hrj | May. 10th, 2012

May. 10th, 2012

Costume in Medieval Texts: Sessions in Honor of Laura Hodges I

Costume Rhetoric: Orality and the Dimensions of Sound -- Alan T. Gaylord, Dartmouth College/Princeton Univ.

General topic is the poetics of how clothing is described in Chaucer, covering both the expression of the character's personality and actions and the sensuality of the garments themselves. (The presenter isn't too bad at turns of phrase himself.) Note the use of tactile descriptions in describing the clothing of Alysoun the carpenter's wife (as if the text is caressing it) and similes of food and drink (as if she is being tasted and consumed). But further there is a lingering of multi-syllabic words. In comparison, the description of Absolon the clerk focuses on fussy details, using short, sharp syllables to create an image of triviality. Overall, though, the paper is a bit long on recitation and short on critical analysis.

Costume “Medievalism”? Evidence about Robin Hood’s Clothing from Literary Texts and Medieval Material Culture -- Lorraine Kochanske Stock

Begins with a review of visual images of Robin Hood in modern media: clothing ofLincoln green or sometimes red, spandex tights, peaked feathered hat (or sometimes hood), doublet with metal studs or spangles. How does this compare with the medieval "pop culture" standard image of the character? (And a digression of how the modern image was incorporated in a advertising campaign for underwear.) No surviving visual depictions of RH from MA (although references to a painted wall hanging including him). Illustrated versions of RH rhymes e.g. Pynson's 1492 which uses same image for Robin Hood as for Chaucer's Yeoman, which latter is descrbed as having: "cote and hood of grene" and the accoutrements of a forester (bow, sword, horn, arm bracer). References to the use of green cloth, esp. Lincoln or Kendal green, largely belongs to Renaissance and later authors. One early reference to being closed in "scarlet and grene" might come from "scarlet in grain" and not refer to green-colored cloth at all. The peaked hat is also found in Pynson's woodcut. But 14th c. archers (in general) wear hoods, though 15th c. archers in art begin wearing brimmed sugarloaf hats. Late 15th c. wall painting in Yorkshire church wear, among other types of hats, a peaked, feathered hat that is at least a cousin to the modern "Robin Hood hat". A possible Robin Hood image on a 15th c. northern English misericorde, pairs a nobly dressed man (houpelande, chaperon, long boots) with a more plainly (but impractically) dressed archer with a tippeted tunic, short boots, and a hood. The author speculates that the pair of images represent the transformation of the noble Earl of Huntingdon (a new accretion to the Robin Hood legend) into the outlaw Robin Hood.

When a Mantle Isn’t Just a Mantle: Jonah’s Dirty Mantle in Patience -- Kimberly Jack, Auburn Univ.

"Mantle" = sleeveless overgarment worn by men or women over a kirtle or tunic; a robe. (Also more specialized definitions.) "Thenne he swepe to the sonde in sluchched clothes: Hit may wel be that mester were his mantyle to wasche." Patience 341-42

Consistent medieval iconography of Jonah depicts Jonah being thrown overboard to the whale naked, and being vomited out of the whale similarly nude. Another stereotypical image shows Jonah reclining in the booth, also typically nude. So where does this mantle come from? The Cotton Nero A.x. ms. of Patience shows Jonah being thrown overboard wearing some sort of amorphous loose black garment over some longer white undergarment. Another illustratuion shows him preaching wearing a black cape-like garment over some other red garment with long close-fitting sleeves. Illustrations in this ms. often diverge from descriptions in the poems they illustrate. The nude images of Jonah emerging fom the whale correlate with baptism/resurrection symbolism, though not explicit in the text. Another ms. uses Jonah to illustrate Psalm 68 showing him clothed when going into the whale but naked coming out. Returning to the Patience imagery, as Jonah needing to wash his mantle, it makes literal sense that his clothing would be dirty, given what he's gone through, but if the whale episode is a baptism then he should be "clean" afterwards. Patience seems to be indicating that Jonah needs to take further (or continued) action to "keep clean". But the reference to a mantle rather than some other garment may indicate the specialized ceremonial definition of the garment, indicating his status as prophet.

