Published by De Gruyter

Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture

Edited by: Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge

ISSN: 1864-3396

Overview
Volumes

The aim of this English-language series on medieval studies is to establish a methodical, discerning connection between text analysis and cultural history. The series addresses the fundamental cultural themes of the medieval world from the perspective of literary studies and the humanities. These fundamental themes are the culture-formative conceptualizations, world views, social structures and everyday conditions of medieval life, namely, childhood and old age, sexuality, religion, medicine, rituals, work, poverty and wealth, superstition, earth and cosmos, city and country, war, emotions, communication, travel etc. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture pursues important current discussions in the field and provides a forum for interdisciplinary medieval research.

The series is open to anthologies as well as monographs. The aim of the series is to present compendium-like works on the central topics of medieval cultural history that provide a sound overview of a limited subject area from the perspective of various disciplines. On the whole, the series thus presents an encyclopedia of medieval literary and cultural history and its main topics.

Author / Editor information

Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona, USA; Marilyn Sandidge, Westfield State University, USA.

Reviews

"Die Bände haben nicht zuletzt dadurch Handbuchcharakter, dass der Herausgeber, Albrecht Classen, stets eine umfangreiche Einführung voranstellt, die den Stand der Forschung zusammenfasst und die jeweilige Problemstellung in alle Richtungen auslotet. Diese Einführungen haben geradezu den Stellenwert einer selbständigen Monographie und vermitteln einen guten Überblick über die einzelnen Forschungsfelder. Insofern stellen die Sammelbände dieser Reihe mustergültige Beispiele dafür dar, wie man Konferenzbände durch intensive Nachbearbeitung zu kohärenten, inhaltlich substanziellen Fachpublikationen machen kann. [...] Der Mediävistik ist zu wünschen, dass die Herausgeber in dieser Reihe noch viele ähnlich forschungsrelevante Bände herausbringen werden wie bisher."
Heiko Hartmann in: Mediaevistik 29 (2016), 320-322

Topics

Book Ahead of Publication 2023

Blurred Boundaries and Deceptive Dichotomies in Pre-Modern Texts and Images

Culture, Society and Reception

Dafna Nissim, Vered Tohar

Volume 28 in this series

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This collection of essays focuses on the way blurred boundaries are represented in pre-modern texts and visual art and how they were received and perceived by their audiences: readers, listeners, and viewers. According to the current understanding that opposing cognitive categories that are so common in modern thinking do not apply to pre-modern mentalities, we argue that individuals in medieval and pre-modern societies did not necessarily consider sacred and secular, male and female, real and fictional, and opposing emotions as absolute dichotomies.
The contributors to the present collection examine a wide range of cultural artifacts – literary texts, wall paintings, sculptures, jewelry, manuscript illustrations, and various objects as to what they reflect regarding the dominant perceptual system – the network of beliefs, worldviews, presumptions, values, and norms of viewing/reading/hearing different from modern epistemology strongly predicated on the binary nature of things and people. The essays suggest that analyzing pre-modern cultural works of art or literature in light of reception theory can lead to a better understanding of how those cultural products influenced individuals and impacted their thoughts and actions.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.0000/9783111244105
ISBN:: 9783111244105
ISBN:: 9783111243894
ISBN:: 9783111243566
Subject:: Arts
Subject:: Periods
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: Genres and Media in Cultural Studies
Subject:: Visual Arts, Photography
Subject:: Topics in Cultural Studies
Subject:: Gender
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Comparative Literary Studies
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2023

Globalism in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age

Innovative Approaches and Perspectives

Albrecht Classen

Volume 27 in this series

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Although it is fashionable among modernists to claim that globalism emerged only since ca. 1800, the opposite can well be documented through careful comparative and transdisciplinary studies, as this volume demonstrates, offering a wide range of innovative perspectives on often neglected literary, philosophical, historical, or medical documents. Texts, images, ideas, knowledge, and objects migrated throughout the world already in the pre-modern world, even if the quantitative level compared to the modern world might have been different. In fact, by means of translations and trade, for instance, global connections were established and maintained over the centuries. Archetypal motifs developed in many literatures indicate how much pre-modern people actually shared. But we also discover hard-core facts of global economic exchange, import of exotic medicine, and, on another level, intensive intellectual debates on religious issues. Literary evidence serves best to expose the extent to which contacts with people in foreign countries were imaginable, often desirable, and at times feared, of course. The pre-modern world was much more on the move and reached out to distant lands out of curiosity, economic interests, and political and military concerns. Diplomats crisscrossed the continents, and artists, poets, and craftsmen traveled widely. We can identify, for instance, both the Vikings and the Arabs as global players long before the rise of modern globalism, so this volume promises to rewrite many of our traditional notions about pre-modern worldviews, economic conditions, and the literary sharing on a global level, as perhaps best expressed by the genre of the fable.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111190228
ISBN:: 9783111190228
ISBN:: 9783111190600
ISBN:: 9783111189079
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: Topics in Cultural Studies
Subject:: Society
Subject:: History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Global History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Literary Studies, general
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2022

