Without antiseptics for infection or anesthetics for pain, childbirth was one of the greatest risks a medieval woman ever encountered. Birth took place in an all-female environment where the male world of medicine was of little help. In the case of aristocratic and royal families, expectant mothers could be as young as 13.

Because it was very easy to initiate by simply exchanging words of consent, marriage in the Middle Ages was simple to get into--but extremely difficult to get out of. Try as it might to impose its order on the matrimonial free-for-all, the Church found it no easy matter to regulate the most unpredictable of human emotions, love and lust.

In the medieval world, death was always close at hand, for young and old, rich and poor alike. But rather than seeing death as an end, people thought of it as a doorway to everlasting life, and much of their time and effort in this life was spent getting ready for the next.