Child Care and Child Abuse in Early Medieval Europe

Abstract

The concern about widespread abuse of children in modern Western society has led historians and health care professionals to examine the past for evidence of similar abusive practices. The expectation has been that the past, especially the Middle Ages, will reveal even worse attitudes and practices toward children. Our research, based upon an analysis of care given to sick children in early medieval Europe, suggests that considerable attention, effort, and expense were devoted to seeking help for sick and crippled children. At the same time, there is no body of evidence to sustain the notion of widespread child abuse during these Dark Ages of Western civilization.