MEDIAEVISTIK Internationale Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Mittelalterforschung

Herausgegeben von Peter Dinzelbacher

Band 19 · 2 0 0 6

PETER LANG Frankfurt am Main · Berlin · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Wien Romanischer Engel

Diese fast schon rundplastische, vibrierende Figur eines die Man- dorla mit Christus tragendenden Engels findet sich im Westtym­ panon der Kirche von Saint-Julien-de-Jonzy bei Charlieu (Forez). Die wilde Bewegtheit der Falten und die Spannung, unter der die Gestalt zu stehen scheint, bilden einen merklichen Kontrast zu dem erhaben-antikisierenden Antlitz des Himmelsbewohners. Die Bewegungsmöglichkeiten, die es in der Romanik in der Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts für die Gestaltung von Gewandung gab, sind hier bis zum letzten ausgeschöpft.

(Bild und Text: Peter Dinzelbacher)

ISSN 2199-806X0934-7453 © Peter Lang GmbH Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2006 Alle Rechte Vorbehalten. Das Werk einschließlich aller seiner Teile ist urheberrechtlich geschützt. Jede Verwertung außerhalb der engen Grenzen des Urheberrechtsgesetzes ist ohne Zustimmung des Verlages unzulässig und strafbar. Das gilt insbesondere für Vervielfältigungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemenf

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Inhalt

Aufsätze

M. ALTRIPP, Die geknoteten Säulen in der byzantinischen und romanischen K u n st______9 A. CLASSEN, Anger and Anger Management in the Middle Ages. Mental- Historical Perspectives ______21 P. DINZELBACHER, Burgen und Belagerungen. Ein Forschungsüberblick __ 51 M. SCHUHMANN, Vom Suchen und Nicht-Finden des Grals ______105 M. HORCHLER, Vom Sehen und Nicht-Erkennenkönnen des Grals. Eine Re­ plik ______119 M. SILLER, Oswald von Wolkenstein. Versuch einer psychohistorischen Re­ konstruktion ______125 R. SURTZ, A Spanish Midwife's Uses of the Word: The Inquisitorial Trial (1485/86) of Joana Torrellas ______153 C. TUCZAY, Drache und Greif ______169

Edition

U. MAUCH, Der frühneuhochdeutsche Traktat über die 'verworfenen Tage' im Kodex 8796 der Biblioteca nacional in Madrid ______213

Rezensionen

Gesamtes Mittelalter

Dictionary of the Middle Ages, ed. W. JORDAN (A. CLASSEN) ______243 E. HENNING, Auxilia historica [Neuauflage] (K. COLBERG) ______245 Conseils pour l'édition des textes médiévaux, ed. F. VIELLIEARD, O. GUYOTJEANNIN (K. COLBERG) ______245 The Book Unbound. Editing and Reading Medieval Manuscripts and Texts. Hg. S. ECHARD, S. PARTRIDGE (H. REIMANN) ______247 B. HANAWALT, The European World, 400-1450 (A. CLASSEN) ______248 G. CANTARELLA, Medioevo: un filo di parole (J. TOLAN) ______250 M. WEISS ADAMSON, Food in Medieval Times (A. CLASSEN )______252 100.000 Jahre Sex, hg. v. V. van VILSTEREN u.a. (A. CLASSEN) ______253 Mariage et sexualité au Moyen Age, p.p. M. ROUCHE (P. DINZELBACHER) 255 2 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

A. KRAWIEC, Seksualnosc w sredniowiecznej Polsce (M. DELIMATA) ___ 256 A. BURUGIÈRE u.a. (edd.), Geschichte der Familie. Mittelalter (S. VANDERPUTTEN)______259 C. CAROZZI, H. TAVIANI-CAROZZI edd., Le pouvoir au Moyen Age (S. VANDERPUTTEN) ______260 W. HECHBERGER, Adel, Ministerialität und Rittertum im Mittelalter (B. SCHUSTER) ______262 G. di GANGI, L'attivitâ mineraria e metallurgica nelle Alpi occidentali italiane nel medioevo (P. SQUATRITI) ______264 N. POUNDS, The Medieval City (A. CLASSEN )______267 J.-D. LEPAGE, Castles and Fortified Cities of Medieval Europa (A. CLAS­ SEN) ______269 J.-D. LEPAGE, Medieval Armies and Weapons (A. CLASSEN )______270 The Cambridge History of Scandinavia. Volume I, Prehistory to 1520, ed. K. HELLE (P. DINZELBACHER) ______272 L. CLEMENS, Tempore Romanorum constructa. Zur Nutzung und Wahrneh­ mung antiker Überreste nördlich der Alpen während des Mittelalters (P. DIN­ ZELBACHER) ______273 J. JARNUT u.a. (Hg.), Erinnerungskultur im Bestattungsritual (D. RANDO) _ 276 Anges et Démons dans la littérature anglaise du Moyen Âge, p. p. L. CARRUTHERS (A. SCHUTZ) ______278 E. TIMM, Frau Holle, Frau Percht und verwandte Gestalten (P. DINZELBA­ CHER) ______281 E. CIANCI, Incantesimi e benedizioni nella letteratura tedesca medievale (P. DINZELBACHER)______285 J. SCHEINER, Vom Gelben Flicken zum Judenstern? Genese und Applikation von Judenabzeichen im Islam und christlichen Europa (I. ROBINSON) _____ 286 K. BERTAU, Schrift - Macht - Heiligkeit in den Literaturen des jüdisch-christ­ lich-muslimischen Mittelalters (A. CLASSEN) ______287 C. LEONARDI, Medioevo latino (P. DINZELBACHER) ______290 P. STOTZ, Handbuch zur lateinischen Sprache des Mittelalters. Fünfter Band: Bibliographie, Quellenübersicht und Register (P. DINZELBACHER) ______291 La montagne dans le texte médiéval, p. p. C. THOMASSET, D. JAMES- RAOUL (P. DINZELBACHER) ______292 Die Methodik der Bildinterpretation, hg. v. A. von HÜLSEN-ERSCH und J.-C. SCHMITT (P. DINZELBACHER)______294 K. SCHMUCKI u.a., Eremus und Insula. St. Gallen und die Reichenau (U. EN G E L)______296 Mediaevistik 19 ■ 2006 3

Anthology of Ancient and Medieval Woman's Song, ed. A. KLINCK (A. CLASSEN)______299 H. ADOLF, Gesammelte Schriften (J. JEEP) ______300 Zivilisationsprozesse. Zu Erziehungsschriften in der Vormoderne. Hg. R. SCHNELL (A. CLASSEN )______302 A. DIEHR, Literatur und Musik im Mittelalter (A. CLASSEN) ______306 W. FUHRMANN, Herz und Stimme. Innerlichkeit, Affekt und Gesang im Mittelalter (B. L A N G )______308

Frühmittelalter

Antichitä germaniche, a c. V. DOLCETTI CORAZZA, R. GENDRE (G. LA N G E)______311 Theory and Practice in Late Antique Archaeology. Ed. L. LAVAN, W. BOW­ DEN (P. DINZELBACHER) ______312 H. BELLEN, Grundzüge der römischen Geschichte III: Die Spätantike von Constantin bis Justinian (P. DINZELBACHER) ______314 Die Römer zwischen Alpen und Nordmeer, ed. L. WÄMSER (P. DINZEL­ BACHER) ______315 H. LEPPIN, Theodosius d. Gr. (P. DINZELBACHER) ______315 Akkulturation. Probleme einer germanisch-romanischen Kultursynthese in Spätantike und frühem Mittelalter, hg. v. D. HÄGERMANN (P. DINZELBA­ CHER) ______318 B. BRENK, Die Christianisierung der spätrömischen Welt (P. DINZELBA­ CHER) ______321 Conversion In Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages, ed. K. MILLS, A. GRAFTON (P. DINZELBACHER) ______323 Die Alemannen und das Christentum, ed. S. LORENZ, B. SCHOLKMANN (B. EFFRO S)______324 P. WORM, Karolingische Rekognitionszeichen (H. REIMANN) ______326 M. CLAUSSEN, The Reform of the Frankish Church. Chrodegang of Metz and the Regula canonicorum in the Eight Century (I. EBERL) ______328 Erzbischof Arn von Salzburg. Hg. v. M. NIEDERKORN-BRUCK, A. SCHA- RER (P. DINZELBACHER) ______330 K. GRINDA, Enzyklopädie der literarischen Vergleiche. Das Bildinventar von der römischen Antike bis zum Ende des Frühmittelalters (P. DINZELBA­ CHER) ______331 J. VOISENET, Bëtes et Hommes dans le monde médiéval (P. DINZEL­ BACHER) ______332 4 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

P. DRONKE, Imagination in the Late Pagan and Early Christian World (P. DINZELBACHER) ______334 Rutilio Namaciano, El Retorno. Geografos latinos menores, tr. A. GARCIA- TORANO MARTINEZ (P. DINZELBACHER) ______335 Ps.-Paolino Nolano, "Poema ultimum", ed. M. CORSANO, R. PALLA (P. DINZELBACHER)______336 Isidoro di Siviglia, Etimologie, a c. di A. VALASTRO (R. VOGELER) ______337 Pactus Legis Salicae, hg. v. K. ECKHARDT (P. DINZELBACHER) ______338 Die Annales Quelinburgenses, ed. M. GIESE (R. VOGELER) ______339 Rosvita di Gandersheim, ed. L. ROBERTINI, M. GIOVINI (B. PFEIL) ______340 Runica - Germanica - Mediaevalia, ed. W. HEINZMANN, A. VAN NAHL (P. DINZELBACHER) ______342 S. SONDEREGGER, Althochdeutsche Sprache und Literatur (J. JEEP) _____ 345 B. MURDOCH (Hg.), German Literature of the Early Middle Ages (Κ. AMANN) ______346 Williram von Ebersberg. Expositio in Cantica Canticorum und das 'Commen- tarium in Cantica Canticorum' Haimos von Auxerre, hg. H. LÄHNEMANN, M. RUPP (J. JEEP) ______349

Hochmittelalter

R. BERKHOFER, Day of Reckoning. Power and Accountability in Medieval France (A. CLASSEN) ______353 T. ROWLEY, Die Normannen (O. MÜNSCH) ______354 N. HOUSLEY, Die Kreuzritter (I. EBERL) ______357 P. DINZELBACHER, Die Templer (M. MATZKE) ______359 J. CLAUSEN, Papst Honorius III. (S. VANDERPUTTEN) ______360 G. POTESTÂ, II tempo di Apocalisse. Vita di Giovanni da Fiore (O. M ÜNSCH)______362 B. WEIFENBACH (Hg.), Reinold. Ein Ritter für Europa, Beschützer der Stadt Dortmund (M. SCHÜRER) ______364 E. JAMROZIAK, Rievaulx Abbey and its Social Context, 1132 - 1300 (I. EBERL) ______367 M. RIEDL, Joachim von Fiore. Denker der vollendeten Menschheit (B. LANG) ______368 B. WEISS, Die deutschen Mystikerinnen und ihr Gottesbild (B. LANG) _____ 370 B. LA WALL, Faciatis incendio concremari. Untersuchungen zur Situation des europäischen Judentums in der ersten Hälfte des dreizehnten Jahrhunderts (A. MÖSCHTER)______372 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 5

P. HENRIET, La parole et la prière au Moyen Age (P. DINZELBACHER) __ 374 T. KRÜGER, Persönlichkeitsausdruck und Persönlichkeitswahmehmung... des Anselm von Canterbury (P. DINZELBACHER) ______376 C. OCKER, Biblical Poetics before Humanism and Reformation (E. MÉGIER) 378 Beatae Hildegardis Cause et cure, ed. L. MOULINIER (P. DINZELBACHER) 381 Hildegard von Bingen in ihrem historischen Umfeld, hg. v. A. HAVERKAMP (P. DINZELBACHER) ______383 Nigello di Longchamps, Speculum Stultorum, tr. F. ALBINI (K. SKOV- GAARD-PETERSEN) ______386 Roman de Thèbes, tr. F. OLEFF-KRAFFT (P. DINZELBACHER) ______389 Thomas de Kent, Le Roman d'Alexandre ou le Roman de toute Chevalerie, p.p. C. GAULIIER BOURGASSAS, L. HARF-LANCNER (P. DINZELBACHER) 390 Maria di Francia, II Purgatorio di san Patrizio, a c. di S. BARILLARI (P. KUNSTMANN)______391 Renaud de Beaujeu, Le Bel Inconnu, p.p. M. PERRET, tr. I. WEILL (P. DINZELBACHER) ______395 K. DYBEL, Ëtre heureux au moyen âge (A. CLASSEN )______396 M.-S. MASSE, La description dans les récits d'Antiquité allemands (M. RUS) 397 S. HAFNER, Maskulinität in der höfischen Erzählliteratur (A. CLASSEN) __ 399 Thomasin von Zerklaere, Der Welsche Gast, übers. E. WILLMS (S. BÄUERLE) ______401 É. PROUST, La sculpture romane en Bas-Limousin (P. DINZELBACHER) _ 403 U. DÜRIEGEL, Die Fabelwesen von St. Jakob in Kastelaz bei Tramin (M. JONES)______404 P. PATTON, Pictorial Narrative in the Romanesque Cloister (K. KOGMAN- APPEL) ______406 R. SUCKALE, Das mittelalterliche Bild als Zeitzeuge (K. KOGMAN-APPEL) 409

