{Replace with the Title of Your Dissertation}

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

{Replace with the Title of Your Dissertation} LIQUID SPACES, LIQUID SELVES: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MERCANTILE IDENTITY IN THE MEDIEVAL MEDITERRANEAN A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY RACHEL DEBORAH GIBSON IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY SUSAN NOAKES NOVEMBER, 2016 © Rachel D. Gibson 2016 i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Researching and writing a dissertation is in many ways a collaborative experience, and I am fortunate to have a number of wonderful, dynamic people to thank for supporting me through the years. I am forever grateful to my graduate advisor at the University of Minnesota, Susan Noakes, for her support, encouragement and compassion, guiding me through many stages of intellectual and personal development as this project gradually came together. Her faith in my work has always encouraged me to try more and do more, and I am thankful for her encouragement to seize exciting and edifying opportunities through the years. My thanks to Mary Franklin-Brown, who has been an exceptional teacher and colleague, bringing an exacting and critical eye to multiple versions of my work, and helping me to elevate and refine my scholarship at every stage. Thank you to Daniel Brewer, who has been supportive as a teacher and mentor, pushing me to think beyond the medieval and see the connections I can make with my work across disciplinary and temporal boundaries. I am likewise grateful to my committee members from the Department of English and the Department of History, Ruth Mazo Karras, Kathryn Reyerson, and John Watkins – thank you for your humor, patience, and support over the years. Your enthusiasm and expertise has helped me develop a dynamic, interdisciplinary project, showing me new ways to contribute to my field and the medievalist community. Thanks must go to my Masters advisor Shirin Khanmohamadi at San Francisco State University, who first set me on the merchant’s trade route and forever converted me to Medieval and Mediterranean Studies. I have had the pleasure of working with fantastic mentors both at the University of Minnesota and abroad as well, ii each contributing to the expansion and improvement of my work, including Ron Akehurst, Gilda Caiti-Russo, Susanna Ferlito, Francesca Gambino, and Leslie Zarker- Morgan, among many others. My thanks to Juliette Cherbuliez and Christophe Wall- Romana as well; the quality, professionalization, and scope of my work has augmented each year under their guidance. I have received financial support from many sources to both research and write this dissertation – without this generosity my project would certainly not exist. Extensive research abroad and the completion of this dissertation were made possible by support from the Social Science Research Council’s International Dissertation Research Fellowship, with funds provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The University of Minnesota has consistently offered me financial support throughout my graduate studies as well, with the final stages of my research and writing funded by a Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship. My thanks to the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota, which has supported me with two summer research fellowships, and to the College of Liberal Arts, for giving me the opportunity to participate in the Graduate Research Partnership Program. In its end stages, this dissertation received crucial support from the Hella Mears Graduate Fellowship, offered through the Center for German & European Studies at the University of Minnesota. I am grateful for each generous contribution that has afforded me the time and resources to bring this project to life. This project has benefitted from the many professional associations that have given a forum to my work, as well as the conversations, lectures, workshops, and iii symposiums that enriched my experience at the University of Minnesota. Many thanks to the faculty of the Department of French and Italian, who have provided me with an intellectually open, generous, and rigorous environment. Thank you to the people at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Early Modern History, the Center for Medieval Studies, and the James Ford Bell Library, and particularly Sarah Chambers and Marguerite Ragnow, for providing a welcoming community and a space to grow, share, and refine my research. I am likewise grateful to the helpful and accommodating staff and scholars at the following libraries, whose tireless work allowed me to conduct months of archival research on beautiful manuscripts, crumbling merchant letters, and a wealth of rare materials: the Bibliothèque Universitaire de Médecine, Université de Montpellier I in Montpellier, France; the Archivo di Stato di Venezia and the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice, Italy; the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, at