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hrj(Sponsor: Society for Medieval Feminist Scholarship)
Posted a bit late because I had to do a lot of cleaning up of my notes and look some stuff up on Wikipedia to make sense of the genealogies.
Uh-oh. The presider just said something about "our three speakers". I hope the drop-out isn't the one paper I most wanted to hear.
Female Family Ties and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century French Books of Hours -- Marguerite A. Keane, Drew Univ.
The relationship of women to their books -- what's not to love? This is an examination of the treatment of three books in a single family line. For reference -- because I started getting rather confused about the relationships and had to double-check them later on Wikipedia -- the family line is:
Blanche of Castille > (St.) Louis IX > Phillippe III >(=Marie of Brabant) > Louis d'Evreux (= Margaret of Artois) > Jeanne d'Evreux > Marie & Blanche
but St. Louis also begat > Agnes of Burgundy > Margaret of Burgundy > Jeanne (II) of Navarre > Marie & Blanche
In the Hours of Jeanne of Navarre, a miniature of showing Blanche of Castille and her son St. Louis shows the queen -- not the saint -- as the most prominent figure, suggesting the important relationship of the female owner of the book to her female relatives. (Jeanne herself shows up as a marginal figure in other illuminations in the book.) Books of Hours were often created and given as gifts, creating and reinforcing bonds within and between families.
In the image of St. Louis, it shows him holding and learning from a book and this has been identified specifically as St. Louis' prayer book that was actually owned by Agnes of Burgundy, the grandmother of Jeanne (and daughter of Louis) and which has a note in it saying it was the book from which S. Louis learned to read. We're also going to talk about Jeanne's daughters, Marie and Blanche. This is all very confusing because we're also going to talk about Jeanne d'Evreux who also had daughters named Marie & Blanche.
Marie had a book made for her (the Hours of Marie of Navarre) which also contained a S. Louis cycle. Louis' breviary is also depicted as a key element in the images of his life in that book. A book similarly features in the images of the Louis cycle in the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux. (Evidently a second cousin of Jeanne of Navarre, if I have everything properly untangled.)
Louis's breviary went from Louis to his son Phillip, to his wife Marie of Brabant, with a gap in transmission where it drops out of view, then to Charles II of Navarre -- the son of Jeanne (II) of Navarre -- (with a suggestion that he pulled some sort of fast one to lay hands on it, but evidently he was called "the Bad"), then to his sister Blanche of Navarre, then to her nephew Charles III of Navarre.
The family was very aware of their relationship to S. Louis, not merely as a favorite saint, but as an ancestor, with the transmission of the book representing that link.
As another way the books tied together the family connections, multiple miniatures in the Hours of Jeanne of Navarre feature her arms as a background motif in the diapering design: the nativity (with Jeanne as a marginal figure), and two scenes in which Jeanne occurs as a worshiping figure -- an adoration of the Virgin & Child and the flagellation of Christ. The adoration of the Virgin scene uses both the Navarre and d'Evreux arms in the diapering, interspersed with apes and rabbits (with the implication of some sort of symbolic significance). In the flagellation scene, the diapering features the arms of Burgundy and Navarre. (But the kneeling queen in this image may be Jeanne's mother Margaret of Burgundy rather than Jeanne?)
All very tangled, but I think that was part of the point.
Sermon Writing Women: Middle Dutch Father Confessor Sermons from the Brussels Augustinian Convent of Jericho -- Patricia Stoop, Univ. Antwerpen
A brief summary of the foundational history of the Jericho convent in the early 15th c. Large collection of sermons by confessor Jan Storm collected by prioress Maria van Pee. Under her guidance, the convent of Jericho had significant manuscript production including works for their own use and commercial writing. (There's an unusually rich archive of data regarding their commercial scriptorium.) What's so interesting? Very large collection of sermons transcribed by multiple transcribers. Ca. 200 sermons before 1550, 150 more after that up to 1718. The women collecting the works were highly placed -- either prioresses or heads of the scriptorium. The works include extended prologues while the sermon texts themselves give the impression of being the confessor's own texts rather than being worked up from notes or memory -- but is this the case? There are differing theories on how well one might be able to transcribe a verbal sermon and some scholars seem to have had a pre-existing assumption that "good" texts necessarily were written down by the confessors themselves since it would be "impossible" for a listener to remember and transcribe something that elaborate. So what was the interaction between the preachers and the writers?