Spätmittelalter

D. OLDRIDGE, Strange Histories. The trial of the pig, the walking dead... (A. CLASSEN)______413 N. STAUBACH (Hg.), Rom und das Reich vor der Reformation (B. LANG) _ 416 B. THORDEMAN, Armour from the Battle of Wisby 1361 / Blood Red Roses. The Archaeology of a Mass Grave from the Battle of Towton AD 1461, ed. V. FIORATO u.a. (P. DINZELBACHER) ______417 J. BYRNE, The Black Death (A. CLASSEN) ______419 6 Mediaevistik 19 ■ 2006

M. PRIEZEL, Das Heilige Römische Reich im Spätmittelalter (A. CLASSEN) 421 P. MONNET, Villes d'Allemagne au Moyen Age (U. ISRAEL) ______422 P. SUTTER, Von guten und bösen Nachbarn. Nachbarschaft als Beziehungs­ form im spätmittelalterlichen Zürich (P. DINZELBACHER) ______424 Hansische Geschichtsquellen I - VII (P. DINZELBACHER) ______425 J. WETTLAUFER, Das Herrenrecht der ersten Nacht (P. DINZELBACHER) 428 B. TUCHEN, Öffentliche Badhäuser in Deutschland und der Schweiz im Mittelalter und der frühen Neuzeit (S. TER BRAAKE) ______430 A. MULDER-BAKKER, Lives of Anchoresses (A. CLASSEN) ______432 The Texture of Society. Medieval Women in the Southern Low Countries. Ed. E. KITTELL, M. SUYDAM (A. CLASSEN) ______434 Thomas Ebendorfer, Tractatus de schismatibus, hg. v. H. ZIMMERMANN (P. DINZELBACHER)______436 J. AERTSEN, M. PICKAVÉ edd., "Herbst des Mittelalters"? Fragen zur Be­ wertung des 14. und 15. Jh.s (F. BERTELLONI) ______436 M. RUBIN, Gentile Tales. The Narrative Assault on Late Medieval Jews (S. LITT) ______442 S. AKBARI, Seeing through the Veil. Optical Theory and Medieval Allegory (A. CLASSEN)______443 Heymericus de Campo, Dyalogus super Revelacionibus beate Birgitte, ed. A. FREDRIKSSON ADMAN (P. DINZELBACHER) ______445 Robert Biket, II corno magico, ed. M. LECCO (H. HEINTZE) ______447 Fabliaux. Erotische Geschichten aus dem Mittelalter, übers. E. BLUM (A. CLASSEN)______449 D. ALEXANDRE-BIDON, M.-T. LORCIN, Le quotidien au temps des fabliaux (P. DINZELBACHER) ______451 S. RÖHL, Der 'livre de Mandeville' im 14. und 15. Jahrhundert (Ph. BURDY) 452 Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, tr. M. MUSA (P. DINZELBACHER) ____ 455 M. SCHRÄGE, Giacomino da Verona. Himmel und Hölle in der frühen italie­ nischen Literatur (F. P. WEBER) ______456 Francesco Petrarca, On Religious Leisure, tr. S. SCHEARER (A. CLASSEN) 462 Bernat Metge, II sogno, tr. G. FAGGIN (R. SU R T Z )______463 H. KEUL, Verschwiegene Gottesrede. Die Mystik der Begine Mechthild von Magdeburg (A. CLASSEN) ______465 A. KÜHNE, Vom Affekt zum Gefühl...Konrads von Würzburg "Partonopier und Meliur" (B. ROSSANO)______467 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 7

A. BIEBERSTEDT, Die Übersetzungstechnik des Bremer Evangelistars (J. JEEP)______469 C. WITTHÖFT, Ritual und Text (A. CLASSEN) ______471 Zwischen Deutschland und Frankreich. Elisabeth von Lothringen, hg. von W. HAUBRICHS u.a. (A. CLA SSEN )______473 Vigil Raber, hg. v. M. GEBHARDT, M. SILLER (H. GRECO-KAUFMANN) 475 Ulrichs von Richental Chronik des Constanzer Concils 1414 bis 1418. Hg. v. M. BUCK (C. DOMENIG) ______478 J. VAN DER MEULEN, N. MOSER, J. OOSTERMAN ed., Hertog Jan I van Brabant (S. VANDERPUTTEN)______479 Sources and Analogues of the Canterbury Tales I, ed. R. CORREALE, M. HAMEL (F. SCHLEBURG)______481 Nicholas Love, The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ, ed. M. SAR­ GENT (P. DINZELBACHER) ______483 J. KROESEN, R. STEENSMA, The Interior of the Medieval Village Church (P. DINZELBACHER)______484 C. FISHER, Flowers in Medieval Manuscripts (A. CLASSEN )______486 S. PAGE, Magic in Medieval Manuscripts (A. CLASSEN) ______487 M. V. SCHWARZ, P. THEISS, Giottus Pictor I (M. DOMINIC OLARIU)___ 488 C. BEIER, Buchmalerei für Metz und Trier im 14. Jahrhundert (P. DINZEL­ BACHER) ______492 T. SCHILP, B. WELZEL (Hgg.), Dortmund und Conrad von Soest im spät­ mittelalterlichen Europa (A. CLASSEN) ______494 R. SUCKALE, Stil und Funktion (P. DINZELBACHER) ______495 F. SCHÖLTEN, G. DE WERD, Eine höhere Wirklichkeit. Deutsche und Fran­ zösische Skulptur 1200-1600 aus dem Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (P. DINZEL­ BACHER) ______498 R. BERLINER, (1886-1967) "The Freedom of Medieval Art" und andere Stu­ dien zum christlichen Bild (R. PROCHNO) ______499 K. MERKEL, Jenseits-Sicherung. Kardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg und seine Grabdenkmäler (E. DEN HARTOG) ______501 Geschichtsdeutung auf alten Karten, hrsg. v. D. UNVERHAU (F. REITIN- G E R )______505

10.3726/83006_21

Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 21

Albrecht Classen

Anger and Anger Management in the Middle Ages. Mental-Historical Perspectives

Theoretical Reflections on Anger

Anger is one of the most burning issues in human society because it does not find easy solutions at all and often threatens the destruction of the social fabric. Violence and crime result from a wide variety of reasons, but anger certainly ranks very high particularly because it seems to occur on a daily basis and affects most people without any discrimination, especially when minimal causes result in maximum conse­ quences. The more people are forced to live in crowded environments, to travel in stressful situations, to work under uncomfortable conditions, and the more their desire for happiness and their efforts to achieve this goal are thwarted or denied, the more anger rises and quickly erupts in violent outbursts. James N. Parker and Philip M. Parker have recently published a comprehensive reference work for anger manage­ ment with the explicit hope that it might, if properly applied, offer the crucial panacea for numerous social ills and conflicts.1 Both teachers and medical practitioners, both youth counselors and priests, both parents and government officials, both police offi­ cers and customer service agents are confronted with anger on a daily basis. But anger is not limited to any specific work area, as we all know, instead it is a fundamental human phenomenon of timeless nature.2 Howard Kassinove and Denis G. Sukhodol- sky define anger as "a negative, phenomenological (or internal) feeling state associ­ ated with specific cognitive and perceptual distortions and deficiencies . . . , subjec­ tive labeling, physiological changes, and action tendencies to engage in socially con­ structed and reinforced organized behavioral scripts."3 Anger increasingly seems to dominate the gender relationship and families, and communities large and small are in

1 Anger Management: a Medical Dictionary, Bibliography and Annotated Research Guide to Internet References (San Diego: ICON Group International, 2003). 2 See, for example, Deborah J. Hill, Crisis and the Classroom: a Practical Guide for Teach­ ers (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, 2003); Paul Blum, A Teacher's Guide to Anger Management (New York and London: Routledge/Falmer, 2001); Paul R. Robbins, Anger, Aggression, and Violence: an Interdisciplinary Approach (Jefferson, NC: McFarland Press, 2000). 3 Howard Kassinove and Denis G. Sukhodolsky, 'Anger Disorders: Basic Science and Prac­ tice Issues," Anger Disorder: Definition, Diagnosis, and Treatment, ed. Howard Kassinove. The Series in Clinical and Community Psychology (Washington, D.C.: Taylor & Francis, 1995), 1-26; here 7. 22 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 danger of falling apart because of uncontrolled anger. A number of statistical analyses indicate that anger is growing in our society, although the explanations are too diverse as to constitute critical mass, which then would allow us collectively to combat this looming threat to the basic fabric of our world.4 To some extent anger has also be­ come the most fashionable topic in public discourse, since it is regarded as the cause of all evil in us, in our families, and in our communities, as documented by an endless stream of relevant or irrelevant studies on how to explain, how to cope with, and how to overcome anger.5 In fact, we might say, anger and anger studies are transforming into some of the main icons of postmodern society, under the definitely erroneous as­ sumption that the conflict between the genders, for example, would be a new phe­ nomenon, and as if the tensions between competing social classes, not to speak of ra­ cial groups, were the result of living conditions in the Western world of the last hun­ dred years.6 By the same token, it would be difficult to determine whether people to­ day truly experience more anger than in the past, and whether we really can correlate increased criminal activities in Western societies with a growing anger potential, which might establish a more or less reliable coefficient.7

Anger in the Middle Ages

The purpose of this paper, however, is not to analyze anger from a psychological, so- cial-economic, or political perspective, but instead to examine anger in light of me­ dieval discussions about this phenomenon, its origins, manifestations, and the neces­ sary responses which society or individuals should take to maintain or control anger. Modern society has not gotten far in anger management, hence an investigation of how medieval people viewed and dealt with anger deserves careful attention today. This approach is based on the theoretical concept of the history of mentality which attempts to gain access to the history of emotions, such as fear, anger, frustration, de­

4 Raymond W. Novaco, Anger Control: The Development and Evaluation o f an Experimen­ tal Treatment (Lexington, MA, Toronto, and London: Lexington Books, 1975); Carol Tavris, Anger: The Misunderstood Emotion. Rev. ed. (1982; New York, London, et al.: Simon & Schuster, 1989). 5 Dale V. Atkins, I'm OK, You're My Parents: How to Overcome Guilt, Let Go o f Anger, and Create a Relationship that Works (New York: Holt, 2004); W. Robert Nay, Taking Charge of Anger: How to Resolve Conflict, Sustain Relationships, and Express Yourself Without Losing Control (New York: Guilford Press, 2004); Beverly Engel, Honor Your Anger: How transforming Your Anger Style Can Change Your Life (Hoboken, NJ: J. Wiley & Sons, 2004). 6 Christa Reiser, Reflections on Anger: Women and Men in a Changing Society (Westport, CT, and London: Praeger, 1999). 7 Robbins, Anger, Aggression, and Violence, 39-64, et passim. Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 23 sire, and hatred.8 But whereas a wide range of emotions, such as love, fear, even ha­ tred, xenophobia, shame, and guilt have been studied in many different contexts,9 an­ ger has remained a strangely elusive topic. This is particularly surprising because of anger's destructive force, known to practically every person both in the past and the present, while anger's nature seems much harder to identify and to interpret, as Bar­ bara H. Rosenwein correctly underscores in the introduction to her volume on Anger's Past.10 As valuable as this anthology of critical studies proves to be, it is marred by two shortcomings. Apart from a few and brief allusions to the opinions of some of the leading theologians and philosophers, such as Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aqui­ nas, and Hugh of St. Victor, about the proper approaches to anger (ira) as one of the seven deadly sins,11 the full breadth of the actual discourse on anger in the Middle Ages has not been fathomed.12 Further, anger as a major element in secular literature, particularly in courtly romances and heroic epics, hardly emerges in any of the contri­ butions. On the other hand, Anger's Past offers insights into the ways how anger was dealt with within a monastic setting (Lester K. Little), how kings were supposed to come to terms with anger (Gerd Althoff), how outbursts of anger among peasants were dealt with in chronicle and fictional literature (Paul Freedman), and also insights into anger management within Islamic cultures (Zouhair Ghazzal). Barbara H. Ro- senwein herself attempts to evaluate the validity of the theses formulated by the fa­ mous cultural anthropologist, Norbert Elias, regarding the civilization process which affected the entire Western world, and whether this process was strong enough to

8 Peter Dinzelbacher, Europäische Mentalitätsgeschichte: Hauptthemen in Einzeldarstellun­ gen. Kröners Taschenausgabe, 469 (Stuttgart: Kroner, 1993); the topic of anger, however, is not covered there. 9 Vito Fumagalli, Landscapes o f Fear: Perceptions o f Nnature and the City in the Middle Ages, trans. Shayne Mitchell (1987; Cambridge: Polity Press ; Cambridge, MA : Blackwell Publishers. 1994); Fear and Its Representation in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. Anne Scott and Cynthia Kosso. Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 6 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 2002); Jean Verdon, Night in the Middle Ages, trans. George Holoch (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2002); Nancy Caciola, Dis­ cerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages. Conjunctions of Re­ ligion & Power in the Medieval Past (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2003);

