A posthumous birth is the birth of a child after the death of a parent. A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person. Most instances of posthumous birth involve the birth of a child after the death of their father, but the term is also applied to infants delivered shortly after the death of the mother, usually by caesarean section.Christine Quigley, The Corpse: A History, McFarland, 1996, , pages 180 to 181.
Legal implications Posthumous birth has special implications in law, potentially affecting the child's citizenship and legal rights, inheritance, and order of succession. Legal systems generally include special provisions regarding inheritance by posthumous children and the legal status of such children. For example, Massachusetts law states that a posthumous child is treated as having been living at the death of the parent, meaning that the child receives the same share of the parent's estate as if the child had been born before the parent's death. Most states recognize a posthumous child born within a set time frame, normally 280 to 300 days after the death of the decedent father.
Another emerging legal issue in the United States is the control of genetic material after the death of the donor. United States law holds that posthumous children of U.S. citizens who are born outside the United States have the same rights to citizenship that they would have had if the deceased U.S. citizen parent had been alive at the time of their birth. In the field of assisted reproduction, snowflake children, i.e. those "adopted" as frozen embryos by people unrelated to them, can result in the birth of a child after the death of one or both of their genetic parents.
In monarchies and nobilities A posthumous birth has special significance in the case of hereditary monarchies and hereditary noble titles following primogeniture. In this system, a monarch's or peer's own child precedes that monarch's or peer's sibling in the order of succession. In cases where the widow of a childless king or nobleman is pregnant at the time of his death, the next-in-line is not permitted to assume the throne or title, but must yield place to the unborn child, or ascends and reigns (in the case of a monarch) or succeeds (in the case of a peer) until the child is born (see Alfonso XIII, Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha or John Pelham, 9th Earl of Chichester).
In monarchies and noble titles that follow male-preference cognatic primogeniture, the situation is similar where the dead monarch or peer was not childless but left a daughter as the next-in-line, as well as a pregnant widow. A posthumous brother would supplant that daughter in the succession, whereas a posthumous sister, being younger, would not. Similarly, in monarchies and noble titles that follow agnatic primogeniture, the sex of the unborn child determines the succession; a posthumous male child would himself succeed, whereas the next-in-line would succeed upon the birth of a posthumous female child.
Modern complications Posthumous conception by artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, whether done using sperm or ova stored before a parent's death or sperm retrieved from a man's corpse, has created new legal issues.Renee H. Sekino, Posthumous Conception: The Birth of a New Class , Boston University Journal of Sci. and Tech. Law, 2001. When a woman is inseminated with her deceased husband's sperm, laws that establish that a sperm donor is not the legal father of the child born as a result of artificial insemination have had the effect of excluding the deceased husband from fatherhood and making the child legally fatherless.
In the United Kingdom before 2000, birth records of children conceived using a dead man's sperm had to identify the infants as fatherless, but in 2000 the government announced that the law would be changed to allow the deceased father's name to be listed on the birth certificate. In 1986, a New South Wales legal reform commission recommended that the law should recognize the deceased husband as the father of a child born from post-mortem artificial insemination, provided that the woman is his widow and unmarried at the time of birth, but the child should have inheritance rights to the father's estate only if the father left a will that included specific provisions for the child.
In 2001, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court was asked to consider whether the father's name should appear on the birth record for a child conceived through artificial insemination after her father's death, as well as whether that child was eligible for U.S. Social Security benefits. The court ruled in January 2002 that a child could be the legal heir of a dead parent if there was a genetic relationship and the deceased parent had both agreed to the posthumous conception and committed to support the child. Different U.S. state courts and federal appellate courts have ruled differently in similar cases. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Astrue v. Capato that twins born 18 months after their father's death using the father's frozen sperm were not eligible for Social Security benefits, which set a new precedent.
Naming In the Middle Ages, it was traditional for posthumous children born in England to be given a matronymic surname instead of a patronymic one. This may in part explain why matronyms are more common in England than in other parts of Europe.Bowman, William Dodgson. The Story of Surnames. London, George Routledge & Sons, Ltd., 1932. No ISBN.
In Ancient Rome, posthumous children of noble birth were often given the cognomen (or third name) 'Postumus'. One example is Agrippa Postumus.
In Yoruba culture, posthumous children are given names that refer to the circumstances concerning the birth. Examples of this include Bàbárímisá, meaning that the Father saw (the child) and ran; Yeyérínsá, meaning that the mother saw (the child) and ran; Ikúdáyísí (or any name with the root dáyísí), which means that death spared the child; and Ẹnúyàmí, meaning that "I was surprised", referring to the fact that the tragic death of the father, mother, or both was sudden and surprising for the family.
Notable people born posthumously Antiquity NameBornLate parentParent diedGapCause of parent's death Bindusara 320 BCE Durdhara 320 BCE Same day Poisoning. He was delivered through caesarean section. Alexander IV August 323 BCE Alexander the Great 11 June 323 BCE 2 months Disease. Cornelia Postuma 77 BCE Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix 78 BCE Disease, possibly related to chronic alcoholic abuse. Agrippa Postumus 12 BCE Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa 12 BCE A few weeks Disease. Rabbi Abaye c. 280 AD c. 280 AD Shapur II 309 AD Hormizd II 309 AD 40 days Assassination. Shapur is said to be the only monarch in history who was crowned in utero. 1 January 362 Constantius II 3 November 361 1 month, 29 days Fever.
