Charity and Welfare: Hospitals and the Poor in Medieval Catalonia. By James William Brodman. The Middle Ages. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. xvi + 232 pp. $39.95 cloth.

2000 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 414-416
Author(s):  
Carlos M. N. Eire
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Middle Ages

Venantius Fortunatus, Poems, edited and translated by Michael Roberts. Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 46. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017, pp. 944.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 390-392
Author(s):  
Raymond J. Cormier
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Harvard University ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Cultural Climate ◽  
The Middle Ages

It doesn’t pay to sing about the poor! Literary patronage in the Middle Ages is as old as poetry itself. The aristocratic context guaranteed a rich intellectual focus, whether we consider the poetry of praise or blame, and whether fulsome or just simple. Authorized compositions offered to a patron implied a hope for favorable compensation, and with his (or her) audience assured, the ceremonial promotion of the kingdom by the poet brought glory to the sponsor. Following a benefactor’s tastes within a cultural climate of liberality and magnanimity might bring unimaginable rewards to a court poet. A quick example from the life of Fortunatus: the renowned Gregory of Tours rewarded the poet with gifts, such as an estate on the Vienne River.

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