Peter Dinzelbacher, Europa im Hochmittelalter: 1050- 1250. Eine Kultur- und Mentalitäts­

geschichte. Kultur und Mentalität (Darmstadt: Primus, 2003); Grief and Gender: 700- 1700, ed. Jennifer C. Vaught, with Lynne Dickson Bruckner (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003). 10 Barbara H. Rosenwein, Anger's Past: The Social Uses o f an Emotion in the Middle Ages (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 1998), 2. 11 See the classical study by Morton W. Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sins: an Introduction to the History o f a Religious Concept, with Special Reference to Medieval English Litera­ ture ([East Lansing]: Michigan State College Press, 1952). 12 Genevieve Bührer-Thierry, '"Just Anger' or 'Vengeful Anger'? The Punishment of Blinding in the Early Medieval West," Anger's Past, 75-91, offers a short list of relevant statements by early-medieval scholars, here 75-76. 24 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 control anger as a destructive force affecting almost every aspect of human life.13 She rightly warns us:

Within so complex a society, it is perhaps a mistake to look for clear "turning points" in a "civilizing process." The chapters here suggest that an entire repertory of conflicting norms per­ sisted side-by-side throughout the Middle Ages. Some of these condemned anger outright; oth­ ers sought to temper it; still others justified it.14

Insofar as anger almost automatically leads to some form of violence, whether physical or mental, and since mankind's survival depends on its ability to fend off violence or to channel it into some kind of constructive directions, the study of anger in the Middle Ages proves to be a highly relevant issue that deserves further investi­ gations both from a historical and anthropological perspective This in turn might help us to comprehend the different origins and developments of anger within different cultures both in the past and in the present.15 In order to build on Rosenwein's and her contributors' findings, and to address some of the crucial desiderata, I will first investigate what some of the leading twelfth- and thirteenth-century philosophers had to say about anger, and then I will turn to a number of literary examples of anger and subsequent anger management, es­ pecially to the basic question whether such a management was even feasible. Admit­ tedly, it would be impossible, particularly in the limited space of a short paper, to do justice to the first task, but considering the dearth of relevant studies on the subject matter, even an examination of a short sample of relevant statements by philosophers such as Geoffrey of Vinsauf, John of Salisbury, and Roger Bacon - here my main witnesses - will allow us to gain some solid ground. Subsequently, I will investigate how vernacular authors dealt with the issue of anger and whether they offered any concrete suggestions how to deal with this outburst of aggressive energy.16

13 To the extent that Elias now enjoys profound esteem in modern scholarship, he also faces serious criticism, most vocally expressed by Hans-Peter Duerr, Nacktheit und Scham: Der Mythos vom Zivilisationsprozess (Frankfurt a.M.: Suhrkamp, 1988), but neither Rosenwein nor the contributors took note of this. Duerr himself was sharply criticized, which sheds light on the controversial nature of the question whether the civilization process is progres­ sive or not. See Michael Hinz, Der Zivilisationsprozess, Mythos oder Realität?: Wissen­ schaftssoziologische Untersuchungen zur Elias-Duerr-Kontroverse. Figurationen, 4 (Opla­ den: Leske + Budrich, 2002). 14 Barbara H. Rosenwein, "Controlling Paradigms," Anger’s Past, 233-47; here 242-43. 15 See now the contributions to Violence in Medieval Courtly Literature, ed. Albrecht Classen (New York and London: Routledge, 2004). 16 Ramsey MacMullen, Feelings in History, Ancient and Modern (Claremont, CA: Regina Books, 2003), esp. ch. 2, offers a broad historical overview, but he does not investigate an­ ger in any specific manner. Still quite valuable proves to be P. Rousset, "Recherches sur rémotivité â l'époque romane," Cahiers de Civilisation Médiévale 2 (1959): 53-67; see also Gerhard Jaritz, ed., Emotions and Material Culture. Forschungen des Instituts für Re­ alienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, Diskussionen und Materialien, 7 (Vi­ enna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. 2003). For the history of Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 25

Ira - one o f the Seven Deadly Sins

Ira, or anger, is one of the seven deadly sins, as described, for instance, by Pope Gregory the Great (d. 604) in his Moralia in Job}1 and depicted in The Table o f the Seven Deadly Sins by Hieronymous Aeken Bosch (1450-1516), today in the El Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain.18 Alcuin (ca. 730-804) formulated in his Virtutibus et vitiis liber ad Widonem Comitem'. "Ira una est de octo vitiis principalibus, quae si ratione non regitur, in furorem vertitur: ita ut homo sui animi impotens erit [Ms., fiat], faciens quae non convenit. Haec enim si cordi insidit [Ms., insidet], omnem eximit ab eo providentiam facti, nec judicium rectae directionis [Ms., discretionis] inquirere" ("Anger is one of the eight principal vices. If it is not controlled by reason, it is turned into raging fury, such that a man has no power over his own soul and does unseemly things. For this vice so occupies the heart that it banishes from it every precaution in acting and in seeking right judgment").19 In other words, from a theological perspec­ tive, anger was regarded as one of the central sins which guaranteed eternal damna­ tion without any hope for ultimate salvation. This was such a fundamental truism preached in the church and discussed in theological lectures throughout the Middle Ages, and it was depicted in medieval art so many times that we don’t need to exam­ ine this particular approach here further. One example will suffice. Referring to St. Augustine's De civitate Dei (XIV. 15), the anonymous author of the fourteenth-century Fasciculus Morum emphasizes: "Set ira per peccatum, de qua hie intenditur, est se­ cundum Augustinum 'voluntas irrefrenata semper ulciscendi et numquam miserendi" ("But the kind of wrath which is a sin, with which we are dealing here, is according to Augustine 'the unbridled desire always to get vengeance and never to have pity. . .

emotions at large in the Middle Ages, now see Damien Boquet, L'ordre de Vaffect au Moyen Age: Autour de Tanthropologie affective d ’Aelred de Rievaulx (Turnhout: Brepols, 2005); Katarzyna Dybel, Etre heureux au moyen âge: D'après le roman arthurien en prose du xiiie siècle. Synthema, 2 (Louvain, Paris, and Dudley, MA: Peeters, 2004). 17 Gregory the Great, Moralia in lob, ed. M. Adriaen. 3 vols. CCSL 143-143B (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1979-1985). For further study on the Seven Deadly Sins, see, for exam­ ple, Morton W. Bloomfield, The Seven Deadly Sins; Richard G. Newhauser, The Treatise on Vices and Virtues in Latin and the Vernacular. Typologie des sources du moyen âge oc­ cidental, 68 (Turnhout, Belgium: Brepols, 1993); Patrick Boyde, Human Vices and Human Worth in Dante's "Comedy" (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). 18 Jennifer O'Reilly, Studies in the Iconography o f the Virtues and Vices in the Middle Ages (New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1988); Susanne Blocker, Studien zur Iko­ nographie der Sieben Todsünden in der niederländischen und deutschen Malerei und Graphik von 1450-1560. Bonner Studien zur Kunstgeschichte, 8 (Münster and Hamburg: LIT, 1993). 19 Genevieve Bührer-Thierry, "'Just Anger' or 'Vengeful Anger'?," 75. Alcuin's quote can be found in PL 101, col. 613, ch. 31; see also the PL database: http://pld.chadwyck.com/ all/fulltext?ALL=Y&action=byid&warn=N&id=Z500179666&div=5&file:=../session/1112 053612_26331&SOMQUERY=l&DBOFFSET=82700825&ENTRIES=l&CURDB=pld. The word ira appears 12,378 times in the PL. 26 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

M').20 He also rightly points out the excessive and disastrous consequences of anger: "set certe iracundi pro unico verbo mille reddunt et pro una alapa in facie mergunt arma mortifera in corpore, et non in ilium qui dedit alapam tantum, set secundum suum posse totam progeniem destruere nititur" ("wrathful people, in truth, return a thousand words for one, and for one blow in the face they thrust deadly weapons into the body, and not just into the one alone who gave the blow, but they try to destroy his entire offspring if they can").21 Significantly, twelfth- and thirteenth-century phi­ losophers also examined anger, yet not so much as a sinful behavior, but rather as a social problem, very much like modern sociologists. However, they broke neither new ground, nor were they the last to investigate the nature and consequences of anger, which is, after all, a constant companion of human nature.22

Geoffrey of Vinsauf

Geoffrey of Vinsauf (ca. 1200-1215) based his Poetria Nova on the famous first- century Rhetorica ad Herennium, previously thought to have been composed by Cicero. He discusses, among many other issues pertaining to aesthetics and the visual arts, also the performative arts, "Delivery." He does not address this aspect with any moral, ethical, or religious thoughts in mind, instead he wants to inform his audience about the most proper acting role, offering precise explanation of reciting. Geoffrey notes that there are three levels of acting, the first with speech, the second with the fa­ cial features, and the third with gestures. He admonishes the actor to pay close atten­ tion to the natural rhythm of the language, making pauses where required, separating and joining words where appropriate. An actor should speak in accordance with the subject to be impersonated so that "Vox quaedam sit imago rei; res sicut habet se" ("the voice is as it were the image of the thing").23 When Geoffrey turns to anger, he characterizes it as a most frightful manifestation of uncontrolled emotions: "Ira, genus flammae materque furoris, ab ipso / Folle trahens ortum, cor et interiora venenat"

20 Fasciculus Morum: A Fourteenth-Century Preacher's Handbook. Ed. and Trans, by Sieg­ fried Wenzel (University Park and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1989), 116/117. 21 Ibid.,118/ 119. 22 Solomon Schimmel, "Anger and Its Control in Graeco-Roman and Modern Psychology," Psychiatry: Journal for the Study o f Interpersonal Processes 42, 4 (1979): 320-37; idem, The Seven Deadly Sins: Jewish, Christian, and Classical Reflections on Human Nature (New York: The Free Press, 1992), 83-110; William V. Harris, Restraining Rage: the Ide­ ology o f Anger Control in Classical Antiquity (Cambridge, MA., and New York: Harvard University Press, 2001). 23 Quoted from Ernest Gallo, The Poetria Nova and Its Sources in Early Rhetorical Doctrine (The Hague and Paris: Mouton, 1972), 2044, 125 (first citation is the verse, the second is the page of the translation); see also Geoffrey of Vinsauf, Poetria Nova, trans. Margaret F. Nims (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1967). Mediaevistik 19 ■ 2006 27

(2046-47; "Anger, the begetter of flaming rage and the mother of fury, is kindled by the bellows and poisons the heart and bowels;" 125). The person who is infected by anger entirely loses control of himself and transforms into a stranger: "Exit in hac ipsa forma vox fellea, vultus / Accensus, gestus turbatus . . ." (2049-50; "In like manner arise a voice full of gall, a face enraged, and turbulent gestures; 125). Consequently, a person who wants to act the role of someone filled with rage would have to direct all three tools of human expression - mouth (tongue), countenance (facial expressions), and body (gestures) - toward anger. As Geoffrey comments, the "Exterior sequitur motus, pariterque moventur / Alter et alter homo. . . ." (2051-52; "Outer motion fol­ lows the inner, and the outer and inner man are equally moved;" 125), which indicates that the angry person has truly lost himself.24 The actor, or orator, on the other hand, needs to draw a neat distinction and can only act the role of the angry one, without feeling the fury himself: "... Veros imitare furores. / Non tarnen esto furens: partim movearis ut ille, / Non penitus . . ." (2053-55; "Imitate genuine fury. However, do not become actually furious: be thus moved only in part, not deeply;" 125). Admonishing the actor to discriminate between actual and pretended anger, Geoffrey underscores that the actor needs to let the difference between truth and acting never be completely forgotten: "Hie cibus est sapidus; sic ergo feratur ad aures, / Ut cibet auditum, vox castigata modeste, / Vultus et gestus moderamine. . . ." (2061-63; "this food for the ear is tasty. Let the temperately controlled voice, and the voice and gesture seasoned with double savor, be borne to the ears to feed the hearing; 125). Although Geoffrey seems to address nothing but the essential aspects relevant for the most effective performance of a role, his discussion also sheds light on his deep understanding of the nature of anger. As soon as anger has been unleashed, both the heart and the soul are filled with it, taking charge of the entire person, who then loses control of himself. This finds its clearest confirmation in the external manifestation of anger through the gestures and the facial features. The true actor, however, knows how to differentiate between imitating an angry person and being angry himself, and thus is capable of achieving a happy harmony: "Sic simul ergo / Omnia concurrant, inventio commoda, sermo / Continuus, series urbana, retentio firma" (2063-65; "Thus let suitable invention, flowing speech, refined discourse and firm retention come to­ gether;" 125). Anger, on the other hand, destroys this harmony and rages in a person who completely loses himself and knows nothing about what his mouth is speaking, what his facial language signals, and what the gestures indicate. Moreover, anger can be discovered through a careful examination of the external signs since gestures and countenance cannot hide the inner uproar brought about by anger. In other words, as Geoffrey suggests - although he is only addressing actors who want to play the role of an angry person - anger proves to be a devastating power against which man cannot easily defend himself, and as soon as anger has hit a person, the affection with this evil sin transforms the personality entirely.

