HIST 3320: The History of Childhood
Read
- Chapter 3 Childhood in the Postclassical World History”Stearns, P. N. (2016). Chapter 3 Childhood in the Postclassical World History” In Childhood in World History. ProQuest Ebook Central
- Chapter 4 Contacts and Contrasts in the postclassical World” (Americas, SubSaharan Africa, Japan, Russia, Western Europe)Stearns, P. N. (2016). Chapter 4 Childhood in the Postclassical World History” In Childhood in World History. ProQuest Ebook Central
- Representing Childhood in Medieval England, c. 500-1500Nicholas Orme. Representing Childhood in Medieval England, c. 500-1500
- Childhood in Early Modern England, c. 1500-1700Michael Witmore "Childhood in Early Modern England, c. 1500-1700"
Primary Sources
- Children during the Black DeathShona Kelly Wray, "Children during the Black Death," in Children and Youth in History, Item #167, https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/167
- Decameron [Literary Excerpt]Giovanni Boccaccio, "Decameron [Literary Excerpt]," in Children and Youth in History, Item #177, https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/177 Annotated by Shona Kelly Wray
- Testament of a Father during the Black Death [Will]Carinus, "Testament of a Father during the Black Death [Will]," in Children and Youth in History, Item #180, https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/180 Annotated by Shona Kelly Wray
- Testament of a Mother during the Black Death [Will]Ursollina, "Testament of a Mother during the Black Death [Will]," in Children and Youth in History, Item #181, https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/181 Annotated by Shona Kelly Wray
- Examination of Sarah Carrier [Legal Document]"Examination of Sarah Carrier [Legal Document]," in Children and Youth in History, Item #282, https://chnm.gmu.edu/cyh/items/show/282 Annotated by Tom Rushford
Discussion Questions
- Based on your readings do you notice changes and continuity in children’s lives from the classical to the medieval times?
- Stearns writes: “A revealing way to assess traditional Western approaches to childhood emerges from comparative analysis: was there anything particularly unusual about premodern Western childhood compared to the patterns in other agricultural civilizations?” (Stearns, 64). How would you corroborate Stearn’s statement from specific examples cited in the text and the primary sources you read? Explore more primary sources beyond the syllabus and share it with the class.
Unless otherwise noted this Open Educational Resource (OER)HIST 3320: The History of Childhood was created and curated by Professor Swapna Banerjee and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. (Some documents require Adobe Acrobat Reader. )
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