Communication, Translation, and Community in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period

New Cultural-Historical and Literary Perspectives

Albrecht Classen

Volume 26 in this series

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Literature serves many purposes, and one of them certainly proves to be to convey messages, wisdom, and instruction, and this across languages, religions, and cultures. Beyond that, as the contributors to this volume underscore, people have always endeavored to reach out to their community members, that is, to build community, to learn from each other, and to teach. Hence, this volume explores the meaning of communication, translation, and community building based on the medium of language. While all these aspects have already been discussed in many different venues, the contributors endeavor to explore a host of heretofore less considered historical, religious, literary, political, and linguistic sources. While the dominant focus tends to rest on conflicts, hostility, and animosity in the pre-modern age, here the emphasis rests on communication with its myriad of challenges and potentials for establishing a community.

As the various studies illustrate, a close reading of communicative issues opens profound perspectives regarding human relationships and hence the social context. This understanding invites intensive collaboration between medical historians, literary scholars, translation experts, and specialists on religious conflicts and discourses. We also learn how much language carries tremendous cultural and social meaning and determines in a most sensitive manner the interactions among people in a communicative and community-based fashion.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110776874
ISBN:: 9783110776874
ISBN:: 9783110776942
ISBN:: 9783110776805
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: Topics in Cultural Studies
Subject:: Society
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Religion
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2021

Freedom, Imprisonment, and Slavery in the Pre-Modern World

Cultural-Historical, Social-Literary, and Theoretical Reflections

Albrecht Classen

Volume 25 in this series

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Contrary to common assumptions, medieval and early modern writers and poets often addressed the high value of freedom, whether we think of such fable authors as Marie de France or Ulrich Bonerius. Similarly, medieval history knows of numerous struggles by various peoples to maintain their own freedom or political independence. Nevertheless, as this study illustrates, throughout the pre-modern period, the loss of freedom could happen quite easily, affecting high and low (including kings and princes) and there are many literary texts and historical documents that address the problems of imprisonment and even enslavement (Georgius of Hungary, Johann Schiltberger, Hans Ulrich Krafft, etc.). Simultaneously, philosophers and theologians discussed intensively the fundamental question regarding free will (e.g., Augustine) and political freedom (e.g., John of Salisbury). Moreover, quite a large number of major pre-modern poets spent a long time in prison where they composed some of their major works (Boethius, Marco Polo, Charles d'Orléans, Thomas Malory, etc.). This book brings to light a vast range of relevant sources that confirm the existence of this fundamental and impactful discourse on freedom, imprisonment, and enslavement.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110731798
ISBN:: 9783110731798
ISBN:: 9783110731859
ISBN:: 9783110737127
Subject:: History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Comparative Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2020

Imagination and Fantasy in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time

Projections, Dreams, Monsters, and Illusions

Albrecht Classen

Volume 24 in this series

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The notions of other peoples, cultures, and natural conditions have always been determined by the epistemology of imagination and fantasy, providing much freedom and creativity, and yet have also created much fear, anxiety, and horror. In this regard, the pre-modern world demonstrates striking parallels with our own insofar as the projections of alterity might be different by degrees, but they are fundamentally the same by content. Dreams, illusions, projections, concepts, hopes, utopias/dystopias, desires, and emotional attachments are as specific and impactful as the physical environment. This volume thus sheds important light on the various lenses used by people in the Middle Ages and the early modern age as to how they came to terms with their perceptions, images, and notions. Previous scholarship focused heavily on the history of mentality and history of emotions, whereas here the history of pre-modern imagination, and fantasy assumes center position. Imaginary things are taken seriously because medieval and early modern writers and artists clearly reveal their great significance in their works and their daily lives. This approach facilitates a new deep-structure analysis of pre-modern culture.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110693669
ISBN:: 9783110693669
ISBN:: 9783110693782
ISBN:: 9783110692945
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Early Modern History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2019