24 Here and throughout the masculine pronoun is supposed to be gender neutral. 28 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

John of Salisbury

In his Polieraticus (ca. 1154-1156) - probably the most important twelfth-century political treaties - John of Salisbury also includes a short paragraph on anger which shares many similarities with Geoffrey of Vinsauf s discussion. Control of anger plays a significant role in John's treatise on the just and respected ruler, though he does not address anger specifically except in one passage. Obviously drawing from Plutarch's writings (Archigrammaton), John strongly encourages magistrates to observe mod­ eration in all their affairs, and particularly to control their anger, lest they be accused of hypocrisy and irrationality. In the example here given the author relates of an in­ solent slave who is being punished for a misdeed, though he consistently denies it and continues to protest his flogging even when the executioner has already started with his business. The slave goes so far as to impugn Plutarch for an entirely inconsistent behavior: "nec ita se habere Plutarchum ut philosophum deceret; irasci turpe esse, ei praesertim qui de malo irae saepius dissertauerat librumque pulcherrimum scripserat de patientia”25 ("Plutarch was not conducting himself in the fashion appropriate to a philosopher; it is shameful to be angry, particularly when he had frequently argued against bad temper and had written a most honourable book on patience."26) Plutarch, however, does not let this disturb him at all, and by asking the slave whether he per­ ceives him in a stage of anger, he offers a brief description of this emotion and its manifestations: "Ex uultune meo an ex uoce an ex colore an etiam ex uerbis ira me corruptum intelligis aut correptum? Michi quidem neque oculi, opinor, truces sunt ne- que os turbidum, neque immaniter clamo, neque in spumam ruboremque feruesco, neque pudenda dico aut paenitenda, neque omnino trepido ira aut gestio" (262; "Whether from my expression or my voice of my colour or even from my words, do you discern that anger has corrupted or seized me? It is my opinion that my eyes are not wild nor my face upset, nor am I shouting frightfully, nor am I beginning to erupt with frothing and redness, nor do I speak scandalously or obscenely, nor finally do I quiver all over with rage or gesture wildly;" 53). The key component of this definition is the close correlation between internal emotions and external expression, either in voice or gesture, in discoloration or uncontrolled behavior. Insofar as Plutarch is said to have kept his calm, even when he is seriously accused of undermining his own philosophical principles, John elevates him into the ideal model of a ruler who exerts justice and metes out punishment wherever it is necessary. E negativo, however, John poignantly addresses contemporary rulers who might be guilty of this deadly sin, ira, or anger, whereas the veritably just ruler maintains his calm and does not exempt a

25 Ioannis Saresberiensis, Policraticvs I-IV, ed. K. S. B. Keats-Rohan. Corpvs Christianorvm. Continuatio Mediaeualis, CXVIII (Turnholt Brepols, 1993), 262. 26 The English translation is quoted from: John of Salisbury, P olicr aticus: O f the Frivolities of Courtiers and the Footprints o f Philosophers, ed. and trans. Cary J. Nederman. Cambridge Texts in History of Political Thought (Cambridge, New York, et al.: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 53 (Book IV, 8). Mediaevistik 19 ■ 2006 29 perpetrator from receiving his punishment even when the latter challenges him in having broken his own principles. Moreover, as Plutarch underscores indirectly, the person who is gripped by anger is in danger of being corrupted and of losing his mind, which would disqualify him to serve as a ruler, for example. He who suffers from an­ ger catapults himself outside of society and transforms into a wild beast, frothing from the mouth and losing temper. As we can deduct from Plutarch's speech, an angry person tends to "speak scandalously or obscenely," quickly deteriorating into a despi­ cable, disrespected member of society. An ideal ruler, then, and by the same token any adult person, ought to resist the temptation of anger and maintain a rational, well- balanced perspective, a message, which continues to have an immediate appeal for our modern world.

Roger Bacon

Most interesting proves to be Roger Bacon's (ca. 1240-ca. 1292) intensive discussion of the nature and consequences of anger in his Opus Majus?1 Bacon is primarily in­ terested in a therapeutic approach to anger, recommending "Primum vero remedium contra iram est ut comprehendamus ejus conditiones horribiles, ut quilibet has memo- rans irasci studeat abhorrere"28 ("comprehension on our part of its horrible conse­ quences, so that each of us bearing these in mind may make the avoidance of this vice his special study"29). For Bacon, as could not be expected otherwise, anger is a seri­ ous sin, not only because the person culpable of this sin blasphemes against God, but also because it endangers the social cohesion and hurts innocent bystanders: "Nam iratus blasphemat in Deum, amittit proximum, confundit se ipsum, bona sua tempora- lia dissipat, non verens pro motu irae bona eterna negliger, et se ad poenas infernales obligare" (276; "For the angry man blasphemes God, loses his neighbor, confounds himself, scatters abroad his temporal blessings, and is not deterred in venting his rage by the fear that he is neglecting his eternal good and making himself liable to the punishments of hell;" 685). Drawing heavily from Seneca, Bacon states that anger is not a characteristic element of human nature because it destroys the social community and undermines the basically peaceful nature of man. Anger proves to be a destructive force that causes profound harm and threatens particularly those who are dearest to the angry person (276/686). Leaving aside Bacon's comparison of the angry man with

27 For a recent biographical overview, see Albrecht Classen, "Roger Bacon," Literary Ency­ clopedia (2004): http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=210. 28 The Opus Majus' of Roger Bacon, ed., with introduction and analytical table by John Henry Bridges. Vol. II (1897; Frankfurt a.M.: Minerva, 1964), 276. 29 Roger Bacon, The Opus Majus, trans. Robert Belle Burke. 2 vols. Rpt. (1928; Bristol and Sterling, VA: Thoemmes Press, 2000); vol. 2, 685; for an introduction to Bacon's philoso­ phy, see G. R. Evans, Fifty Key Medieval Thinkers. Routledge Key Guides (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), 117-20. 30 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 a wild beast, which again is based on Seneca's teachings, we need to consider his con­ clusions regarding anger's manifestation in the bodily features, especially the face. Nothing is worse than anger which "Pulcherrima ora foedavit, torvos vultus ex tran- quillissimis reddit" (277; "defiles the most beautiful face, renders savage the most tranquil brow;" 687), especially because the external signs reflect the most dangerous type of mental distortion inside (277/687). Worse even, anger sidesteps reason and disregards all rationality: "Iracundia non vult regi; irascitur veritati ipsi si contra vo- luptatem suam apparuerit" (278-79; "Rage does not brook control; it is angered at truth itself if truth appears to oppose its wish;" 688); and: "Ira rationem deducit in in- saniam et furorem" (279; "anger reduces reason to insanity and madness;" 688). The angry person no longer cares about any dangers and ruthlessly exposes himself to all kinds of risks (279/689). Significantly, the angry man not only destroys himself, but also his neighbors and even his friends - in modern parlance, they become collateral damage in his fight against the enemy. Combining various observations by classical philosophers, Bacon also emphasizes that anger eliminates all virtues in a person: "ira non compatiatur secum aliquam virtutem" (280; "anger does not permit any virtue to accompany it;" 690). In other words, anger does away with "clementiam, mag- nanimitatem, pietatem, gaudium, et pacem cordis" (280; "kindness, clemency, mag­ nanimity, piety, joy, and peace of mind;" 690). In his effort to evaluate anger from an ethical perspective, Bacon observes: "Ira pusilla et angusta est. Nemo enim non eo a quo se contemptum judicat, minor est" (283; "Anger is small and narrow. For no man is not inferior to him by whom he con­ siders himself despised;" 694). The angry person puts aside magnanimity, and thus reveals his inferiority and weakness of mind, which behooves a ruler the least. He who becomes victim of anger demonstrates his inability to control himself and reveals his small-mindedness: "Non enim est ilia magnitudo, tumor est" (284; "For anger is not greatness but a mere swelling of the mind;" 695), especially because the angry person "mens pavidissima . . . et laeduntur ad minima" (285; "is very timid, . . . dis­ turbed and hurt at trifles;" 695). Even from a therapeutic perspective, Bacon has good advice to offer, since he suggests that all people should consider their own evil nature and that they could eas­ ily commit evil deeds. However, a truly constructive approach in human sociability proves to be a willingness to forgive instead of to avenge. Those who pursue venge­ ance consume inordinate amounts of time on foolish things and expose themselves to many possible injuries: "Diutius irascimur omnes quam laedimur" (286; "We are an­ gry for a longer time than we are injured;" 697). In a humorous twist of his argument, Bacon illustrates the foolishness of an angry person: "Num quis satis constare sibi videatur, si mulam calcibus repetat et canem morsu?" (286; "Would a man seem quite consistent if he sought satisfaction from a mule with his heels and from a dog with his teeth?;" 697). Fully in agreement with Seneca, Bacon quotes from his source: '"Ne singulis irascaris, universis ignoscendum est: generi humano venia tribuenda est'" (286; "Do not become angry at individuals, we must extend a general pardon: indul­ Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 31 gence must be shown to the human race;" 697). Reaching for the conclusion of his discourse, Bacon underscores, "Sic igitur se ipsum homo iracundus, tam a parte ani- mae quam corporis, destruit per iram, in hoc quod ipsa ira agit in proprium subjectum, tollens quicquid laudabile est in eo. Sed non solum sic accidit iracundis periculum, immo ira agitati et jam furentes in vindictam, se ipsos omni periculo vitae exponunt" (287; "the angry man by his anger destroys himself both in soul and body in this way that anger of itself acts on its own subject by destroying whatever is laudable in him. But not only do angry people thus incur danger, they even when goaded by passion and frenzied by the desire for vengeance expose their life to every danger;" 698). To specify his major point even further, Bacon, in the following chapter, emphasizes: "Nulla itaque res urget magis attonita et in vires suas prona, et sive successit superba, sive frustratur, insana. Ne repulsa quidem in taedium acta, ubi adversarium fortuna subduxit, in se ipsam morsus suos vertit" (289-90; "Nothing, therefore, drives on a man more than does anger, frenzied, as it is, and subject to its own violence, insolent when it succeeds, crazed when it is foiled. Reduced to a state of weariness not even by a repulse, when fortune saves its adversary, anger turns its teeth against itself;" 701). Several important conclusions can be drawn from this analysis of Bacon's discus­ sion of anger. His focus does not rest on a theological perspective, instead he treats anger as an ethical and moral issue that needs to be addressed by all people. Anger threatens not only the individual himself who experiences it, undermining his ration­ ality and reason, but it also endangers the community itself since the angry person spares neither friend nor foe. Moreover, anger drags a person down from his elevated position as a philosophical mind and subjects him to uncontrollable emotions unwor­ thy of a wise man. Finally, Bacon highlights the destructive forces unleashed by an­ ger, putting at great risk both the personal property and one’s own life. Both his analysis of anger and his recommendations how to deal with it would certainly appeal to modern psychologists and counselors. Most significantly, how­ ever, his entire discussion demonstrates the extent to which anger was clearly per­ ceived as a major force in man which could easily erupt in almost anyone and so could affect almost everyone. Bacon's treatise indicates that anger was regarded as a major issue both at his time and, considering the various sources from which he drew most of his insights, already in antiquity. In other words, anger belongs, as Bacon suggests, to one of the fundamental emotive problems in human nature and deserves close attention, careful treatment, and strong resistance. Not surprisingly, when we next turn to vernacular literature, we will discover that many medieval poets also spe­ cifically addressed the problems and dangers connected with anger, treating it as a major issue affecting their protagonists deeply, disrupting their lives and undermining the social fabric of their community. 32 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

Literary Reflections o f Anger

Marie de France

The following discussion of some literary cases where anger emerges does not claim to be exhaustive, instead here I want to illuminate various approaches and reactions to anger and its impact on people who responded to different situations. In Marie de France's Eliduc (ca. 1190), for example, the seemingly impeccable protagonist also falls prey to the power of anger in the most dramatic moment when he is bringing back his beloved on a ship from her father's country to his own and when a storm suddenly threatens all their lives.30 A sailor, gripped by fear and desperation, shouts out that Eliduc is committing a sin against God and his wife by bringing home a con­ cubine. When the young woman hears these words, she realizes her profound decep­ tion and faints, whereas Eliduc "A poi que d'ire ne mesprist" (842; "almost went mad with anger;" 121). After a while Eliduc is made to believe that she has actually died, and now he lets his fury free rein, takes an oar, slays the sailor in revenge for this ac­ cusation and threat to his beloved, and tosses the dead body into the waves. In his desperation - Eliduc would be willing to die with his beloved - he grimly takes the steering wheel and safely guides the ship to shore where his anger drastically trans­ forms into mourning for his lost lady.31 Curiously, the narrator never comments on this outburst of anger, but the context clearly signals that Eliduc's behavior does not meet approval, even though he might not have a true alternative in that situation. The sailor's assessment was correct, to be sure, since Eliduc had not informed his mistress about his marital status, had not made any plans to reconcile his wife with his mis­ tress, and was obviously breaking all laws set up by the church: "Cuntre Deu e cuntre la lei, / Cuntre dreiture e cuntre fei" (837-38; "you offend God and his law, righteous­ ness and the faith;" 121). By the same token, the sailor was incorrect in his conclusion that they would be justified to throw the young woman into the sea to rescue their own lives. Eliduc at first curses at the sailor and threatens him with dire conse­ quences, but only when he assumes that his mistress has died does he explode and kills the sailor.

