Avicenna, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. All these are indeed examined in the present book... more Avicenna, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. All these are indeed examined in the present book, but Knuuttila also gives plenty of space to the ancient medical tradition, especially Galen, and to a whole range of church fathers (such as Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cassian, Gregory the Great) and late-twelfth-and early-thirteenth-century thinkers (Peter of Poitiers, Peter of Capua, Stephen Langton) whom the more analytically minded historians have tended to ignore. The outcome of Knuuttila's examination shows very clearly that he is right to draw such writers fully into the ambit of the history of philosophy: not only would the historical development of medieval treatments of emotion be obscure without considering, for instance, the role of Gregory the Great, but some of the minor early Scholastics are shown to have treated the subject with great subtlety and originality. When he sets out early Christian and medieval views of the emotions, Knuuttila goes quite fully into the issues of Christian doctrine and moral teaching with which they were connected. And, although where he finds it necessary-as in his treatment of the logic of the will and emotions in the twelfth century-Knuuttila will use a minimal amount of symbolism, in general he avoids imposing his own terminology and sticks quite closely to the lines of the ancient and medieval authors' arguments, more so than in his earlier work on modality, although that, too, pays close respect to the texts. This approach is very different from what many historians of medieval philosophy in philosophy departments in the United States would favor, but is it less philosophical? Rather, Knuuttila has accommodated himself to a subject that is less amenable than modal logic to being reformulated in contemporary terms. He retains all his accustomed perceptiveness and precision, but he has adapted himself to the demands of his theme, and for the careful reader he provides his own philosophical commentary, more than ever, through hints, suggestions, and understatement.
Focusing on England but covering a wide range of European and global traditions and influences, t... more Focusing on England but covering a wide range of European and global traditions and influences, this authoritative volume examines the central role of medieval women in the production and circulation of books and considers their representation in medieval literary texts, as authors, readers and subjects, assessing how these change over time. Engaging with Latin, French, German, Welsh and Gaelic literary culture, it places British writing in wider European contexts while also considering more distant influences such as Arabic. Essays span topics including book production and authorship; reception; linguistic, literary, and cultural contexts and influences; women's education and spheres of knowledge; women as writers, scribes and translators; women as patrons, readers and book owners; and women as subjects. Reflecting recent trends in scholarship, the volume spans the early Middle Ages through to the eve of the Reformation and emphasises the multilingual, multicultural and international contexts of women's literary culture.
Page 328. Chapter 25 Conjuring Gower in Pericles MARTHA DRIVER Though John Gower&... more Page 328. Chapter 25 Conjuring Gower in Pericles MARTHA DRIVER Though John Gower's poetry is now rarely regarded as central to medieval studies, his work was popularly read and very well known in the early modern period. ...
The Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History, 2014
INA KOK Woodcuts in Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries. Bibliotheca Bibliographica Neerlandi... more INA KOK Woodcuts in Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries. Bibliotheca Bibliographica Neerlandica Series Maior, 2. Trans. Cis van Heertum. 4 vols. Houten, Netherlands: HES & DE GRAAF, 2013. x-xxxi + 896 pp., 4000+ BW the reproduction of all the prints used by Mansion here makes for ready comparison with Verard's illustrations. Mansion is also of interest, of course, to English print historians for his collaboration with William Caxton. Kok further cites the illustrated edition of De ludo scachorum printed in 1483 in Delft by Jacob Jacobszoon van der Meer which was preceded by Caxton's English translation The Game and Playe of Chesse first published in 1474 and perhaps produced with Mansion; the woodcuts in the Delft version look to have influenced the illustrations in Caxton's later edition of 1483. A woodcut of the Man of Sorrows (Hodnett 380) printed by Caxton about 1490, and here "probably a galley proof" (479), mysteriously turns up in an edition printed by Mathias van der Goes in Antwerp, also in 1490. There is no previously known connection between the two printers. Jacob Bellaert, working in Haarlem, not only published an illustrated Dutch translation of Le Recueil des histoires de Troyes in 1485, but the highly influential De Proprietatibus Rerum of Bartholomaeus Anglicus the same year; the illustrations in this latter book were later used as models by French, English and Spanish printers. Both works were published earlier by Caxton as well, the Recuyell in Bruges between 1473 and 1474, and De Proprietatibus Rerum printed in 1472 with Johan Veldener's Cologne type. …
