(Ann Arbor, 1992), 195–206; “The Position of the Medieval Jewish Widow As a Function of Fam-
ily Structure,” WCJS10 B2 (Jerusalem, 1990): 91–98.
- Examples for this are many. See R. Eleazar b. Joel, Sefer Ra’aviah, 4: no. 914.
- According to Jewish law, a woman was supposed to wait three months so as to be sure that
she was not pregnant. However, even women of whom there was no doubt that they were not preg-
nant were required to wait three months. See, for example, Sefer Or Zaru’a, 1:628.
88.SHP, no. 1028. - For a survey of the studies on the topic, see Shah·ar, Childhood, 121–44. Of special impor-
tance is Boswell, The Kindness of Strangers, 428–34. - Brenda Bolton, “Received in His Name: Rome’s Busy Baby Box,” in The Church and Child-
hood, ed. Diana Wood (Studies in Church History, 31) (Oxford, 1994), 153–68; Toubert, “The
Carolingian Moment,” 386. - As Boswell and others have argued, this medieval practice was very different from aban-
donment practices in ancient times, in which fathers, even among the nobility, often decided to
expose their children, and especially their daughters. Boswell, Kindness of Strangers, 183–227;
Herlihy, Medieval Households, 25–26. - BT Yevamot 37a, 85a; BT Kiddushin 75a.
- R. Jacob H·azan of London, Sefer Ez·H·ayim, 2:313–14. Compare Maimonides, Issurei Bi’ah,
ch. 15, no. 30, 31. - Rashbam, Exod. 2:6, s.v. “Vatir’ehu et hayeled.”
- R. Judah heH·asid, Perushei haTorah, Exod. 2:6.
- MS Parma 86, fol. 29a (p. 55 in the manuscript), no. 103.
- Boswell, Kindness of Strangers, 350–56 argued that while cases of abandonment existed in
talmudic times, there were no such cases in the Middle Ages. - In the case above, it was clear that the infant was Jewish, but the question does not provide
enough details to explain how this was made clear. - Shah·ar, Childhood, 121–39.
100.SHP, no. 171. - Shah·ar, Childhood, 207–209; 237–38.
- Shah·ar, Childhood, 146–49.
- Shah·ar, Childhood, 128–29.
104.SHP, no. 1917.
105.SHP, no. 1918. Compare Muntner, Sefer Assaf, Korot4: no. 243. - Caesarius Heisterbacensis, Dialogus miraculorum, ed. Josephus Strange (Köln, 1851), Dis-
tinctio II, 24: “Ex quibus unus cum multa indugnatione parvulum (parvulam) pede apprehen-
dens, allisit ad parietem.” - In recent years, a tremendous amount of research on single mothers and illegitimate birth
in the past has been conducted: Peter Landau, “Das Weihehindernis der Illegitimität in der
Geschichte des kanonischen Rechts,” in Illegitimität im Spätmittelalter, ed. Ludwig Schmugge
(München, 1994), 15–21; Schultz, Knowledge of Childhood, 124; Yves Brissaud, “L’infanticide à
la fin du Moyen Age, ses motivations psychologiques et sa répression,” Revue historique de droit
français et étranger50(1972): 229–56; Marianne Carbonnier-Burkard, “Perenniser et concevoir,”
90–94; Michael Mitterauer, Ledige Mutter. Zur Geschichte unehelicher Geburten in Europa(Mu-
nich, 1983), 13–21.
108.For example: Sefer Or Zaru’a, 1:652. Compare Bulst, “Illegitimate Kinder,” 33–34. - For example: Teshuvot Maimoniyot, no. 8; R. Meir b. Barukh, Shut Maharam(Prague),
no. 98; R. Solomon b. Aderet, She’elot uTeshuvot, 1: nos. 832–33; SHP, no. 126.
110.SHP, no. 1301. - Urbach, “Mavet biShegaga,” 319.
- Barbara Kellum, “Infanticide in England in the Later Middle Ages,” History of Childhood
Quarterly1(1973–74): 369–71 and more recently, Phillip Gavitt, “Infant Death in Late Medieval