Baptism
The primary purpose of baptism was to wash away original sin and drive all evil from the newborn child. So important was this sacrament to the Catholic Church that the usual opposition to women performing sacerdotal duties was overcome for fear an infant might die unbaptized. Midwives were authorized to perform the rite if the child was unlikely to survive and there was no man nearby to do it. If the mother died in childbirth, the midwife was supposed to cut her open and extract the baby so that she could baptize it.1
Baptism had another significance: it welcomed a new Christian soul into the community. The rite conferred a name on the infant that would identify him throughout his life, however short it might be. The official ceremony in the church would establish lifelong ties to his godparents, who were not supposed to be related to their godchild through any blood or marriage link. Thus, from the very beginning of his life, the medieval child had a relationship to the community beyond that defined by kinship.
The role of godparents was mainly spiritual: they were to teach their godchild his prayers and instruct him in faith and morals. The relationship was considered as close as a blood link, and marriage to one's godchild was prohibited.2 Because godparents were expected to bestow gifts on their godchild, there was some temptation to designate many godparents, so the number had been limited by the Church to three: a godmother and two godfathers for a son; a godfather and two godmothers for a daughter.
Great care was taken when selecting prospective godparents; they might be chosen from among the parents' employers, guild members, friends, neighbors, or lay clergy. No one from a family that the parents hoped or planned to marry the child into would be asked. Generally, at least one of the godparents would be of a higher social status than the parent.3
A child was usually baptized on the day he was born. The mother would stay at home, not only to recuperate, but because the Church generally followed the Jewish custom of keeping women from holy places for several weeks after giving birth. The father would assemble the godparents, and together with the midwife they would all bring the child to the church. This procession would frequently include friends and relatives, and could be quite festive.
The priest would meet the baptismal party at the church door. Here he would ask if the child had been baptized yet and whether it was a boy or a girl. Next he would bless the baby, put salt in its mouth to represent the reception of wisdom, and exorcise any demons. Then he would test the godparents' knowledge of the prayers they were expected to teach the child: the Pater Noster, Credo, and Ave Maria.
Now the party entered the church and proceeded to the baptismal font. The priest would anoint the child, immerse him in the font, and name him. One of the godparents would raise the baby up from the water and wrap him in a christening gown. The gown, or crysom, was made of white linen and might be decorated with seed pearls; less wealthy families might use a borrowed one. The last part of the ceremony took place at the altar, where the godparents made the profession of faith for the child. The participants would then all return to the parents' house for a feast.
The entire procedure of baptism mustn't have been a pleasant one for the newborn. Removed from the comfort of its home (not to mention its mother's breast) and carried out into the cold, cruel world, having salt shoved into its mouth, immersed in water that could be dangerously cold in winter -- all this must have been a jarring experience. But for the family, the godparents, friends, and even the community at large, the ceremony heralded the arrival of a new member of society. From the trappings that went with it, it was an occasion that appears to have been a welcome one.
Next time, we'll look at what life was like for the newborn and his family. Please join me for The Medieval Child, Part 3: Surviving Infancy.
The Medieval Child Table of Contents
Notes
1. Hanawalt, Barbara, Growing Up in Medieval London (Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 44.
2. Gies, Frances, and Gies, Joseph, Marriage and the Family in the Middle Ages (Harper & Row, 1987), p. 278.
3. Hanawalt, Growing Up in Medieval London, p. 49.
Sources and Suggested Reading
The links below will take you to a site where you can compare prices at booksellers across the web. More in-depth info about the book may be found by clicking on to the book's page at one of the online merchants.
Growing
Up in Medieval London: The Experience of Childhood in
History
by Barbara A. Hanawalt
The
Ties that Bound: Peasant Families in Medieval England
by Barbara A. Hanawalt
Medieval
Children
by Nicholas Orme
Marriage
and the Family in the Middle Ages
by Frances and Joseph Gies
The
Renaissance Man and His Children: Childbirth and Early Childhood in
Florence 1300-1600
by Louis Haas
