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A caul is a piece of membrane that can cover a newborn's head and face.^[1] Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in less than 1 in 80,000 births.^[2] The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or midwife upon birth of the child.^{[citation needed]}

An en-caul birth is different from a caul birth in that the infant is born inside the entire amniotic sac (instead of just a portion of it). The sac balloons out at birth, with the amniotic fluid and child remaining inside the unbroken or partially broken membrane.^{[citation needed]}

Types

A child 'born with the caul' has a portion of a birth membrane remaining on the head. There are two types of caul membranes,^{[clarification needed]} and such cauls can appear in four ways.^{[clarification needed]}^{[citation needed]}

The most common caul type is a piece of the thin translucent inner lining of the amnion that breaks away and forms tightly against the head during birth.^[3] Such a caul typically clings to the head and face but on rarer occasions drapes over the head and partly down the torso.^{[citation needed]}

Removal

The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or midwife upon birth of the child. If the membrane is of the amniotic tissue, it is removed by easily slipping it away from the child's skin. The removal of the thicker membrane is more complex. If done correctly, the attending practitioner will make a small incision in the membrane across the nostrils so that the child can breathe. The loops are then carefully removed from behind the ears. The remainder of the caul is then either peeled back very carefully from the skin or else gently rubbed with a sheet of paper, which is then peeled away. If removed too quickly, the caul can leave wounds on the infant's flesh at the attachment points, which might leave permanent scars.^[3]

Epidemiology

Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births. This statistic includes en-caul births, which occur more frequently than authentic caul births; therefore, authentic caul births are even more rare than indicated by the raw statistic.Most en-caul births are premature.^[4]^{[better source needed]}

Folk traditions

According to Aelius Lampridius, the boy-emperor Diadumenian (208–218) was so named because he was born with a diadem formed by a rolled caul.^{[citation needed]}

In medieval times, the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck.^[5] It was considered an omen that the child was destined for greatness. Gathering the caul onto paper was considered an important tradition of childbirth: the midwife would rub a sheet of paper across the baby's head and face, pressing the material of the caul onto the paper. The caul would then be presented to the mother, to be kept as an heirloom. Some Early Modern European traditions linked caul birth to the ability to defend fertility and the harvest against the forces of evil, particularly witches and sorcerers.^[a]

Folklore developed suggesting that possession of a baby's caul would bring its bearer good luck and protect that person from death by drowning. Cauls were therefore highly prized by sailors. Medieval women often sold them to sailors for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable talisman.^[7]

In Polish the idiom w czepku urodzony/a ('born in a bonnet'), in Italian nato/a con la camicia ('born with a shirt') and in French né(e) coiffé(e) ('born with a hat on') all describe a person who is always very lucky.^{[citation needed]}

The Russian phrase родился в рубашке (rodilsya v rubashke, literally 'born in a shirt') refers to caul birth and means 'born lucky'. It is often applied to someone who is oblivious to an impending disaster that is avoided only through luck, as if the birth caul persists as supernatural armor, and in this sense commonly appears in titles or descriptions of Russian dashcam videos.^{[citation needed]}

Not all cultural beliefs about cauls are positive. In Romanian folklore babies born with a caul are said to become strigoi upon death.^[8]^[9] It was also believed that "he who is born to be hanged will never drown" - that anyone born with a caul was destined to leave the world in a hangman's hood in place of the caul with which they were born. The belief in cauls as omens persisted well into the 20th century.^[10]

The 16th-century Dutch physician Levinus Lemnius, author of The Secret Miracles of Nature, remained skeptical of superstitious claims about preserved cauls. Comic writer Thomas Hood even ended his poem "The Sea-Spell" with a lament about a drowning sailor's futile reliance on a protection charm:^[10]

Heaven never heard his cry,
Nor did the ocean heed his caul.

Notable people born "in the caul"

Barbara Barondess^[11] (1907–2000), American actress
Edwin Booth^[12] (1833–1893), American actor
Lord Byron^[13]
Gabriele d'Annunzio^[14]
J. G. Farrell, novelist^[15]^[16]
Charles Haughey, Taoiseach na hÉireann (Prime Minister of Ireland)
George Formby, English comedian
Roksana Węgiel, Polish musical artist
James VI, King of Scotland and England
Sigmund Freud^[17]
Johnny Giles^[18]
Lillian Gish^[19]
Liberace
Edna St. Vincent Millay^[20]
Kim Woodburn^[21]
Jonas Salk^[22]
Abraham Ribicoff^[23]
Nancy Wake^[24]^[25]
Charles XII of Sweden
Lee Shelton (disputed)
Joseph Smith
Andrew Jackson Davis^[26]

In popular culture

In the classic 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, the title character and novel narrator describes his own birth: "I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas." Copperfield goes on to describe the fate of his caul, which was re-sold and raffled over the subsequent decade as a talisman believed to protect its owner from death by drowning.^[27]

In the novel Oscar and Lucinda by Peter Carey, Theophilus Hopkins, father of the hero, Oscar, gives to his son a little box, inside which there is "a caul, the little membrane that had covered Oscar's head at birth and it had been kept, his mother had kept it, because it was said – superstitiously, of course – that such a thing would protect the child from drowning".^[28]

An en caul birth is depicted in the episode "Heavy Hangs the Head" (S03E01) of the Apple TV+ science fiction series See.^[29]

Other depictions include:

In 1980 horror film The Shining, Danny Torrance is born with a caul, possibly causing his clairvoyant abilities.
In Barbara Kingsolver's novel Demon Copperhead (2022), the protagonist is born with a caul, with the superstition that he could not die by drowning.
In the FX series The Strain, Zach is born in a caul in S3 Episode 3 "First Born".
In J.D. Salinger's novel The Catcher in the Rye, the protagonist is significantly^{[citation needed]} named Holden Caulfield.