There is now a digression into the original striped mantle of the Carmelite order and how this fashion was mocked due to attitudes towards striped fabric, leading to the change of the habit from striped to plain white in 1287, but there was commentary at the time about how the change in garments reflected/indicated changes in the purpose and behavior of the Order. I think I missed the connection with the Jonah iconography but maybe it will be made clear in the conclusion. Ah, now she addresses it -- Patience is roughly contemporary with the Carmelite changes and may be a sideways reference to this sort of change to an iconic mantle representing a similar transformation.

Women and the Troubadours

Ventriloquists, Female Impersonators and/or the Genuine Article? Putting Words in Women’s Mouths -- Matilda Bruckner, Boston College

Intro on the entertainment appeal of ventriloquism, contrasted with issues of power and appropriation when "putting words in someone's mouth". In "conversational" poetry, what does authenticity mean when the "persona" of the poem also voices his/her antagonist? Might some of the harsh portrayals of disdainful lovers in troubadour lyrics be simply a conventionalized "stage personality" used as a strawman for the author to argue against rather than an actual person? In the focal work by Marcabru being analyzed here, this ventriloquism is complicated in that the author himself appears as a 3rd person referent in one of the stanzas ("Marcabru says her [the disdainful woman's] door is never closed"). So is the persona of the poem meant to be a separate character -- as much an invention as the lady in question -- or is he meant to be the author himself, but with a little misdirection?

In another poem by the same author, the author/persona emplys a starling as messenger who flies back and forth repeating his words to the lady; the lady's to him. As a mimic, a starling would seem to be the perfect messenger, but the choice emphasizes the aspect of "putting words in another's mouth". But as presented, the bird condenses and alters the message of each to the other, pointing the problems of taking at face value the words reported by another. Despite this, the starling succeeds in bringing the lovers together (which appeared unlikely from the positions presented by their original speeches). In sum, one must use language falsely in order to present the "truth" implied in the poem (but the truth of the author, not of objective reality).

In Q&A, the question was raised whether we should interpret these works as an overt work of fictional drama (possibly performed by multiple people as such) rather than the more common interpretation as a personal semi-autobiographical expression.

The Trobairitz and Flamenca -- Juliet O’Brien, Univ. of British Columbia

(This paper assumes more familiarity with the text being analyzed than I have, and the handout is untranslated, so I've probably misunderstood some of the discussion. Plot of the romance: Flamenca's jealous husband locks her up in a tower, only letting her out for Mass and baths, but her maids are on her side ....)

The paper covers 3 things: looking at feminine voice composition; looking at feminine poets; looking at the use of "trobair(itz)" in the work Flamenca in general. A poetic dialogue (tenso) is embedded in the romance that emerges only from the quoted words of the characters: Flamenca via leading questions and Guillem (her lover?) in his answers. But who is the "author" of this poem? The maid Margarida appears to be presented as the creator of the lines with Flamenca approving and laboriously learning them, but it is the dialogue between Flamenca and Guillem that "creates" the poem. And the creation of the questions that drive the composition seems to be a bit of a game played jointly by Flamenca and her maids.

The poem is credited(?) with being the first appearance of the word "trobaritz", based on a bit of word-play. The usually credited authorial voice appears early in the poem as a character, but there are other characters with opportunity, means, and motive (i.e., who could have witnessed the events being described in the romance, and who would have the skill to have "composed" the internal poem) and some of them are women. But whatever the intention, the romance is very much about the act of composition and how a tenso might have been composed as a group amusement, rather than as a single-author work.

The Publicly Intimate Frustrations of the Trobairitz -- Katherine Leese, Ohio State Univ.

(This paper must have been scratched. A pity.)

Azalais de Porcairagues: A New Look -- William D. Paden, Northwestern Univ.; Frances Paden, Northwestern Univ.

Text is a poem that begins with a lament for one lover (dead? lost?) but shifts later to joy in a present lover. Is it a piecing together of two unrelated works or is the "death" early on metaphoric or what? A look at the imagery as representing betrothal and marriage. We now get a brief history of the evolution of betrothal/marriage and their forms and requirements. The delay after betrothal had multiple justifications: that the bride would be more valued for being longed for rather than handed over immediately, but also considerations of financial arrangements with the bride being in a bit of financial limbo between the two events.

