1993 Colloquium Paper Abstracts

"Graphting Law and Desire in the Book of Good Love "

 The Book of Good Love (ca. 1340) has summoned the literary establishment to confront a number of critical and theoretical issues related to the principle of propiedad; that is, belonging to the double and fundamentally legal principle of property and propriety.

On one hand, because of the Book 's uneasy subjection to the conventional boundaries framing the discursive category traditionally considered "literature" (such as a definition by a proper title, authorship, thematic and formal unity, and genre affiliation), this text calls into question not only its status as a literary work but, more importantly, the very laws upon which "literariness" is decided. On the other hand, the literary unruliness and improper sense of decency of the bawdy autobiographical tales, as related by the Archpriest, contrast with the Book 's pervasive preoccupation with matters of medieval civil and canon law, as well as with the allegorical reading insistently prescribed by this self-proclaimed didactic text.

My reading of the Book is an attempt to explore the trying question of "literariness" by examining the metaphors of hybridity and law graphted on the erotic narrative of the Archpriest. It is my contention that, granted a fair hearing, the mise en abyme of desire effected in the legal passages of the Book of Good Love will ascertain a definition of its literary discourse as textual graphting.

" Sea-sickness, Love-sickness and the Image of the Heroine-Healer in the Chivalric Romance, 'Peter of the Golden Keys.'"

Waeret ir mir der vremdest man
der ie ze Riuzen hus gewan,
e ir mich so bestuendent me,
zeware-ich sicherte iu e.


If you were the most obscure man
Who'd ever lived in Russia
I would sooner surrender to you
Than continue to take a beating like this.

 The answer, I believe, is that the introduction of courtly novels into Russia was less a real "flooding" than a process of careful cultural selection. It seems that Russians chose not what was most exotic, but to a certain extent what they recognized from their own literary, religious and pseudo-scientific culture. The selection of "Peter of the Golden Keys" will focus not on the "exotic" features and how they shocked and titillated 17th-century Russian readers, but rather on the novel's relation to the Russian cultural context. Specifically, I will discuss the trope of the "sea of love," the blurring of love and sickness, and the role of the heroine-healer.
 

"An Alphonsine Transfiguration: The Fall of Jerusalem."

 Chapter 183 of La estoria general de Espanna by Alphonse the Wise treats the siege and fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. The text is drawn from the account given by Flavius Josephus in Wars of the Jews, with many passages copied verbatim. Yet the Alphonsine version makes subtle changes in the story which in the end combine to form an entirely different tale. Chapter 183 portrays Judaism as a corrupt "anti-religion" complete with apostate priests, an iniquitous congregation, and a cannibalistic pseudo-Mary who cares nothing for her son. Alphonse's text is a medieval discourse of power which subordinates Judaism to both the religious and the political heirs of the Roman Empire.
 
 

"Crusading Renaissance Humanists"

 The word "crusade" generally conjures up images of Frankish knights and powerful monarchs storming the walls of Jerusalem. Rarely does one associate crusading with Renaissance Italy -- a society known more for humanism and art than great war lords and kings. Nonetheless, Renaissance Italians, particularly the Florentines, were often preoccupied with hopes, fears and grand schemes regarding the Holy Land and the Infidel. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Turks pushed further and further west while the Italians anxiously observed their threatening approach. In the uncertain decades that followed, calls for crusade naturally became quite common.

 In this paper, I explore the place of Italian humanists within the crusading tradition and consider how many of these scholars viewed themselves as lesser crusaders -- armed with the pen rather than the sword.
 
 

"The Royal Theft of Monastic Lands in Ninth-Century England"

 In Anglo-Saxon England prior to the First Viking Age, it seems that the Church came to use the land charter primarily in order to establish a perpetual right of possession for any land it acquired from a royal benefactor. But as late as the ninth-century, there appear to be some instances of kings successfully -- at least for a time -- revoking grants of land to churches or monastic foundations. This paper will focus on a Mercian charter of 840 in which we are told of a successful attempt by the Church at Worcester to recover property which had been seized by King Berhtwulf. The Mercian king does not come out of this episode empty-handed, however, for as a new "granting king," he actually receives compensation for the land he returns to the Church. I will argue here that the glimpse we get of the realpolitik behind this and similar episodes should suggest royal dynastic motives in addition to simple economic motives or the survival of an older Germanic custom.
 