Notes

^ The story of these so-called benandanti is recounted in Carlo Ginzburg's 1983 study.^[6]

References

^ "caul". Thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
^ Malik, Rohail; Sarfraz, Adil; Faroqui, Raihan; Onyebeke, William; Wanerman, Jeffrey (30 April 2018). "Extremely Preterm (23 Weeks) Vaginal Cephalic Delivery En Caul and Subsequent Postpartum Intraventricular Hemorrhage and Respiratory Distress: A Teaching Case". Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2018: e5690125. doi:10.1155/2018/5690125. ISSN 2090-6684. PMC 5952438. PMID 29854514.
^ ^a ^b Forbes, Thomas R. (June 1953). "The Social History of the Caul". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 25 (6): 495–508. ISSN 0044-0086. PMC 2599448. PMID 13078640. Direct PDF link.
^ "Caul, or Face Veil, Occasionally Present at Birth". "Dear Doctor" is a compilation of patient questions answered by doctors from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Health Link. 24 January 2005. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008.
^ Campion, Vikki (31 December 2008). "Dolores Pancaldi's birth in protective membrane". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 October 2011 – via News.com.au.
^ Ginzburg, Carlo (1983). The night battles: Witchcraft and agrarian cults in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Translated by Tedeschi, John; Tedeschi, Anne (1st ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. doi:10.4324/9780203819005. ISBN 0710095074.
^ Oliver, Harry (2006). "12: Birth". Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers: The origins of old wives' tales and superstitions in our everyday lives. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 141–160. ISBN 978-0-399-53609-0.
^ Andreesco, Ioanna (2004). Où sont passés les vampires ? (in French). Payot. ISBN 978-2-228-89913-0.
^ Barber, Paul (2010). Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16481-7.
^ ^a ^b Read, Sara (October 2022). "How were the births of babies born with cauls viewed in the past?". Q&A: A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts. BBC History Magazine. Vol. 23, no. 10. Immediate Media Company London Ltd. p. 57 – via Issuu.
^ Barondess MacLean, Barbara (1986). One Life is Not Enough. Hippocrene Books: New York.
^ Giblin, James (2005). Good brother, bad brother: The story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. New York: Clarion Books. p. 7. ISBN 0-618-09642-6.
^
- Trueblood, Paul Graham (1969) [1977 reprint]. Lord Byron. Boston: Twayne Publishers. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8057-6694-3.
- Ellingson, Katharine (1998). "Byron: His Life". Teachers – Eden Prairie High School. (Archived)
^ Hughes-Hallett, Lucy (2013). The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio – poet, seducer and preacher of war. Fourth Estate, p. 90. ISBN 978-0-00-721395-5.
^ Greacen, Lavinia (1999). J.G. Farrell: The making of a writer. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-7475-4463-0.
^ "The Siege of Krishnapur – About the Authors". New York Review Books. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 May 2010.
^ Morgalis, D. P. (1989). "Freud and his Mother". Modern Psychoanalysis. 14 (1): 37–56. Retrieved 15 October 2011 – via PEP Web Archive | Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing.
^ Giles, John (2010). A Football Man: The Autobiography. Hodder & Soughton. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-444-72096-9.
^ Affron, Charles (2002). Lillian Gish: Her legend, her life. Berkeley (US): University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-520-23434-5.
^ Milford, Nancy (2002). Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Random House. p. 18. ISBN 0-375-76081-4.
^ Woodburn, Kim (7 September 2006). Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 0-340-92221-4.
^ Jacobs, Charlotte DeCroes. "Dr. Jonas Salk, the Knight in a White Lab Coat: An Interview". History News Network.
^ Tolchin, Martin (30 July 1974). "Ribicoff's Charmed Life: From Poverty to Power". The New York Times.
^ "Nancy Wake dead, aged 98. Extract by Peter Fitzsimons". Mamamia. 8 August 2011.
^ Fitzsimons, Peter (2002). Nancy Wake: A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 0732274567.
^ Davis, Andrew Jackson (1867). The Magic Staff: An Autobiography of Andrew Jackson Davis. Boston: Bella Marsh. p. 66.
^ Dickens, Charles (2008) [First published 1850]. David Copperfield. Oxford University Press. p. 1.
^ Carey, Peter (1988). Oscar and Lucinda. St. Lucia, Queensland (Australia): University of Queensland Press (UQP). p. 215. ISBN 0-7022-2116-3.
^ Lock, Adam (26 August 2022). "See season 3, episode 1 recap – the premiere explained". Ready Steady Cut. Retrieved 7 September 2022.

External links

Caul Bearers United – Lifting the Veil website. (Self-published; includes references):
- "Authentic Caul History" (archived); and
- "Caul Bearers in Art" (archived). Collection of short biographies of artists, writers, poets, musicians, composers, etc., born with cauls.