Pleasure and Leisure in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

Cultural-Historical Perspectives on Toys, Games, and Entertainment

Albrecht Classen

Volume 23 in this series

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Jan Huizinga and Roger Caillois have already taught us to realize how important games and play have been for pre-modern civilization. Recent research has begun to acknowledge the fundamental importance of these aspects in cultural, religious, philosophical, and literary terms. This volume expands on the traditional approach still very much focused on the materiality of game (toys, cards, dice, falcons, dolls, etc.) and acknowledges that game constituted also a form of coming to terms with human existence in an unstable and volatile world determined by universal randomness and fortune. Whether considering blessings or horse fighting, falconry or card games, playing with dice or dolls, we can gain a much deeper understanding of medieval and early modern society when we consider how people pursued pleasure and how they structured their leisure time. The contributions examine a wide gamut of approaches to pleasure, considering health issues, eroticism, tournaments, playing music, reading and listening, drinking alcohol, gambling and throwing dice. This large issue was also relevant, of course, in non-Christian societies, and constitutes a critical concern both for the past and the present because we are all homines ludentes.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110623079
ISBN:: 9783110623079
ISBN:: 9783110623703
ISBN:: 9783110622584
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2018

Travel, Time, and Space in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Time

Explorations of World Perceptions and Processes of Identity Formation

Albrecht Classen

Volume 22 in this series

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Research on medieval and early modern travel literature has made great progress, which now allows us to take the next step and to analyze the correlations between the individual and space throughout time, which contributed essentially to identity formation in many different settings. The contributors to this volume engage with a variety of pre-modern texts, images, and other documents related to travel and the individual's self-orientation in foreign lands and make an effort to determine the concept of identity within a spatial framework often determined by the meeting of various cultures. Moreover, objects, images and words can also travel and connect people from different worlds through books. The volume thus brings together new scholarship focused on the interrelationship of travel, space, time, and individuality, which also includes, of course, women's movement through the larger world, whether in concrete terms or through proxy travel via readings. Travel here is also examined with respect to craftsmen's activities at various sites, artists' employment for many different projects all over Europe and elsewhere, and in terms of metaphysical experiences (catabasis).

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110610963
ISBN:: 9783110610963
ISBN:: 9783110609707
ISBN:: 9783110595031
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Early Modern History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2018

Words that Tear the Flesh

Essays on Sarcasm in Medieval and Early Modern Literature and Cultures

Stephen Alan Baragona, Elizabeth Louise Rambo

Volume 21 in this series

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The rhetorical trope of irony is well-trod territory, with books and essays devoted to its use by a wide range of medieval and Renaissance writers, from the Beowulf-poet and Chaucer to Boccaccio and Shakespeare; however, the use of sarcasm, the "flesh tearing" form of irony, in the same literature has seldom been studied at length or in depth. Sarcasm is notoriously difficult to pick out in a written text, since it relies so much on tone of voice and context. This is the first book-length study of medieval and Renaissance sarcasm. Its fourteen essays treat instances in a range of genres, both sacred and secular, and of cultures from Anglo-Saxon to Arabic, where the combination of circumstance and word choice makes it absolutely clear that the speaker, whether a character or a narrator, is being sarcastic. Essays address, among other things, the clues writers give that sarcasm is at work, how it conforms to or deviates from contemporary rhetorical theories, what role it plays in building character or theme, and how sarcasm conforms to the Christian milieu of medieval Europe, and beyond to medieval Arabic literature. The collection thus illuminates a half-hidden but surprisingly common early literary technique for modern readers.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110563252
ISBN:: 9783110563252
ISBN:: 9783110562255
ISBN:: 9783110562118
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Anglo-American Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2017

