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I started today's housecleaning by attaching the go-backs in the library and it occurred to me that if I want to get all of last year's Kalamazoo haul reviewed before the conference rolls around again, I'd better dig in! And so we continue:
Skemer, Don C. 2006. Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park. ISBN 0-271-02723-1
If you've read my novel Daughter of Mystery then you'll know why I'm buying books on the history of magic and folk religion in Europe. (If you haven't read it, go do so … I'll wait.) While the scope of this book falls before the setting of my novels (at least the primary series -- I do plan a medieval one at some point), the magical practices are grounded in earlier practices. I'm primarily looking for inspirations for describing the paraphernalia around both the "high" and "low" versions of magic in my fiction. Skemer's work covers both the religious environment in which these amulets were produced but the purposes and expected benefits and a great many details on the textual content and the ways in which the amulets were produced and used. I haven't actually had a chance to read it through in detail yet (isn't that always the case?) but expect to cherry-pick details in the future.
Kieckhefer, Richard. 2000. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-78576-1
Picked up for similar reasons as the above. A much broader review and more readable. Covers the major cultural contributions to medieval traditions of magic as well as a chapter on legal issues around condemnation and prosecution. Also covers magic in literature and fraudulent magic.
Dawson, Thomas (ed. by Maggie Black). 1996. The Good Housewife's Jewel. Southover Press, Lewes. ISBN 1-870962-12-5
I already had a facsimile copy of this 1596 English cookbook (from the English Experience series) but this is definitely more readable. Also: completist here! It's one of those small all-in-one books that covers menus, recipes, animal husbandry, and everyday healthcare.
Currie, Elizabeth. 2006. Inside the Renaissance House. V&A Publications, London. ISBN 1-85177-490-4
Just a pretty little coffee-table book, but I'm a sucker for picture-heavy books showing interiors and everyday scenes. Lots of kitchen and dining scenes, plus chapters on bedrooms and studies. If you already have the more massive "At Home in Renaissance Italy", then there's no need to pick this book up … but I did anyway.
Porter, Pamela. 2003. Courtly Love in Medieval Manuscripts. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. ISBN 0-8020-8599-7
This is part of the series of booklets from University of Toronto Press surveying various visual themes in medieval art. While I have a general use for thematic collections of medieval art, I was also specifically interested in the iconography of how PDAs were represented (so that when my medieval fictional characters make out, they can do it in authentic ways).
Walker-Meikle, Kathleen. 2011. Medieval Cats. The British Library, London. ISBN 978-0-7123-5818-7
The back cover notes that the author "completed her PhD … on late-medieval pet keeping." This is a small glossy collection of images of cats in medieval manuscripts and art, with brief accompanying text providing context both for the specific images and the place of cats in medieval society. Many artistic cats doing cat-like things such as playing with the dangling spindle of a woman trying to spin, licking its butt with its legs splayed in all directions, reaching through the bars of a bird-cage, and of course endless scenes of mousing.
Netherton, Robin & Gale R. Owen-Crocker eds. 2013. Medieval Clothing and Textiles 9. The Boydell Press, Rochester. ISBN 978-1-84383-856-2
If you know about this journal series, then you don't need me to tell you why I bought it or why you might want to. For the rest of you, this is an annual volume packed full of articles and reviews on topics related in some way to clothing, fashion, textiles, textile techniques, depictions of all of the above, economic issues relating to the above, etc. etc. Particular articles that catch my eye on leafing through include ones on dagged clothing and painted cloth hangings.
Klosowska, Anna. 2005. Queer Love in the Middle Ages. Palgrave, New York. ISBN 1-4039-6342-8
As someone whose interest in non-majority sexualities in history is both personal and practical, I've become somewhat leery of conference sessions and book titles that feature the word "queer" prominently. Too often it ends up being, "If I use my imagination and squint sideways, you could interpret this Thing in other ways." But Palgrave is an outstanding promoter of good scholarship in the history of homosexuality, so I'm always willing to give their publications a closer look. While this book doesn't fall on the side of "stretching the interpretation to the breaking point" neither does it really fall on the "discovering and interpreting interesting new evidence" side. The author is applying several French theoretical approaches (there's another thing that makes me leery: "French theory") to several of the popular works of the medieval romance canon to identify homoerotic motifs and themes. I might have given the book a pass on the basis of being too much on the lit-crit side for me except that one of the main texts she analyzes is Yde and Olive which is one of my major medieval romance fixations. (Some day I will write my own novelization of the story … and make it come out right in the end, dammit!)
Wright, Monica L. 2009. Weaving Narrative: Clothing in Twelfth-Century French Romance. THe Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park. ISBN 978-0-271-03566-6
As people may know, my historic clothing research interests tend to fall on the practical side and I'm interested in literary sources mostly for what they may be able to tell us about what real people were wearing. But I'll always be willing to consider an exception for books written by people I know. This is an interdisciplinary look at the wealth of clothing descriptions in French romances, investigating what part clothing played in the structure of the stories and how the clothes worked as characterization.
