Childhood in the English Renaissance

This volume assembles case studies from the fields of literary studies, cultural studies, philosophy, history, science and the visual arts in order to examine the heterogeneous manifestations of childhood in the English Renaissance. Addressing a wide range of topics such as birth, child care, children’s literature, children in literature, children in politics, royal children, or children’s death, the articles raise the question in how far the diverse constructs of childhood in the English Renaissance can be said to form a veritable discourse. Can one discern a systematic, even strategic connection between different areas of knowledge or practices that were interlinked and endowed with certain functions or implications? What is at stake in this volume is, therefore, not whether children and childhood were considered important or treated with affection in the Renaissance, but whether the conceptualization of childhood in form of a discourse can already be found in early modern times.