"Tremors" "Nervousness" "Confined to her bed"
Often I read about this happening to women and/or grief-stricken women in european/early US history. I was told by a high school teacher once that many of these women (between the ages of 20 and 40) already had so little power in life that losing a husband stripped them of enough power/privilege as to trigger a nervous breakdown. Even so, its hard to believe this could be as deadly as it seems. I just realized I hadn't questioned this idea in years and you all probably have more satisfying answers.
I've looked on the FAQs about women and found nothing, which makes me wonder if this is not as common as I seem to think it is.
It's hardly women- specific issue. Unless person died violently or he was really old, historians usually have a hard time pin down exact reason. We don't know what exactly killed Arthur Tudor or Saladin, for example. I seen discussion- some 7-8 years back- were people argued over what exactly was Plague of Justinian (some descriptions of it do not fall in line with Bubonic Plague, it seems).
I was told by a high school teacher once that many of these women (between the ages of 20 and 40) already had so little power in life that losing a husband stripped them of enough power/privilege as to trigger a nervous breakdown.
That's just stupid. I'm sorry if thats offensive, but really... If anything, death of husband gave power to women. Laws of inheritance varied in different periods and regions, but as a general rule wife is first or one of the first persons in line of inheritance entitled to large portion (or all) of inheritance. Widows were most independent females in preindustrial Europe.