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Publication

Facing illegitimate motherhood in eighteenth-century Antwerp.

Journal Contribution - Journal Article

Subtitle:How changing contexts influenced the experiences of single mothers
This article assesses the wide range of experiences of illegitimacy in eighteenth-century Antwerp. It exposes many instances of pauper agency, yet also cautions against simply assuming that all single mothers were similarly forceful in their dealings with illegitimacy. Four key factors affected the options a single mother had at her disposal in dealing with illegitimate pregnancy: the way poor relief was organised, the relative accessibility of judicial processes, the administrative settings, and the prevailing ideas about illegitimacy and morality among the general community. The article shows how these factors changed in the final quarter of the eighteenth century, impacting on the strategies that single mothers could adopt.
Journal: Continuity & Change
ISSN: 0268-4160
Issue: 1
Volume: 34
Pages: 117-137
Publication year:2019
Keywords:social history, Early Modern History, Urban history
CSS-citation score:1
Accessibility:Open