Christine de Pizan, The Book of the Cyte of Ladyes, trans. by Brian Anslay, ed. by Hope Johnston. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 457. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2014, lxiv, 622 pp., 10 b/w ill.

Mediaevistik ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 431-431
Author(s):  
Albrecht Classen
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Reception History ◽  
Christine De Pizan ◽  
The Other ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Renaissance Studies ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

On the one hand, this new edition, or rather translation, of Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies (1405) certainly deserves to be reviewed in Mediaevistik because Christine still falls squarely into the late Middle Ages. On the other, the publication date of this translation, 1521, places it certainly outside of that period. However, a translation is always an important mirror of the reception history, which proves to be particularly rich in Christine’s case. Brian Anslay’s English translation was the first and only one to appear in print (by Henry Pepwell), at least before the twentieth century. However, we know of twenty-seven surviving manuscripts, whereas there are only five copies of Anslay’s printed work available. It is worth noting that the issues addressed here by Christine, helping women to find their own realm and identity, was apparently of significance also for her male audience since Anslay was sponsored by Richard Grey, third earl of Kent.

The Devil Wears White: Teutonic Knights and the Problem of Evil in Polish Historiography

2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-155
Author(s):  
Adam Kożuchowski
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Other ◽  
Historical Imagination ◽  
Historical Discourse ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
The Problem Of Evil ◽  
The One ◽  
The Devil ◽  
Teutonic Knights

This paper addresses the intersection of moral condemnation, national antagonism, and civilizational critique in the images of the Teutonic Order as presented in Polish historical discourse since the early nineteenth century, with references to their medieval and early modern origins. For more than 150 years, the Order played the role of the archenemy in the historical imagination of Poles. This image is typically considered an element of the anti-German sentiment, fueled by modern nationalism. In this paper I argue that the scale and nature of the demonization of the Teutonic Knights in Polish historiography is more complex, and should be interpreted in the contexts of pre-modern religious rhetoric on the one hand, and the critique of Western civilization from a peripheral or semi-colonial point of view on the other. The durability and flexibility of the black legend of the Order, born in the late Middle Ages, and adapted by Romantic, modern nationalist, and communist historians, makes it a unique phenomenon, surpassing the framework of modern nationalism. It is the modern anti-German stereotype that owes much to this legend, rather than the other way around.

Towards Feminism: Christine De Pizan, Female Advocacy, and Women’s Textual Communities in the Late Middle Ages and Beyond

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Krueger
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Christine De Pizan ◽  
Access To Education ◽  
Romance Of The Rose ◽  
Early Modern Women ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Women's Literacy ◽  
Textual Communities ◽  
The City

Although "feminist" claims for full legal and political emancipation were nonexistent in the Middle Ages and women had restricted access to education, many elite women throughout Europe left eloquent written testimony of their intellectual and literary gifts. Some women explicitly took up the pen to defend women's honor against misogynistic attacks and to champion their contributions to society. This chapter focuses on the pro-feminine works of Christine de Pizan (1364–1430?), who not only engaged in an epistolary debate with male authorities denouncing the Romance of the Rose as antifeminist, but also wrote two works explicitly defending female virtue and promoting women's social well-being: The City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City of Ladies. Christine's work participated in the spread of women's literacy; her female advocacy anticipated arguments for women's education and critiques of marriage made by subsequent female humanists and early modern women writers in France, Italy, and England.

scholarly journals Die Illusion der ›einfachen Form‹

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-404
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Simple Form ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Ambivalent Attitude ◽  
The One

Abstract Saints’ lives occupy a fluctuating position between cult and art which challenges their claim to be a devout and unpretentious ‘simple form’. The following contribution traces the interplay in the genre between scepticism toward rhetoric on the one hand and fascination with it on the other. The greater the importance that attaches to a surplus of rhetoric and narration, the more contradictory the narrative order mandated by the genre becomes, and the more testing the conditions under which saints’ lives are narrated. The specific interference of religious and literary modes of speaking is illustrated from examples of narrative saints’ lives from the late middle ages. What tensions does the genre’s ambivalent attitude to rhetoric give rise to when telling stories about saints through the act of narratively transforming the miraculous?

scholarly journals Roman Virtues in the Christian Context of St Augustine’s De Civitate Dei

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 62-75
Author(s):  
I. N. Buzykina
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
World History ◽  
Saint Augustine ◽  
Great Book ◽  
The Other ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The World ◽  
Roman Culture ◽  
The One ◽  
The City

The topic of this paper is the continuity of major religious, moral and ethical concepts of Roman culture in following periods. These are the virtues of the citizen, namely virtus, fides and pietas — which distinguish the Roman citizen as a brave warrior, honest magistrate and pious pater familias. The central one was the duty to the City. Some traces of this tradition can be observed in the most influental sources of the Christian Patristic period, although the very intention of morals has changed: res publica, a common/communal duty, was replaced by the adoration of God. With the view to a representative research, De Civitate Dei by Saint Augustine, the most famous Christian treatise dealing with the state, civic rights, state religion, authority etc. was analyzed. On the one hand, this great book provides multiple suitable illustrations for almost every feature of the continuity between the Ancient pagan culture and Christian intellectual one. On the other hand, it isn’t just a plain comparison of loci classici in pagan and Christian context, one can find the origins of a completely new approach to the world history, which had had an influence on minds of further generations of Christian theologians in Middle Ages and later periods.

