing them not yet on thestairway of life. 83
Image 4: Woodcut from the title page of A Pittilesse Mother (1616). 213
Image 5: Hidden crime: detail of title page of The Wicked Midwife (1640). 215
Image 6: Woodcut from Bloody Newes from Dover (1646). 231
Image 7: Woodcut from The Unnatural Father (1621). 266
Image 8: Paula Rego Down the Well I (2009). 308

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Josephine Billingham

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2024-06-27