In Henry’s quest for a bouncing baby boy who wasn’t a bastard (he’d already fathered a boy with mistress Bessie Blount but he didn’t count), he was fortunate to marry Wife #3, Jane Seymour. Jane was not so fortunate. Although she was able to give the king his male heir, she died two weeks later from what is usually credited as puerperal fever.

What is puerperal fever? In short, it’s an infection of the uterus which causes a fever above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. I should know: I had it right after each of my kids was born. As this is the 21st century, I simply was given antibiotics through an IV drip for a few days, and was soon changing diapers and getting no sleep whatsoever. But I disgress. The point is, puerperal infection does still happen for new moms in this day and age, especially when that new mom has had a C-section (which I did).

But in Jane’s day, and through the 19th century, it was very common for new moms to bite the dust in this way. For one thing, there were no antibiotics to treat the infection. And it was much easier to become infected in the first place because “All employees must wash hands before delivering each baby” signs were not hanging up where doctors were working back then. The docs didn’t wash their instruments off either, let alone sterilize them.

It’s a wonder any new mothers survived at all, if you think about it. It’s even more amazing to think of those who survived childbirth multiple times prior to the advent of antibiotics and good hygenie practices. Queen Charlotte, wife of George III (the one who lost the American colonies), had 15 children back in the 18th century. About a hundred years before that, Queen Anne gave birth at least a dozen times (some babies were born alive, some not).  The medieval queen Eleanor, wife of Edward I, had 16 children in the 13th century.

Some people are just lucky, I guess.  Jane Seymour wasn’t one of them.