[7] The story of these so-called benandanti is recounted in Carlo Ginzburg's 1983 study.^[6]

[1] "caul". Thefreedictionary.com. Retrieved 15 October 2011.

[2] Malik, Rohail; Sarfraz, Adil; Faroqui, Raihan; Onyebeke, William; Wanerman, Jeffrey (30 April 2018). "Extremely Preterm (23 Weeks) Vaginal Cephalic Delivery En Caul and Subsequent Postpartum Intraventricular Hemorrhage and Respiratory Distress: A Teaching Case". Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2018: e5690125. doi:10.1155/2018/5690125. ISSN 2090-6684. PMC 5952438. PMID 29854514.

[Earliest-3] Forbes, Thomas R. (June 1953). "The Social History of the Caul". The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine. 25 (6): 495–508. ISSN 0044-0086. PMC 2599448. PMID 13078640. Direct PDF link.

[4] "Caul, or Face Veil, Occasionally Present at Birth". "Dear Doctor" is a compilation of patient questions answered by doctors from the Medical College of Wisconsin. Health Link. 24 January 2005. Archived from the original on 21 May 2008.

[5] Campion, Vikki (31 December 2008). "Dolores Pancaldi's birth in protective membrane". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 October 2011 – via News.com.au.

[6] Ginzburg, Carlo (1983). The night battles: Witchcraft and agrarian cults in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Translated by Tedeschi, John; Tedeschi, Anne (1st ed.). London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. doi:10.4324/9780203819005. ISBN 0710095074.

[8] Oliver, Harry (2006). "12: Birth". Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers: The origins of old wives' tales and superstitions in our everyday lives. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 141–160. ISBN 978-0-399-53609-0.

[9] Andreesco, Ioanna (2004). Où sont passés les vampires ? (in French). Payot. ISBN 978-2-228-89913-0.

[10] Barber, Paul (2010). Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-16481-7.

[bbc_history-11] Read, Sara (October 2022). "How were the births of babies born with cauls viewed in the past?". Q&A: A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts. BBC History Magazine. Vol. 23, no. 10. Immediate Media Company London Ltd. p. 57 – via Issuu.

[12] Barondess MacLean, Barbara (1986). One Life is Not Enough. Hippocrene Books: New York.

[Giblin2005-13] Giblin, James (2005). Good brother, bad brother: The story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth. New York: Clarion Books. p. 7. ISBN 0-618-09642-6.

[14] 
Trueblood, Paul Graham (1969) [1977 reprint]. Lord Byron. Boston: Twayne Publishers. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8057-6694-3.
Ellingson, Katharine (1998). "Byron: His Life". Teachers – Eden Prairie High School. (Archived)

[15] Trueblood, Paul Graham (1969) [1977 reprint]. Lord Byron. Boston: Twayne Publishers. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8057-6694-3.

[16] Ellingson, Katharine (1998). "Byron: His Life". Teachers – Eden Prairie High School. (Archived)

[15] Hughes-Hallett, Lucy (2013). The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio – poet, seducer and preacher of war. Fourth Estate, p. 90. ISBN 978-0-00-721395-5.

[16] Greacen, Lavinia (1999). J.G. Farrell: The making of a writer. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 21–22. ISBN 978-0-7475-4463-0.

[17] "The Siege of Krishnapur – About the Authors". New York Review Books. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 May 2010.

[18] Morgalis, D. P. (1989). "Freud and his Mother". Modern Psychoanalysis. 14 (1): 37–56. Retrieved 15 October 2011 – via PEP Web Archive | Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing.

[19] Giles, John (2010). A Football Man: The Autobiography. Hodder & Soughton. p. 13. ISBN 978-1-444-72096-9.

[20] Affron, Charles (2002). Lillian Gish: Her legend, her life. Berkeley (US): University of California Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-520-23434-5.

[21] Milford, Nancy (2002). Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Random House. p. 18. ISBN 0-375-76081-4.

[Unbeaten-22] Woodburn, Kim (7 September 2006). Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood. Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 0-340-92221-4.

[23] Jacobs, Charlotte DeCroes. "Dr. Jonas Salk, the Knight in a White Lab Coat: An Interview". History News Network.

[24] Tolchin, Martin (30 July 1974). "Ribicoff's Charmed Life: From Poverty to Power". The New York Times.

[25] "Nancy Wake dead, aged 98. Extract by Peter Fitzsimons". Mamamia. 8 August 2011.

[26] Fitzsimons, Peter (2002). Nancy Wake: A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine. HarperCollins Publishers Australia. ISBN 0732274567.

[27] Davis, Andrew Jackson (1867). The Magic Staff: An Autobiography of Andrew Jackson Davis. Boston: Bella Marsh. p. 66.

[28] Dickens, Charles (2008) [First published 1850]. David Copperfield. Oxford University Press. p. 1.

[29] Carey, Peter (1988). Oscar and Lucinda. St. Lucia, Queensland (Australia): University of Queensland Press (UQP). p. 215. ISBN 0-7022-2116-3.

[30] Lock, Adam (26 August 2022). "See season 3, episode 1 recap – the premiere explained". Ready Steady Cut. Retrieved 7 September 2022.