Magic and Magicians in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Time

The Occult in Pre-Modern Sciences, Medicine, Literature, Religion, and Astrology

Albrecht Classen

Volume 20 in this series

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There are no clear demarcation lines between magic, astrology, necromancy, medicine, and even sciences in the pre-modern world. Under the umbrella term 'magic,' the contributors to this volume examine a wide range of texts, both literary and religious, both medical and philosophical, in which the topic is discussed from many different perspectives. The fundamental concerns address issue such as how people perceived magic, whether they accepted it and utilized it for their own purposes, and what impact magic might have had on the mental structures of that time. While some papers examine the specific appearance of magicians in literary texts, others analyze the practical application of magic in medical contexts. In addition, this volume includes studies that deal with the rise of the witch craze in the late fifteenth century and then also investigate whether the Weberian notion of disenchantment pertaining to the modern world can be maintained. Magic is, oddly but significantly, still around us and exerts its influence. Focusing on magic in the medieval world thus helps us to shed light on human culture at large.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110557725
ISBN:: 9783110557725
ISBN:: 9783110556070
ISBN:: 9783110556520
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Subject:: Theology and Religion
Subject:: Medieval Studies
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2017

Bodily and Spiritual Hygiene in Medieval and Early Modern Literature

Explorations of Textual Presentations of Filth and Water

Albrecht Classen

Volume 19 in this series

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While most people today take hygiene and medicine for granted, they both have had their own history. We can gain deep insights into the pre-modern world by studying its health-care system, its approaches to medicine, and concept of hygiene. Already the early Middle Ages witnessed great interest in bathing (hot and cold), swimming, and good personal hygiene. Medical activities grew over time, but even early medieval monks were already great experts in treating the sick. The contributions examine literary, medical, historical texts and images and probe the information we can glean from them. The interdisciplinary approach of this volume makes it possible to view this large field in a complex and diversified manner, taking into account both early medieval and early modern treatises on medicine, water, bathing, and health. Such a cultural-historical perspective creates a most valuable bridge connecting literary and scientific documents under the umbrella of the history of mentality and history of everyday life. The volume does not aim at idealizing the past, but it definitely intends to deconstruct modern myths about the 'dirty' and 'unhealthy' Middle Ages and early modern age.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110523799
ISBN:: 9783110523799
ISBN:: 9783110523386
ISBN:: 9783110523294
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Early Modern History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2016

Popular Opinion in the Middle Ages

Channeling Public Ideas and Attitudes

Charles W. Connell

Volume 18 in this series

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This book provides a needed overview of the scholarship on medieval public culture and popular movements such as the Peace of God, heresy, and the crusades and illustrates how a changing sense of the populus, the importance of publics and public opinion and public spheres was influential in the evolution of medieval cultures. Public opinion did play an important role, even in the Middle Ages; it did not wait until the era of modern history to do so.
Using modern research on such aspects of culture as textual communities, large and small publics, cults, crowds, rumor, malediction, gossip, dispute resolution and the European popular revolution, the author focuses on the Peace of God movement, the era of Church reform in the tenth and eleventh centuries, the rise and combat of heresy, the crusades, and the works of fourteenth-century political thinkers such as Marsiglio of Padua regarding the role of the populus as the basis for the analysis.
The pattern of changes reflected in this study argues that just as in the modern world the simplistic idea of “the public‎” was a phantom. Instead there were publics large and small that were influential in shaping the cultures of the era under review.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110432176
ISBN:: 9783110432176
ISBN:: 9783110432398
ISBN:: 9783110440607
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: History of Cultural Studies
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2016

Multilingualism in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

Communication and Miscommunication in the Premodern World

Albrecht Classen

Volume 17 in this series

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Bi- and multilingualism are of great interest for contemporary linguists since this phenomenon deeply reflects on language acquisition, language use, and sociolinguistic conditions in many different circumstances all over the world. Multilingualism was, however, certainly rather common already, if not especially, in the premodern world. For some time now, research has started to explore this issue through a number of specialized studies. The present volume continues with the investigation of multilingualism through a collection of case studies focusing on important examples in medieval and early modern societies, that is, in linguistic and cultural contact zones, such as England, Spain, the Holy Land, but also the New World. As all contributors confirm, the numerous cases of multilingualism discussed here indicate strongly that the premodern period knew considerably less barriers between people of different social classes, cultural background, and religious orientation. But we also have to acknowledge that already then human communication could fail because of linguistic hurdles which prevented mutual understanding in religious and cultural terms.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110471441
ISBN:: 9783110471441
ISBN:: 9783110470901
ISBN:: 9783110470963
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2016

Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

The Material and Spiritual Conditions of the Culture of Death

Albrecht Classen

Volume 16 in this series

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Death is not only the final moment of life, it also casts a huge shadow on human society at large. People throughout time have had to cope with death as an existential experience, and this also, of course, in the premodern world. The contributors to the present volume examine the material and spiritual conditions of the culture of death, studying specific buildings and spaces, literary works and art objects, theatrical performances, and medical tracts from the early Middle Ages to the late eighteenth century. Death has always evoked fear, terror, and awe, it has puzzled and troubled people, forcing theologians and philosophers to respond and provide answers for questions that seem to evade real explanations. The more we learn about the culture of death, the more we can comprehend the culture of life. As this volume demonstrates, the approaches to death varied widely, also in the Middle Ages and the early modern age. This volume hence adds a significant number of new facets to the critical examination of this ever-present phenomenon of death, exploring poetic responses to the Black Death, types of execution of a female murderess, death as the springboard for major political changes, and death reflected in morality plays and art.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110436976
ISBN:: 9783110436976
ISBN:: 9783110434873
ISBN:: 9783110442304
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: General Cultural Studies
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2014

Mental Health, Spirituality, and Religion in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

Albrecht Classen

Volume 15 in this series

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This volume continues the critical exploration of fundamental issues in the medieval and early modern world, here concerning mental health, spirituality, melancholy, mystical visions, medicine, and well-being. The contributors, who originally had presented their research at a symposium at The University of Arizona in May 2013, explore a wide range of approaches and materials pertinent to these issues, taking us from the early Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, capping the volume with some reflections on the relevance of religion today. Lapidary sciences matter here as much as medical-psychological research, combined with literary and art-historical approaches. The premodern understanding of mental health is not taken as a miraculous panacea for modern problems, but the contributors suggest that medieval and early modern writers, scientists, and artists commanded a considerable amount of arcane, sometimes curious and speculative, knowledge that promises to be of value and relevance even for us today, once again. Modern palliative medicine finds, for instance, intriguing parallels in medieval word magic, and the mystical perspectives encapsulated highly productive alternative perceptions of the macrocosm and microcosm that promise to be insightful and important also for the post-modern world.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110361643
ISBN:: 978-3-11-036087-5
ISBN:: 978-3-11-036164-3
ISBN:: 9783110377859
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: General Cultural Studies
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Theology and Religion
Subject:: Medieval Studies
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

East Meets West in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Transcultural Experiences in the Premodern World

Albrecht Classen

Volume 14 in this series

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This new volume explores the surprisingly intense and complex relationships between East and West during the Middle Ages and the early modern world, combining a large number of critical studies representing such diverse fields as literary (German, French, Italian, English, Spanish, and Arabic) and other subdisciplines of history, religion, anthropology, and linguistics. The differences between Islam and Christianity erected strong barriers separating two global cultures, but, as this volume indicates, despite many attempts to 'Other' the opposing side, the premodern world experienced an astonishing degree of contacts, meetings, exchanges, and influences. Scientists, travelers, authors, medical researchers, chroniclers, diplomats, and merchants criss-crossed the East and the West, or studied the sources produced by the other culture for many different reasons. As much as the theoretical concept of 'Orientalism' has been useful in sensitizing us to the fundamental tensions and conflicts separating both worlds at least since the eighteenth century, the premodern world did not quite yet operate in such an ideological framework. Even though the Crusades had violently pitted Christians against Muslims, there were countless contacts and a palpitable curiosity on both sides both before, during, and after those religious warfares.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110321517
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032878-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-032151-7
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: General Cultural Studies
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Anglo-American Literature
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Inscribing the Environment

Ecocritical Approaches to Medieval Spanish Literature

Connie Scarborough

Volume 13 in this series

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Ecocriticism as a theoretical model has primarily been used in the study of Romantic, post-Romantic, and contemporary literary texts. Applications of the concepts to medieval literature, however, are a fairly recent phenomenon. This book examines key, canonical works from medieval Spain, showing how descriptions of the natural world in these texts are informed by both the authors’ perceptions of the environment and established literary models.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110265033
ISBN:: 978-3-11-030939-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026503-3
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: General Cultural Studies
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Romance Literature
Subject:: Hispanic Literature
Subject:: 10th-15th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2013

Authorities in the Middle Ages

Influence, Legitimacy, and Power in Medieval Society

Sini Kangas, Mia Korpiola, Tuija Ainonen

Volume 12 in this series

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Medievalists reading and writing about and around authority-related themes lack clear definitions of its actual meanings in the medieval context. Authorities in the Middle Ages offers answers to this thorny issue through specialized investigations.