Both Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400) and Christine de Pizan (1364–1429?) draw on a common stock o... more Both Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400) and Christine de Pizan (1364–1429?) draw on a common stock of stories that circulated in England and on the Continent, and we know for certain that both authors were very familiar with the Roman de la Rose, the famous medieval work that considers love from the sacred to the profane.1 Chaucer and Christine, both close readers of the Rose, are often very different interpreters, drawing on their common source to recommend or present opposed models of behavior. One recalls the advice of La Vieille, in Jean de Meun’s text, that “A woman should be careful not to stay shut up too much, for while she remains in the house, she is less seen,” which is echoed by the Wife of Bath’s delight in seeing and being seen (Wife of Bath’s Prologue, III(D), 551–53).2 Christine, on the other hand, admonishes women in her The Book of the Three Virtues that “the very safest course for the profit of the soul and the honour of the body is not to be in the habit of gadding all over town.”3
Although the fuddlecup appears to have no purpose, it is really a conversation piece in that it f... more Although the fuddlecup appears to have no purpose, it is really a conversation piece in that it frustrates the drinker's aim in a humorous manner. Fleming describes the fuddlecup in the context of how Freud explained the process of sublimation in the drives, which, like hydraulic pumps, channels liquid from one chamber to the next. Thus the fuddlecup becomes an objectification of psychic process, which, though not an idea known in early modern culture, finds its manifestation in a cultural artifact. This is an excellent book, nicely written and well-documented. Its illustrations are especially helpful and well-chosen. I believe anyone interested in early modern culture would gain by reading it. MICHAEL DENBO Bronx Community College, City University of New York
Avicenna, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. All these are indeed examined in the present book... more Avicenna, Abelard, Aquinas, Scotus, and Ockham. All these are indeed examined in the present book, but Knuuttila also gives plenty of space to the ancient medical tradition, especially Galen, and to a whole range of church fathers (such as Origen, Gregory of Nazianzus, Cassian, Gregory the Great) and late-twelfth-and early-thirteenth-century thinkers (Peter of Poitiers, Peter of Capua, Stephen Langton) whom the more analytically minded historians have tended to ignore. The outcome of Knuuttila's examination shows very clearly that he is right to draw such writers fully into the ambit of the history of philosophy: not only would the historical development of medieval treatments of emotion be obscure without considering, for instance, the role of Gregory the Great, but some of the minor early Scholastics are shown to have treated the subject with great subtlety and originality. When he sets out early Christian and medieval views of the emotions, Knuuttila goes quite fully into the issues of Christian doctrine and moral teaching with which they were connected. And, although where he finds it necessary-as in his treatment of the logic of the will and emotions in the twelfth century-Knuuttila will use a minimal amount of symbolism, in general he avoids imposing his own terminology and sticks quite closely to the lines of the ancient and medieval authors' arguments, more so than in his earlier work on modality, although that, too, pays close respect to the texts. This approach is very different from what many historians of medieval philosophy in philosophy departments in the United States would favor, but is it less philosophical? Rather, Knuuttila has accommodated himself to a subject that is less amenable than modal logic to being reformulated in contemporary terms. He retains all his accustomed perceptiveness and precision, but he has adapted himself to the demands of his theme, and for the careful reader he provides his own philosophical commentary, more than ever, through hints, suggestions, and understatement.
Focusing on England but covering a wide range of European and global traditions and influences, t... more Focusing on England but covering a wide range of European and global traditions and influences, this authoritative volume examines the central role of medieval women in the production and circulation of books and considers their representation in medieval literary texts, as authors, readers and subjects, assessing how these change over time. Engaging with Latin, French, German, Welsh and Gaelic literary culture, it places British writing in wider European contexts while also considering more distant influences such as Arabic. Essays span topics including book production and authorship; reception; linguistic, literary, and cultural contexts and influences; women's education and spheres of knowledge; women as writers, scribes and translators; women as patrons, readers and book owners; and women as subjects. Reflecting recent trends in scholarship, the volume spans the early Middle Ages through to the eve of the Reformation and emphasises the multilingual, multicultural and international contexts of women's literary culture.
