ABSTRACT
Childbirth at the early modern court was inherently political. It promised dynastic continuity and political stability as well as diplomatic opportunity through the marital alliances of the children. If childbirth was highly politicised, it was also highly ritualised and provided a stage for material magnificence. Preparations, rituals, furnishings and decorations for royal births and lying-in were carefully calculated to promote the magnificence of the monarch and dynasty and to conform to contemporary medical opinion. This chapter illuminates the main stages of royal childbirth in early modern Europe, beginning with claims to fertility, proceeding to pregnancy, practical preparations for the birth in furnishing rooms, supplying linens and securing suitable staff, to the birth itself and the lying-in period. The focus is on early modern England and France, especially royal births at the Stuart and Bourbon courts, but comparative examples are also drawn from the Spanish Habsburgs, the Gonzagas in Mantua and the German electoral principalities.