the François-Mitterrand, Richelieu Louvois, and Arsenal sites in Paris, France, and the Bibliothèque des Annonciades in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France. Many colleagues and friends have supported me through the years, both professionally and personally, reviewing chapters and articles at all stages, and offering invaluable advice along the way. I have been fortunate to build such a beautiful, diverse and far-flung academic community. Thank you to Will Arighi, Jiewon Baek, Sharon Fischlowitz, Rebecca Halat, Caitlin Holton, Jason Jacobs, Hannah Kilduff, Erin Maglaque, Stephen McCormick, Anaïs Nony, Basit Qureshi, Chloe Ragazzoli, Steven Romans, Anna Rosensweig, Tracy Rutler, Michael A. Ryan, Natalie Seale, Sarah Turner, iv Tiffany Vann Sprecher, Adrian Travis, and Ann Zimo, among many others, for sharing many years of friendship, perspective, and humor during this process. Finally, part of the joy of moving into each new community has been that I gain a new family in each place, and I would like to thank all my families, old and new, for their love, patience and support during the long process of dissertating. I am thankful to my parents, Raymond Gibson and Susan Porter, my sister Lesley, my grandparents Raymond and Betty, and Debbie and Katie, for years (nay, decades) of love, encouragement, and faith in my personal and professional choices. Thank you to the Nienows and the Koepkes, and especially Annie, Geri, and Shayna, for generously welcoming me into their Minnesota family and always saving a place for me at the table. Un grand merci to my newest family, the Joyeux, who have lent me encouragement as I completed this project, and who have always made me feel at home on the other side of the Atlantic. Last but not least, I thank my husband Frédéric, who has brought so much adventure, love, and balance into my life, and with whom I am excited to begin our own Joyeux family. v TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 Liquid Histories: Considering Class, Space, and Identity in the Medieval Mediterranean CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................... 35 In French Marketplaces: Negotiating Space and Spaces of Negotiation in the Old French Fabliau CHAPTER TWO .............................................................................................................. 80 Along Mediterranean Coasts: Being Bourgeois in the Old French Epic and Romance CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................ 139 Beyond the Dressing Room: Mastering Discourse and Spaces of Exchange in the Transvestite Narrative CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................... 193 On Frontiers: Hybrid Spaces and Itinerant Texts between Champagne and the Veneto CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................... 241 Reconsidering the Third Estate from the Commercial Revolution to “Doux Commerce” BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 253 1 INTRODUCTION Liquid Histories: Considering Class, Space, and Identity in the Medieval Mediterranean By the time Marco Polo collaborated with Rustichello da Pisa to write Le Devisement du Monde (1289), or what is more commonly known as Marco Polo’s Travels, the high era of courtly literature in France had more or less come to a close.1 The text, which follows the merchant family’s travels from Venice, to the Holy Land, and across Asia to Kublai Khan in China, was extremely popular in Marco Polo’s own lifetime, being translated into multiple languages and diffused across Europe.2 With the earliest version of the text being co-written in Franco-Italian (c. 1310) and detailing moments when the merchant himself acquires languages, merchandise, and local attire throughout his travels, the text gives us a persona common to the literary depiction of the mercantile identity. Rather than centering on the errant knight seeking glory and adventure in his meanderings, the new hero’s tale, written in a Genoese prison, features another sort of adventure in a new realm of value, as well as new peaceful means by which to encounter the “other.”3 With the emergence of Le Devisement du Monde, the merchant became the first real 1 For scholars such as Gianfranco Folena, courtly literature flourished during the twelfth- and thirteenth century in part due to spatial expansion in the minds of readers, where the “kingdom” of France, spread
Recommended publications
  • "Ja Ne M'en Turnerai Trescque L'avrai Trovez". Ricerche Attorno Al Ms