This book considers the concept of authority and explores the various practices of creating authority in medieval society. In their studies sixteen scholars investigate the definition, formation, establishment, maintenance, and collapse of what we understand in terms of medieval struggles for authority, influence and power. The interdisciplinary nature of this volume resonates with the multi-faceted field of medieval culture, its social structures, and forms of communication. The fields of expertise include history, legal studies, theology, philosophy, politics, literature and art history.

The scope of inquiry extends from late antiquity to the mid-fifteenth century, from the Church Fathers debating with pagans to the rapacious ghosts ruining the life of the living in the Sagas. There is a special emphasis on such exciting but understudied areas as the Balkans, Iceland and the eastern fringes of Scandinavia.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110294569
ISBN:: 978-3-11-029449-1
ISBN:: 978-3-11-029456-9
Subject:: Cultural Studies
Subject:: General Cultural Studies
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2012

Crime and Punishment in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

Mental-Historical Investigations of Basic Human Problems and Social Responses

Albrecht Classen, Connie Scarborough

Volume 11 in this series

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All societies are constructed, based on specific rules, norms, and laws. Hence, all ethics and morality are predicated on perceived right or wrong behavior, and much of human culture proves to be the result of a larger discourse on vices and virtues, transgression and ideals, right and wrong. The topics covered in this volume, addressing fundamental concerns of the premodern world, deal with allegedly criminal, or simply wrong behavior which demanded punishment. Sometimes this affected whole groups of people, such as the innocently persecuted Jews, sometimes individuals, such as violent and evil princes. The issue at stake here embraces all of society since it can only survive if a general framework is observed that is based in some way on justice and peace. But literature and the visual arts provide many examples of open and public protests against wrongdoings, ill-conceived ideas and concepts, and stark crimes, such as theft, rape, and murder. In fact, poetic statements or paintings could carry significant potentials against those who deliberately transgressed moral and ethical norms, or who even targeted themselves.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110294583
ISBN:: 978-3-11-029451-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-029458-3
Subject:: History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2012

Chess in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

A Fundamental Thought Paradigm of the Premodern World

Daniel E. O'Sullivan

Volume 10 in this series

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The game of chess was wildly popular in the Middle Ages, so much so that it became an important thought paradigm for thinkers and writers who utilized its vocabulary and imagery for commentaries on war, politics, love, and the social order. In this collection of essays, scholars investigate chess texts from numerous traditions – English, French, German, Latin, Persian, Spanish, Swedish, and Catalan – and argue that knowledge of chess is essential to understanding medieval culture. Such knowledge, however, cannot rely on the modern game, for today’s rules were not developed until the late fifteenth century. Only through familiarity with earlier incarnations of the game can one fully appreciate the full import of chess to medieval society. The careful scholarship contained in this volume provides not only insight into the significance of chess in medieval European culture but also opens up avenues of inquiry for future work in this rich field.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110288810
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028851-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028881-0
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Anglo-American Literature
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Romance Literature
Subject:: Romance Literature, general
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2012

Rural Space in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

The Spatial Turn in Premodern Studies

Albrecht Classen, Christopher R. Clason

Volume 9 in this series

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Older research on the premodern world limited its focus on the Church, the court, and, more recently, on urban space. The present volume invites readers to consider the meaning of rural space, both in light of ecocritical readings and social-historical approaches. While previous scholars examined the figure of the peasant in the premodern world, the current volume combines a large number of specialized studies that investigate how the natural environment and the appearance of members of the rural population interacted with the world of the court and of the city. The experience in rural space was important already for writers and artists in the premodern era, as the large variety of scholarly approaches indicates. The present volume signals how much the surprisingly close interaction between members of the aristocratic and of the peasant class determined many literary and art-historical works. In a surprisingly large number of cases we can even discover elements of utopia hidden in rural space. We also observe how much the rural world was a significant element already in early-medieval mentality. Moreover, as many authors point out, the impact of natural forces on premodern society was tremendous, if not catastrophic.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110285420
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028536-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-028542-0
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Anglo-American Literature
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Romance Literature
Subject:: Romance Literature, general
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

