Children in Tudor England
Not Just the Tudors
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The Arres Theory of Childhood
There was a theory that childhood didn't exist in the early modern period. Children were regarded as mini-adults, according to historian Philippe Arres. In medieval art children are not big presents apart from the imprint or on the child Jesus. But by the time children are three, four, five, they're wearing miniature adult clothes,. aren't they? I think there's folk building in a lack of childhood - stories people had heard about chimney sweet boys in Victorian England and girls tugging trucks of coal down in the mines.
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