Middle Ages and Renaissance Children

Essays in Medieval Studies - includes Narratives of a Nurturing Culture, Chaucer's Missing Children, My Family First, Maternal Influence, The Good Upbringing, and more.


The Children's Crusades (1212)

An account of Stephen and Nicholas, a French boy and a German boy, each gathering together an army of children in an attempt to conquer the Holy Land.


The Life of a Child in Elizabethan England

Part of the "Virtual Renaissance" site, this section includes children's clothing, their role at home, and games they played.


Life in Elizabethan England - Children and Childhood

A little boy is dressed in skirts, pretty much like his sisters, until the age of six or seven, when he gets his first pair of breeches or breech hose. This event, called breeching, is celebrated with a party...


The Medieval Child

Perhaps no other period of history has more misconceptions associated with it than the Middle Ages. The history of childhood is also full of misconceptions. Recent scholarship has illuminated the lives of medieval children as never before, dispelling many of these misconceptions and replacing them with verifiable facts about life for the medieval child.


Toys in the Middle Ages

This paper will focus on toys in pre-1600 western Europe. At times, it will touch on pre-cursors from Greece, Rome, and even Egypt, or toys from non-western cultures of the medieval time period. In order to keep the subject to a manageable size, only children's toys will be discussed.