War and Peace

Critical Issues in European Societies and Literature 800-1800

Albrecht Classen, Nadia Margolis

Volume 8 in this series

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The contributors to the present volume examine, from a wide variety of perspectives, the issues of war and peace in the Middle Ages and early modern time, probing the direction of the relevant discourse regarding the legitimacy and justification of military operations. Because man is a deeply aggressive and greedy creature, wars have been waged throughout times. Nevertheless, we can identify many voices in medieval literature, theology, philosophy, and in chronicle literature that questioned the validity and effectiveness of war, while many others argued for the traditional knightly ideals or called for crusades against the infidels. Those heroes who defend a people against an evil threat enjoyed profound respect, but there were also those figures calling for peace and the end of all fighting. As this volume demonstrates, war and peace have fundamentally determined medieval and early modern culture.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110268225
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026807-2
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026822-5
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Literary Studies, general
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

Sexual Violence and Rape in the Middle Ages

A Critical Discourse in Premodern German and European Literature

Albrecht Classen

Volume 7 in this series

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Medieval historians and literary scholars have not ignored the topic of sexual violence and rape, but the primary focus has regularly rested on English, French, or Italian documents. Here we have the first book-length study that investigates the treatment of sexual crimes in medieval and early modern German and Latin literature, making great efforts to shed light on often ignored scenes and episodes even in some of the ‚classical‘ works such as Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival or the anonymous Nibelungenlied. As this monograph reveals, many times we face situations where we cannot easily determine whether rape has occurred or not. Consequently, we recognize an important discourse in these literary examples concerning the question of how to view and deal with sexual violence, which could also involve men as victims. This critical examination extends toward sixteenth-century jest narratives (Schwänke) where the issue of rape continued to occupy the authors’ minds. Moreover, as numerous side glances to contemporary European literature indicate, the theme of sexual violence was of universal concern and critical importance during the entire premodern era.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110263381
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026337-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-026338-1
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2011

Friendship in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age

Explorations of a Fundamental Ethical Discourse

Albrecht Classen, Marilyn Sandidge

Volume 6 in this series

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Although it seems that erotic love generally was the prevailing topic in the medieval world and the Early Modern Age, parallel to this the Ciceronian ideal of friendship also dominated the public discourse, as this collection of essays demonstrates. Following an extensive introduction, the individual contributions explore the functions and the character of friendship from Late Antiquity (Augustine) to the 17th century. They show the spectrum of variety in which this topic appeared ‑ not only in literature, but also in politics and even in painting.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110253986
ISBN:: 978-3-11-025397-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-025398-6
Subject:: History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2010

Laughter in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

Epistemology of a Fundamental Human Behavior, its Meaning, and Consequences

Albrecht Classen

Volume 5 in this series

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Despite popular opinions of the ‘dark Middle Ages’ and a ‘gloomy early modern age,’ many people laughed, smiled, giggled, chuckled, entertained and ridiculed each other. This volume demonstrates how important laughter had been at times and how diverse the situations proved to be in which people laughed, and this from late antiquity to the eighteenth century. The contributions examine a wide gamut of significant cases of laughter in literary texts, historical documents, and art works where laughter determined the relationship among people. In fact, laughter emerges as a kaleidoscopic phenomenon reflecting divine joy, bitter hatred and contempt, satirical perspectives and parodic intentions. In some examples protagonists laughed out of sheer happiness and delight, in others because they felt anxiety and insecurity. It is much more difficult to detect premodern sculptures of laughing figures, but they also existed. Laughter reflected a variety of concerns, interests, and intentions, and the collective approach in this volume to laughter in the past opens many new windows to the history of mentality, social and religious conditions, gender relationships, and power structures.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110245486
ISBN:: 978-3-11-024547-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-024548-6
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Literary Studies, general
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2009

Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age

Albrecht Classen

Volume 4 in this series

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Although the city as a central entity did not simply disappear with the Fall of the Roman Empire, the development of urban space at least since the twelfth century played a major role in the history of medieval and early modern mentality within a social-economic and religious framework. Whereas some poets projected urban space as a new utopia, others simply reflected the new significance of the urban environment as a stage where their characters operate very successfully. As today, the premodern city was the locus where different social groups and classes got together, sometimes peacefully, sometimes in hostile terms. The historical development of the relationship between Christians and Jews, for instance, was deeply determined by the living conditions within a city. By the late Middle Ages, nobility and bourgeoisie began to intermingle within the urban space, which set the stage for dramatic and far-reaching changes in the social and economic make-up of society. Legal-historical aspects also find as much consideration as practical questions concerning water supply and sewer systems. Moreover, the early modern city within the Ottoman and Middle Eastern world likewise finds consideration. Finally, as some contributors observe, the urban space provided considerable opportunities for women to carve out a niche for themselves in economic terms.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110223903
ISBN:: 978-3-11-022389-7
ISBN:: 978-3-11-022390-3
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Topics in History
Subject:: Cultural History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Literary Studies, general
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2008

