ABSTRACT
Stepparents and foster parents have received surprisingly little attention from historians, given that three very strong traditions condemn these relationships. Our fairy tales, dating from the sixteenth century and earlier, give vivid pictures of wicked stepmothers; as we are raised with these stories, one would think we would all be seeking the prototype of Cinderella's stepfamily. Furthermore, historians have long known that high mortality in the pre-modern world meant that stepparents were common, affecting perhaps a third of all children.