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Membrane covering the head and face of a newborn at birth}}
 {{Other uses}}
+{{use dmy dates|date=September 2024}}
-A '''caul''' or '''cowl''' ({{lang-la|Caput galeatum}}, literally, "helmeted head") is a piece of [[biological membrane|membrane]] that can cover a [[newborn]]'s head and face.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/caul |title=caul |work=Thefreedictionary.com |accessdate=2011-10-15 }}</ref> Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Malik |first1=Rohail |last2=Sarfraz |first2=Adil |last3=Faroqui |first3=Raihan |last4=Onyebeke |first4=William |last5=Wanerman |first5=Jeffrey |date=2018-04-30 |title=Extremely Preterm (23 Weeks) Vaginal Cephalic Delivery En Caul and Subsequent Postpartum Intraventricular Hemorrhage and Respiratory Distress: A Teaching Case |journal=Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology |language=en |volume=2018 |pages=e5690125 |doi=10.1155/2018/5690125 |issn=2090-6684 |pmc=5952438 |pmid=29854514 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or [[midwife]] upon birth of the child.{{fact|date=September 2022}}
+{{rip|date=January 2023}}
+A '''caul''' is a piece of [[biological membrane|membrane]] that can cover a [[newborn]]'s head and face.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thefreedictionary.com/caul |title=caul |work=Thefreedictionary.com |accessdate=2011-10-15 }}</ref> Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in less than 1 in 80,000 births.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Malik |first1=Rohail |last2=Sarfraz |first2=Adil |last3=Faroqui |first3=Raihan |last4=Onyebeke |first4=William |last5=Wanerman |first5=Jeffrey |date=2018-04-30 |title=Extremely Preterm (23 Weeks) Vaginal Cephalic Delivery En Caul and Subsequent Postpartum Intraventricular Hemorrhage and Respiratory Distress: A Teaching Case |journal=Case Reports in Obstetrics and Gynecology |language=en |volume=2018 |pages=e5690125 |doi=10.1155/2018/5690125 |issn=2090-6684 |pmc=5952438 |pmid=29854514 |doi-access=free }}</ref> The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, physician, or [[midwife]] upon birth of the child.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
-An en-caul birth is different from a caul birth in that the infant is born inside the entire [[amniotic sac]] (instead of just a portion of it). The sac balloons out at birth, with the amniotic fluid and child remaining inside the unbroken or partially broken membrane.{{fact|date=September 2022}}
+An en-caul birth is different from a caul birth in that the infant is born inside the entire [[amniotic sac]] (instead of just a portion of it). The sac balloons out at birth, with the amniotic fluid and child remaining inside the unbroken or partially broken membrane.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
 ==Types==
+{{see also|Childbirth}}
 {{stack|[[File:Amniotic sac.jpg|thumb|The amniotic sac from an ''en caul'' birth.]]}}
-A child 'born with the caul' has a portion of a birth membrane remaining on the head. There are two types of caul membranes,{{clarifyme|list the types|date=September 2022}} and such cauls can appear in four ways.{{clarifyme|list the ways|date=September 2022}}{{fact|date=September 2022}}
+A child 'born with the caul' has a portion of a birth membrane remaining on the head. There are two types of caul membranes,{{clarify|list the types|date=September 2022}} and such cauls can appear in four ways.{{clarify|list the ways|date=September 2022}}{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
-The most common caul type is a piece of the thin translucent inner lining of the [[amnion]] that breaks away and forms tightly against the head during birth.<ref name="Earliest">http://caulbearersunited.webs.com/-%20New%20Folder/EarliestCaulBearer.pdf{{full citation needed|date=February 2015}}{{Dead link|date=November 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{self-published source|date=February 2015}}</ref>{{self-published inline|date=February 2015}} Such a caul typically clings to the head and face but on rarer occasions drapes over the head and partly down the torso.{{fact|date=September 2022}}
+The most common caul type is a piece of the thin translucent inner lining of the [[amnion]] that breaks away and forms tightly against the head during birth.<ref name="Earliest">{{cite journal |last1=Forbes |first1=Thomas R. |title=The Social History of the Caul |journal=The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2599448/ |issn=0044-0086 |date=June 1953 |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=495–508 |pmid=13078640 |pmc=2599448}} [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2599448/pdf/yjbm00328-0063.pdf Direct PDF link].</ref> Such a caul typically clings to the head and face but on rarer occasions drapes over the head and partly down the torso.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
 ==Removal==
-The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, [[physician]], or [[midwife]] upon birth of the child. If the membrane is of the amniotic tissue, it is removed by easily slipping it away from the child's skin. The removal of the thicker membrane is more complex. If done correctly, the attending practitioner will make a small incision in the membrane across the nostrils so that the child can breathe. The loops are then carefully removed from behind the ears. The remainder of the caul is then either peeled back very carefully from the skin or else gently rubbed with a sheet of paper, which is then peeled away.  If removed too quickly, the caul can leave wounds on the infant's flesh at the attachment points, which might leave permanent scars.<ref name="Earliest"/>
