Material Prayers and Maternity in Early Modern Italy: Signed, Sealed, Delivered

Novella 217 of Franco Sacchetti’s Il Trecentonovelle begins with a young married woman, seven months pregnant, who had undergone much pain and frustration to have her previous children. Afraid for her own well-being, as well as that of her unborn child during the pregnancy and birth, she seeks out ‘legends of Saint Margaret, medicines, brevi, and every other thing’.2 In other words, all the usual items available to a pregnant woman to allay her fears and pain. How might the resources used by the young woman in Sacchetti’s story illuminate actual practices and objects in early modern Italy, thus allowing us to better understand women’s lives?