The beginning of the poem invokes a winter landscape representing grief and loss. The implication is that the author/speaker's fiance has died after betrothal but before marriage, making the loss both a financial as well as an emotional wound. The poem moves on to bemoaning the mixing of love and financial considerations, saying that a lady who takes money in account is no better than a peasant. The next stanza raises a present-tense lover "of great worth" who requires no bargaining but gives love freely. The suggested interpretation is that this is the dead finace, but becuase the potential for financial gain is lost, his love is now made more pure and noble. Now she is able to return to her grief but without the bleakness. The poem concludes with an address to the performer (joglar) who will carry the work to an unnamed woman in Narbonne (a name was suggested but I didn't get it down -- possibly someone in her late fiance's family?).

Celebrations at Court

“Ærest þa Laues heo Weorpen”: Feasting Gone Wrong in Laȝamon’s Brut -- Noah G. Peterson, Texas A&M Univ.

(Text is a semi-legendary chronicle of early Britain, including Arthurian material. The quote in the title translates "first, they threw the loaves".) The paper concerns differences in the text between Wace's earlier chronicle and La3amon's version concerning the origins of the Round Table. Though La3amon writes in Middle English, the underlying culture is still heavily Norman influenced. The Round Table was one of Wace's additions to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Arthurian material. A possible inspiration for the table is mention of two round tables inscribed with maps listed in Charlemagne's will. La3amon is one of several authors who elaborates on the table motif. In Wace's story, after Arthur has subdued his realm, he creates the Round Table for social engineering of equiality among his followers. La3amon presents a more violent origin story, detailing how during a banquet the food was carried out according to rank which angered people resulting in a food fight and deadly carnage. Arthur brings in an army to subdue the hostilities and institutes harsh punishments for those who participated. Then the Round Table is suggested by a court craftsman and an enormous table that can seat the whole court equally. There's an underlying taste of xenophobia in that the fight was begun by "uncouth foreigners" and settled by Arthur's own men. The paper's author views this as a position that the "forced assimilation" of a highly diverse population in Arthurs court was seen to be inherently flawed, hence breaking out in violence.

Courtly Celebrations at the Heavenly Court: The Court de paradis and Eructavit -- Kathy M. Krause, Univ. of Missouri–Kansas City

Scenes of celebrations at royal courts are so ubiquitous in medieval French literature, it spawned sub-genres both high and low of parallel celebrations, including portraying courtly celebratoins in heaven. E.g., taking an image from psalm 44, Eructavit portrays the "marriage" of Christ and the Church as a courtly celebration (including King David as jongleur performing the psalm). Similarly, the Court de paradis reinterprets the litany of the saints as a series of courtly entertainments: dances, verses, etc.. Parallels: celebration is announced well in advance so that all may attend and witness (cf., the prophets predicting the coming of Christ). The CdP doesn't belabor the allegory, rather the textual narrator presents it as a straightforward "real" event. In contrast, the Eructavit is explicitly presented as allegory.

The paper's presenter will argue for female authorship of the CdP. The context of the composition might been narrowed by the specifics of which saints are mentioned by name, but in general they are the standard default set, though some temporal positioning can be identified. But there are clearly different treatments of male and female saints, with the former generally being listed only by name, but the latter being given detailed descriptions of their appearance and clothing and personalities. This privileged focus on the female saints is continued in how they are greeted especially by Jesus and the Virgin. There is also a grammatical anomaly in the section addressing the married women saints where the narrative voice addresses "you (plural) the married women" but then switches to the expected "they", thus implying that the intended audience was a woman, and a married woman at that. Both the CdP and the Eructavit focus on celebrating marriage and married women in the guise of allegorical celebrations, suggesting they both were intended for a female patron or audience. (Various guesses are offered as to a specific intended audience. The argument for female authorship seems to be implicity in the greater focus and detail -- in a positive context -- on female-gendered attributes and characteristics.)