+The caul is harmless and is immediately removed by the attending parent, [[physician]], or [[midwife]] upon birth of the child. If the membrane is of the amniotic tissue, it is removed by easily slipping it away from the child's skin. The removal of the thicker membrane is more complex. If done correctly, the attending practitioner will make a small incision in the membrane across the nostrils so that the child can breathe. The loops are then carefully removed from behind the ears. The remainder of the caul is then either peeled back very carefully from the skin or else gently rubbed with a sheet of paper, which is then peeled away. If removed too quickly, the caul can leave wounds on the infant's flesh at the attachment points, which might leave permanent scars.<ref name="Earliest"/>
 ==Epidemiology==
-Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births. This statistic includes en-caul births, which occur more frequently than authentic caul births; therefore, authentic caul births are even more rare than indicated by the raw statistic.<ref>{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521142203/http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/901311432.html |title=Caul, or Face Veil, Occasionally Present at Birth |archivedate=2008-05-21 |work=Medical College of Wisconsin |accessdate= |first=Dwight |last=Cruikshank, MD |url=http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/901311432.html |date=2005-01-24 }}</ref> Most en-caul births are premature.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}}
+Birth with a caul is rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 80,000 births. This statistic includes en-caul births, which occur more frequently than authentic caul births; therefore, authentic caul births are even more rare than indicated by the raw statistic.Most en-caul births are premature.<ref>{{cite magazine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080521142203/http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/901311432.html |title=Caul, or Face Veil, Occasionally Present at Birth |archive-date=2008-05-21 |magazine=Health Link |department="Dear Doctor" is a compilation of patient questions answered by doctors from the Medical College of Wisconsin |url=http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/901311432.html |date=2005-01-24 }}</ref>{{bsn|date=September 2024}}
 ==Folk traditions==
 According to [[Aelius Lampridius]], the boy-emperor [[Diadumenian]] (208–218) was so named because he was born with a [[diadem]] formed by a rolled caul.{{citation needed|date=February 2020}}
-In medieval times, the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck.<ref>{{cite web |first=Vikki |last=Campion |date=2008-12-31 |url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24857363-5001021,00.html |title=Dolores Pancaldi's birth in protective membrane |work=The Daily Telegraph via News.com.au |accessdate=2011-10-15 }}</ref> It was considered an [[omen]] that the child was destined for greatness. Gathering the caul onto paper was considered an important tradition of childbirth: the midwife would rub a sheet of paper across the baby's head and face, pressing the material of the caul onto the paper. The caul would then be presented to the mother, to be kept as an [[heirloom]]. Some Early Modern European traditions linked caul birth to the ability to defend fertility and the harvest against the forces of evil, particularly witches and sorcerers.<ref>The story of these so-called [[benandanti]] is recounted in [[Carlo Ginzburg]]'s study ''The Night Battles: Witchcraft and Agrarian Cults in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries'', Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1983.</ref>
+In medieval times, the appearance of a caul on a newborn baby was seen as a sign of good luck.<ref>{{cite web |first=Vikki |last=Campion |date=2008-12-31 |url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24857363-5001021,00.html |title=Dolores Pancaldi's birth in protective membrane |work=The Daily Telegraph |via=News.com.au |access-date=2011-10-15 }}</ref> It was considered an [[omen]] that the child was destined for greatness. Gathering the caul onto paper was considered an important tradition of childbirth: the midwife would rub a sheet of paper across the baby's head and face, pressing the material of the caul onto the paper. The caul would then be presented to the mother, to be kept as an [[heirloom]]. Some Early Modern European traditions linked caul birth to the ability to defend fertility and the harvest against the forces of evil, particularly witches and sorcerers.{{efn|The story of these so-called [[benandanti]] is recounted in [[Carlo Ginzburg]]'s 1983 study.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ginzburg |first1=Carlo |translator-last1=Tedeschi |translator-first1=John |translator-last2=Tedeschi |translator-first2=Anne |author1-link=Carlo Ginzburg |title-link=The Night Battles |title=The night battles: Witchcraft and agrarian cults in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries |date=1983 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |location=London |isbn=0710095074 |edition=1st |doi=10.4324/9780203819005}}</ref>}}
-Folklore developed suggesting that possession of a baby's caul would bring its bearer good luck and protect that person from death by drowning. Cauls were therefore highly prized by [[sailor]]s. Medieval women often sold them to sailors for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable [[Amulet|talisman]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Oliver|first=Harry|title=Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers|year=2006|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-399-53609-0|chapter=12}}{{page needed|date=February 2015}}</ref>