30 For a recent, though somewhat slippery interpretation, which hinges heavily on the as­ sumption that the lai is all about translations in their cultural and linguistic contexts, see R. Howard Bloch, The Anonymous Marie de France (Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), 83-89; a very solid and far-reaching discussion of the various dis­ course levels in Marie's lais is now offered by Karen K. Jambeck, "’Femmes et tere': Marie de France and the Discourses o f 'Lanval'," Discourses on Love, Marriage, and Transgres­ sion in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, ed. Albrecht Classen. Medieval and Renais­ sance Texts and Studies, 278 (Tempe, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Stud­ ies, 2004), 109-45. 31 The Lais o f Marie de France, trans. with an intro, by Glyn S. Burgess and Keith Busby (London: Penguin, 1986), 122-23. For a historical-critical edition, see Jeanne Lod, ed., Les Lais de Marie de France (Paris: Champion, 1959). Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 33

Marie carefully outlines the psychological situation that characterizes Eliduc and that leads to his outburst of anger. First of all, he is deeply in love with Guilliadun and does not know how to reconcile this with his actually harmonious marriage. Then, he has to struggle hard first to fight on behalf of his king, then to establish peace, which frees him up to travel secretly back to the country of his beloved. Once he has fetched her, which in itself represents a most dangerous operation, they rush back across the water, when a mighty storm threatens their lives. It does not come as a surprise that Eliduc reacts the way he does when the sailor accuses him of having brought this ca­ lamity upon them all because of his adulterous affair with the young woman. Finally, when Guilliadun collapses, grief overtakes Eliduc and transforms into such anger that he no longer hesitates to kill his accuser: "Mut fet grant doel, sus est levez, / Vers l'escripre est tost alez, / De l'avirun si l'ad feru / K'il l'abati tut estendu" (859-62;"He lamented greatly and then arose, went quickly up to the sailor and struck him with the oar so that he knocked him out flat;" 122). No one on the ship protests, and no one ever accuses him of any wrong-doing in this case, instead they mourn with him the alleged death of his beloved and disregard the actual victim: "Cil en furent tut esgaré, / Ne li aveient rien loé" (883-84; "They were quite forlorn, unable to give him any ad­ vice;" 122), and then follow him to the chapel of an hermit to bury the young woman. Eliduc's anger comes and goes without any preparation or warning, and as soon as he has taken revenge at the sailor, grief and bitter resolve take over. He never shows any sign of anger again throughout the rest of the tale, instead he deeply mourns the loss of his beloved and blames himself for having been the cause of her death (938- 50; 123). Nevertheless, anger loomed in him, unseen, but once having been unleashed because of Guilliadun's sudden passing away, it turns into violent action, before it seems tamed again. The narrator does not comment on this passionate outburst of en­ ergy, and it remains questionable whether the killing of the sailor is regarded as justi­ fied or as murder. The latter had, after all, demanded that the young woman be thrown into the water, and so his own death might be the appropriate punishment. For our purposes, however, what matters is only the appearance of anger in Eliduc, who oth­ erwise always remained calm, calculating, self-restrained, and considerate, even when envious members of the court slander him to the king, who, having developed anger at him (!), makes him depart from his country. Eliduc grows angry only in the ex­ treme situation of a near ship-wreck and, especially, in face of his beloved's assumed death. Marie does not exculpate her protagonist, but she does not linger much on this murder and quickly turns to the tragic development of the love affair and subse­ quently to the girl's miraculous recovery. Although Marie clearly portrays Eliduc as highly dangerous in his angry stage, she offers a certain justification for his behavior insofar as the sailor had threatened to throw the maid into the water to appease God: "Lessiez la nus geter en mer! / Si poiim sempres ariver" (839; "Let us cast her into the sea and we shall soon arrive safely;" 121). Remarkably, after Eliduc has unleashed his anger at the man, he can immediately control himself again, and steers the ship safely into the harbor, a powerful symbol of his own anger management, which conforms 34 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 with his entire character determined by self-discipline, courtliness, and virtue. Eliduc breaks down only once when he is afraid of losing his beloved through an act of vio­ lence, but otherwise anger does not surface anymore, which is quite typical of Marie's general value system.

Wolfram von Eschenbach

Love, anger, and violence often prove to be closely related, if they don't even condi­ tion each other.32 Spurned love easily results in boiling anger, which subsequently leads to violence, whereas anger about a person can often reveal the extent to which the angry one is in love with the other person. Wolfram von Eschenbach explored this intricate relationship in a puzzling scene in his Parzival (ca. 1205) that deserves to be closely analyzed in our context. As soon as the entirely naive young hero has departed from Soltâne and his mother's protection, he runs into a courtly lady, Jeschute, who is resting in a splendid tent while her husband, Orilus, is looking for knightly challenges. Parzival, trying to follow his mother’s advice verbatim, rudely abuses Jeschute, forcing her to kiss him and stealing a ring from her finger, and then he rips a brooch off her shift. As the nar­ rator comments: "dö dâhter an die muoter sin: / diu riet an wibes vingerlm. / ouch spranc der knappe wol getân / von dem teppiche an daz bette sân" ("The handsome lad was thinking of his mother and how she had told him to capture women's rings - and so he had leapt from the carpet straight upon the couch!"33). In some respect, Parzival's treatment of Jeschute might be called 'rape,' though he really does not fully understand the meaning of his own actions and performs more like a child than a young man, not yet having a grasp of the world outside of his mother's realm, having been kept by her entirely ignorant of knighthood and King Arthur.34 The result of his behavior, however, proves to be tantamount to rape insofar as Orilus, deaf to all ex­

32 See my "Introduction: Violence in the Shadows of the Court," Violence in Medieval Courtly Literature, ed. Albrecht Classen. Routledge Medieval Casebooks (London and New York: Routledge, 2004), 1-36. 33 Here I will quote from Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival. Studienausgabe. Mittel­ hochdeutscher Text nach der sechsten Ausgabe von Karl Lachmann, Übersetzung von Peter Knecht, Einführung zum Text von Bernd Schirok (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 1998), 130, 29-131, 2 (always citing the book first, then the verse number); for the English translation, see Wolfram von Eschenbach, Parzival, trans. A. T. Hatto (London: Penguin, 1980), 77 (only page numbers). 34 For a discussion of Jeschute's rough treatment at the hands of Orilus, see Marion E. Gibbs, "Ideals of Flesh and Blood: Women Characters in Parzival," A Companion to Wolfram's Parizval, ed. Will Hasty. Studies in German Literature, Linguistics, and Culture (Columbia, S.C.: Camden House, 1999), 12-34, here 28-29; see also Otfrid Ehrismann, "Jeschute, or, How to Arrange the Taming of a Hero: The Myth of Parzival from Chrétien to Adolf Muschg," Studies in Medievalism 8 (1996): 46-71. Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 35 planations and simply reading the material signs in the tent as indications that Jeschute had a lover with her, picks up there where Parzival has left off and subju­ gates his wife to a most humiliating treatment. Although she protests his shortsighted interpretation, insisting that she had been overwhelmed by a "tor" (133, 16; "mad fool;" 78), she only makes matters worse by admitting: "ine gesach nie lip so wol getân" (133, 18; "Of all the people I have ever seen I never saw any so handsome;" 78). The subsequent exchange between husband and wife proves to be classic in its miscommunication and hateful accusations, both resulting from the sudden explosion of anger that blinds Orilus and makes him incapable of comprehending any of the words uttered by Jeschute. She insists that her ring and brooch were taken against her will, but her husband only hears the fateful words about the young man's physical at­ tractiveness: "'hey sin lip iu wol gevellet" (133, 21; "'Ah, you liked his looks!;" 78). Fully convinced that his wife had no concern for social and moral norms, he disre­ gards her protestations and turns all his attention to his own wounded self and reveals a deep sense of insecurity because of the social class difference between himself and her father, and by that token, his own wife: "'frouwe, ich hân iu niht getân: / irn welt iuch einer site schamn: / ir liezet kuneginne namn / und heizt durch mich ein her- zogin, / der kouf git mir ungewin" (133, 30-134, 4; '"Madam, I have done you no wrong,' rejoined the prince, ' unless one thing rankles with you: that for my sake you renounced the title of 'Queen' to assume that of 'Duchess'. But in that exchange it is I who am the loser;" 78). Significantly, Orilus then rattles off a whole list of his per­ sonal chivalric accomplishments with which he had proved to his wife that he truly held the rank of one of the most reputed knights: "ich hân dicke pris bezalt / und ma- negen ritter ab gevalt. / des enmoht ich nu geniezen niht: / ein höhez laster mir des giht" (135, 3-6; "1 have won glory on many occasions and brought down many knights. Yet I have failed to reap the fruits, as this deep disgrace informs me;" 78). His wife's seemingly adulterous affair opens a window toward Orilus's attitude with regard to the entire Round Table where the knights are allegedly envious of him: "Si hazzent mich besunder, / die von der tavelrunder, / der ich ähte nider stach / da'z manec wert juncfrouwe sach, / umben spärwaer ze Kanedic" (135, 7-11; "They hate me, one and all, those men of the Table Round, eight of whom I unhorsed at Kanedic in view of a bevy of young ladies when I was competing for the Sparrowhawk;" 78- 79). The more Orilus delves into his own self-pity, the more he reveals the source of his anger, which is obviously his insecurity. The more he defeats other knights, how­ ever, the less he gains in confidence, always aware of the social class difference, which seems minimal in real terms, but obviously looms large on Orilus's horizon. Ironically, he claims that he does not let her feel his anger in face of her alleged adultery and does not hit her, as many other men would do (135, 25-27; 79). Instead he will hold back all his love and caring, and take away all her happiness: "[und] iwer herze siuften leren"' (136, 8; "school your heart in sighs;" 79), as if these actions were not a form of violence. In fact, Orilus subsequently commits worse domestic violence 36 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 through psychological abuse than if he had resorted to hitting Jeschute35. In a highly symbolic act Orilus takes her saddle and destroys it, forcing her to ride in a most un­ comfortable seat. This action can easily be interpreted as an ersatz for his true inten­ tions, beating her with all his might, which, however, he does not dare to do, maybe because of her superior social rank.36 Jeschute tries in vain to break the barrier of an­ ger and appeals to him to "ir suit é min gerihte nemn. / durch elliu wip lâts iuch gezemn" (136, 15-16; "listen first to my defence, I beg you in the name of all my sex;" 79), since he refuses to pay attention to her words and keeps her at a distance: ’"frouwe, ir wert mir gar ze her” (136, 24; "’You are growing too proud for my liking, madam';" 79). Next, in close parallel to Erec's decision in Hartmann von Aue’s eponymous romance to torture his wife Enite by having her accompany him on his almost suicidal quest under most humiliating circumstances,37 Orilus forces his wife to travel with him in his search for the young man whom he wants to kill. Both his words and his actions clearly speak the language of anger and demonstrate that he is entirely out of his mind, not able to consider the situation rationally, raging in his fury, and only bent on hurting his wife and the alleged perpetrator. The narrator, how­ ever, explicitly distances himself from this angry man and laments Jeschute's suffer­ ing: "waer mir aller wibe haz bereit, / mich mtiet doch froun Jeschüten leit" (137, 29- 30; "Though I were hated by the whole sex, the wrong done to Lady Jeschute could not fail to anger me;" 80).38 Modern scholars have often argued that domestic violence was both wide-spread and commonly tolerated by the patriarchal authorities in the Middle Ages. Howard R. Bloch and Danielle Régnier-Bohler, for instance, focusing on high-medieval litera­ ture, emphasize that "courtly poetry’s description of aristocratic wives held incommu­ nicado behind their husband's castle walls reflected the reality of arranged mar­

