ABSTRACT
A century or two ago some 8% to 12% of the Europeans who survived the dangerous first years of life lived into old age (Laslett 1977, pp. 186–188). During the sixth decade of their lives they entered an extended period when their diminished capacity to work threatened their customary roles in the family household. Then their prospects began to vary greatly, ranging from growing uselessness amidst plenty in the upper orders to malnutrition and begging in the lower orders. Because survival was tied so closely to work, all aging people felt fearful to some extent and sought ways of coping with such fears. Their manner of coping and being coped with, the settings in which they lived out the last phase of their lives, and the physical problems that beset them all have been the subjects of old-age research among European historians for about a decade now, and these efforts have produced a small but impressive assemblage of findings (e.g., Conrad & von Kondratowicz 1983; Imhof 1981, 1982; Laslett 1977; Mitterauer & Sieder 1982; Stearns 1977, 1982).