+Folklore developed suggesting that possession of a baby's caul would bring its bearer good luck and protect that person from death by drowning. Cauls were therefore highly prized by [[sailor]]s. Medieval women often sold them to sailors for large sums of money; a caul was regarded as a valuable [[Amulet|talisman]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Oliver|first=Harry|title=Black Cats & Four-Leaf Clovers: The origins of old wives' tales and superstitions in our everyday lives |pages=141–160 |year=2006|publisher=Penguin Books|location=New York|isbn=978-0-399-53609-0|chapter=12: Birth}}</ref>
-In Polish the idiom ''{{lang|pl|w czepku urodzony/a}}'' ('born in a bonnet'), in Italian ''{{lang|it|nato/a con la camicia}}'' ('born with a shirt') and in French ''né(é) coiffé(e)'' ('born with a hat on') all describe a person who is always very lucky.{{fact|date=September 2022}}
+In Polish the idiom ''{{lang|pl|w czepku urodzony/a}}'' ('born in a bonnet'), in Italian ''{{lang|it|nato/a con la camicia}}'' ('born with a shirt') and in French ''né(e) coiffé(e)'' ('born with a hat on') all describe a person who is always very lucky.{{citation needed|date=September 2022}}
 The Russian phrase {{lang|ru|родился в рубашке}} (''rodilsya v rubashke'', literally 'born in a shirt') refers to caul birth and means 'born lucky'. It is often applied to someone who is oblivious to an impending disaster that is avoided only through luck, as if the birth caul persists as supernatural armor, and in this sense commonly appears in titles or descriptions of Russian [[dashcam]] videos.{{citation needed|date=February 2015}}
-Not all cultural beliefs about cauls are positive. In [[Folklore of Romania|Romanian folklore]] babies born with a caul are said to become [[strigoi]] upon death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andreesco |first=Ioanna |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/O%C3%B9_sont_pass%C3%A9s_les_vampires.html?id=BhdwAAAACAAJ |title=Où sont passés les vampires ? |date=2004 |publisher=Payot |isbn=978-2-228-89913-0 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books/about/Vampires_Burial_and_Death.html?id=MQBangEACAAJ |title=Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality |date=2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16481-7 |language=en}}</ref> It was also believed that "he who is born to be hanged will never drown" - that anyone born with a caul was destined to leave the world in a hangman's hood in place of the caul with which they were born. The belief in cauls as omens persisted well into the 20th century.<ref>[[BBC History Magazine]]; October 2022 issue; Page 57</ref>
+Not all cultural beliefs about cauls are positive. In [[Folklore of Romania|Romanian folklore]] babies born with a caul are said to become [[strigoi]] upon death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Andreesco |first=Ioanna |author-link=Ioanna Andreesco |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhdwAAAACAAJ |title=Où sont passés les vampires ? |date=2004 |publisher=Payot |isbn=978-2-228-89913-0 |language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Barber |first=Paul |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQBangEACAAJ |title=Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality |date=2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16481-7 |language=en}}</ref> It was also believed that "he who is born to be hanged will never drown" - that anyone born with a caul was destined to leave the world in a hangman's hood in place of the caul with which they were born. The belief in cauls as omens persisted well into the 20th century.<ref name="bbc history">{{cite magazine|title=How were the births of babies born with cauls viewed in the past? |url=https://issuu.com/immediatemediaco/docs/bbchistorymagazine_20220901_october2022 |last1=Read |first1=Sara |magazine=[[BBC History Magazine]] |number=10 |publisher=Immediate Media Company London Ltd. |date=October 2022 |volume=23 |page=57 |language=en |via=Issuu |department=Q&A: A selection of historical conundrums answered by experts}}</ref>
-The 16th century Dutch physician [[Levinus Lemnius]], author of The Secret Miracles of Nature, remained skeptical of superstitious claims about preserved cauls.  Comic writer [[Thomas Hood]] even ended his poem "The Sea-Spell" with a lament about a drowning sailor's futile reliance on a protection charm:
+The 16th-century Dutch physician [[Levinus Lemnius]], author of ''The Secret Miracles of Nature'', remained skeptical of superstitious claims about preserved cauls. Comic writer [[Thomas Hood]] even ended his poem "The Sea-Spell" with a lament about a drowning sailor's futile reliance on a protection charm:<ref name="bbc history"/>
+{{poem quote|
-     * "Heaven never heard his cry,
+Heaven never heard his cry,
-     * Nor did the ocean heed his caul."<ref>[[BBC History Magazine]]; October 2022 issue; Page 57</ref>
+Nor did the ocean heed his caul.
+}}
 ==Notable people born "in the caul"==
+{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
-* [[Barbara Barondess]]<ref>Barondess MacLean, Barbara. One Life is Not Enough. Hippocrene Books: New York, 1986.</ref> (1907-2000), American actress
-* [[Edwin Booth]]<ref name="Giblin2005">{{cite book|last=Giblin|first=James|title=Good brother, bad brother: the story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth|year=2005|publisher=Clarion Books|location=New York|isbn=0-618-09642-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/goodbrotherbadbr00gibl/page/7 7]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/goodbrotherbadbr00gibl/page/7}}</ref> (1833-1893), American actor
+* [[Barbara Barondess]]<ref>Barondess MacLean, Barbara (1986). ''One Life is Not Enough''. Hippocrene Books: New York.</ref> (1907–2000), American actress
