Description
Book SynopsisPresents a synthetic history of the family in Germany and northern France during the High Middle Ages. Concentrating on the special roles of mothers and children, this book advances efforts to write a comparative Jewish-Christian social history. It provides an analysis of the history of Jewish families in medieval Ashkenaz.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2008 Jordan Schnitzer Book Award in Gender Studies, Association for Jewish Studies Winner of the 2005 Koret Jewish Book Award in History, Koret Foundation Runner-Up for the 2005 National Jewish Book Award in Women's Studies category, Jewish Book Council "Baumgarten's writing of Ashkenaz medieval history as seen through a gender perspective advances a more inclusive reading of Jewish history."--Jewish Book World "[T]horoughly researched and lucidly written... Baumgarten has opened an erudite and well-constructed window into an area of Jewish life ... that has long eluded sustained productive treatment by modern scholarship. She has advanced the field considerably in this estimable work."--Ephraim Kanarfogel, American Historical Review "[Baumgarten's] scholarship is thorough and meticulous, and her judgment is intelligent and reliable... She has thus made a major contribution in so carefully and convincingly delineating the interconnections of medieval Jewish and Christian family life."--Sarah Lipton, Medieval Review "In Elisheva Baumgarten's erudite and captivating chronicle of Jewish family life in the Middle Ages, several surprising revelations may cause us to rethink our presumptions about medieval Jewish women... Baumgarten displays not only mastery of Jewish sources, but a considerable familiarity with Christian texts and anthropological literature."--David Wolpe, The Jerusalem Post
Table of ContentsIllustrations ix Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xv Introduction 1 Chapter One. Birth 21 Chapter Two. Circumcision and Baptism 55 Chapter Three. Additional Birth Rituals 92 Chapter Four. Maternal Nursing and Wet Nurses: Feeding and Caring for Infants 119 Chapter Five. Parents and Children: Competing Values 154 Conclusions 184 Notes 191 Glossary 241 Bibliography 243 Index 269