 

"Ockham, Property, and the Fall of Man"

 In the Opus nonaginta dierum of 1332, William of Ockham argued that legal rights of property were a necessary accommodation to the corrupted nature of the fall of man. Many medieval thinkers had invoked the Fall to explain the origin of property, but there are some oddities in Ockham's account, most notably in his treatment of Adam and Eve. These may be explained in two ways. First, Ockham brings to the subject of property the perspective of a theologian, not a canonist; and second, he uses Adam and Eve to defend the Franciscan rejection of legal rights of property, as part of his larger polemical struggle with Pope John XXII.
 
 

"James and Margaret, Joseph and Mary; Historical Context and the Hours of James IV"

 Upon his marriage to her in 1503, James IV of Scotland gave to Margaret Tudor many gifts, including a lavish Book of Hours commissioned in Flanders, now known as the Hours of James IV. Its unusual iconography reflects the precarious position in which James found himself at the time: he had offered to marry Margaret to end his war with Henry VII of England and to satisfy his councillors and countrymen, who desired that their womanizing king should settle down and produce heirs. I will argue that this iconography, which depicts the marriage between Joseph and the Virgin Mary, derives from James' effort to assure his bride that he would be a loyal and faithful husband. Additionally, I will argue that Margaret visualized her marriage in these terms long before she saw James' gift.
 
 

"Clean Speech, Clean Sex: The 'Kynde Crafte' of the Middle English Cleanness"

 Cleanness, taking as its text the sixth beatitude (Beati mundo corde quoniam ipsi Deum videbunt), focuses its discussion of spiritual "clannes" or purity on sexuality. In the course of telling its three exempla -- the flood, the destruction of Sodom, and Baltassar's downfall -- the poet emphatically denounces homosexuality, which he claims is the sin which provokes God's greatest anger, and portrays God commending heterosexual sex as the "kynde crafte" which he created for the enjoyment of humanity. Yet within the exempla, the poet focuses on the language of the characters rather than their actions, thereby classifying their speech as well as their sexuality as clean or unclean, natural or unnatural. This attention to language within the exempla, coupled with the assertion which begins the poem, points towards a view of language where speaker and speech, author and text, possess a natural similarity which blurs the distinction between reproduction and representation.  
 

"Is There History in Medieval Technology?"

 Medieval technology has been significantly marginalised by scholars. A critical factor is the perception of what technology represents. It is usual to discuss technology in terms of the artefact. Historians question why minute studies of specific artefacts should be central to their critical assessments of much wider-ranging sources. Historians of Technology are of two minds: those who favour integrating the artefact with cultural history; and the 'purists' who see the artefact as paramount in any analysis. This paper poses the question that is too seldom asked. It argues that technology is not simply the artefact. It is a mental process responding to questions posed by the environment which require some form of problem-solving solution. "High Farming" and Gothic Architecture are examined to show how such an appreciation of technology is an attractive and useful tool for historians that gives fresh, and sometimes enlightening insights to the period.

"Gower's 'Tale of the Three Questions': Peronelle's Humility or Power By Other Means."

 The virtue of humility is generally accepted as a passive virtue devoid of any desire for power. The humble never aim to better themselves. Peronelle, in Gower's "Tale of the Three Questions" (Confessio Amantis, I.3067-3402), seems to be the perfect model of such a virtue. Her own praise of humility in the tale as well as her humble gestures appear to show the powerless and passive side of humility. This paper argues that Peronelle is not such a passive character. Humility has another side to it; it has the potential to turn into a powerful tool for one's own advancement, and Peronelle makes use of this. By means of humility, she empowers herself and sagaciously arranges her own marriage with no less person than the king himself. Thus, she effects a subtle shift of her own position in the system of exchange, moving from an object to a subject position.

