Doing it When You're Young....

Article by Alex Martin. Edited by Victoria Ryves. Additional Research by Jack Barnes

For some reason the History of youth is a relatively neglected field of study for the historical profession. None of the biases so prevalent in early history such as racism, sexism and eurocentrism can be easily applied to the group. The young have always been around and every historian was at some point young. So, why the dearth of historiography on the topic?  Perhaps there is a lack of artefacts and sources (young people are less likely to have written anything down, for example.)  Maybe the fact that the lens of cultural history used to study the young is relatively new. Whatever the cause the fact that children are an historiographic afterthought has left a wide gap in the literature for historians to explore. This article will be focusing on the unusual movements, events, tragedies and individuals that youth culture and youth have produced.

Edelweiss Pirates 

Fortunately in my young life freedom was abundant, only hampered by loving parents and a lack of I.D. in the pub.  However, for far too many in the past the ability to do as one would like was severely hampered by the government, often leading to teenage angsty rebellion. The most famous of these angsty groups, the Edelweiss Pirates, took on history’s most infamous regime, Hitler’s Nazi Germany. The group of 14 to 17 year olds avoided both the Hitler Youth and compulsory military service by dropping out of school at the first available opportunity. Early in their existence they were only punished with social sanctions such as being released on bail with their heads shaved, or being refused service at Nazi loyal places of business. However, the actions of the Pirates became more aggressive and destabilising to the Nazis. As the German state became more totalitarian as World War two dragged on reprisals became more severe. Some were sent to concentration camps and others were executed. Most famously six members of the Pirates who were active in the Ehrenfelder Gruppe resistance movement in Cologne were executed on 10th November 1944. Despite such harsh reprisals the Pirates remained active until well after the fall of the Nazi party, some taking anti-communist stances, others taking an anti-allied forces position. Their appeal was not exclusively political; in fact more often than not the teens were more interested in drinking, travelling and consorting with the opposite sex (something that would never have been allowed within the confines of the Hitler Youth and the League of German Girls). They were angry, violent, alcohol fuelled rebels prepared to die for the freedom to party and pull. The Beastie Boys would have been proud: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBShN8qT4lk

The Children’s Crusade 

The Children’s Crusade of 1212 is a tale of Christian religious fervour that inspired the youth of continental Europe to attempt to peacefully convert the inhabitants of the Holy Land. A child who had been visited by the son of God found he now had not only the divinely ordained task of converting the entire Middle East but could now perform miracles! His new abilities led him to gain over three thousand followers who followed him to the Mediterranean, which was meant to part allowing the followers to safely cross and begin their conversion tour. However after the Mediterranean remained unparted the crusade of younglings were left bereft of a way of crossing the sea. The children enlisted the help of two local seafaring merchants who were willing to help the pious cause. The ships never made it to land. Either the merchants were duplicitous and sold the children into slavery, or they became shipwrecked of San Pietro Island. Or so the story goes.  Recent scholarship suggests that translation errors, particularly the interpretation of the Latin word pueri suggests that people of all ages made the journey in an attempt to convert the moors.

Child Rulers 

The Constitution of the U.S.A ensures that a person must be at least 35 to be President or Vice President, 30 to be a Senator, or 25 to be a Representative in the House. Possibly the founding fathers had looked back in history and witnessed some of the results that having overly youthful leaders could lead to. Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thụy (or Bao Dai) began his rule of Vietnam at the tender age of 13, and in part through a series of his decisions that were less than wise, the Vietnam War broke out and lasted 20 long years. Emperor Ruzi of Han, also known as Ying the Kid, lost his kingdom to Emperor Wang Mang after being installed as king by the Emperor. Unfortunately for Ying the Kid after losing his Kingdom to the nefarious Emperor Wang Mang he died at the young age of 20 in very suspicious circumstances. Edward the Martyr, another monarch who began his reign at the start of his teenage years, enjoyed another short and unsuccessful reign. The beginning of his reign began discouragingly when a comet was sighted (something considered a very bad omen.) Not only was there a famine in the early years of his reign but there was also a civil war between the two most powerful noblemen in his kingdom; Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia and Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia. The failure to contain and/or prevent these problems led to the opportunistic assassination of the young King in 978 in Corfe Castle, County Dorset. However, age restrictions aren’t always the most efficient ways to ensure good leaders. The twelve year old Songtsän Gampo founded the Tibetan Empire around 650 which lasted until Communist China’s complete takeover of the region. Oh, and his webbed feet led him to be worshipped like a God! 

Lina Medina

Lina Medina did one of the most spectacular things for a young person to do. She gave birth. At five years old! Lina was born in Ticrapo, Peru, to silversmith Tiburelo Medina and Victoria Losea in 1933. Her parents took her to hospital and she was initially thought to have had a tumour. Her physicians diagnosed that she was seven months pregnant. Dr. Gerardo Lozada accompanied her to Lima, the capital of Peru, before the operation to have other consultants authenticate that Lina was in fact pregnant. Lina never revealed who the father was, although her father was suspected. She also shunned the spotlight in favour of raising her child as quietly as possible. Articles in the Peruvian paper La Crónica claimed that a North American film company sent a representative ‘with authority to offer the sum of $5000 to benefit the minor (in exchange for filming rights) … we know that the offer was rejected.’ In the same article, reprinted in a Chicago paper, said that Dr. Lozada had filmed Medina for scientific/medical documentation and had shown the films whilst giving a talk to Peru’s National Academy of Medicine. Lina had another child at the less youthful and more usual age of 33.

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