ABSTRACT

The paper explores the historical and archaeological evidence for maternal and infant death in medieval Ireland. An overview of a range of historical sources including law tracts, medical documents, and folklore are investigated for insights concerning the treatment of pregnant women, abortion, post-mortem caesarean, and the nature of herbs that were administered to assist with female reproductive matters. This provides the context for a review of 15 earlier and later medieval burial grounds in Ireland that produced 30 burials in which an adult female was associated with one or more foetal or perinatal infants. The individuals are considered to have potentially died as a result of obstetric complications. The overall frequency and age-at-death profiles of the women and babies are investigated. This is followed by an attempt to interpret the circumstances of each case to determine whether the death had occurred during pregnancy, childbirth or shortly after birthing.

摘要

本文探讨了中世纪爱尔兰产妇和婴儿死亡的历史和考古证据。对包括法律法规，医疗文件和民俗学在内的一系列历史资料进行了概述，以获取有关孕妇治疗，流产，剖腹产和为帮助女性生殖器官而管理的草药的性质的见解。这为回顾爱尔兰的15个较早和较晚的中世纪墓地提供了背景，这些墓地产生了30个墓葬，其中成年女性与一个或多个胎儿或围产期婴儿有关。人们认为这些个体可能因产科并发症而死亡。研究了妇女和婴儿的总体频率和死亡年龄分布。