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Grace, Lady of Cassio

My novel, Grace, Lady of Cassio, The Lovages of Cassio, Book Two, the sequel to Yvonne, Lady of Cassio, will be published in October 2021.
At heart I am a historian, so my novels are rich in historical detail which requires intensive research. I am writing almost drowned by a sea of non-fiction books for research among which is The Perfect King, Edward 111, Father of the English Nation. Grace, Lady of Cassio, begins in 1330 England in the third year of Edward’s reign.
In this BWL insider blog and in future ones I shall share some of my research.

Contraception and Childbirth
Coitus interruptus was the only means of preventing contraception. The church regarded it as sinful. If the sinners confessed their penance might result in up to ten-year-fast. The church condemned contraception. It considered marriage was only for procreation and that the marital state was inferior to chastity. Moreover, the church only allowed intercourse to take place on Monday to Friday if there was not an obligatory fast or festival on one of those days.
Nevertheless, despite the Church’s strictures, it seems that various devices were used to prevent sperm entering the womb, amongst which the ancient use of melted beeswax, onion, or roots, continued. Also, the belief that a woman would not become pregnant while nursing a baby was an incentive to avoid unwanted pregnancy. Understandable when a wife might have a dozen or more babies.
Childbirth was dangerous for mother and baby. Pregnant women made their confession, received Holy Communion. No pain relief was available for women in travail. The church had no sympathy for the mother-to-be because Eve suffered without pain relief so they depended on superstition, Complicated rituals of childbirth such a knife under the birthing stool to cut the pain, prayers to St Margaret the patron saint of mothers, and a precious stone – a favourite was an eagle stone – bound around the mother’s thigh.
Queens, princesses, and noblewomen withdrew to their bedchambers six weeks prior to the confinement. Then, to avoid claims that the baby was a changeling gave birth in public. Midwives attended those who could afford to employ them, female relatives attended peasants. After the delivery, if the mother could spare the time, she stayed in her bedchamber for forty days. On the forty-first day, whatever her circumstances, to cleanse her of impurity, she went to church, where, in a special service she was cleansed of impurity believed to reside in her.
It is interesting to note the cost of a woman’s life in France. A person who murdered a woman was fined. For killing a woman who had passed the menopause. 100 livres (100 pounds). For a woman of child-bearing age. 200 livres. For a pregnant woman. 700 livres.

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