Birth and death

Birth and death
Severe punishments for sex outside marriage cause many women to attempt to hide their pregnancy and have the child in secret (clandestine birth). This cap was donated to the museum together with a neckerchief and garter in which the child’s body was wrapped. Most likely it belonged to a child who was born and died in secrecy. History is full of such sad and lonely tragedies in which women are held responsible and punished for pregnancy outside marriage while the fathers mostly go free.