Middle Ages NameBornLate parentParent diedGapCause of parent's death Muhammad 570 Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib 569 <6 months Disease while returning from a trade mission in Medina. Umm Kulthum bint Abi Bakr 634 Abu Bakr al-Siddiq 23 August 634 <3 months On 23 August 634, Abu Bakr fell sick and did not recover. He developed a high fever and was confined to bed. His illness was prolonged, and when his condition worsened, he died in Medina. Constantine 1 January 798 Constantine VI 19 April 797 8 months, 13 days Died of wounds after being blinded by his mother, Irene, who proclaimed herself Empress. Robert I 15 August 866 Robert the Strong 2 July 866 1 month, 13 days Killed at the Battle of Brissarthe. Charles the Simple 17 September 879 Louis the Stammerer 10 April 879 5 months, 7 days Disease contracted during a campaign against the Vikings. Al-Mustakfi 11 November 908 al-Muktafi 13 August 908 3 months, 2 days Unspecified illness.Ulf1067Harold Godwinson King of England14 October 1066Killed in the Battle of HastingsHaakon Toresfostre1069Magnus II of Norway King of Norway28 April 1069 Lothair III 1075 Gebhard of Supplinburg 9 June 1075 Killed at the Battle of Langensalza. Henry II 1103 Henry I, Margrave of the Saxon Ostmark 1103 Killed in battle near the Neisse River. Saint Drogo 14 March 1105 His father His mother died in childbirth, leaving him orphan from birth Valdemar I 14 January 1131 Canute Lavard 7 January 1131 7 days Murdered by Magnus the Strong. Raymond II of Turenne 1143 Boson II of Turenne 1143 4 months Constance I 2 November 1154 Roger II 26 February 1154 8 months, 5 days Baldwin V August 1177 William of Montferrat June 1177 2 months Possibly malaria. Arthur I 29 March 1187 Geoffrey II 19 August 1186 7 months, 10 days Disputed. One source claims he was trampled to death in a joust, other that he died of a sudden chest affliction. Maria of Montferrat Summer 1192 Conrad of Montferrat 28 April 1192 A few months Assassination. Theobald I 30 May 1201 Theobald III 24 May 1201 6 days Raymond Nonnatus 1204 His mother 1204 Same day Childbirth. He was retrieved through caesarean section afterward.Haakon IVKing of NorwayMarch/April 1204Haakon IIIKing of Norway1 January 12042-3 monthIllness after a bloodletting, suspicion of poisoning by Margaret of Sweden, Queen of Norway Walter IV 1205 Walter III 14 June 1205 Killed in battle.Erik ErikssonKing of Sweden1216Erik KnutssonKing of Sweden10 April 1216 Natural causes, said to be a fever. Charles I early 1227 Louis VIII 8 November 1226 ?? Dysentery.Gertrude of Aldenberg c.October 1227 Louis IV>br /> 11 September 1227 a few weeks Died of fever going on crusade. Stephen the Posthumous 1236 Andrew II 21 September 1235 at least 2 months Robert II September 1250 Robert I 8 February 1250 7 months Killed in battle. Przemysł II 14 October 1257 Przemysł I 4 June 1257 4 months, 10 days Władysław of Legnica 6 June 1296 Henry V, Duke of Legnica 22 February 1296 4 months Illness following imprisonment. John I 15 November 1316 Louis X 5 June 1316 5 months, 10 days Pneumonia or pleurisy from drinking excess cooled wine after a real tennis match. Isabel de Verdun 21 March 1317 Theobald de Verdun 27 July 1316 7 months, 22 days Typhoid. Maria of Calabria 6 May 1329 Charles 9 November 1328 5 months, 27 days John, 3rd Earl of Kent 7 April 1330 Edmund of Woodstock 19 March 1330 19 days Executed for treason against his nephew, Edward III of England. Charles Martel, Duke of Calabria 25 December 1345 Andrew, Duke of Calabria 18 September 1345 3 months Joan of France May 1351 Philip VI 22 August 1350 9 months Gerhard VII, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg Duke of Schleswig, Count of Holstein1404Gerhard VI, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg4 August 1404Killed in the Battle on the Hamme William of Bavaria-Munich 1435 William III 12 September 1435 up to 3 months Joan of Portugal 31 March 1439 Edward, King of Portugal 9 September 1438 6 months, 22 days Plague. Ladislaus VI 22 February 1440 Albert II 27 October 1439 3 months, 23 days Enrique de Aragón y Pimentel 25 July 1445 Henry, Duke of Villena 15 June 1445 1 month Stroke after being wounded in First Battle of Olmedo. Henry VII 28 January 1457 Edmund Tudor 1 or 3 November 1456 2 months, 25 days Bubonic plague. John Louis 19 October 1472 John II 15 July 1472 3 months, 4 days James III 6 August 1473 James II 10 July 1473 1 month Allegedly poisoned by Venetian agents. Mencía PachecoFranco Silva, A. (2009) "Las mujeres de Juan Pacheco y su parentela." Historia, Instituciones, Documentos. Vol. 36, pgs. 161-182 1474–1475 Juan Pacheco 1 October 1474 Throat ailment. Clement VII 26 May 1478 Giuliano de' Medici 26 April 1478 1 month Assassination in the Pazzi Conspiracy.
16th–18th centuries