+* [[Edwin Booth]]<ref name="Giblin2005">{{cite book|last=Giblin|first=James|title=Good brother, bad brother: The story of Edwin Booth and John Wilkes Booth|year=2005|publisher=Clarion Books|location=New York|isbn=0-618-09642-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/goodbrotherbadbr00gibl/page/7 7]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/goodbrotherbadbr00gibl/page/7}}</ref> (1833–1893), American actor
+* [[Lord Byron]]<ref>{{multiref2|1={{cite book |last1=Trueblood |first1=Paul Graham |title=Lord Byron |date=1969 |publisher=Twayne Publishers |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-8057-6694-3 |page=19 |url-access=registration|orig-date=1977 reprint |url=https://archive.org/details/lordbyron00true/page/18/mode/2up}}|2={{cite web |first=Katharine |last=Ellingson |website=Teachers – Eden Prairie High School|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070205170135/http://teachers.edenpr.org/~rolson/ArcadiaWeb/Byron/Byron1.html |title=Byron: His Life |date=1998}} (Archived)}}</ref>
-* [[Lord Byron]]<ref name="NCBA">{{Cite web|url=http://caulbearersunited.webs.com/notablecaulbearersarts.htm|title=Notable Caul Bearers - Arts|website=Caul Bearers United - Lifting the Veil}}</ref>
-* [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]]<ref>Lucy Hughes-Hallett. The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio – poet, seducer and preacher of war. Fourth Estate, 2013, p. 90. {{ISBN|978-0-00-721395-5}}.</ref>
+* [[Gabriele d'Annunzio]]<ref>Hughes-Hallett, Lucy (2013). ''The Pike: Gabriele d'Annunzio – poet, seducer and preacher of war''. Fourth Estate, p. 90. {{ISBN|978-0-00-721395-5}}.</ref>
+* [[J. G. Farrell]], novelist<ref>{{cite book |last1=Greacen |first1=Lavinia |title=J.G. Farrell: The making of a writer |date=1999 |publisher=Bloomsbury |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/jgfarrellmakingo0000grea/page/20/mode/2up |isbn=978-0-7475-4463-0 |pages=21–22 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=''The Siege of Krishnapur'' – About the Authors |work=New York Review Books |date=2010 |url=http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/the-siege-of-krishnapur/ |url-access=registration |archive-date=20 May 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100520235158/http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/the-siege-of-krishnapur/ }}</ref>
-* [[J. G. Farrell]], novelist<ref name="NCBA"/><ref>[http://www.nybo6oks.com/books/imprints/classics/the-siege-of-krishnapur/ ''The Siege of Krishnapur'']{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} New York Review Books</ref>
 * [[Charles Haughey]], [[Taoiseach]] na [[hÉireann]] (Prime Minister of Ireland)
 * [[George Formby]], English comedian
 * [[Roksana Węgiel]], Polish musical artist
+* [[James VI]], King of Scotland and England
-* [[Sigmund Freud]]<ref>[http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=MPSA.014.0037A D.P. Morgalis, Freud and his Mother]. Pep-web.org. Retrieved on 2011-10-15.</ref>
+* [[Sigmund Freud]]<ref>{{cite journal |journal=Modern Psychoanalysis |date=1989 |last1=Morgalis |first1= D. P. |title=Freud and his Mother |volume=14 |issue=1 |pages=37–56 |url=https://pep-web.org/browse/document/MPSA.014.0037A?page=P0037 |via=PEP Web Archive {{!}} Psychoanalytic Electronic Publishing |access-date=15 October 2011 |url-access=limited}}</ref>
 * [[Johnny Giles]]<ref>{{cite book|last1=Giles|first1=John|title=A Football Man: The Autobiography|date=2010|publisher=Hodder & Soughton|isbn=978-1-444-72096-9|page=13}}</ref>
+* [[Lillian Gish]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Affron |first1=Charles |title=Lillian Gish: Her legend, her life |date=2002 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley (US) |isbn=978-0-520-23434-5 |page=19 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9790520234344_n2r1/page/18/mode/2up}}</ref>
-* [[Lillian Gish]]<ref name="NCBA"/>
-* [[Liberace]]<ref name="NCBA"/>
+* [[Liberace]]
-* [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]]<ref>Nancy Milford. Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay. Random House, 2002, p. 18. {{ISBN|0-375-76081-4}}.</ref>
+* [[Edna St. Vincent Millay]]<ref>Milford, Nancy (2002). ''Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay''. Random House. p. 18. {{ISBN|0-375-76081-4}}.</ref>
 * [[Kim Woodburn]]<ref name="Unbeaten">{{cite book|last=Woodburn|first=Kim|title=Unbeaten: The Story of My Brutal Childhood|publisher=Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.|date=7 September 2006|isbn=0-340-92221-4}}</ref>
-* [[Jonas Salk]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159990|title=Dr. Jonas Salk, the Knight in a White Lab Coat: An Interview with Charlotte DeCroes Jacobs &#124; History News Network|website=historynewsnetwork.org}}</ref>
+* [[Jonas Salk]]<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://historynewsnetwork.org/article/159990|title=Dr. Jonas Salk, the Knight in a White Lab Coat: An Interview |first=Charlotte DeCroes |last=Jacobs |magazine=History News Network}}</ref>
 * [[Abraham Ribicoff]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/30/archives/ribicoffs-charmed-life-from-poverty-to-powerr-ribicoffs-charmed.html|title=Ribicoff's Charmed Life: From Poverty to Power|first=Martin|last=Tolchin|date=July 30, 1974|newspaper=The New York Times}}</ref>
-*[[Nancy Wake]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mamamia.com.au/nancy-wake-dead-aged-98-extract-by-peter-fitzsimons/|title=Nancy Wake dead, aged 98. Extract by Peter Fitzsimons|date=August 8, 2011|website=Mamamia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|isbn=0732274567|title=Nancy Wake: A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine|last1=Fitzsimons|first1=Peter|year=2002}}</ref>