Courtly Menus, Culinary Meanings -- Sarah Gordon, Utah State Univ.

Alas, this paper was withdrawn at the last minute. (And the session organizer was Not Happy.)

Hungarian Goulash: The Tours Banquet, 1458 -- Wendy Pfeffer

(Correction: date was 1457)

The text this paper is looking at is a detailed list of the service of the banquet. This was served by the Count of Foix to Hungarian emissaries, present for marriage negotiations. The author of the description (Esquerrier) appears likely to have been an eyewitness. There's a strong focus on the entremets (entertainments). These entertainments emphasize the aristocratic nature of the event but also display the purpose of the event. The organization would involve a head table for the special guests and a great display of serving dishes. There is a detailed order of service described (not included in handout).

The French order of service was organized differently from English style (which had a variety of dishes in each course), in having different types of the same cateogry of dish in each course, e.g. a course of various types of game or of various pies and tarts.

The detailed description of this feat is repeated by at least one other author attributed to a different event, suggesting that the text may have come to be treated as a set piece to be recycled in literature. But the Tours feast includes a parallel for the final entremet of an earlier banquet in which the guests swear an oath on a presentation of a pheasant or peacock. Evidently the oath-on-the-bird is a common motif in this context whose origins have yet to be tracked down.

And because many of my readers will want to track down the original text, the handout notes the following sources:

(original)

Arnaud Esquerrier and Miégeville. Chroniques romanes des comtes de Foix composée au 15e siècle par Arnaud Esquerrier et Miégeville, ed. Félix Pasquier et Henri Courteault. Foix: Gadrat ainé; Paris: A. Picard et fils, 1895. Rpt. Nimes: C. Lacour, 1999.

(translation)

Bec, Pierre, ed. Anthologie de la prose occitane du Moyen Age (XIIe-XVe siècle), ed. Pierre Bec, t. 2. Valdarias: Vent terral, 1987.

Dress and Textiles I: Studies in Memory of Verna Rutz

(Opens with a brief summary of Verna's life and work.)

Precious Offerings: Dressing Devotional Statues in Medieval England -- Maren Clegg Hyer, Valdosta State Univ.

Often considered a 16-17th c. practice but some examples as early as 14th c. Germany, or even 11-14th c. England. 11th c. references to statuary dressed in gold and silver. Possibly metallic leaf, as in the 10th c. Golen Madonna of Essen. References to donations of embroidered silk that are unclear whether alter furnishings or statuary drapes. Girdle of gold and pearls placed around a statue, similarly a sword-belt placed around a statue. Some relic-belts still exist that might have been used this way. Crowns might be donated to adorn statues. 12th century references in William of Malmesbury notes a fire that destroyed a cathedal but spared a statue of Mary and the veil that adorned it. Textile donations for statues explode in the 15th century, but at the same time the practice starts coming under criticism. Margery Kempe describes a woman with a statue of the infant Jesus that women would dress up in a shirt and then kiss. So why no surviving examples of statuary ornaments? Some references to statues being taken down for protection from mauraders, but in later times the practice came to be considered suspect and the statues might be taken down and stripped for philosophical reasons. (Note: there are surviving continental examples -- the lack is specifically an English lack.)

Making It Fit: Poetry in Stitches -- Anna Riehl Bertolet, Auburn Univ.

