Intro
Contents
List of Figures
1 Introduction
The Relevance of Infertility: Current Complaints and Historical Cases
Analytical Perspectives: Questions of Identity and Critique of Normativity
Key Concept: On the Plurality and Diversity of (In)Fertility
Notes
2 Theology: Salvation Stories of (In)Fertility
Hebrew Bible Stories: Infertility as Disgrace
Divine Mandate to Multiply
Rachel's and Hannah's Childlessness
Onan's Refusal to Reproduce
Promises for the Barren
New Testament Statements: Critique of Family
Miraculous Birth in Luke
Jesus' Critique of Family
Paul's Ideal of Chastity
Patristic and Scholastic Doctrine: Sex and Sin
Reformulations of the Mandate to Multiply
Recommendations for Reducing Pleasure
Required Reproductive Readiness
Josephite Marriage as a Model
Luther's Doctrine of Marriage: Fertility as an Urge
The Elemental Urge
Concepts of Marriage and Gender
Prospects
Notes
3 Medicine: Body Concepts of (In)Fertility
Premodern Notions of Reproduction: Seed Theories and Teachings on Sex
Ancient Knowledge of Procreation
Medieval Knowledge of Conception
Sex as Preventive Health Care
Medical Diagnoses: Physical Causes of Childlessness
Imbalances in the Body
Sterility Tests
Seven Barriers to Reproduction
Nature and Morality
Methods of Promoting Fertility: Hormone Therapy and Fertility Girdles
Sophisticated Remedies
Baths, Incenses, and Ointments
Animal Testicles and Human Milk
Medicine and Magic
The Medicalized Sex: 'Being a Woman' Equals 'Being Ill'
Pathologizing Women
Anne of Bohemia and Her Longing for Children
Bikini Medicine in the Middle Ages
Prospects
Notes
4 Jurisprudence: Laws on (In)Fertility
Ecclesiastical Marriage Law: Impotent Men and Women Who Want Children.

Impotence as an Impediment to Marriage
Women Longing for Children
Evidence of Impotence
Potency Problems of a Different Kind
Inheritance Law: Childless Testators and Chosen Children
Privileged Heirs
Child or Church?
Adoption, Affatomy, and Anwünschung
Criminal Law: Castrated Men and Complaining Women
The Value of Fertility
Castration as Punishment
Women's Complaints about Castration
Prospects
Notes
5 Demonology: Metaphysics of (In)Fertility
Demonic Magic: Impotence from Love's Revenge
The Power of Evil
Narrative evidence
Penis Stealing
Barbara's Confession
Demonic Means: Legal and Illegal Ways to Have a Child
The Demonologists' Diagnosis
Prohibited means
Rooting Out the Causes
Demonic Infertility: The Devil's Reproductive Techniques
Union With the Devil
Demonic Semen Transfer
Defining fatherhood
Demonic Fertility: The Devil's and Witches' Children
Phantom Pregnancy
Changelings
Family Stigma
Prospects
Notes
6 Ethics: Ideals of Life with (In)Fertility
Marriage Laments: The Fortune of the Childfree
Reproductive Concerns Circulate
Freedom Through Childlessness
Abelard at the Crossroads
The Ambivalence of Parenthood
Wedding Speeches: The Fortune of Parents
Children as an Investment in the Future
Family Happiness and the Joys of Fatherhood
Children as Treasure and Bond of Love
Having Children as a Salvific Experience
Infertility Catechesis: The Misfortune of Childless Women
Pastoral Care for Infertile Women
Advice to Accept Stigma
Prospects
Notes
7 Epilogue
Uneven Visibility: Childless Men and Childless Women
Narrating Childlessness: Stories Told and Stories Untold
Comparative (In)Fertility Research: Analogies and Differences
Notes
Bibliography
Index.