In one prologue, Maria van Pee says the contents are "bare contents" not verbatim, and written for her own benefit originally. Some sermones are simply outlines extended by biblical quotes and authorities, but sometimes they are filled out by more detailed reasoning and discussion. Cross-references are added between texts of different sermons. The purpose of the record seems to be for later reading and contemplation, not just as a record.
Next set of records (after Maria's) of the same confessor's sermons are more elaborate and detailed and suggest the "copyist" was using them as an opportunity to exercise her own scholarship and study.
Ancrene Wisse (The Anchoress's Guide): An Early Middle English Corrective against the Growth of Female Mysticism in Continental Europe? -- Jennifer Smith, California State Univ. Long Beach
Random images: Christ as knightly champion for the anchoress/lady? Making the sign of the cross as a vigorous self-defense action against sin/temptation? Warnings against the devil's deceptions, including visions and mystical experiences. Scoldings from "the angry Jesus" for anchoresses who stray from the path.
Order Restored: The Female Combatant in Paulus Kal's Fechtbuch -- Laura Erickson, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Oh, goodie! The earlier reference to "three speakers" was a mis-statement. I was just about ready to post a rant about how come it's always the interesting-sounding papers that scratch.
The topic is a sequence of images of a man and woman in judicial comabat in two Fechtbuchs. The man is armed with a stick and is standing in a pit up to his waist, the woman is armed with a rock in a sling (formed by an extension of her sleeve), but is free to move. Thesis: these images reflect Kal's ideas about the place of women in society. The thread is taken from Talhoffer's fighting manual. Talhoffer is primarily concerned with judicial combat and includes the images of women in this context. This is in contrast to assumptions that a man will act for a woman in judicial combat. But there are some provisions for women to act on their own behalf in certain rape cases if they insist on bringing it to that point. The loser of the combat will be executed or mutilated. Whether or not Talhoffer had experience of actual inter-gender combat, he was clearly illustrating what he conceived of as a serous combat. Kal, in contrast, envisions the woman as totally ineffective, while Talhoffer illustrates female victory as one alternative. Kal's fight is also much simpler and shorter as depicted. Kal's book was produced for several purposes, as a gift to his intended patron and former student, and as a presentation of his take on judicial combat for the instruction of his future lord, and as reminder of his patron's debts to the author. There's an emphasis on judicial combat as maintaining social order. The first half of the book illustrates types of judicial combats. The second half illustrates lessons in combat for a student.
This leads to the contrasts with Talhoffer. A woman, acting on her own, has insisted on bringing a rape case to the point of combat -- which is inherently disruptive to the order of society. Kal views this as requiring quick restoration of the order of society. Kal shows the woman acting first and bloodying the man (again, against "proper" order) while Talhoffer does not show this (but is otherwise a much more detailed depiction). Both then show the man grabbing the woman's weapon and pulling her to the ground. Talhoffer's woman successfully resists the man's defensive attack and eventually shows two possible outcomes: one for victory to each gender. (Not mentioned in the paper: Talhoffer's woman is wearing trousers while Kal's wears a chemise.) In Talhoffer's image of the victorious woman, the woman is grabbing the man's genitals (although similar holds are shown in male-male wrestling moves). We now have a side-analysis of the image of Mary in Kal's book as the arbiter of victory, mediating her power through a man, (Jesus) consistent with Kal's view of proper order. (This seems to be the speaker's interpretation rather than being explicit in the text.)