    Ja ne m'en turnerai trescque l'avrai trovez Ricerche attorno al ms. Royal 16 E. VIII, testimone unico del Voyage de Charlemagne à Jérusalem et à Constantinople , e contributi per una nuova edizione del poema Thèse de Doctorat présentée par Carla Rossi devant la Faculté des Lettres de l’Université de Fribourg, en Suisse. Approuvé par la Faculté des Lettres sur proposition des professeurs Aldo Menichetti (premier rapporteur) et Roberto Antonelli (deuxième rapporteur, Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza"). Fribourg, le 10/01/2005 Note finale: summa cum laude Le Doyen, Richard Friedli [Copia facsimile della rubrica e dei primi versi del poema, effettuata nel 1832 da F. Michel sul Royal 16 E VIII della BL] Carla ROSSI - Thèse de doctorat - Note finale: summa cum laude 2 Ja ne m'en turnerai trescque l'avrai trovez Ricerche attorno al ms. Royal 16 E. VIII, testimone unico del Voyage de Charlemagne à Jérusalem et à Constantinople , e contributi per una nuova edizione del poema INTRODUZIONE....................................................................................................................................................... 4 PRIMA PARTE 1. Il testimone unico del VdC e Eduard Koschwitz, suo scrupoloso editore................................................... 6 1. 1. Albori degli studi sul poema: "Dieu veuille que cet éditeur soit un Français!"................................... 6 1. 2. Sabato 7 giugno 1879: il testimone unico scompare dalla Sala di Lettura del British Museum........ 11 1. 3. Eduard Koschwitz.......................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Bibliography
    BIBLIOGRAPHY Published Primary Sources Anseys de Ales, ed. HerrnanJ. Green. Paris: [Les Presses modemes], 1939. Aristophanes. Lysistrata, trans. Charles T. Murphy. In Stages of Drama: Classiwl to Contemporary Theatre, eds. Carl H. Klaus, Mirian1 Gilbert, and Bradford S. Field, Jr., 5th edn. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003, p. 121, l. 663 [pp. 114-31] Aurassin et Nirolette, ed. Jean Dufoumet. Paris: Flammarion, 1984. Batts, MichaelS. Das Nibelungenlied: Paralleldrurk der Handsrhriften A, B und C nebst Lesarten der ubr(<5en Handsrhriften. Tiibingen: Niemeyer, 1971. Baumgartner, Emmanuele and Franc;oise Vielliard. Eds., Le Roman de Troie de Benoit de Sainte-Niaure. Paris: Librairie generale franc;aise, 1998. Bergman, Sister Mary Bemardine. Trans., Hrosvithae Liber Tertius: A Text and Translation, Introduction and Commmtary. Covington, KY: The Sisters of Saint Benedict, 1943. Berry, Virginia Gingerick. Ed., Odo of Deuil, De profertione Ludoviri VII in orientem. New York: Columbia University Press, 1948. The Book of a Thousand ]udgemmts: A Sasanian Law-Book, Introduction, Transcription and Translation ofthe Pahlavi text, Notes, Glossary, and Indexes by Anahit Perikhanian; Translatedfrom the Russian by Nina Garsorian. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers in Association with Bibliotheca Persica, 1997. Camar de mio Cid, ed. Alberto Montaner. Biblioteca Clasica 1. Barcelona: Critica, 1993. Cazelles, Brigitte. The Lady as Saint: A Collection of Frmrh Hagiographir Romances of the Thirteenth Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. Chretien de Troyes. Romans. Paris: Pochotheque/Livre de Poche, 1994. Combarieu du Gres, Micheline de, and Gerard Gouiran. La chanson de Girart de Roussillon. Paris: Librairie Generale Franc;aise, 1993. Cooper, Louis, and Franklin M. Waltman.
    [Show full text]
  • © in This Web Service Cambridge University
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-04278-0 - Romance And History: Imagining Time from the Medieval to the Early Modern Period Edited by Jon Whitman Index More information Index A note is normally indexed only if the topic for which it is cited is not specified in the corresponding discussion in the body of the text. Abelard, Peter, 64 193–4, 196, 200–2, 204–5, 211, 249, Achilles Tatius, 200 281 (n34), 293 (n11), 294 (n21), Adémar de Chabannes, 143 302 (n18) Aeneas, 9–10, 26, 29–30, 44, 80–1, 130, 140, Aristotle, 165, 171, 176, 181, 195, 198, 201–2, 225 154–5, 188, 199, 202–3, 209, 219, Poetics, 17, 151, 183, 190–4, 204 296 (n27) Armida, 18, 198, 204 see also Eneas; Roman d’Eneas; Virgil artfulness, 9, 26–31, 34–8, 55, 67, 226, 252 Alamanni, Luigi, Girone il Cortese, 291 (n12) see also ingenium/engin/ingenuity Albanactus, 154 Arthur, 10, 13, 56–73, 75–9, 83, 105–33, 141, Alexander the Great, 9–10, 23–7, 32–8, 44, 101, 150, 156, 158, 160, 166, 197, 220, 225, 103, 222–3 247–9 Alfonso I d’Este, 152 see also Arthurian romance; “matters” of Alfred the Great, 107 narrative, Britain allegory, 18, 31, 206–8, 217–18, 221, 225, 234, Arthur, son of Henry VII (Arthur Tudor), 109, 295 (n22) 123 Alliterative Morte Arthure, 13, 105, 107, 110–19, Arthurian romance, 3, 5–6, 11, 14–17, 47, 90–104, 248 145, 149–50, 158–62, 169–78, 181, 188, 197, Amadis de Gaula/Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo, 224, 229, 247–9 16, 124, 169, 175–9, 228–30 see also Arthur; “matters” of narrative, Britain Ami et Amile, 279 (n2) Ascham, Roger, 123 Amyot, Jacques, 191–2 Aspremont,
    [Show full text]
  • 14 Pierrepont at a Crossroads of Literatures