+* [[Nancy Wake]]<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.mamamia.com.au/nancy-wake-dead-aged-98-extract-by-peter-fitzsimons/|title=Nancy Wake dead, aged 98. Extract by Peter Fitzsimons|date=August 8, 2011|magazine=Mamamia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|isbn=0732274567|title=Nancy Wake: A Biography of Our Greatest War Heroine|last1=Fitzsimons|first1=Peter|year=2002|publisher=HarperCollins Publishers Australia }}</ref>
-*[[Charles XII of Sweden]]
+* [[Charles XII of Sweden]]
-*[[Lee Shelton]] (disputed)
+* [[Lee Shelton]] (disputed)
-*[[Joseph Smith]]
+* [[Joseph Smith]]
-*[[Andrew Jackson Davis]]<ref>Andrew Jackson Davis. ''The Magic Staff: An Autobiography of Andrew Jackson Davis'', 8th edition. Boston: Bella Marsh, 1867, p. 66.</ref>
+* [[Andrew Jackson Davis]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Davis |first1=Andrew Jackson |title=The Magic Staff: An Autobiography of Andrew Jackson Davis |date=1867 |publisher=Bella Marsh |location=Boston |page=66 |url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924028954852/page/66/mode/2up}}</ref>
+{{div col end}}
 ==In popular culture==
+In the classic 1850 novel ''[[David Copperfield]]'' by [[Charles Dickens]], the title character and novel narrator describes his own birth: "I was born with a caul, which was advertised for sale, in the newspapers, at the low price of fifteen guineas." Copperfield goes on to describe the fate of his caul, which was re-sold and raffled over the subsequent decade as a talisman believed to protect its owner from death by drowning.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dickens |first=Charles|author-link=Charles Dickens|title=David Copperfield|publisher=Oxford University Press|orig-date=First published 1850|page=1 |date=2008}}</ref>
-An ''en caul'' birth is depicted in the episode "Heavy Hangs the Head" (S03E01) of the [[Apple TV+]] [[science fiction]] series ''[[See (TV series)|See]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://readysteadycut.com/2022/08/26/recap-see-season-3-episode-1-apple-tv-plus-series/ |title=See season 3, episode 1 recap – the premiere explained |first=Adam |last=Lock |date=2022-08-26 |work=Ready Steady Cut |accessdate=2022-09-07 }}</ref>
+In the novel ''[[Oscar and Lucinda]]'' by [[Peter Carey (novelist)|Peter Carey]], Theophilus Hopkins, father of the hero, Oscar, gives to his son a little box, inside which there is "a caul, the little membrane that had covered Oscar's head at birth and it had been kept, his mother had kept it, because it was said – superstitiously, of course – that such a thing would protect the child from drowning".<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carey |first1=Peter |author1-link=Peter Carey (novelist) |title=Oscar and Lucinda |date=1988 |publisher=University of Queensland Press (UQP) |location=St. Lucia, Queensland (Australia) |isbn=0-7022-2116-3|page=215}}</ref>
-In [[The Shining (film)|The Shining]], Danny Torrance is born with a caul, possibly causing his clairvoyant abilities.
+An ''en caul'' birth is depicted in the episode "Heavy Hangs the Head" (S03E01) of the [[Apple TV+]] [[science fiction]] series ''[[See (TV series)|See]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://readysteadycut.com/2022/08/26/recap-see-season-3-episode-1-apple-tv-plus-series/ |title=See season 3, episode 1 recap – the premiere explained |first=Adam |last=Lock |date=2022-08-26 |work=Ready Steady Cut |access-date=2022-09-07 }}</ref>
-==See also==
-*[[Childbirth]]
+Other depictions include:
+* In 1980 horror film ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'', Danny Torrance is born with a caul, possibly causing his clairvoyant abilities.
+* In [[Barbara Kingsolver]]'s novel ''[[Demon Copperhead]]'' (2022), the protagonist is born with a caul, with the superstition that he could not die by drowning.
+* In the FX series ''[[The Strain]]'', Zach is born in a caul in S3 Episode 3 "First Born".
+* In [[J.D. Salinger]]'s novel ''[[The Catcher in the Rye]],'' the protagonist is significantly{{citation needed|date=January 2024}} named Holden Caulfield.
+==Notes==
+{{notelist}}
 ==References==
-{{reflist|1}}
+{{reflist}}
-==Bibliography==
+==Further reading==
+* {{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Arthur William |title=Folklore of the Isle of Man: Being an account of its myths, legends, superstitions, customs, & proverbs |date=1891 |publisher=Brown & Son; D. Nutt |location=Douglas, Isle of Man; London |pages= 156–157 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/folkloreofisleof00moor/page/156/mode/2up|chapter=8. Customs and Superstitions Connected with Birth, Marriage, and Death §Birth}} ([http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/folklore/ch08.htm Digitised version])
 ==External links==
 {{wiktionary}}
+* ''Caul Bearers United – Lifting the Veil'' website. (Self-published; includes references):
-* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080521142203/http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/901311432.html "Caul, or Face Veil, Occasionally Present at Birth"]
+** [https://web.archive.org/web/20110813062508/http://caulbearersunited.webs.com/authenticcaulhistory.htm "Authentic Caul History"] (archived); and
-* [http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/folklore/index.htm Folklore of the Isle of Man, Ch. 8]
-* Caul Bearers United: [http://caulbearersunited.webs.com/authenticcaulhistory.htm Authentic Caul History], includes references from ''The Social History of the Caul'' by Dr. Thomas R. Forbes
+** [https://web.archive.org/web/20120302094954/http://caulbearersunited.webs.com/notablecaulbearersarts.htm "Caul Bearers in Art"] (archived). Collection of short biographies of artists, writers, poets, musicians, composers, etc., born with cauls.
 [[Category:Obstetrics]]