I should add that Charlotte von Knyphausen embodies a different feature of the 18th century that surprised cahn: that first birth in 1717 took place when Charlotte was still 14 years old. (Her husband was 38.)
If you catch women early enough in their childbearing years, you can get a lot of kids out of them every 1-2 years! If, you know, they don't die in childbirth or have their organs ruined entirely*. I'm reminded of one of my great-grandmothers, who got started at age 14 and had 15 children live to adulthood, plus a few die as babies. I don't have birthdates, but she must have been doing the "3 kids in 4 years" thing numerous times.
* Not that she was married young (22), but I still wonder how Wilhelmine managed to get pregnant within about 10 days of her wedding and then never again, despite a loving marriage. Organ damage is still my best explanation.
Btw, I got curious and looked it up, and Marie Louise of Savoy, wife of Philip "the Frog" V, despite being married at 12, at least didn't start having children until she was 18. Not for lack of sex: she didn't want to consummate the marriage on her wedding night, and Philip wasn't going to make her, but when Grandpa Louis XIV found out, he was all, "No, you SHOW her who's boss! You rape that child!" (essentially) And then they did start having sex shortly thereafter.
In other words, our days of being stupendously grateful we don't live in the past are certainly coming to a middle.
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Re: Baroness von Knyphausen's illegitimate child
Date: 2025-06-28 11:19 am (UTC)If you catch women early enough in their childbearing years, you can get a lot of kids out of them every 1-2 years! If, you know, they don't die in childbirth or have their organs ruined entirely*. I'm reminded of one of my great-grandmothers, who got started at age 14 and had 15 children live to adulthood, plus a few die as babies. I don't have birthdates, but she must have been doing the "3 kids in 4 years" thing numerous times.
* Not that she was married young (22), but I still wonder how Wilhelmine managed to get pregnant within about 10 days of her wedding and then never again, despite a loving marriage. Organ damage is still my best explanation.
Btw, I got curious and looked it up, and Marie Louise of Savoy, wife of Philip "the Frog" V, despite being married at 12, at least didn't start having children until she was 18. Not for lack of sex: she didn't want to consummate the marriage on her wedding night, and Philip wasn't going to make her, but when Grandpa Louis XIV found out, he was all, "No, you SHOW her who's boss! You rape that child!" (essentially) And then they did start having sex shortly thereafter.
In other words, our days of being stupendously grateful we don't live in the past are certainly coming to a middle.