Infanticide in Ukraine of the 14th-18th centuries: relationship according to legal norms, methods of death and hiding traces (on the example of monuments of ecclesiastical and secular law)

Abstract

Th e purpose of the article is an attempt to investigate the regulation of infanticide according to the monuments of church and secular law in Ukraine of the 14th–18th centuries; track diff erences in the punishment of criminals; determine methods of killing and hiding traces. The research methodology is based on the principles of scientifi city, historicism and objectiv- ity. Th e main method is historical anthropology, the methods of analysis, synthesis, historical- comparative are also involved. Th e scientifi c novelty consists in highlighting the problematic issue of the history of childhood (infanticide), which for this period remains poorly researched, as well as in the use of sources that were also not involved by domestic historians in the study of this problem. Conclusions. Princely statutes recognize the killing of an infant as a crime, instead omitting references to women’s eff orts to get rid of the fetus while still in the womb. More infor- mation about the crime of infanticide is provided by the Lithuanian statutes, “Laws by which the Little Russian people are judged”, helm books and confessional questionnaires. It was possible to single out several ways of committing this crime, which are divided into those committed during pregnancy and aft er childbirth (regarding the fetus in the mother’s womb and regarding the new- born child, respectively). It was established that killing the fetus and causing a miscarriage was possible in several ways: using special “potions” (in our opinion, the most widespread), which could have a harmful eff ect on the female body, as well as resorting to excessive physical exer- tion. Women could also go the other way: mask visible signs of pregnancy, wait for childbirth, which was impossible to predict, and therefore had to act depending on the circumstances, and lose the life of the newborn. Th is could be done in the following ways: drowned (thrown into a pond or well), buried in the ground, burned, given to domestic or wild animals, suff ocated in sleep in the parent’s bed, etc. Norms of ecclesiastical and secular law have a negative attitude towards such crimes, for which fairly severe punishments are provided. Although it was diffi cult to prove a woman guilty of infanticide in court (the accused could always say that the child was stillborn, which served as a kind of justifi cation). Th e main goal of infanticide is to get rid of an unwanted child as quickly as possible, keeping everything a complete secret. But things did not always happen exactly like that, because it was not rare that child killers were exposed.