“She behaved like an honourable woman, treated her with care, and did not in the least harm her.”

Perceptions of childbirth and midwife assistance in the testimonies given in the litigation between Justine Siegemund and Martin Kerger

Abstract

Justina Siegemund (1636–1705), the court midwife of Brandenburg and author of the treatise on obstetrics Die Chur-Brandenburgische Hoff-Wehe-Mutter, published in Cologne in 1690, is one of the most notable figures in the history of obstetrics. In 1680–1685, she was a defendant in a lawsuit against the town doctor Martin Kerger in Liegnitz, Silesia, for allegedly forcibly interfering in the birthing process. The paper analyses the testimonies of the mothers, their husbands, other participants in the births, and midwives, preserved in the municipal archive in Liegnitz and partially reprinted in the obstetric treatise by Justina Siegemund. It aims to offer a view of early modern midwifery from below, through the eyes of its immediate actors, and to interpret the testimonies in the context of the Patientengeschichte.