Giving birth in Renaissance England was a frightening business. When Queen Elizabeth I was born in 1533, childbirth was so dangerous, women wrote their wills before going into labor.
In 16th Century England, one out of every 40 women died in childbirth As many as 200 out of 1000 children would die before the age of 5.
For more reading on the life of women in Elizabethan England, read Medieval Women: A Social History of Women in England 450 – 1500.
Confinement
About 6 weeks before a woman was due, she would go into confinement. Confinement, also called, “laying in”, was done in her own space. Noblewomen and queens often had celebrations and feasts to celebrate going into confinement.
With the windows shut to keep out the “bad humours”, and to protect the pregnant woman’s eyes, other women would gather to help her. In this way, birth was a communal event.
If she could afford it, a midwife would attend to her also. These women had years of experience and knowledge delivering babies.
The midwife had to be a trustworthy woman of good character. She had to take an oath which dictated that she would not keep anything from the childbirth, such as the umbilical cord or placenta. They feared these items could possibly be used in witchcraft.
She knew different delivery techniques, such as using a birthing stool or cradling the woman from behind. The midwife also knew how to turn a child if it was not in the right position to be delivered.
No men were allowed during this time, except, very rarely, priests. Physicians and doctors also only attended under the most extreme circumstances, such as when the queen had a problematical birth.
Labor
When labor began, a woman might pray to St. Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth. Women would often listen to readings about her in the early stages of labor.
For centuries women believed in the benefits of jasper, and also using birth girdles. [Interesting tidbit: Westminster Abbey monks guarded the Virgin Mary’s own birth girdle, given to them by Edward the Confessor, and rented it out for noble and royal births.]
At the birth, the herbal remedies and a drink called caudle, a kind of fortifying alcoholic porridge or eggnog, were commonly drunk to keep her strong during the birth, and possibly dull the pain.
Since religion played such a huge role in Elizabethan lives, women also received comfort and strength during the ordeal by having icons and relics in the room. Others used statues or tapestries or prayer rolls to help them focus.
However as the Reformation grew, it brought with it the destruction of idols and these practices were taken from pregnant women. For example, in 1538 the Bishop of Salisbury gave instructions that midwives in his diocese were not to use “girdles, purses, measures of our Lady or other superstitious things.” Other women were told they could no longer pray to their saints. It is unknown if women did stop using these methods of comfort as the birthing process was kept very private.
Complications
As with many childbirths, complications did arise. One complication mentioned in The Sickness of 
Women, from the Sex, Aging, & Death in a Medieval Medical Compendium, was “unnatural presentation” i.e., the baby being in the wrong position. In these instances the midwife was to anoint her hands with wild thyme oil, and attempt to turn or rearrange the baby. If this did not work, attempts would be made to jar the baby out by shaking the woman, lifting her, rearranging or repositioning her, and other similar methods. Forceps would not be invented until the 17th century.
In the case of stillborn children, it appears that the life of the mother and not the baby was meant to be saved if possible. Due to this, midwives, extraordinarily, were given the right to perform the sacrament of baptism if child died or they expected it to. They wanted the baby buried in consecrated ground and go to heaven. Priests ensured midwives knew the correct words, and knew to keep clean water available for the ceremony.
Evidence from recent excavations have shown that families and mothers grieved for lost babies just as much as we do now. Baby’s graves, with the baby lovingly arranged as if he was sleeping with little tokens buried with him, were found under ruins of ancient homes. Some scholars contend that this shows the grief was real, and even though losing a baby or young child was so much more common than now, it didn’t make the loss any easier.
After The Birth
Danger still lurked even after giving birth. Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymore, died two weeks after giving birth to her son Edward. Eclampsia and infection caused most deaths from childbirth.
After about a month, women were purified in a church ceremony and reemerged into the world. Although churching ceremony instructions dealt with taboos surrounding menstruation and avoiding sex right after birth, there was also a health component to them. Today women who have recently delivered are told to not have sex for at least a month to make sure everything is healed and the risk of infection has gone down.
Wealthier people went on pilgrimages to seek out blessings for fertility or safe labors. After childbirth, they would also go to give thanks for children safely delivered.
The shrine at Walsingham in Norfolk, built in the 11th century to depict the house in Nazareth where the Annunciation took place, attracted many pilgrims. Henry VIII went there in January 1511 when Katherine of Aragon gave birth to his son, walking the final mile. Unfortunately, the prince died several weeks later. Two of his other wives also visited Walsingham for fertility blessings.
Birth Control
People did practice birth control, rudimentary by today’s standards, despite the fact that it was seen as a sin. An ancient method of birth control was to extend breastfeeding, which is nature’s way of spacing out children. Couples practiced withdrawal, enough to be troubling to confessors. Also, many women accessed herbs that could cause the body to abort a fetus. This method was extremely effective in the early stages of a pregnancy. Through these means, couples and women had some control over pregnancy.
Are you interested in more information on Elizabethan life? Check out A Compendium of Common Knowledge, 1558-1603: Elizabethan Commonplaces for Writers, Actors & Re-enactors.
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