Anselment (1989) claims that grief in the 17th century is instinctive rather than a modified behaviour, contrary to the arguments of some 20th century historians. He illustrates this through the use of “seventeenth-century letters, memoirs and diaries” that attempted to express the grief felt by those in the 17th century. He states that none of the historical evidence provides proof for Aries’s popular suggestion that parents would seek refuge from pain and sorrow through impersonal belief that death was common amongst their children. On the other hand he argues that Stone’s view on “the period’s gradual transition” towards creating a more personal feeling of grief, was only partly accountable.He concluded that he believed that grief was