That's it for this session.
Skemer, Don C. 2006. Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages. The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park. ISBN 0-271-02723-1
If you've read my novel Daughter of Mystery then you'll know why I'm buying books on the history of magic and folk religion in Europe. (If you haven't read it, go do so … I'll wait.) While the scope of this book falls before the setting of my novels (at least the primary series -- I do plan a medieval one at some point), the magical practices are grounded in earlier practices. I'm primarily looking for inspirations for describing the paraphernalia around both the "high" and "low" versions of magic in my fiction. Skemer's work covers both the religious environment in which these amulets were produced but the purposes and expected benefits and a great many details on the textual content and the ways in which the amulets were produced and used. I haven't actually had a chance to read it through in detail yet (isn't that always the case?) but expect to cherry-pick details in the future.
Kieckhefer, Richard. 2000. Magic in the Middle Ages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. ISBN 978-0-521-78576-1
Picked up for similar reasons as the above. A much broader review and more readable. Covers the major cultural contributions to medieval traditions of magic as well as a chapter on legal issues around condemnation and prosecution. Also covers magic in literature and fraudulent magic.
Dawson, Thomas (ed. by Maggie Black). 1996. The Good Housewife's Jewel. Southover Press, Lewes. ISBN 1-870962-12-5
I already had a facsimile copy of this 1596 English cookbook (from the English Experience series) but this is definitely more readable. Also: completist here! It's one of those small all-in-one books that covers menus, recipes, animal husbandry, and everyday healthcare.
Currie, Elizabeth. 2006. Inside the Renaissance House. V&A Publications, London. ISBN 1-85177-490-4
Just a pretty little coffee-table book, but I'm a sucker for picture-heavy books showing interiors and everyday scenes. Lots of kitchen and dining scenes, plus chapters on bedrooms and studies. If you already have the more massive "At Home in Renaissance Italy", then there's no need to pick this book up … but I did anyway.
Porter, Pamela. 2003. Courtly Love in Medieval Manuscripts. University of Toronto Press, Toronto. ISBN 0-8020-8599-7
This is part of the series of booklets from University of Toronto Press surveying various visual themes in medieval art. While I have a general use for thematic collections of medieval art, I was also specifically interested in the iconography of how PDAs were represented (so that when my medieval fictional characters make out, they can do it in authentic ways).
Walker-Meikle, Kathleen. 2011. Medieval Cats. The British Library, London. ISBN 978-0-7123-5818-7
The back cover notes that the author "completed her PhD … on late-medieval pet keeping." This is a small glossy collection of images of cats in medieval manuscripts and art, with brief accompanying text providing context both for the specific images and the place of cats in medieval society. Many artistic cats doing cat-like things such as playing with the dangling spindle of a woman trying to spin, licking its butt with its legs splayed in all directions, reaching through the bars of a bird-cage, and of course endless scenes of mousing.
Netherton, Robin & Gale R. Owen-Crocker eds. 2013. Medieval Clothing and Textiles 9. The Boydell Press, Rochester. ISBN 978-1-84383-856-2
If you know about this journal series, then you don't need me to tell you why I bought it or why you might want to. For the rest of you, this is an annual volume packed full of articles and reviews on topics related in some way to clothing, fashion, textiles, textile techniques, depictions of all of the above, economic issues relating to the above, etc. etc. Particular articles that catch my eye on leafing through include ones on dagged clothing and painted cloth hangings.
Klosowska, Anna. 2005. Queer Love in the Middle Ages. Palgrave, New York. ISBN 1-4039-6342-8
As someone whose interest in non-majority sexualities in history is both personal and practical, I've become somewhat leery of conference sessions and book titles that feature the word "queer" prominently. Too often it ends up being, "If I use my imagination and squint sideways, you could interpret this Thing in other ways." But Palgrave is an outstanding promoter of good scholarship in the history of homosexuality, so I'm always willing to give their publications a closer look. While this book doesn't fall on the side of "stretching the interpretation to the breaking point" neither does it really fall on the "discovering and interpreting interesting new evidence" side. The author is applying several French theoretical approaches (there's another thing that makes me leery: "French theory") to several of the popular works of the medieval romance canon to identify homoerotic motifs and themes. I might have given the book a pass on the basis of being too much on the lit-crit side for me except that one of the main texts she analyzes is Yde and Olive which is one of my major medieval romance fixations. (Some day I will write my own novelization of the story … and make it come out right in the end, dammit!)
Wright, Monica L. 2009. Weaving Narrative: Clothing in Twelfth-Century French Romance. THe Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park. ISBN 978-0-271-03566-6
As people may know, my historic clothing research interests tend to fall on the practical side and I'm interested in literary sources mostly for what they may be able to tell us about what real people were wearing. But I'll always be willing to consider an exception for books written by people I know. This is an interdisciplinary look at the wealth of clothing descriptions in French romances, investigating what part clothing played in the structure of the stories and how the clothes worked as characterization.
That's it for this session.