35 See the numerous contributions to Violence against Women in Medieval Texts, ed. Anna Roberts (Gainesville, Tallahassee, et al.: University Press of Florida, 1998). 36 For a broad discussion of domestic violence, see Louise O. Vasvâri, "'Buon cavallo e mal cavallo vuole sprone, e buona femina e mala femina vuol bastone': Medieval Cultural Fic­ tions of Wife-Battering," Discourses on Love, Marriage, and Transgression in Medieval and Early Modern Literature, ed. Albrecht Classen. Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 278 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2004), 313- 36; for further discussions of Jeschute's violent abuse, see Ulrich Ernst, "Liebe und Gewalt im Parzival Wolframs von Eschenbach," Chevaliers errants, demoiselles et l'Autre (Fest­ schrift Xenja von Ertzdorff). Göppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 644 (Göppingen: Küm- merle, 1998), 215-43; here 218, note 12. 37 Scott E. Pincikowski, Bodies o f Pain: Suffering in the Works o f Hartmann von Aue. Studies in Medieval History and culture, 11 (New York and London: Routledge, 2002), 91-156. 38 Helmut Brackert, "'der lac an riterschefte tot.' Parzival und das Leiden der Frauen," 1st zwivel herzen nâchgebür: Günther Schweikle zum 60. Geburtstag, ed. Rüdiger Krüger, Jür­ gen Kühnei, Joachim Kuolt. Helfant Studien, S 5 (Stuttgart: helfant edition, 1989), 143-63; here 149-50. Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 37 riages."39 But in Wolfram's romance the opposite proves to be the case, not only be­ cause he explicitly states his criticism, but also because he depicts Jeschute's situation in such deplorable terms that Orilus’s behavior appears as most condemnable.40 Curi­ ously, however, some feminist scholars have tried to construe the opposite, vehe­ mently attacking Wolfram for implicitly condoning violence against women, espe­ cially wives.41 On the contrary, several aspects in this dramatic scene, which are care­ fully outlined by the poet, deserve our close attention. Orilus has neglected his wife when he had left her alone, which he admits himself freely at a later point once Parzi­ val has defeated him and then forced him to accept his wife again as an honorable lady (268; 142). After Parzival has voluntarily sworn that during his first encounter with Jeschute he had mistreated her and had ignored her pleadings simply because of his personal immaturity and stupidity ("törheit" [270, 4; ignorance, 142]), Orilus fi­ nally realizes how much he had been deceived by the appearance of the tent and espe­ cially by Jeschute's words of Parzival's beauty: "ich wând dâ wsere ein friuntschaft bi" (271, 5; "I fancied there might have been an affair behind it;’’ 142). In fact, Orilus goes so far as to admit that he had been a victim of unbridled anger and regrets that he failed in upholding the norms of knightly chivalry: "ich hân unfuoge an ir getân" (271, 7; "It was not as a gentleman that I treated her;" 142). However, it had taken Parzival's full weight and physical might to force Orilus to realize how wrong he had been. At first, in return for Parzival to spare his life, Orilus was willing to give him everything in his possession, but he cannot accept Jeschute as an innocent victim. Only when Parzival insists and threatens to kill him: "ode du muost ein bâre / töt hin­ nen riten, / wiltu michs widerstriten" (267, 28-30; "Failing that, if you choose to cross me, you will ride away from this place as a corpse on a bier;" 140), does Orilus finally give in. Subsequently Parzival swears his oath that he truly misused the lady, and it is this religious ceremony that finally brings Orilus out of his prison of anger. As Mar­ ion E. Gibbs emphasizes, "it is precisely her chastity and love which are doubted by

39 Summarizing Bloch's and Régnier-Bohler's parallel theses, John M. Klassen, The Letters of the Rozmberk Sisters: Noblewomen in Fifteenth-Century Bohemia. Translated from Czech and German with Introduction, Notes and Interpretive Essay, with Eva Dolezalovâ and Lynn Szabo. Library of Medieval Women (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2001), 116-17, con­ tinues, "Women's voices of lament and rage never penetrated beyond those ramparts and never received an answer." Though certainly correct in some respect, such a somber picture of married women's miserable lives is not only contradicted by Klassen's own work on Per- chta and her sister Anézka, but certainly draws on traditional, almost romantic notions of the so-called "dark ages" when almost anything terrible was possible for women. Such myths have no place in serious scholarship. 40 Joachim Bumke, Wolfram von Eschenbach. 7., völlig neu bearbeitete Aufl. Sammlung MetzerL 36 (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1997), 45-46. 41 Elisabeth Lienert, Zur Diskursivität der Gewalt in Wolframs rParzivalm Wolfram-Studien XVII (2002): 223-45; here 228-36. 38 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 her undiscerning husband, who is enraged by what he considers to be a stain on his honour, and acts without thought for the nature of his wife."42 With this struggle involving the unhappy couple and the young protagonist, Wolf­ ram addresses two significant points above all, which confirm our observation re­ garding anger as an important issue in high medieval discourse. Anger, once it has been triggered, proves to be very resilient and cannot be easily assuaged. Moreover, as Orilus’s behavior demonstrates, anger itself tends to be connected with other psy­ chological aspects, such as an inferiority complex or deep-seated jealousy, which in turn seems to be caused by this sense of inferiority. Anger, whether expressed through physical violence or only verbalized, proves to be very difficult to overcome. The an­ gry person is impermeable to reason and rational discourse. Logical arguments, pleading, and even cries for help do not reach the angry person. Finally, uncontrolled anger easily leads to violence, though the violent actions do not necessarily achieve the desired end of relieving the angry person. When Parzival tries to force Orilus to accept that his wife was innocent, considerable time has already passed as docu­ mented by Jeschute's entirely tattered and torn clothing (257; 135-36). In other words, anger does not let up quickly, even when the (seemingly) injured and angry person gets his revenge or can mete out punishment. Ultimately, as Jeschute's sad destiny demonstrates, the outburst of anger easily affects an innocent person, and it also threatens to destroy the entire community of whom both she and her husband are part of. To comprehend some of the psychological elements in the anger process as de­ scribed by Wolfram, here I want to turn briefly to the discussion of anger in Thomas of Aquinas's (ca. 1225-1274) Summa Theologiae. Relying on Dana Fritz Cates's ex­ cellent summary, we can easily observe how much Thomas's ruminations directly would apply to Orilus's angry behavior. In Fritz Cates's words, "For Thomas, anger is thus a movement of resistance or attack that takes place within the irascible part of the sense appetite. . . . Anger is caused, in particular, by the commission of a slight. A slight is an act that reveals that the one who commits it has 'slight esteem' for us. . . . A slight is an act that derogates our 'excellence.'. . . Hence when someone slights our excellence, he undermines the very basis of our self-understanding and self-esteem: he injures the goods that we esteem in ourselves . . . and he does so in a way that is visible to other members of the community . . . a slight makes us feel deficient, then, not only by causing in us some deficiency, but also by making us look deficient to people in whose regard we have a personal stake."43

42 Marion E. Gibbs, Wipllchez wibes reht: A Study o f the Women Characters in the Works of Wolfram von Eschenbach. Duquesne Studies, Philological Series, 15 ([Pittsburgh]: Duquesne University Press, 1972), 106. 43 Diana Fritz Cates, "Taking Women's Experience Seriously: Thomas Aquinas and Audre Lorde on Anger," Aquinas and Empowerment: Classical Ethics for Ordinary Lives, ed. G. Simon Harak, S.J. Moral Traditions and Moral Arguments (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1996), 55-56. Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 39

Intriguingly, Orilus admits himself that he felt injured by Jeschute's alleged adul­ tery: "si was werdekeite rich: / die hât si gar verkrenket / und mich in not gesenket" (266, 12-14; "She was once rich in noble qualities, but she has since diminished them, and plunged me into disaster;" 140), which confirms how much anger holds him in its grips, not allowing any loosening of the feeling of hurt. Finally, as Wolfram's devel­ opment of the Jeschute-Orilus scene demonstrates, anger proves to be the cause of a breakdown of communication, which in turn threatens the entire community. Despite Jeschute's repeated efforts to explain the situation to her husband, he only pays atten­ tion to material signs, jumps to biased conclusions, cuts off her words, and allows a previously hidden anger to balloon into a fury. He will be freed from his anger only once he has been defeated by Parzival's physical strength and, most significantly, by his swearing the public oath, assuring Orilus that his wife had truly been an innocent victim: "nu miieze ich flüsteclichen spot / ze bëden liben immer hân / von siner kraft, ob missetân / disiu frouwe habe, do diz geschach / daz i'r fürspan von ir brach. / och fuort ich mër goldes dan" (269, 18-23; "let me be mocked and damned in this life and the next through His power, if this lady did amiss when I chanced to tear her brooch from her, when I also bore off other gold!;" 141). Parzival goes even one step further and repeats himself several times, emphasizing that Jeschute was entirely innocent and nothing but young Parzival's victim: "sist benamn ein unschuldic wip" (269, 28; "I tell you she is an innocent woman;" 141). In face of anger, communication can be restored only with great difficulties, but Wolfram's romance provides an impressive example of how this goal can be achieved, though the prize is high.44 Ultimately, Par­ zival illustrates the consequences of many human shortcomings, one of which, anger, definitely exerts some of the most devastating influences on society and the individ­ ual.

Mai und Beaflor

A most dramatic example of anger turning into violence can be found in the late- thirteenth-century romance Mai und Beaflor, an interesting, but very little studied ver­ sion of the pan-European narrative of the innocently accused queen.45 The content of this complex and insightful romance cannot be summarized here, suffice to point out that a major problem develops between Queen Beaflor and her mother-in-law because

44 Albrecht Classen, Verzweiflung und Hoffnung. Die Suche nach der kommunikativen Ge­ meinschaft in der deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters. Beihefte zur Mediaevistik, 1 (Frank­ furt a.M., Berlin, et al.: Peter Lang, 2002), 236-78. 45 Mai und Beaflor: Eine Erzählung aus dem dreizehnten Jahrhundert. Dichtungen des deutschen Mittelalters (Leipzig: Göschen'sche Verlagshandlung, 1848). For a recent inves­ tigation of the literary motif and its message of powerful, though victimized women, see Nancy B. Black, Medieval Narratives of Accused Queens (Gainesville, Tallahassee, et al.: University Press of Florida, 2003). I am in the process of preparing a new critical edition and a German translation of this poem, to appear in Beihefte zur Mediaevistik. 40 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 the latter believes that Beaflor is of a lower social status and stole her son Mai's heart. While Mai is away on a crusade in Spain, his wife delivers their boy, but the mother- in-law falsifies the letter which is supposed to inform Mai of the happy news, and then also her son's letter to his courtiers. Instead of instructing them to wait with any decision until his return, the new letter states that Beaflor is to be killed as punishment for having committed adultery with two priests, resulting in the delivery of a wolf- baby. The horrified councillors refuse, however, and instead put the queen on a boat and let her go secretly. When Mai finally returns home, he is almost lynched by his people who regard him as a monstrous ruler for ordering the execution of his innocent wife. Only now does the secret begin to unravel, and eventually Mai learns from his mother's devious deceptions. Full of rage, he pulls out his sword and kills her - an­ other victim of the deadly sin of ira, though here Mai's anger is viewed quite differ­ ently.46 The entire population is filled with anger over the tragic development of events, since they blame their lord for an entirely wrong decision, and criticize him for his despotic action (157, 25-29). As the narrator emphasizes, however, their anger results from their rash conclusion which is not based on a thorough investigation of the af­ fair, especially because Mai never ordered the execution (157, 30). But the people are ready to fight their own lord as a punishment for his misdeed (158, 40-159, 4), which again signals a lack of rational consideration on their part. Mai's knights vehemently protest the insinuation of their king's wrong-doing and praise him for having been a better warrior than Gahmuret in Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival. The people's foolish behavior becomes even more noticeable when they explain their anger by pointing out that Beaflor had been executed (159, 39), not knowing the truth of her having been abandoned to the sea. - apart from the two councillors there are no wit­ nesses. Finally, Mai is also told the horrible news, whereupon he almost would have committed suicide if his arms had not been fettered (161, 31-162, 18). Just as in a modern detective story, soon the evidence of the falsified letters is produced, and then Mai, filled with rage, confronts his mother, accuses her of having exchanged the let­ ters, and threatens to kill her if she does not return the original documents (172, 28- 30). Fearing for her life, she finally hands them over, kneels in front of her son, and begs him for mercy, knowing well that his anger is at a boiling point. But she does not have a chance, particularly because her son now realizes that his wife had been en­ tirely innocent, that she loved him dearly, and had written him the most tender letter. At this point the narrator offers a fascinating description of people gripped by enormous rage and anger: Mai clasps his hands so hard that blood is shooting out of his nails (173, 20-22).47 His voice transforms into a growl, yet it is still filled with