Posted a bit late because I had to do a lot of cleaning up of my notes and look some stuff up on Wikipedia to make sense of the genealogies.
Uh-oh. The presider just said something about "our three speakers". I hope the drop-out isn't the one paper I most wanted to hear.
Female Family Ties and Patronage in Fourteenth-Century French Books of Hours -- Marguerite A. Keane, Drew Univ.
The relationship of women to their books -- what's not to love? This is an examination of the treatment of three books in a single family line. For reference -- because I started getting rather confused about the relationships and had to double-check them later on Wikipedia -- the family line is:
Blanche of Castille > (St.) Louis IX > Phillippe III >(=Marie of Brabant) > Louis d'Evreux (= Margaret of Artois) > Jeanne d'Evreux > Marie & Blanche
but St. Louis also begat > Agnes of Burgundy > Margaret of Burgundy > Jeanne (II) of Navarre > Marie & Blanche
In the Hours of Jeanne of Navarre, a miniature of showing Blanche of Castille and her son St. Louis shows the queen -- not the saint -- as the most prominent figure, suggesting the important relationship of the female owner of the book to her female relatives. (Jeanne herself shows up as a marginal figure in other illuminations in the book.) Books of Hours were often created and given as gifts, creating and reinforcing bonds within and between families.
In the image of St. Louis, it shows him holding and learning from a book and this has been identified specifically as St. Louis' prayer book that was actually owned by Agnes of Burgundy, the grandmother of Jeanne (and daughter of Louis) and which has a note in it saying it was the book from which S. Louis learned to read. We're also going to talk about Jeanne's daughters, Marie and Blanche. This is all very confusing because we're also going to talk about Jeanne d'Evreux who also had daughters named Marie & Blanche.
Marie had a book made for her (the Hours of Marie of Navarre) which also contained a S. Louis cycle. Louis' breviary is also depicted as a key element in the images of his life in that book. A book similarly features in the images of the Louis cycle in the Hours of Jeanne d'Evreux. (Evidently a second cousin of Jeanne of Navarre, if I have everything properly untangled.)
Louis's breviary went from Louis to his son Phillip, to his wife Marie of Brabant, with a gap in transmission where it drops out of view, then to Charles II of Navarre -- the son of Jeanne (II) of Navarre -- (with a suggestion that he pulled some sort of fast one to lay hands on it, but evidently he was called "the Bad"), then to his sister Blanche of Navarre, then to her nephew Charles III of Navarre.
The family was very aware of their relationship to S. Louis, not merely as a favorite saint, but as an ancestor, with the transmission of the book representing that link.
As another way the books tied together the family connections, multiple miniatures in the Hours of Jeanne of Navarre feature her arms as a background motif in the diapering design: the nativity (with Jeanne as a marginal figure), and two scenes in which Jeanne occurs as a worshiping figure -- an adoration of the Virgin & Child and the flagellation of Christ. The adoration of the Virgin scene uses both the Navarre and d'Evreux arms in the diapering, interspersed with apes and rabbits (with the implication of some sort of symbolic significance). In the flagellation scene, the diapering features the arms of Burgundy and Navarre. (But the kneeling queen in this image may be Jeanne's mother Margaret of Burgundy rather than Jeanne?)
All very tangled, but I think that was part of the point.
Sermon Writing Women: Middle Dutch Father Confessor Sermons from the Brussels Augustinian Convent of Jericho -- Patricia Stoop, Univ. Antwerpen
A brief summary of the foundational history of the Jericho convent in the early 15th c. Large collection of sermons by confessor Jan Storm collected by prioress Maria van Pee. Under her guidance, the convent of Jericho had significant manuscript production including works for their own use and commercial writing. (There's an unusually rich archive of data regarding their commercial scriptorium.) What's so interesting? Very large collection of sermons transcribed by multiple transcribers. Ca. 200 sermons before 1550, 150 more after that up to 1718. The women collecting the works were highly placed -- either prioresses or heads of the scriptorium. The works include extended prologues while the sermon texts themselves give the impression of being the confessor's own texts rather than being worked up from notes or memory -- but is this the case? There are differing theories on how well one might be able to transcribe a verbal sermon and some scholars seem to have had a pre-existing assumption that "good" texts necessarily were written down by the confessors themselves since it would be "impossible" for a listener to remember and transcribe something that elaborate. So what was the interaction between the preachers and the writers?
