‘Once upon a time’, many years ago in 16th century England, an IT was born. Wrenched from a mother’s womb IT was imprisoned in tightly wrapped sheets; head fixed, legs stretched out, arms by its sides; so that IT could not move. IT was sent to a wet nurse by the parents; not for the welfare of IT but for their own selfish reasons. If IT died there would be no emotion or mourning. If IT lived, which was considered very unlikely, IT would be neglected, beaten, and only considered valuable when IT was economically productive and could be sent out to work. IT would not live ‘happily ever after’. Such is the ‘black legend of childhood’ .

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MacFarlane,A. History and Theory. Oxford: Blackwell, 1979.

MacFarlane,A. The Diary of Ralph Josselin, 1616-1683: Oxford University Press, 1991.

Pollock, L.A. Forgotten Children: Parent-child relations from 1500-1900.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Stearns,P.N. Encyclopedia of Social History: An Annotated Bibliography of Sources in German. Taylor & Francis,1994Stone, L. The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800. Wiltshire: Penguin Group, 1990.

Tosh,J. with Lang,S. The Pursuit of History. Harlow: Pearson Education Ltd. 2006Wrightson, K. English Society 1580-1680. London: Unwin Hyman Ltd, 1990.

Other ReadingAbbott, M. Life Cycles in England 1560-1720. London: Routledge, 1996.

Cunningham, H. The Invention of Childhood. London: BBC Books, 2006.

Earle, P. The Making of the English Middle Class: Business, Society and Family Life in London 1660- 1730. ...Essay still continues 100 more words...