The Phenomenon of Dynasties of Jewish Doctors in the Mamluk Period (1250–1517)

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Amir Mazor ◽  
Efraim Lev
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Jewish Origin ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Stark Contrast ◽  
Mamluk Period ◽  
The One

Abstract This article discusses the phenomenon of dynasties of Jewish physicians in the Late Middle Ages in Egypt and Syria. Based on Muslim Arabic historiographical literature on the one hand, and Jewish sources such as Genizah documents on the other, this paper reconstructs fourteen dynasties of Jewish physicians that were active in the Mamluk Sultanate (1250–1517). Examination of the families reveals that the most distinguished dynasties of court physicians were of Jewish origin, and had to convert to Islam during the Mamluk period. Moreover, the office of the “Head of the Physicians” was occupied mainly by members of these convert Jewish dynasties. This situation stands in stark contrast to the pre-Mamluk period, in which dynasties of unconverted Jewish court physicians flourished. However, Jewish sources reveal that dynasties of doctors who were also communal leaders continued to be active also during the Mamluk period.

Pastoral Power and Algorithmic Governmentality

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosalind Cooper
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Late Antiquity ◽  
The Other ◽  
Late Medieval ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Pastoral Power ◽  
Christian Thought ◽  
The One

This paper contributes to inquiries into the genealogy of governmentality and the nature of secularization by arguing that pastoralism continues to operate in the algorithmic register. Drawing on Agamben’s notion of signature, I elucidate a pair of historically distant yet archaeologically proximate affinities: the first between the pastorate and algorithmic control, and the second between the absconded God of late medieval nominalism and the authority of algorithms in the cybernetic age. I support my hypothesis by attending to the signaturial kinships between, on the one hand, temporality and authority in our contemporary conjuncture, and, on the other, obedience and submission in Christian thought from late antiquity and the late Middle Ages. I thereby illustrate the hidden genealogical continuities between theological-pastoral technologies of power and technocratic-algorithmic modalities of governance. I conclude by suggesting that medieval counter-conducts may be redeployed in our present circumstances for emancipatory ends.

scholarly journals Artistic Genius versus the Hanse Canon from the Late Middle Ages to the Early Modern Age in Tallinn

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 59-80
Author(s):  
Juhan Maiste
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
15Th Century ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Working Together ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Veil ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

In the article, the author examines one of the most outstanding andproblematic periods in the art history of Tallinn as a Hanseatic city,which originated, on the one hand, in the Hanseatic tradition andthe medieval approach to Gothic transcendental realism, and onthe other, in the approach typical of the new art cities of Flanders,i.e. to see a reflection of the new illusory reality in the pictures. Acloser examination is made of two works of art imported to Tallinnin the late 15th century, i.e. the high altar in the Church of the HolySpirit by Bernt Notke and the altarpiece of Holy Mary, whichwas originally commissioned by the Brotherhood of Blackheadsfor the Dominican Monastery and is now in St Nicholas’ Church.Despite the differences in the iconography and style of the twoworks, their links to tradition and artistic geography, which in thisarticle are conditionally defined as the Hanse canon, are apparentin both of them.The methods and rules for classifying the transition from theMiddle Ages to the Modern Era were not critical nor exclusive.Rather they included a wide range of phenomena on the outskirtsof the major art centres starting from the clients and ending with the semantic significance of the picture, and the attributes that wereemployed to the individual experiences of the different masters,who were working together in the large workshops of Lübeck, andsomewhat later, in Bruges and Brussels.When ‘reading’ the Blackheads’ altar, a question arises of threedifferent styles, all of them were united by tradition and the waythat altars were produced in the large workshops for the extensiveart market that stretched from one end of the continent to the other,and even further from Lima to Narva. Under the supervision ofthe leading master and entrepreneur (Hans Memling?) two othermasters were working side by side in Bruges – Michel Sittow, whowas born in Tallinn, and the Master of the Legend of Saint Lucywere responsible for executing the task.In this article, the author has highlighted new points of reference,which on the one hand explain the complex issues of attributionof the Tallinn Blackheads’ altar, and on the other hand, placethe greatest opus in the Baltics in a broader context, where, inaddition to aesthetic ambitions, both the client and the workshopthat completed the order, played an extensive role. In this way,identifying a specific artist from among the others would usuallyremain a matter of discussion. Tallinn was a port and a wealthycommercial city at the foregates of the East where it took decadesfor the spirit of the Renaissance to penetrate and be assimilated.Instead of an unobstructed view we are offered uncertain andoften mixed values based on what we perceive through the veil ofsemantic research.

