• Underwaterbob@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    More time off to take care of the fourteen children you need to have to keep your farm going.

    • ickplant@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      If one dies, I’ll just pop another out, right in the field. Cut the cord, and he can get to work.

      • Wogi@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        There was a much higher likelihood of dying during childbirth too.

        Families with more than 4 or 5 children were almost certainly blended families.

          • Wogi@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Childbirth was the primary cause of death for women in the middle ages

            Your great grandmother had the benefit of centuries of modernization that the women we’re talking about did not. And even then, she was probably an outlier.