Medieval ’birthing girdle’ parchment was worn during labour

Medieval English Birth Scroll. MS.632 (c. Wellcome Collection Credit: Image courtesy of Wellcome Collection Scientists have used proteomic techniques to find evidence of vaginal fluid, along with honey and milk, on a rare manuscript from the late 15th century. There are suggestions that due to the dimensions of the object - long and narrow - they were worn like a chastity belt, to help support the pregnant women both physically and spiritually Sarah Fiddyment Researchers have found direct evidence that a 500-year-old manuscript was worn during childbirth by using "biomolecular analysis" to detect ancient proteins from cervico-vaginal fluid within the weave of the parchment. The medieval "birthing girdle", now part of the Wellcome Collection, dates from around 1500, and is a rare example of the kind of talisman or relic that was offered to anxious pregnant women by the Pre-Reformation English Church. Childbearing in medieval Europe was perilous, with risks ranging from uterine prolapse to postpartum infection. Complications during or resulting from labour caused a high death toll among women: neonatal mortality rates of the time for mother and child together are estimated to have been 30 to 60 per cent.