scholarly journals Violencia conyugal y víctimas de la guerra: la valenciana Beatriz Martí y la troyana Andrómaca de Eurípides

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Anastasia Terzopoulou
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Marital Violence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Family ◽  
The One

Resumen: En este trabajo se desarrolla el tema de la violencia de la mujer en la Antigua Grecia y en la Corona de Aragón a finales de la Edad Media. Concretamente, los casos que se analizan tienen que ver, por una parte, con la violencia cometida contra la princesa de Troya, Andrómaca, la cual tras el saqueo y la caída de su patria se ha convertido en una cautiva de guerra, en una concubina de la familia que mató a su esposo e hijo; y, por la otra, con la violencia marital de la valenciana Beatriz Martí. Ambas mujeres, a pesar de los siglos que les separan, sufren injusticias y dolor, pero, también cuentan con una persona que les presta su ayuda y protección: en el caso de Andrómaca es Peleo, el abuelo de su actual amo; y, en el caso de Beatriz, la reina María de Aragón. Palabras clave: mujer, violencia, protección, maltrato, defensa Abstract: This paper develops the issue of violence against women in Ancient Greece and in the Crown of Aragon in the Late Middle Ages. Specifically, the cases analyzed have to do, on the one hand, with the violence committed against the Princess of Troy, Andromache, who, after the looting and fall of her homeland, has become a war captive, a concubine of the family that killed her husband and son; and, on the other, the case of the marital violence of the Valencian Beatriz Martí. Both women, despite the centuries that separate them, suffer injustices and pain, but they also have a person who helps and protects them: in the case of Andromache it is Peleus, the grandfather of its current owner; and, in the case of Beatriz, Queen Maria of Aragon.Keywords: woman, violence, protection, abuse, defense

scholarly journals Christine De Pisan and Murasaki Shikibu as Medieval Feminists

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 23-33
Author(s):  
Harika Bashpinar
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Life Stories ◽  
Christine De Pizan ◽  
The Other ◽  
Christine De Pisan ◽  
Tale Of Genji ◽  
Murasaki Shikibu ◽  
The World ◽  
The City ◽  
Interesting Reading

This study presents a comparative reading of Christine de Pizan’sThe Book of the City of Ladies and MurasakiShikibu’s The Tale of Genji. Having lived and written in the Middle Ages, both Christine de Pizan and MurasakiShikibu share the privilege of being among the first women writers as well as the first feminists. As their life stories picture them as strong, independent women unusual at that time, their works elaborate on the plight of their sex in a patriarchal and oppressive society, and propose ways to transcend these borders. What is striking in such a reading is that it makes the modern reader see that oppression on women has been existent since at least the Medieval Era, and it has been a case throughout the world. Since neither Pizan nor Shikibuknew the culture and works of the other, their attracting attention to the same issues suggests an interesting reading.

scholarly journals Messen ohne Maß? Nicolaus Cusanus und das Kriterium menschlicher Erkenntnis

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-108
Author(s):  
Christian Kny
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Images Of God ◽  
Epistemological Problem ◽  
Nicholas Of Cusa ◽  
Late Middle Ages ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The One

AbstractIn the late Middle Ages, Nicholas of Cusa renders human cognition as creative, asymptotic assimilation—humans creatively approach their objects of cognition without ever fully reaching them. Questions about measuring are an important part of Nicholas’ model of cognition in two regards: On the one hand, he explicitly calls human cognition a ‘measuring’ (mensurare), moving the concept into the centre of attention. On the other hand, measuring in the sense of evaluating epistemic activities is an issue for Nicholas. He describes humans as living images of god who ‘enfold’ (complicare) the ideas of all things within themselves in a specific way. They measure, i. e. judge, their epistemic activities looking at what they enfold. However, Nicholas provides little information about what exactly that means. He is thus threatened with a serious epistemological problem: the lack of a satisfying criterion of epistemic activities. In my paper, I discuss options of how to deal with this problem. After briefly describing (1) Nicholas’ notion of human cognition and (2) what he has on offer regarding a criterion of epistemic activities, I (3) try to clarify what ‘enfolding the ideas of all things’ can mean. Presenting and discussing two plausible interpretations of this expression—a static and a dynamic one—sheds light on possible answers Nicholas can give as well as the limitations these answers are confronted with.

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