Subtitled "Word and image in Renassance embroidery". Paper explores parallels between the creation of embroideries and the creation of poetry, including structural similarities. The embroidery in question is a band sampler with strips of text between the embroidered bands, with the final part of the sampler being multiple lines of text to complete the poem. Survey of embroideries with text: Bayeux Tapestry (with some embellishments tying parts of the text to referrents in the picture), labels for donors embroidered on altar cloths, etc. Jane Bostocke's 1598 sampler includes names of maker, recipient, and other information. Elizabeth Harborne's 1647 sampler is earliest sampler with text other than identifying information. These early sampler texts are all didactic in nature (that is, other than the identifying information). Increasing numbers of this type of sampler later in the 17th century. The same verse appears on multiple samplers and begins "Look well to that thou takes in hand" perhaps referring directly to the handwork of embroidery. The text is formed by different types of stitches in each row of text, increasing in intricacy and difficulty in parallel with the non-text stitching. Perhaps reflecting a graduated increase in ability as the maker works along. The specific work in focus in this paper has a more elaborate verse (possibly original to the maker or the maker's teacher?) unique to this item. The content of the verse suggests an older maker (not adult, but perhaps older teenager?), using the langauge of reflection. The verse also suggests a maker who is on the verge of going out to make her own living in the world, presumably by doing or teaching embroidery. There is a certain criticism of the experience of learning and this may tie in with the absense of a maker's name as part of the composition (which is otherwise typical). The paper argues that the poem may have been composed during the course of the work on the embroidery, as the text is initially spaced evenly between the decorative bands, with each text line forming a single line of the verse ending in a rhyme. But getting towards the end of the cloth, the words start creeping over to fill empty space, the text size increases and decreases again, and the synchronization of the verse lines with the space disappears entirely. There are about 8 text lines in a block at the end with no decorative strips. It appears that the poem was intended to be shorter but was extended when there was extra fabric. Also, the first 6 lines are fit in with homage to a teacher's direction but as the structure of the sampler breaks down, the text grows more focused on the expression of expected autonomy and a critique of studenthood. At the end, the text decreases significantly in size to allow the fit of a total of 13 poetic lines in total, but it also returns to more virtuous expressions of piety.

(I confess I was skeptical about the whole idea of the text/embroidery parallels at the beginning of the paper, but I became convinced that this is an intriguing and likely interpretation.)

Inventing the Wheel, Again: Returning to the Late Elizabethan Farthingale -- Robin Netherton

(The topic is one that Robin and Verna began exploring together 20 years ago.) The study began as part of a school presentation of 16th c. costume, when the addition of a "wheel farthingale" to the presentation raised interesting questions. The chaacteristic silhouette became common in England in the late 16th c, supplanting the cone-shaped Spanish farthingale and it's evolution into a more bell shape inthe 1570s, possibly by addition of a padded roll or to padding stitched into the pleates of the skirt. The "French farthingale" seems to have evolved as the padded roll without the cone-shaped hoop underneath. The roll might add bulk all around the waist or only around the hips but not in front. At a similar time, the skirts might be shortened into a "frounce" to take up the part of the skirt that would otherwise drag (due to the lack of the hoop), but then it came to be a puffy or pleated flounce all the way around the skirt, creating a sort of "shelf" on top of the roll. This creates the illusion that the skirts form a cyllinder out from the hips, resulting in modern researchers postulating a special "drum farthingale" undergarment of similar silhouette. But this structure doesn't match the evolution and doesn't work well in practice as a garment. Similarly, superficial appearance suggested the frounce as a separate garment sitting over the skirt (again, assuming you don't trace the development). Instead, the effect seems to have developed by tucking up the skirt all around above the padded roll and then arranging it either as the puff or in pleats, but this then requires extensive arranging and fastening in place each time the garment is put on. The idea of a "wheel farthingale" also fails in the absense of a sharp edge and consistently flat top surface.

So how was it done? We have contemporary patterns for cone-shaped Spanish farthingales. There are plenty of clear records for the use and nature of padded rolls, stuffed with cotton, and at least one engraving showing rolls being tied on under the over-skirt. But there is no contempoarary evidence that suggests anythign resembling a "wheel farthingale". Though there are a few references to "wheels" by casual observers of the style, the term isn't used by clothiers or wearers of the indicated style. Only one image suggests a special undergarment: a sketch of satirical male dancers mocking women's styles, with two wearing "women's" styles and several wearing what appears to be a stiffened "top only" skirtlet with women's garments above the waist and men's below. This is highly questionable as a depiction of the actual underpinnings used by women.

Most styles evolve naturally from existing styles and practices, so can the "wheel" effect be created using solidly documented underpinnings and simple manipulations. The undergarment is simply a large padded roll. The frouce is pinned in place using the roll as a pincushion with the weight of the skirt holding the pins in place. All the various variations can be produced from this basic arrangement.

(picture to be added later)