Performative Rituals for Conception and Childbirth in England, 900-1500.

"A preliminary form of this article was delivered at the Conference of the ISFNR Committee on Charms, Charmers, and Charming, “Oral Charms in Structural and Comparative Light,” Moscow, October 27–29, 2011, and appears in the proceedings, ed. Andrey Toporkov, 110–15, http://www.isfnr.org/index2.html (accessed August 2, 2014). The authors are grateful to the participants in the Communicating Reproduction conference in Cambridge in December 2011 for their stimulating responses and comments, and to Lauren Kassell in particular for her subsequent guidance. The anonymous referees have also given us constructive help, for which we thank them. This research was supported by Wellcome Trust grant 088708."