Medieval Uterus Anatomy

You are looking at a rare Medieval illustration of the anatomy of a uterus. It is highly schematic/abstract, obviously, but the important bits for Medieval people were all there. At the top, you see a fetus (the Latin words used were “embryo,” “conceptus,” and “fetus”), and straight below it is the entrance marked “hec eat via veretri” (“this is the path for the male genitalia”).

Medieval people thought differently about when personhood developed, and this influenced ideas about abortion. Generally speaking, the foetus was thought to develop its body before it got a soul. One of the most important scholars to write about this issue was Albertus Magnus, who borrowed from Aristotle in his ideas that the embryo forms and grows for months before its soul entered its body. Prior to this, the foetus only had animal elements.

Before there was a soul, if a woman terminated her pregnancy she might have been committing a crime according to the Medieval Church, but it was the same crime as if she used birth control or engaged in any sexual activity without the intention of becoming pregnant (intentionally having an orgasm while trying not to get pregnant was considered sodomy, btw).

More on Medieval birth control later this week!