Page 328. Chapter 25 Conjuring Gower in Pericles MARTHA DRIVER Though John Gower&... more Page 328. Chapter 25 Conjuring Gower in Pericles MARTHA DRIVER Though John Gower's poetry is now rarely regarded as central to medieval studies, his work was popularly read and very well known in the early modern period. ...
The Journal of the Early Book Society for the Study of Manuscripts and Printing History, 2014
INA KOK Woodcuts in Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries. Bibliotheca Bibliographica Neerlandi... more INA KOK Woodcuts in Incunabula Printed in the Low Countries. Bibliotheca Bibliographica Neerlandica Series Maior, 2. Trans. Cis van Heertum. 4 vols. Houten, Netherlands: HES & DE GRAAF, 2013. x-xxxi + 896 pp., 4000+ BW the reproduction of all the prints used by Mansion here makes for ready comparison with Verard's illustrations. Mansion is also of interest, of course, to English print historians for his collaboration with William Caxton. Kok further cites the illustrated edition of De ludo scachorum printed in 1483 in Delft by Jacob Jacobszoon van der Meer which was preceded by Caxton's English translation The Game and Playe of Chesse first published in 1474 and perhaps produced with Mansion; the woodcuts in the Delft version look to have influenced the illustrations in Caxton's later edition of 1483. A woodcut of the Man of Sorrows (Hodnett 380) printed by Caxton about 1490, and here "probably a galley proof" (479), mysteriously turns up in an edition printed by Mathias van der Goes in Antwerp, also in 1490. There is no previously known connection between the two printers. Jacob Bellaert, working in Haarlem, not only published an illustrated Dutch translation of Le Recueil des histoires de Troyes in 1485, but the highly influential De Proprietatibus Rerum of Bartholomaeus Anglicus the same year; the illustrations in this latter book were later used as models by French, English and Spanish printers. Both works were published earlier by Caxton as well, the Recuyell in Bruges between 1473 and 1474, and De Proprietatibus Rerum printed in 1472 with Johan Veldener's Cologne type. …
Both Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400) and Christine de Pizan (1364–1429?) draw on a common stock o... more Both Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340–1400) and Christine de Pizan (1364–1429?) draw on a common stock of stories that circulated in England and on the Continent, and we know for certain that both authors were very familiar with the Roman de la Rose, the famous medieval work that considers love from the sacred to the profane.1 Chaucer and Christine, both close readers of the Rose, are often very different interpreters, drawing on their common source to recommend or present opposed models of behavior. One recalls the advice of La Vieille, in Jean de Meun’s text, that “A woman should be careful not to stay shut up too much, for while she remains in the house, she is less seen,” which is echoed by the Wife of Bath’s delight in seeing and being seen (Wife of Bath’s Prologue, III(D), 551–53).2 Christine, on the other hand, admonishes women in her The Book of the Three Virtues that “the very safest course for the profit of the soul and the honour of the body is not to be in the habit of gadding all over town.”3
Although the fuddlecup appears to have no purpose, it is really a conversation piece in that it f... more Although the fuddlecup appears to have no purpose, it is really a conversation piece in that it frustrates the drinker's aim in a humorous manner. Fleming describes the fuddlecup in the context of how Freud explained the process of sublimation in the drives, which, like hydraulic pumps, channels liquid from one chamber to the next. Thus the fuddlecup becomes an objectification of psychic process, which, though not an idea known in early modern culture, finds its manifestation in a cultural artifact. This is an excellent book, nicely written and well-documented. Its illustrations are especially helpful and well-chosen. I believe anyone interested in early modern culture would gain by reading it. MICHAEL DENBO Bronx Community College, City University of New York
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