In the early 1800s a woman’s name could appear in the newspapers exactly three times, when she was born, when she was married and when she died. Any further mention of a woman’s name found the writer facing a duel at dawn.
I read an 1831 edition of an early novel called “The Spy.” It was about the Revolutionary War. In the story a woman went secretly to see General Washington. What was fascinating to me was the very lengthy footnote to this, entitled “For the English Reader.” It explained that a lady of good family could travel alone in the United States without fear of molestation, as was not the case in England.
How the world has changed!
Women were generally prisoners. A family that prided itself on its blood line could not tell where a girl had gotten pregnant unless she were under their noses. When a queen had a baby the room was full of observers. Every movement of the baby was carefully monitored by witnesses.
A lot of the stories about The Man in the Iron Mask say that he was a twin of Louis XIV who was hidden from sight because he looked just like the king. All the movies show the babies being brought out of the birthing room.
They how the baby being brought out of the room by one woman alone.
Never!
What they do not show was the roomful of witnesses who watched every step of the process.
A woman’s life was dedicated to having babies because she had to have a LOT of them. Queen Anne had twenty-one children, and not a single one of them lived.
Women were not the only ones who had no “me” time.
Louis XIII died when Louis XIV was five years old. His mother ruled with the advice of Cardinal Mazarin until Louis reached his fourteenth birthday. Then the cardinal died, and Louis had to make the decision to take all power into his own hands.
One book describing this talks about the fact that, when he heard the news, Louis went into his bedroom alone for an hour to think.
The book then adds another fascinating sentence:
“That was probably the only time in Louis’ entire life that he was completely alone.”
Louis lived for 77 years, but he was never alone at any time.
Women were prisoners. Kings were prisoners.
Only the “common people” were free.
And they had a few problems of their own.
#1 by Peter on 09/09/2005 - 8:27 pm
Witnesses were also present when the prince or princess was conceived, a joyous occasion no doubt.
#2 by Elizabeth on 09/12/2005 - 1:11 pm
Exactly.
I’ve been reading history and biography since I was a little
kid, and, as such, am always happy to critique “historical”
movies. The two most common errors are (1) zippers on
women’s dressers [No zippers before the early 1900s.] and
(2)any woman of good family (or any pretension thereto)going
anywhere without at least one female attendant (chaperone,
ladies’ maid, witness, security). Few women and girls, especially
those in the “good” families, ever slept alone. If she wasn’t
married and sleeping with her husband, either a female
servant (or slave) slept in her room, or, if she was unmarried,
she was likely to have to share a bed with at least one
sister or cousin. (The Lee daughters at Stratford Hall slept
in the same bed: furniture was EXPENSIVE.)