46 In a previous article I have studied some of the motifs included in this narrative, "Konti­ nuität und Aufbruch: Innovative narrative Tendenzen in der spätmittelalterlichen deutsch­ sprachigen Literatur. Der Fall Mai und Beaflor," Wirkendes Wort 48, 3 (1998): 324-344. 47 The image of the bleeding nails is often used in Middle High German literature to indicate either enormous wrath, or a desperate struggle against an overpowering enemy, see, for in- Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 41 great sorrow. He publicly accuses his mother of having murdered his wife and child, although they had been completely free of any guilt, and subsequently Mai pulls out his sword and executes his mother (173, 31-33). Very similar to Eliduc, the bystand­ ers do not try to stop him, they do not disapprove of him, instead they declare that this was the queen mother's just destiny: "ez waere reht" (173, 35; it was rightful). How­ ever, Mai's profound grief is not assuaged by his matricide, but rather he desires death for himself. Nevertheless, life continues, though filled with mourning and laments. The messenger who had been responsible for the fateful letters is banished from the country (174, 6-9), the entire court grieves over the tragic developments, the queen mother is buried, and on her epitaph is written why she had to die. The entire romance of Mai und Beaflor obviously explores the nature of extreme emotions, and anger emerges as one of the central forces that drive the narrative de­ velopment above all. This anger, however, in clear contrast to Orilus's behavior, seems justified and has a good cause. Consequently, Mai directs his anger at the right person and lets her feel the full extent of his rage, leading to matricide. Understanda­ bly, no one at the court or among his people condemns the young king for his action, instead they all lament the loss of his wife and child. Just as in the case of Eliduc in Marie's eponymous lai, anger that is the result of the loss of the beloved is not viewed negatively. Even in the case of Orilus we could argue that there were some reasons why he acted the way he did because he loved his wife and felt rejected by her. Nev­ ertheless, both Eliduc and Mai are guilty of a grave misdeed, and both have to suffer for a long time before the women whom they love and yet believe to be dead return to them in a miraculous manner, whereas Orilus regains his wife only through Parzival's energetic intervention. As all three authors indicate, dramatic complications in love affairs easily lead to the eruption of anger, which in turn results in drastic violence. This is the very point raised by the contemporary philosophers who alert their readers to the dangers of anger, not because of theological reasons, but because of the decon- structive consequences of anger which affect the entire society. Both in terms of Thomas Aquinas's and Audre Lorde's analysis of anger, which indicates the similari­ ties of medieval and modern understanding of anger, the slight which these three men have experienced affected their own self, "was unmerited" and is an "injury to one's excellence."48

stance, Das Nibelungenlied, ed. Helmut de Boor, 21st rev. ed. by Roswitha Wisniewski (Wiesbaden: Brockhaus, 1979), 675, 2. Parzival in Wolfram's eponymous romance experi­ ences the bleeding from his nails when he angrily realizes, while staying on Castle Munsal- vaesche, that the squires have removed his sword to prepare him for dinner, 229, 13-14, or 122 in the English translation. 48 Diana Fritz Cates, "Thomas Aquinas and Audre Lorde on Anger," 71. 42 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

Geoffrey Chaucer

These conclusions can be tested well in light of anger which threatens to engulf one of the best-known female figures in medieval literature, the Wife of Bath in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales (ca. 1400).49 At first sight, however, her anger finds quite a differ­ ent explanation. Her husband, Jankyn, tortures her with endless readings from a mi­ sogynist text collection, especially since he thinks that he can teach her something about the female nature. '"Bet is,' quod he, 'thyn habitacioun / Be with a leon or a foul dragoun, / Than with a womman usynge for to chyde.' / Bet is,' quod he, 'hye in the roof abyde, / Than with an angry wyf doun in the hoous; / They been so wikked and contrarious, / They haten that hir housbondes loven ay" (775-81). Although he evokes the issue of anger in women, he does not realize how much he is culpable of creating the very same anger in his wife, who suddenly tears out three pages of his "cursed book" (789) and hits him with her fist so hard on his face that he falls backwards, landing with his head in the fire. Whereas before he himself had referred to the lion with whom it might be easier to live than with a wife, he now turns into a lion and counterattacks her, proving himself completely wrong: "And with his fest he smoot me on the heed, / That in the floor I lay as I were deed" (795-96). This sudden devel­ opment of events frightens Jankyns so much that he is considering running away: "and wolde han fled his way" (798) - the very opposite to Eliduc's and Mai's behav­ ior, both of whom deeply grieve the alleged loss of their beloved and are close to committing suicide. This scary moment entirely turns the tables, and now Jankyns begs his wife for forgiveness and pledges never to hit her again (805-07). Whereas be­ fore her husband had played the role of the rabid misogynist, now he hands over to her the proverbial bridle (813) and cedes the "governance of hous and lond" to her (814), not to forget his tongue (voice) and hand (writing). Significantly, she can also force him to burn his book, and he follows her in every respect: "Do as thee lust the terme of al thy lyf; / Keep thyn honour, and keep eek myn estaat" (820-21), but it does not appear to be a total reversal of the gender roles. From that time on, as the Wife declares, she showed him the best kindness and loyalty one could ever expect from a wife, which he returned in equal measure. Here, the outburst of anger has the positive effect of bringing to a complete stop Jankyn's irritating misogynist tirades, whereas she develops into a loving wife and he into a kind husband. Anger, in other words, proves to be the decisive catalyst that breaks the patriarchal framework that stifled and threatened their marriage, and allows them to establish good communica­ tions again. Not surprisingly, the Wife of Bath's Tale, after lengthy twists and turns in the nar­ rative (from rape to death penalty, from the quest to find out what all women want to

49 The Riverside Chaucer. General Editor Larry D. Benson, 3rd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mif­ flin, 1987); for an excellent collection of the most important scholarly statements about the Wife o f Bath's Tale, see Geoffrey Chaucer. The Wife o f Bath. Ed. by Peter G. Beidler (Boston: Bedford Books, 1996). Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 43 an enforced marriage with the old hag, who then suddenly transforms into a young and beautiful woman), concludes with a final comment on anger. First, once the knight has handed over the control of their marriage to his new wife - in direct paral­ lel to the situation in the Wife's own life - she urges him to welcome the new peaceful relationship between them: "'Kys me,' quod she, 'we be no lenger wrothe" (1239), en­ couraging him to avoid the ancient conflict between the genders which had resulted from irrational anger. Moreover, she also alerts all future husbands to learn this les­ son, since anger represents the major source for dangerous irritation within marriage: "And eek I praye Jhesu shorte hir lyves / That wol nat be governed by hir wyves; / And olde and angry nygardes of dispence, / God sende hem soone verray pestilence!" (1261-64). In a way, we might say, Chaucer offers, through his hilarious Wife of Bath, a practical guide for anger management particularly for married couples.

Boccaccio

A most interesting variation of anger management can be found in Boccaccio's Decameron (ca. 1350). In the seventh story of the eighth day, a young scholar, Rinieri, is fooled by his beloved lady, Elena, who pretends to expect him at night, but in reality spends the time with another lover, while the first man almost freezes to death. He gets his revenge, however, because he subsequently manages to deceive her of his true feelings and knows how to trap her and to exact his revenge. When Elena's original lover abandons her, she requests the scholar's help in applying black magic to force her lover to come back to her. The scholar convinces her that he would indeed give her honest advice, and tells her to climb a remote roof-top all naked and to do some incantations at night. These do not work, of course, but this gives the young man a chance to remove the ladder, leaving her entirely exposed first to the cold of the night, then to the hot elements and insects of the day. When Elena's maidservant finally comes to her rescue after a long day, she finds her lady "non corpo umano ma piü tosto un cepperello inarsicciato parere, tutta vinta, tutta spunta" ("utterly ex­ hausted and destroyed, her body looking more like a burned-out log than a human form . . .").50 Whereas the audience's sympathies in Wolfram's case entirely rested with Jeschute and her innocent suffering at the hands of her angry and brutal husband, in Boccaccio's narrative the opposite is the case. The lady had treated the young scholar in a most mean-spirited manner, having almost caused his death in the winter

50 Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron. Edizione critica secondo l'autografo hamiltoniano, a cura di Vittore Branca. Scrittori italiani e testi antichi pubblicati dallAccademia della Crusca (Florence: Presso lAccademia della Crusca, 1976), 553; for the English translation, see Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron, trans. Mark Musa and Peter Bondanella (New York and London: W. W. Norton, 1982), 523. For a bibliographic overview, see Joseph Consoli, Giovanni Boccaccio: An Annotated Bibliography. Garland Medieval Bibliographies, 9 (New York and London: Garland, 1992). 44 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 night, continuously pretending to let him in at the earliest occasion, but in reality cru­ elly laughing at his suffering and using it as proof to her lover who spends the night with her of her true feelings for him. For instance, when the scholar had pleaded with her to rescue him and to allow him at least to warm up somewhere in a hiding place, she had only mocking words for him: "se quello è vero che tu m'hai piü volte scritto, cioè che tu per l'amor di me ardi tutto" (539; '"How can this be so, if what you wrote to me on numerous occasions is true, that is, that you burn all over because of your love for me?;" 509). He is caught in the courtyard, "faccendo le volte del leone" (539; "he paced about like a lion in his cage;" 509), and at the end his suffering destroys all the love that he erstwhile had felt for his lady. In fact, his erotic passion is trans­ formed into ardent desire for revenge, though he intelligently hides this change of mind: "serro dentro al petto suo ciö ehe la non temperata volontâ s'ingegnava di man- dar fuori" (540); "he locked within his breast the anger which would have expressed itself, were it not for the restraint of his strong willpower;" 509). The consequences for the lady are, as she quickly realizes once she has been caught on the roof-top, not only the loss of the love of the young man, but also of her honor. For our purposes, however, let us focus on the subsequent discussion between Elena and the scholar which poignantly creates a relief of his deep-seated anger and frustration as lover. She appeals to his values as a gentleman and reminds him that he suffered only one night, whereas she would be deprived of her honor for the rest of her life if found by the people in Florence. Presenting herself as weak in her femi­ ninity, she argues: "Non voler le tue forze contro a una femina essercitare: niuna glo­ ria è a una aquila l'aver vinta una colomba; dunque, per l'amor di Dio e per onor di te, t'incresca di me" (545; "Do not exercise your strength against a woman: an eagle wins no glory in overcoming a dove; therefore, for the love of God and your own honor, have mercy upon me" (515). She might have achieved her goal of melting his heart, but "non potendo la umanitâ la fierezza dell'appetito" (545; "his humanity was not enough to conquer the harshness of his desire for revenge;" 515). As Rinieri reveals, his anger is not only fed by his previous humiliation at her hands, but also by his still burning jealousy against the other man: "a lui ti fa aiutare, a lui ti fa i tuoi panni re­ care" (545; "Let him help you, let him return your clothes;" 515).51 Again, anger has to be seen in a triangular relationship, which conforms with all previous examples. Moreover, the scholar rejects her appeal to his magnanimity be­ cause she would not be worthy of it due to her wickedness which deserves to be pun­ ished (546/516). In this sense, he does not truly exact his revenge, he claims, but in­ stead metes out punishment against the evilness of woman - an obvious allusion to traditional misogyny, also predominant at Boccaccio's time.52 In this approach he

51 For a theological and philosophical discussion of anger in Boccaccio, see Vittorio Russo, "II sense del tragico nel Decameron," Filologia e letteratura 11 (1965): 29-83; 52 This finds a powerful expression in Boccaccio's Corbaccio, see Woman Defamed and Woman Defended: An Anthology o f Medieval Texts, ed. Alcuin Blamires with Karen Pratt and C. W. Marx (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), 167-76; but Boccaccio was not a single- Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 45 closely follows the model we observed in John of Salisbury’s Policraticus with its idealization of the rational ruler who does not let anger affect his decision-making process. The debate between the scholar and the naked lady continues for a long time, obviously to the former's delight and in conformity with his intellectual training (547- 48/517). Again, however, his old jealousy comes through as he defends himself and other 'older men' against the competition of younger men in matters of love, warning his victim never to despise the wooing of an older man, particularly of a learned man like him. Rinieri subsequently lets her suffer in the same way as she had made him suffer in the winter night, but he still insists that the danger for his life had been greater than what she is going through on the roof-top: "dove io per perdere i nervi e la persona fui, tu da questo caldo scorticata non altramenti rimarrai bella" (551; "whereas I al­ most lost the use of my limbs and my very life, you have only been skinned by this heat and you will return just as beautiful as you ever were;" 521). Nevertheless, at this point the narrative balance seems to tip in her favor since she can rightly accuse him of cruelty as a result of inordinate anger, denying her even a cup of wine "che a' mi- cidiali dannati dalla ragione, andando essi alia morte, è dato ber molte volte del vino pur ehe essi ne domandino" (551; "whereas even a condemned murderer on the way to his execution is often given some wine to drink;" 521). In fact, she accuses him of "acerba crudeltâ" (551; "bitter cruelty;" 522) and then abandons herself to God, which finally seems to the scholar to be enough of punishment, so he returns the lady's clothing to her maidservant and allows her to rescue the victim. However, even at this moment his old anger flares up again since he expresses the wish to have her punished for her misdeeds against him as well: "Cosi avess' io avuta te con lei insieme la dove io ho lei avuta" (552; "I only wish I could have put yo where I put your mistress;" 522). And this punishment certainly comes its way since the maidservant later falls down from the ladder once her lady had been rescued, and in this fall breaks her leg (553/523), which seems to satisfy the scholar's anger even from the perspective of the narrator. Only when he hears of her accident, does he feel "avere assai intera ven­ detta" (553; "his revenge was now quite complete;" 524). The narrator confirms this opinion, criticizing the lady once again for her foolishness and warning her never to "con uno scolare credendosi frascheggiare ehe con un altro avrebbe fatto" (554; "play around with a scholar the way she might with any other man;" 524). Significantly, the scholar's anger runs so deep that at one point he even dares to suggest to the trapped lady to free herself from her imprisonment by jumping off the roof and killing herself: "con l'aiuto di Dio, fiaccandoti tu il collo, uscirai della pena nella quale esser ti pare e me farai il piü lieto uom del mondo" (546-47; "With God's help, by breaking your neck, you will, at the same time, escape from the suffering you seem to be enduring and make me the happiest man in the world;" 516).

