William Brooke, tenth earl of Cobham and his family
Wealthy Tudor women did not breastfeed their own children because their duty was to produce as many heirs as possible and breastfeeding might delay their next pregnancy.
In the homes of royalty or nobility, the wet-nurse came to live with the child but in other cases, the child was sent to live with the wet-nurse (Sim, pg. 75).
Alison Sim claims that in these circumstances, where the child lived away from home until it was weaned, there was a danger that the child would not be properly cared for and might die as a result (pg. 75).
Ironically, women that were less well off fed their own children and so they stood a better chance of survival (Sim, pg. 75). Of course, problems arose if the mother died or if she was herself undernourished.
According to Sim, there was ‘no good alternative to breast milk.’ Milk from other animals was tried, as was a mixture of bread and milk made to resemble breast milk, called pap. Sadly, infants that were deprived of breast milk were likely to die (Pg. 76).
The antibodies present in breast milk were vital to help strengthen an infant’s immune system, especially considering the less than hygienic conditions of the sixteenth century.
Sim claims that infants were breastfed for longer than they tend to be today, with two years of breastfeeding not uncommon.
Jacques Guillemeau, doctor to the French Court
A book written by Jacques Guillemeau, a doctor to the French court, entitled The Happy Deliverie of Women, was translated into English in the early seventeenth century and popularised by other physicians. In his book Guillemeau strongly advised mothers to breastfeed their own babies and once weaned, to feed them ‘on sops of bread or gruel’ (Sim, pg. 76).
After the birth of the Princess Elizabeth in 1533, she was sent to a nursery at Greenwich and cared for by a substantial staff (Starkey, pg. 511). At the head was the Lady Mistress of the Nursery, Margaret, Lady Bryan who had also cared for an infant Mary Tudor.
Another important member of Elizabeth’s staff was her wet-nurse. According to Starkey, this was an ‘eagerly sought for’ position and Queen Anne Boleyn would have received many nominations from women keen to fill the position. Unfortunately, the name of the woman who was selected to suckle her daughter is unknown.
Interestingly, Starkey also relates a story about Anne Boleyn wanting to go against convention and breastfeed her own child but Henry prevented her because he did not want his sleep interrupted!
It’s an interesting story but one that Starkey believes unfounded, he states that, ‘the tale is derived from Leti’s fictionalized account and is without foundation.’ (Pg. 511)
Alison Weir on the other hand, in The Six Wives of Henry VIII relates the story as fact although she does not site her source (pg. 260).
In December 1533, Elizabeth and her household were moved to Hatfield Palace along with a very reluctant Mary Tudor sent there to act as maid of honour to her half-sister.
This must have been a very uncomfortable situation for all.
ReferencesSim, A. Food and Feast in Tudor England, 1997.
Starkey, D. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII, 2003.
Weir, A. The Six Wives of Henry VIII, 2007.
I just came upon your blogsite and find it quite interesting. My field of interest has always been the Plantagenets, but enjoy learning more about the later dynasties.
Frankly, I have always been less than impressed with Alison Weir’s lack of independent research.
I’m adding your blog to my Google Reader, and look forward to more interesting discussions.
Thank you for taking the time to leave me a comment, I truly appreciate it and look forward to discussing all things Tudor with you!
Very interesting. This practise continued into the 19th century, jane Austen and her siblings for instance were put out to nurse as babies.
I am watching the second series period drama called The Mill, Louise, it’s set in the 1800’s and based on diaries of events and the workers, or should I say slaves, of that time, at a textile mill in Cheshire. One of the main characters is a young women who became a single mother, she gave birth and went back to work the next day, paying another woman in the village to feed her child while she did her 10 hour shift.
I have no doubt this was an usual occurrence with women workers, but can you imagine how painful it must have been working in those conditions with their breasts engorged with milk, some must have developed mastitis…another down side was that these women also lost their ability to feed their babies quite quickly, so after work goodness knows what the poor mites where given until they went back to the wet nurse, I shudder to think!!