On 25/08/17 02:04, Peter Stewart wrote: > On 25-Aug-17 10:38 AM, Richard Smith wrote: >> In this scenario, [...] Beaufort would have to have been nearly two >> months premature for him to have been conceived after Swnyford's >> death, and I very much doubt a baby that premature would have lived >> before the advent of modern medicine. > > Doubt on what basis? I don't know whether or not a baby could naturally > survive premature birth after seven months gestation, then or now. Based on the fact that before about week 31, a foetus's lungs are still poorly developed, generally to the point that the baby can't breath unaided. Nowadays a surfactant injection is often given, either to the mother immediately prior to giving birth, or to the baby immediately after birth, which is often enough to prevent the lungs from collapsing, though even then a respirator is sometimes needed. These were not options even a century ago, far less in the 14th century. I'm sure there were instances of mediæval babies born this premature who survived nonetheless, but it must have been very rare. Richard

On 25-Aug-17 4:21 PM, Richard Smith wrote: > On 25/08/17 02:04, Peter Stewart wrote: >> On 25-Aug-17 10:38 AM, Richard Smith wrote: >>> In this scenario, [...] Beaufort would have to have been nearly two >>> months premature for him to have been conceived after Swnyford's >>> death, and I very much doubt a baby that premature would have lived >>> before the advent of modern medicine. >> >> Doubt on what basis? I don't know whether or not a baby could naturally >> survive premature birth after seven months gestation, then or now. > > Based on the fact that before about week 31, a foetus's lungs are > still poorly developed, generally to the point that the baby can't > breath unaided.  Nowadays a surfactant injection is often given, > either to the mother immediately prior to giving birth, or to the baby > immediately after birth, which is often enough to prevent the lungs > from collapsing, though even then a respirator is sometimes needed.  > These were not options even a century ago, far less in the 14th > century.  I'm sure there were instances of mediæval babies born this > premature who survived nonetheless, but it must have been very rare. But probably not as rare as someone a century later knowing for certain when the baby was conceived, that people in its lifetime evidently didn't except its parents - who must have been idiots to suppose no-one else could work this out. John of Gaunt was in Roquefort when he married for the second time in September 1371. Perhaps Richard III was clairvoyant also in knowing that Katherine was with him between then and the death of her own husband in November, when their contemporaries hadn't noticed this. Peter Stewart