    14 Pierrepont at a crossroads of literatures An instructive parallel between the first branch of the Karlamagnús Saga, the Dutch Renout and the Dutch Flovent Abstract: In the French original of the first branch of the Karlamagnús Saga [= fKMSI], in the Dutch Renout and in the Dutch Flovent – three early 13th century texts from present-day Bel- gium – a toponym Pierrepont plays a conspicous part (absent, however, from the French models of Renout and Flovent); fKMSI and Renout even have in common a triangle ‘Aimon, vassal of Charlemagne – Aie, his wife – Pierrepont, their residence’. The toponym is shown to mean Pierrepont (Aisne) near Laon in all three texts. In fKMSI, it is due almost certainly to the intervention of one of two Bishops of Liège (1200−1238) from the Pierrepont family, and in the other two texts to a similar cause. Consequently, for fKMSI a date ‘before 1240’ is proposed. According to van den Berg,1 the Middle Dutch Flovent, of which only two frag- ments are preserved,2 was probably written by a Fleming (through copied by a Brabantian) and can very roughly be dated ‘around 1200’ on the basis of its verse technique and syntax. In this text, Pierrepont plays a conspicuous part without appearing in the French original.3 In the first fragment, we learn that King Clovis is being besieged in Laon by a huge pagan army (vv. 190 ss.). To protect their rear, the pagans build a castle at a distance of four [presumably French] miles [~18 km] from Laon. Its name will be Pierlepont (vv.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 the Middle Ages
    THE MIDDLE AGES 1 1 The Middle Ages Introduction The Middle Ages lasted a thousand years, from the break-up of the Roman Empire in the fifth century to the end of the fifteenth, when there was an awareness that a ‘dark time’ (Rabelais dismissively called it ‘gothic’) separated the present from the classical world. During this medium aevum or ‘Middle Age’, situated between classical antiquity and modern times, the centre of the world moved north as the civil- ization of the Mediterranean joined forces with the vigorous culture of temperate Europe. Rather than an Age, however, it is more appropriate to speak of Ages, for surges of decay and renewal over ten centuries redrew the political, social and cultural map of Europe, by war, marriage and treaty. By the sixth century, Christianity was replacing older gods and the organized fabric of the Roman Empire had been eroded and trading patterns disrupted. Although the Church kept administrative structures and learning alive, barbarian encroachments from the north and Saracen invasions from the south posed a continuing threat. The work of undoing the fragmentation of Rome’s imperial domain was undertaken by Charlemagne (742–814), who created a Holy Roman Empire, and subsequently by his successors over many centuries who, in bursts of military and administrative activity, bought, earned or coerced the loyalty of the rulers of the many duchies and comtés which formed the patchwork of feudal territories that was France. This process of centralization proceeded at variable speeds. After the break-up of Charlemagne’s empire at the end of the tenth century, ‘France’ was a kingdom which occupied the region now known as 2 THE MIDDLE AGES the Île de France.
    [Show full text]
  • UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early M
    UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and Iberia A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in English by Sara Victoria Torres 2014 © Copyright by Sara Victoria Torres 2014 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and Iberia by Sara Victoria Torres Doctor of Philosophy in English University of California, Los Angeles, 2014 Professor Christine Chism, Co-chair Professor Lowell Gallagher, Co-chair My dissertation, “Marvelous Generations: Lancastrian Genealogies and Translation in Late Medieval and Early Modern England and Iberia,” traces the legacy of dynastic internationalism in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and early-seventeenth centuries. I argue that the situated tactics of courtly literature use genealogical and geographical paradigms to redefine national sovereignty. Before the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, before the divorce trials of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon in the 1530s, a rich and complex network of dynastic, economic, and political alliances existed between medieval England and the Iberian kingdoms. The marriages of John of Gaunt’s two daughters to the Castilian and Portuguese kings created a legacy of Anglo-Iberian cultural exchange ii that is evident in the literature and manuscript culture of both England and Iberia. Because England, Castile, and Portugal all saw the rise of new dynastic lines at the end of the fourteenth century, the subsequent literature produced at their courts is preoccupied with issues of genealogy, just rule, and political consent. Dynastic foundation narratives compensate for the uncertainties of succession by evoking the longue durée of national histories—of Trojan diaspora narratives, of Roman rule, of apostolic foundation—and situating them within universalizing historical modes.
