Although marriage was not forbidden between Europeans and slaves or other non-Europeans, it was quite rare and entailed a drop in social status for the European. Nevertheless, sexual relationships occurred—sometimes coerced, sometimes by mutual… [more]

Dorothy and Abigail Faulkner: aged 10 and 8

Dorothy Faulkner and Abigail Faulkner, Jr. also lived in Andover, Massachusetts, and their mother was accused of witchcraft as well. While short testimonies, these two children’s stories… [more]

Thomas Carrier: aged 9

Thomas and Martha Carrier lived in Andover, MA , a town lying near to Salem and affected by the turmoil of the Salem Witch Trials. One week after Martha's children were examined by the Court, the accused witch… [more]

Sarah Carrier: aged 7

Thomas and Martha Carrier lived in Andover, MA, a town near Salem caught up in the turmoil of the Salem Witch Trials. Martha Carrier was accused of witchcraft and hung (one week after her children were examined by… [more]

The legal practice described in the source relates the opinion of jurists on the use of children's statements in the courts. According to the source, children may be called upon to testify in cases of personal injury inflicted on one child by… [more]

This module traces the shifting ways that age of consent laws have been defined, debated and deployed worldwide and from the Middle Ages to the present, and explores how such laws figure in debates over the nature of childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, in campaigns against prostitution and child marriage, and teenage pregnancy, as well as struggles to achieve gender and sexual equality.

This Qin-dynasty legal text (c. 217 BCE), written on bamboo strips, was excavated in China in 1975. According to Qin law, men guilty of killing children born to them were punished by becoming wall builders; the equivalent punishment for women was… [more]

The primary sources in this module lay out the historical conditions that made children important topics of intellectual engagement during Han times and explore themes such as nature vs nurture, separation of the sexes and gender differentiation, the concept of the child as an embodiment of cosmic process and heavenly order, and issues surrounding the status of the child in the family, the state and gerontocratic Chinese culture. [more]

The following will belongs to the butcher Phylippinus. The butcher and his wife were a well-off couple, owning at least two shops in Bologna's… [more]

The following will belongs to the butcher Phylippinus' wife. The butcher and his wife were a well-off couple, owning at least two shops in… [more]