Infanticide and the Conflicts in Early Modern South Bohemia (1690–1710). Five Women from Jindřichův Hradec

Abstract

Early Modern Child-Murder Investigations Were Characterized by Many Conflicts and Struggles on Different Levels of the Social Organization. Sources like broadside ballads or pamphlets highlighted the infanticide as a matter of considerable public concern. There the conflict between idea of early modern motherhood and family life and the everyday life of single-mothers dealing with unwanted children was apparent. These moralizing pamphlets were describing virtues of motherhood like self-sacrifice, solicitude, economic and social responsibility and on the other hand authors criticized murdering mothers. Finally, conflicts, antipathy and personal confrontations between members of the family and sexual partners can be traced in these sources. Events prior the crime can be characterized by disagreements between sexual partners, violence and verbal abuse. This contextual analysis of conflicts in five infanticide proceedings from south Bohemia (1690–1710) is the centre of the paper.