    [Show full text]
  • Fortune and Romance : Boiardo in America / Edited by Jo Ann Cavallo & Charles S
    Fortune and Romance: Boiardo in America xexTS & STuOies Volume 183 Fortune and Romance Boiardo in America edited b)' Jo Ann Cavallo & Charles Ross cr)eC>iev2iL & ReMAissAMce tgxts & STuDies Tempe, Arizona 1998 The three plates that appear following page 60 are reproduced by permission of the Folger Shakespeare Library. The map of Georgia that appears on page 95 is reprinted from David Braund's Georgia in Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 1994), by permission of Oxford University Press. Figures 8, 10 and 11 are reprinted courtesy of Alinari/Art Resource, New York. Figure 9 is reprinted courtesy of Scala, Art Resource, New York. ©Copyright 1998 The Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University Library of Congress Cataloging'in'Publication Data Fortune and romance : Boiardo in America / edited by Jo Ann Cavallo & Charles S. Ross p. cm. — (Medieval & Renaissance texts & studies ; 183) Most of the essays in this volume stem from the American Boiardo Quincentennial Conference, "Boiardo 1994 in America," held in Butler Library, Columbia University, Oct. 7-9, 1994, sponsored by the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-86698-225-6 (alk. paper) 1. Boiardo, Matteo Maria, 1440 or 41-1494 — Criticism and interpreta- tion — Congresses. 1. Cavallo, Jo Ann. II. Ross, Charles Stanley. III. American Boiardo Quincentennial Conference "Boairdo 1994 in America" (1994 : Butler Library, Columbia University) IV. Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America. V. Series. PQ4614.F67 1998 85r.2— dc21 98-11569 CIP @ This book is made to last. It is set in Goudy, smyth-sewn, and printed on acid-free paper to library specifications.
    [Show full text]
  • Hero As Author in the Song of Roland
    Hero as Author in The Song of Roland Brady Earnhart University of Virginia A modern reader with no experience in medieval literature who received the unlikely gift of a copy of The Song of Roland might be given pause by the title. Is it going to be a song about Roland? Written by Roland? Sung by him? A simple confusion, quickly cleared up, and yet perhaps providential in the more serious questions it leads us to: Are there ways in which the hero Roland resembles a poet? How might the oliphant function as the text's counterpart within the text itself, and who is the audience? What light could this approach shed on interpretive controversies? A comparison of Roland's situation and that of the writer of the epic is somewhat outside the critical fray, and need not attempt to trump more strictly ideological or linguistic examinations. At the same time, its own answers to commonly disputed critical questions may complement the answers other approaches have provided. It will be necessary first to clarify a few points that can no longer be taken for granted. I will be assuming, as most scholars do, that this work is based on an event that actually took place. I will be examining what I see as its departures from a less self-consciously artistic recording of the event, which seem to lean away from mimesis toward invention. Clearly, historical truth is chimerical, invention a matter of degree and subject to the intricacies of patronage and contemporary aesthetic decorum. One does not have to establish "exactly what happened," though, to examine the differences between earlier and later accounts of a battle, especially when the later account in question diverges so extravagantly and uniquely from the earlier ones.
    [Show full text]
  • Teacher's Resource
    TEACHER’S RESOURCE Produced by the Education Department UBC Museum of Anthropology 6393 NW Marine Dr. Vancouver BC, V6T 1Z2 www.moa.ubc.ca [email protected] 2020 Learning Through Puppetry + Play ii TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENTS Teaching Kit Overview ....................................................................................v Chapter 1 Puppets: An Introduction .............................................................1 In the Teacher’s Resource ............................................................................... 1 In the Kit ......................................................................................................... 1 Stories ............................................................................................................ 2 Making + Performing Puppets ......................................................................... 2 Chapter 2 Bringing Puppets to Life ..............................................................5 Tips for New Puppeteers ................................................................................. 5 Chapter 3 Class Activities ............................................................................9 Puppet Cards ................................................................................................ 10 Care + Handling ............................................................................................ 10 Meet the Puppets .......................................................................................... 11 BIG IDEAS • Puppetry is shared
    [Show full text]
  • Gli Oggetti Nell'orlando Furioso