Sexuality in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times

New Approaches to a Fundamental Cultural-Historical and Literary-Anthropological Theme

Albrecht Classen

Volume 3 in this series

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Sexuality is one of the most influential factors in human life. The responses to and reflections upon the manifestations of sexuality provide fascinating insights into fundamental aspects of medieval and early-modern culture. This interdisciplinary volume with articles written by social historians, literary historians, musicologists, art historians, and historians of religion and mental-ity demonstrates how fruitful collaborative efforts can be in the exploration of essential features of human society. Practically every aspect of culture both in the Middle Ages and the early modern age was influenced and determined by sexuality, which hardly ever surfaces simply characterized by prurient interests. The treatment of sexuality in literature, chronicles, music, art, legal documents, and in scientific texts illuminates central concerns, anxieties, tensions, needs, fears, and problems in human society throughout times.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110209402
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020574-9
ISBN:: 978-3-11-020940-2
Subject:: History
Subject:: Historical Periods
Subject:: Medieval History
Subject:: Early Modern History
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2007

Old Age in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Neglected Topic

Albrecht Classen

Volume 2 in this series

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After an extensive introduction that takes stock of the relevant research literature on Old Age in the Middle Ages and the early modern age, the contributors discuss the phenomenon of old age in many different fields of late antique, medieval, and early modern literature, history, and art history. Both Beowulf and the Hildebrandslied, both Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival and Titurel, both the figure of Merlin and the trans-European tradition of Perceval/Peredur/Parzival, then the figure of the vetula in a variety of medieval French, English, and Spanish texts, and of the Old Man in The Stricker's Daniel, both the treatment of old age in Langland's Piers the Plowman and in Jean Gerson's sermons are dealt with. Other aspects involve late-antique epistolary literature, early modern French farce in light of Disability Studies, the social role of old, impotent men in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Netherlandish paintings, and the scientific discourse of old age and health since the 1500s. The discourse of Old Age proves to have been of central importance throughout the ages, so the critical examination of the issues involved sheds intriguing light on the cultural history from late antiquity to the seventeenth century.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110925999
ISBN:: 978-3-11-019548-4
ISBN:: 978-3-11-092599-9
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: Topics in Literary Studies
Subject:: Individual Motifs, Motif Research
Publisher:: De Gruyter

Book 2007

The Power of a Woman's Voice in Medieval and Early Modern Literatures

New Approaches to German and European Women Writers and to Violence Against Women in Premodern Times

Albrecht Classen

Volume 1 in this series

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The study takes the received view among scholars that women in the Middle Ages were faced with sustained misogyny and that their voices were seldom heard in public and subjects it to a critical analysis. The ten chapters deal with various aspects of the question, and the voices of a variety of authors - both female and male - are heard. The study opens with an enquiry into violence against women, including in texts by male writers (Hartmann von Aue, Gottfried von Straßburg, Wolfram von Eschenbach) which indeed describe instances of violence, but adopt an extremely critical stance towards them. It then proceeds to show how women were able to develop an independent identity in various genres and could present themselves as authorities in the public eye. Mystic texts by Hildegard of Bingen, Marie de France and Margery Kempe, the medieval conduct poem known as Die Winsbeckin, the Devout Books of Sisters composed in convents in South-West Germany, but also quasi-historical documents such as the memoirs of Helene Kottaner or Anna Weckerin's cookery book, demonstrate that far more women were in the public gaze than had hitherto been assumed and that they possessed the self-confidence to establish their positions with their intellectual and their literary achievements.

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110897777
ISBN:: 978-3-11-019941-3
ISBN:: 978-3-11-089777-7
Subject:: Literary Studies
Subject:: Anglo-American Literature
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: German Literature
Subject:: 8th-15th Century
Subject:: 16th-17th Century
Subject:: Romance Literature
Subject:: Romance Literature, general
Publisher:: De Gruyter