minded misogynist and presented many different views of women, see Alcuin Blamires, The Case for Women in Medieval Culture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 180-82, 220, 222-23, et passim. 46 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006

The female listeners of the brigata in the framework narrative of the Decameron demonstrate mixed feelings about Elena's misfortunes, expressing "piü moderata compassione gli avean trapassati, quantunque rigido e constante fieramente, anzi crudele, reputassero lo scolare" (555; "restrained pity, since they felt she had in part deserved them, although at the same time they did consider the scholar to have been somewhat rigid, and fiercely relentless, not to mention cruel;" 525). Although the is­ sue regarding "la severitâ dell'offeso scolare" (555; "the outraged scholar's severity;" 525) finds no satisfying solution, the narrative context implies several conclusions. Anger, as in the scholar's case, seems justified, especially because he applies all his mind to exact his revenge. This revenge matches the crime committed by her, and it is, though severe, not totally excessive. Nevertheless, the satirical undertone cannot be overlooked, since the scholar was foolish enough to pursue this untrustworthy lady and thus became a simple victim of her machinations, which also contributes to his anger. Millicent Marcus goes so far as to suggest that Rinieri suffers from "twisted notions of justice" when he believes that he is fully entitled to his revenge.53 In fact, a certain ambivalence remains, whereas the emphasis on his anger clearly stands out, particularly because he deviously enjoys her suffering in the sweltering sun and re­ jects any appeals to his magnanimity and nobility, and entirely forgets, what he should remember from his studies of theology, Christian compassion, contrapasso, which Boccaccio himself in the Proem has underscored as the principle goal of his narrative art.54 The poet indirectly seems to allude to himself when he has the young scholar warn Elena of the many other strategies that he had planned to punish her: "E dove tutti mancati mi fossero, non mi fuggiva la penna, con la quale tante e si fatte cose di te scritte avrei e in si fatta maniera, che, avendole tu risapute, ché l'avresti, avresti il di mille volte disiderato di mai non esser nata. Le forze della penna son troppo maggiori ehe coloro non estimano que quelle con conoscimento provate non hanno" (548; "And even if all my plans had failed me, my pen would not have done so, and with it I would have written so many things about you and in such a fashion that when you came to learn about them, which you would have, you would have wished a thousand times a day that you had never been born. The powers of the pen are far mightier than those people suppose who have not known them through experience;" 517-18). Women, in other words, would not be a match for writers, poets, and scholars, but there is still a sense of anger in the entire narrative which concludes with the ominous

53 Millicent Marcus, "Misogyny as Misreading: A Gloss on Decameron VIII, 7," Stanford Italian Review 4, 1 (Spring, 1984): 23-40; here 38. 54 Robert M. Durling, "A Long Day in the Sun: Decameron 8.7," Shakespeare's "Rough Magic". Renaissance Essays in Honor o f C. L. Barber, ed. Peter Erickson and Coppélia Kahn (Newark: University of Delaware Press; London and Toronto: Associated University Presses, 1985, 269-75; here 274. Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 47 words: "guardatevi, donne, dal beffare, e gli scolari spezialmente" (554; "ladies, be­ ware of playing such tricks, especially on scholars;" 524).55 Perhaps, however, we can follow Kurt Flasch's intriguing suggestion that the true and ultimate message contained in Boccaccio's Decameron can be found in the pres­ entation of the patiently suffering Griselda in the last tale (10/10) who overcomes all difficulties in her life and sustains the hardest test possible, having to give up volun­ tarily her love, her children, and her family, and then succeeds in suppressing all an­ ger because she has achieved a philosophical perspective of spiritual and intellectual freedom based on the ethics of classical Greek stoicism.56 In the case of Eliduc's first wife, Guildeliiec, in Marie de France's eponymous lai, we can already observe a re­ markable forerunner, whom I have not discussed yet, but who deserves to be men­ tioned here, because she also never shows any sign of anger and approaches her life in a most rational, philosophically well-founded manner. Once she has realized her hus­ band's new love and knows that she would not be able to change it, she withdraws into a convent and makes room for the new wife. Both Griselda and Guildeliic dem­ onstrate, following Flasch's reading, not weakness of character, but the inner strength to maintain a spiritual freedom which does not allow anger to influence their deci­ sions and behavior.

Conclusion

Boccaccio is the only writer among all those considered here who seems to defend adequate revenge as the appropriate vehicle to compensate for anger, though only in the case of a cruel deception and mistreatment of a lover. The scholar in Boccaccio's narrative argues in the same vein as Plutarch does in John of Salisbury's Policraticus because he claims only to mete out punishment where it is deserved. Moreover, Elena's destiny cannot be compared with Jeschute's, since she is as guilty as anyone could be, which the women in Boccaccio's framework narrative subsequently confirm (555/525). Most important, the scholar does not fly into a rage after he has realized how much his beloved lady has duped him, instead he keeps his calm and carefully plots his revenge, pretending to love her after all (540-41/510-11), similar to Eliduc in Marie de France's lai. It also deserves to be noticed that Elena has committed a seri­ ous crime in trapping the scholar in her courtyard and pretending to let him into the house whenever the right time would have come, knowing full well that she had put him into a life-threatening situation. However, Rinieri's anger also seems to go over­

55 For a discussion of 'domestic violence' and women's roles, all closely related to the phe­ nomenon of anger, see Marilyn Migiel, A Rhetoric o f the Decameron (Toronto, Buffalo, and London: University of Toronto Press, 2003), 147-59. 56 Kurt Flasch, Vernunft und Vergnügen: Liebesgeschichten aus dem Decameron (Munich: Beck, 2002), 262-67. 48 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 board and lacks any compassion, not even stopping after the victim has been badly hurt. The Wife of Bath angrily reacted against Jankyn's continuous defamation and in­ sults of women, and in this she could count on her audience’s sympathy. The opposite applies to the knight in her Tale, since he was guilty of having committed rape and had to hand over the government in marriage to his wife because only she had been able to save his life. Similarly, Eliduc in Marie de France's lai emerges more as a mixed character who does not fully understand how to deal with women and follows, despite his otherwise highly rational approach - at least in matters concerning chiv­ alry and the military defense of his lord's country - a more irrational approach when it comes to love, life, and death, especially since he is not capable of controlling his an­ ger when he faces the assumed death of his beloved, and only thereupon does he mur­ der the sailor.57 As Geoffrey of Vinsauf, John of Salisbury, and Roger Bacon, among many others (Thomas Aquinas) consistently pointed out, anger distorts a person's inner character and endangers the well-being not only of the individual affected by it, but also of the entire society. The literary examples, however, agree with this perspective only in part, especially since the various authors contextualize anger in a variety of ways, sometimes making it seem justified, sometimes criticizing the angry person for his or her irrational outburst of anger. This also finds its confirmation in various Latin love poems, such as the anonymous twelfth-century love song "Cuidam cotidie obiurganti, cotidie supplicanti" (Roma, Vat. Reg. lat. 585, fol. 4V), where anger is at first de­ scribed as an important catalyst to awaken a lukewarm lover, to arouse his or her en­ ergy, and to entice new efforts to renew the love relationship: "Ira quidem prodest, quia corda reformat amantum / Cum nimia languet pace sepultus amor. / Dissolvit nubes aurora, vel aura favillas, / Verius ut niteat et magis urat amor" ("Anger has its value, indeed: it revives the hearts of lovers when love lies languid, buried in too much peace. Dawn then scatters the clouds, or a breath of air the sparks, that love may more truly shine, more fiercely burn").58 By the same token, however, as the poetic voice alerts the reader, "Nam que sepe iuvat, sepius ira nocet: / Affectus hebetat aciemque retundit amoris, / Concipit invidiam tristiciamque parit. / Dividit hec socios et amoris federa rumpit" ( 10- 14; "for if anger often helps, more often it harms. It can deaden feeling, blunt the edge of love, bring envy to conception, grief to birth. It sun­ ders friends and breaks up pacts of love"). Although the eruption of anger might be

57 See the excellent criticism by Marco D. Roman, "Reclaiming the Self Through Silence: The Riverside Counselor's Stories and the Lais of Marie de France," Crossing the Bridge: Com­ parative Essays on Medieval European and Heian Japanese Women Writers, ed. Barbara Stevenson and Cynthia Ho. The New Middle Ages (New York: Palgrave, 2000), 175-88. 58 Quoted from Peter Dronke, Medieval Latin and the Rise o f European Love-Lyric. Vol. II: Medieval Latin Love-Poetry. Texts newly ed. from the manuscripts and for the most part previously unpublished. Second ed. (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1968), 448, vv. 1-4; the English translation is also taken from Dronke, 448-49; for a brief discussion of the manuscript, see 577-78. Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 49 understandable, perhaps even be fruitful in some circumstances, "Ira frequens furor est et diuturna scelus" (18; "frequent anger is madness, long-lasting anger a crime").59 In many cases, courtly love poets expressed deep frustration over their failed wooing of their mistress, and subtly indicated how much anger filled their minds, as we also could observe, for instance, in the case of Orilus {Parzival) and Rinieri (Decam­ eron).60 In other words, anger is only the other side of the same coin, human emo­ tions. It would be entirely erroneous to identify the Middle Ages with the ideal of courtly love only, although this has been done so many times.61 A careful analysis of other medieval poems, epics, and romances would quickly demonstrate that anger was a major factor for poets, philosophers, theologians, and their audiences.62 Medieval society was obviously as much under the threat of anger as an emotion which was extremely hard to control, as is modern society, especially once the topic of courtly love entered public discourse, which in turn almost auto­ matically triggered the discussion of anger. Whereas the medieval philosophers at­ tempted to contain this powerful sentiment as much as possible, arguing that anger, under whatever circumstances, had a demeaning impact on the individual, and threat­ ened the existence of the entire society, vernacular poets took a much broader position with respect to anger, at times characterizing its manifestations as extremely danger­ ous, at times portraying the angry person as justified and worthy of our sympathy. The common element for all witnesses consulted here, however, proves to be the im­ portant realization that anger played a major role in medieval society, causing signifi­ cant problems, and was therefore integrated into the theoretical discourses on ethics, morality, psychology, and theology, not to forget the world of courtly romances and heroic epics. Admittedly, the short sample of philosophical and literary texts in this paper does not yet allow us to make a cumulative statement about anger in medieval society at large. Nevertheless, we can be certain that its problematic nature and pro­ found impact on people's lives were well recognized and discussed in many different ways, whether we turn to the ninth or to the fifteenth century. As the various exam-

59 I would like to express my thanks to Peter Dinzelbacher for pointing out this song to me. 60 Stephen J. Kaplowitt, The Ennobling Power of Love in the Medieval German Lyric. Uni­ versity of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures, 106 (Chapel Hill and London: The University of North Carolina Press, 1986). 61 See, for example, C. Stephen Jaeger's excellent study Ennobling Love: In Search o f a Lost Sensibility. The Middle Ages Series (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999). Almost as an antagonistic complement to his own approach, Jaeger also explored the issue of "Pessimism in the Twelfth-Century 'Renaissance'," Speculum 78 (2003): 1151-83. 62 For examples of the drastic, almost insane consequences of anger in the world of heroic battles, basically leading to forms of epileptic attacks, see Peter Wunderli, "Rolandus epi- lepticus," Das Ritterbild in Mittelalter und Renaissance. Studia humaniora, 1 (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1985), 105-30; cf. also Hildegard Elisabeth Keller, "Zorn gegen Gorio. Zeichen­ funktion von zorn im althochdeutschen GeorgsliedCodierung von Emotionen im Mit­ telalter, ed. C. Stephen Jaeger and Ingrid Kasten. Trends in Medieval Philology, 1 (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2003), 115-42; esp. 116-28. 50 Mediaevistik 19 · 2006 pies have demonstrated, anger was regarded as a significant danger for the well-being of society, and without proper anger management, violence could erupt embroiling everyone involved. In order to gain a solid grasp of mental structures determining the medieval world, we need to incorporate anger studies as an essential component of the history of emotions. In fact, most conflicts dealt with in medieval chronicles, he­ roic epics, courtly romances, and other types of narratives reflect deep-seated anger and illustrate the effects of this enormous source of dangerous energy. Not surpris­ ingly, both theologians and poets, both philosophers and historians attentively dealt with anger and provided models for performance mechanisms with which medieval people could at least hope to cope with this disruptive and destructive drive in human life.

University Distinguished Professor Dr. Albrecht Classen Dept. of German Studies 301 Learning Services Building University o f Arizona USA-Tucson, AZ 85721