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive - Università di Pisa UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PISA FACOLTÀ DI LETTERE E FILOSOFIA Laurea Magistrale in Lingua e Letteratura Italiana Gli oggetti nell’Orlando Furioso Relatore: Prof. Sergio Zatti Controrelatore: Giorgio Masi Candidata: Lucrezia Bertini Anno Accademico 2011-2012 1 Indice: Introduzione (p. 3) 1. L’inchiesta tra epos e romanzo (p. 4) 2. Il valore degli oggetti (p. 10) 3. Il valore dell’acquisto (p. 13) 4. Personaggi e oggetti (p. 18) 5. Un mosaico di oggetti (p. 32) 6. Le funzioni fiabesche (p. 36) 7. Oggetti fiabeschi (p. 39) 8. Pro bono malum (p. 42) 9. Donna-oggetto, donna-soggetto (p. 48) 10. Oggetti allegorici (p. 58) Gli animali (p. 66) Baiardo (p. 66) Brigliadoro (p. 78) Frontino (p. 84) Rabicano (p. 101) Dal cavallo all’ippogrifo (p. 109) L’ippogrifo (p. 112) Gli oggetti magici (p. 133) Oggetti meravigliosi (p. 133) Anello (p. 140) Corno di Logistilla (p. 158) Libro di Logistilla (p. 169) Lancia d’oro (p. 173) Scudo di Atlante (p. 184) Le armi (p. 197) Armi di Nembrotte (p. 197) Balisarda (p. 203) Durindana (p. 218) Elmo di Orlando (p. 233) Usbergo di Ettore (p. 240) 2 Introduzione: La tesi si pone l’obiettivo di esaminare l’Orlando Furioso dalla prospettiva eccentrica, ma tutt’altro che marginale, degli oggetti. Nella dinamica dell’inchiesta, la costante uniformatrice del poema, gli oggetti ricoprono un ruolo da protagonisti al pari dei personaggi. D’altra parte, non è raro che i personaggi, in quanto a loro volta meta di inchiesta e generatori di desiderio, si trovino a rivestire un ruolo identico a quello degli oggetti materiali; oppure che si dimostrino mero strumento delle passioni, a loro volta personificate, che li possiedono e li usano come se fossero oggetti.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacramental Woes and Theological Anxiety in Medieval Representations of Marriage
    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 When Two Become One: Sacramental Woes And Theological Anxiety In Medieval Representations Of Marriage Elizabeth Churchill University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Churchill, Elizabeth, "When Two Become One: Sacramental Woes And Theological Anxiety In Medieval Representations Of Marriage" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2229. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2229 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2229 For more information, please contact [email protected]. When Two Become One: Sacramental Woes And Theological Anxiety In Medieval Representations Of Marriage Abstract This dissertation traces the long, winding, and problematic road along which marriage became a sacrament of the Church. In so doing, it identifies several key problems with marriage’s ability to fulfill the sacramental criteria laid out in Peter Lombard’s Sentences: that a sacrament must signify a specific form of divine grace, and that it must directly bring about the grace that it signifies. While, on the basis of Ephesians 5, theologians had no problem identifying the symbolic power of marriage with the spiritual union of Christ and the Church, they never fully succeeded in locating a form of effective grace, placing immense stress upon marriage’s status as a signifier. As a result, theologians and canonists found themselves unable to deal with several social aspects of marriage that threatened this symbolic capacity, namely concubinage and the remarriage of widows and widowers.
    [Show full text]
  • Le Contexte Idéologique De Girart De Roussillon. Quelques Remarques Sur La Partie Finale Du Poème
    Le contexte idéologique de Girart de Roussillon. Quelques remarques sur la partie finale du poème Dorothea Kullmann University of Toronto The ideological background of many chansons de geste is still but little known. One of the most interesting texts from this point of view is the twelfth-century poem Girart de Roussillon, which praises ecclesiastical values such as pacifism and humility and even defends some very specific theological positions. This paper analyzes some aspects of the final part of the poem, such as the allusion to the legend of St. Bartholomew (which further corroborates the localization of the text in the Lyon region), the uncommon use which is made of this legend and which implies a rejection of extreme poverty and an acceptance of social constraints, as well as the stress laid on the construction of churches and on prayers for the dead. These concerns presuppose the reactions of the Church against the heretics of the first half of the twelfth century, Peter of Bruys and Henry of Lausanne. The necessity of fighting the latter’s movement (which was still virulent around the middle of the century) might very well be one of the reasons that induced the poet to write an epic in the local language.1 L’essor étonnant que prend la littérature vernaculaire en France pendant la période qui va de la fin du XIe à la fin du XIIe siècle est le plus souvent considéré comme un fait acquis de l’histoire littéraire qui ne réclame plus d’explication. Cependant, nous ne savons pas vraiment pourquoi ni comment cette éclosion s’est faite, à une époque où l’enseignement de l’écriture passait forcément par le latin et où l’érudition latine était également en plein développement.
    [Show full text]