taining to his/her care; all other questions pertaining to an infant’s well-being
were marginal compared with this cardinal concern.^6 A mother who chose not
to nurse her children did not have adequate milk substitutes, especially since,
in the period before the pasteurization of animal’s milk, the child’s chances of
surviving substitutes were slight.^7 Consequently, most families had two op-
tions: either the mother herself nursed the infant or a wet nurse was hired.^8
Nursing was understood as a “natural” task and an obligation of women.
This understanding had implications both for daily life and for women’s and
children’s place in the social order.^9 As anthropologists studying a wide range
of societies and historical periods have demonstrated, patterns of breast-feed-
ing and wet nursing differ from place to place and among different historical
periods.^10 For example, studies of eighteenth-century Iceland have demon-
strated how a negative understanding of breast-feeding caused many parents to
avoid nourishing their children with breast milk, preferring to feed their chil-
dren animal milk. Although this approach resulted in the death of many chil-
dren, it was continued as a result of deep cultural beliefs.^11 Other, less radical
cases, prove this point as well. For example, in medieval Spain, women were
instructed not to breast-feed their children during the first eight days, a belief
that harmed children who did not receive the nutritious milk that character-
izes the first days after birth.^12 This aptly demonstrates how specific cultures
shaped and reshaped attitudes toward the biological female ability to nurse. As
in the discussion of birth in the first chapter of this book, this chapter will seek
to expose some of the cultural codes and understandings that existed in the
Jewish communities of medieval Europe.
Examining breast-feeding practices illuminates women’s roles as mothers
and wives as well as attitudes toward children. The picture that emerges from
discussions concerning breast-feeding is one of competing interests. For ex-
ample, the interests of the mother and of others concerned with the baby’s wel-
fare were not always identical. The father of the infant and, given the nature
of Jewish society, Jewish communal institutions, were relevant third parties in
this matter. Hence, the interpretations assigned to the various interests and
practices surrounding breast-feeding often expose the gender hierarchies of the
society. Furthermore, the employment of Christian wet nurses was common
practice in medieval Jewish Europe. Thus, discussions of wet nursing reveal
not only the hierarchies within the nuclear family and community, but also the
relations between Jews and Christians within the household and the relation-
ships between Jewish employers and their employees.
Nursing practices also provide a unique opportunity for comparison be-
tween Jewish and Christian practices in medieval society. As described in the
introduction, breast-feeding was treated by some scholars of medieval child-
hood as an issue of utmost importance, and even as a marker of the extent of
parental love for their children.^13 One approach to this question is demo-
graphic. David Herlihy and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber examined the castato
rick simeone
(Rick Simeone)
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