[Harmless Teddy Bear]

More likely he had three former wives.

Childbirth did tend to kill you.

So did... just about everything else.

[TontoKowalski]

Childbirth did tend to kill you.

27 children from 4 mothers means that each had, on average, about 7 children. Taking into account the dangers of childbirth and infant mortality, that is astonishing.

I imagine (although I have not researched this) that woman giving birth to seven live children would have been noteworthy, even in the Middle Ages.