"A Wryed Existence": Attitudes Toward Children in Anglo-Saxon England

Abstract

The theory of rediscovered childhood, as it has been called, was first proposed by French historians Philippe Aries and Pierre Riche. According to Aries and Riche, although intellectuals in the ancient world were aware of the differences and the transition between childhood and adulthood, the medieval world lost this distinction. They believed that children were only 'rediscovered' in the sixteenth century.1 This popular theory of medieval childhood is still evident in such historians as Barbara Greenleaf, who summarizes the point of view: