This article assesses the wide range of experiences of illegitimacy in eighteenth-century Antwerp. It exposes many instances of pauper agency, yet also cautions against simply assuming that all single mothers were similarly forceful in their dealings with illegitimacy. Four key factors affected the options a single mother had at her disposal in dealing with illegitimate pregnancy: the way poor relief was organised, the relative accessibility of judicial processes, the administrative settings, and the prevailing ideas about illegitimacy and morality among the general community. The article shows how these factors changed in the final quarter of the eighteenth century, impacting on the strategies that single mothers could adopt.

中文翻译：

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在 18 世纪的安特卫普面对私生子：不断变化的环境如何影响单身母亲的经历

本文评估了 18 世纪安特卫普的各种非法经历。它揭露了许多乞丐代理的例子，但也告诫不要简单地假设所有单身母亲在处理非法行为时都同样强硬。有四个关键因素影响了单身母亲在处理非法怀孕时的选择：贫困救济的组织方式、司法程序的相对可及性、行政环境以及一般社区中关于非法和道德的普遍观念。这篇文章展示了这些因素如何在 18 世纪最后 25 年发生了变化，从而影响了单身母亲可以采取的策略。