In one prologue, Maria van Pee says the contents are "bare contents" not verbatim, and written for her own benefit originally. Some sermones are simply outlines extended by biblical quotes and authorities, but sometimes they are filled out by more detailed reasoning and discussion. Cross-references are added between texts of different sermons. The purpose of the record seems to be for later reading and contemplation, not just as a record.
Next set of records (after Maria's) of the same confessor's sermons are more elaborate and detailed and suggest the "copyist" was using them as an opportunity to exercise her own scholarship and study.
Ancrene Wisse (The Anchoress's Guide): An Early Middle English Corrective against the Growth of Female Mysticism in Continental Europe? -- Jennifer Smith, California State Univ. Long Beach
Random images: Christ as knightly champion for the anchoress/lady? Making the sign of the cross as a vigorous self-defense action against sin/temptation? Warnings against the devil's deceptions, including visions and mystical experiences. Scoldings from "the angry Jesus" for anchoresses who stray from the path.
Order Restored: The Female Combatant in Paulus Kal's Fechtbuch -- Laura Erickson, Univ. of Washington, Seattle
Oh, goodie! The earlier reference to "three speakers" was a mis-statement. I was just about ready to post a rant about how come it's always the interesting-sounding papers that scratch.
The topic is a sequence of images of a man and woman in judicial comabat in two Fechtbuchs. The man is armed with a stick and is standing in a pit up to his waist, the woman is armed with a rock in a sling (formed by an extension of her sleeve), but is free to move. Thesis: these images reflect Kal's ideas about the place of women in society. The thread is taken from Talhoffer's fighting manual. Talhoffer is primarily concerned with judicial combat and includes the images of women in this context. This is in contrast to assumptions that a man will act for a woman in judicial combat. But there are some provisions for women to act on their own behalf in certain rape cases if they insist on bringing it to that point. The loser of the combat will be executed or mutilated. Whether or not Talhoffer had experience of actual inter-gender combat, he was clearly illustrating what he conceived of as a serous combat. Kal, in contrast, envisions the woman as totally ineffective, while Talhoffer illustrates female victory as one alternative. Kal's fight is also much simpler and shorter as depicted. Kal's book was produced for several purposes, as a gift to his intended patron and former student, and as a presentation of his take on judicial combat for the instruction of his future lord, and as reminder of his patron's debts to the author. There's an emphasis on judicial combat as maintaining social order. The first half of the book illustrates types of judicial combats. The second half illustrates lessons in combat for a student.
This leads to the contrasts with Talhoffer. A woman, acting on her own, has insisted on bringing a rape case to the point of combat -- which is inherently disruptive to the order of society. Kal views this as requiring quick restoration of the order of society. Kal shows the woman acting first and bloodying the man (again, against "proper" order) while Talhoffer does not show this (but is otherwise a much more detailed depiction). Both then show the man grabbing the woman's weapon and pulling her to the ground. Talhoffer's woman successfully resists the man's defensive attack and eventually shows two possible outcomes: one for victory to each gender. (Not mentioned in the paper: Talhoffer's woman is wearing trousers while Kal's wears a chemise.) In Talhoffer's image of the victorious woman, the woman is grabbing the man's genitals (although similar holds are shown in male-male wrestling moves). We now have a side-analysis of the image of Mary in Kal's book as the arbiter of victory, mediating her power through a man, (Jesus) consistent with Kal's view of proper order. (This seems to be the speaker's interpretation rather than being explicit in the text.)
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Date: 2010-05-15 02:25 am (UTC)Hm.