"The Dance with Guthrun, Moves and Countermoves in Laxdaela Saga"

 In Old Norse literature, Guthrun is an outstanding female figure and one of the main characters in the Laxdaela Saga. She is introduced late in the text as, "... the loveliest woman in Iceland at the time, and also the most intelligent". Her dreams as a teenager are interpreted and we follow her through four marriages, four children and various hardships until she dies, an old woman of nearly 90. This paper discusses Guthrun's identity, her actions, and her reactions in some key situations in this Family Saga. It focuses on her power and the conditions directing her life.
 
 

"The Works of Teresa de Cartagena: Consolation and Apologia in Fifteenth-Century Spain"

Teresa de Cartagena's Arboleda de los enfermos and Admiraci—n operum Dey are among the few recorded works by women in fifteenth-century Spain. This paper describes Cartagena's intellectual and historical milieu and sketches the motivations behind both writings. In the Arboleda, Cartagena's version of the university sermon, her acute sense of isolation compelled her to take up the pen to console herself and her audience. This work, in contrast to the traditional university sermon, betrays personal suffering and places the author herself as main referent of this "consolatory sermon." This paper will also analyze the criticism of her male audience. It will close with an analysis of Cartagena's second work, Operacion operum Dey, an unflinching defence of her Arboleda. Special attention will be given to the structure underlying her defence and her self-consciousness as a woman author.
 
 

"Anglo-Saxon Paganism: A True Test of Faith"

 Usually viewed with post-conversion hindsight and through Norse-colored glasses, Anglo-Saxon paganism remains an elusive subject. The only written sources are Christian, Bede's account being the most damning because the least stereotypical. Historians have long acknowledged that archaeology contradicts Bede (specifically on the issues of a pagan "afterlife") but rarely have they gone beyond the observation. Archaeologists, meanwhile, have preferred to focus on settlement studies, distrusting or even denying the possibility of "cognitive" interpretations. There would seem to be room for fruitful research somewhere in-between, but this begs the question of the degree to which material culture can convey social belief. This paper will not offer a tidy summary of Anglo-Saxon pagan theology; it will instead examine the limits of interpretation of both archaeological and historical "texts" in an attempt to negotiate a meaningful dialogue between the readers of each.
 
 

"Exeter Riddle No.73: Another 'Bird-Riddle'"

Old English Riddle No.73 is one of the most controversial compositions of the Exeter Book collection. Scholars have long tried to solve it by proposing a wide range of very different interpretations, among which are: a siren, cuttle-fish, water, a ship's figure-head and a soul. We can conclude that we are dealing with a particularly obscure riddle. This paper sets out to demonstrate that the most accurate interpretation is Holthausen's solution: a swan. In order to support the plausibility of this solution, we will carry out an analysis of the misleading clues in Riddle 73 as well as a study of parallel examples in other "bird-riddles." All this will lead us to the conclusion that the solution can be a bird, namely, any type of white palmiped, and, more precisely, a swan.

"Prolegomena to a Study of Ritual Murder Accusations"

 During the past year Muslims living in Bosnia have been accused by their Christian neighbors of, among other things, ritually killing Christian children. This newest twist on an old accusation serves to underscore the fact that the medieval fantasy of Jewish ritual murder is not yet a dead issue; on the contrary, it has proved to be one of the most enduring legacies of the Middle Ages.

 Why should medievalists study this subject, and how? In the absence of any evidence for Jewish infanticide, irrational accusations nevertheless appeared among Christians and moved them to violence. As a product of the Christian psyche, the fantasy of Jewish ritual murder is really anything but a "Jewish" subject, and examining medieval origins can offer us a number of important insights, some of them disturbing, into the majority culture of twelfth- and thirteenth-century Europe.

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