ABSTRACT
In order to elucidate the functions and significance of the Polish child monuments, traditional beliefs and customs concerning the culture of death were considered, while insight into the status of children was provided by considering intrafamilial relationships, family structuring and the attitudes and responses to child death. The discussion of burial rites and attitudes to death in established the traditional ambivalence towards commemorating children and the rationale behind this. The role of funeral monuments was considered, with particular emphasis on Renaissance funeral monuments, including those in Poland. The contextual background for death and commemoration having been established moved on to focus on the child. In Poland, it is argued, the particular ethos and position of the szlachta gave rise to a very particular family model, which enhanced the status of women and valued children as children, and not merely as perpetuators of the family line. It assisted stabilisation of the fragmentation caused by the death of a child.
