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Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - 17:16
I’m something of a sucker for food-related sessions, though I’m sometimes disappointed because I’m used to hanging out with folks who work at a pretty in-depth level (as well as many of them being excellent cooks). Food is a major thread running through my historical fiction, which provides another reason for packing away layers of knowledge in the compost-heap memory. With five papers in this session (rather than the default three), they will presumably be a bit on the shorter side. And…I enter the zoom just as they’re commenting on one of the presenters dropping out, but I don’t know which one yet.
Those Gluttonous Gauls: Gluttony and Abundance as a Late Roman Stereotype - Richard Ray Rush, University of California, Riverside
The late antique stereotype of Gauls as being gluttonous was used in turn to critique extreme fasting in Gaul at the beginning of the 5th century. Sulpicius’ life of Martin of Tours has a running joke about the supposed Gaulish tendency toward gluttony, showing up, e.g., in teasing his companions (Gauls) when telling a story about ascetic desert fathers. There is an implication that one’s ethnicity determines one’s relationship to food. The larger context is that S. Martin was accepted by all the people appearing in the text as being more holy than any of the eastern ascetics, and yet was able to manage this without removing himself from the world or going contrary to his nature. The running joke disrupts the significance of extreme fasting, making it a source of humor rather than awe.
A similar stereotype about Gauls is present in the writings of John Cassian (early 5th c) where he proposes a modification of the monastic rule for the use of Gauls, asserting that the harsher climate and the diversity of behavior made the eastern monastic rule impossible for Gauls to follow. But there is a suggestion that this may have had an alternate purpose of undermining the influence of specific ascetic figures in Gaul that Cassian was in conflict with.
Zooarchaeology and Community Construction in Early Medieval Ireland - Erin Aisling Crowley-Champoux, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
General comments about the importance of cattle and dairy products in early Ireland. A study of animal remains across a broad timespan can support or undermine the self-reporting of dietary practices from texts. Evidence for decline of previously consistent importance of cattle (alongside goats/sheep, horses, and pigs) around the 9th century, which coincides with a change in mill types. Coastal sites see remains of fish, wild birds and other non-domestic animals, with dear providing materials for crafts as well. Fish remains increase, especially in Dublin, in the later medieval period. There is a presentation of the archaeological history of a specific site on the east coast of Ireland. In the earliest strata, animal remains are ca. 2/6 cattle, followed by ca. ¼ sheep/goats (and then the slide moved on). Changes in the location and shape of the archaeological structures can be matched with shifts in the animal remains with cattle eventually falling somewhat in favor of greater diversity, as well as more evidence for grain production and storage. There is also evidence of fishing at significant offshore depths, suggesting intensive fishing rather than casual coastal fishing.
Golden Gifts in Anglo-Saxon Feasting - Kelly L. Plevniak, University of Minnesota- Twin Cities
[Presenter was not able to appear.]
The Normans and Saxons Who Knew All the Anguilles: Eels and Medieval English Identity - John Wyatt Greenlee, Independent Scholar
Modern western culture has developed a distaste for eels, but this is a significant change from the diet and economy of medieval England. Eels made up a massive proportion of the biomass in English rivers. In the English diet, eels were a greater proportion of the diet than all other freshwater fish combined, and greater than all saltwater fish combined. The phenomenon of eel rents is noted (i.e., payment of rents in eels). [Note: I am making the connection with the eel-rent guy on twitter. Could there be two academics both obsessed with eel-rents?]
The significant of eels shows up not only in the diet, but in place-names, coats of arms, as an artistic motif, as a symbolic representative of Englishness. An anecdote is presented about S. Aethelwold and a mystic vision of a boat full of eels who are turned into (English) men. [Note: we are presented with an image of a hovercraft full of eels.] This is a parallel made to being “a fisher of men” while localizing it specifically in England. More eel lore. Ending with a note on the eel’s endangered status and a plea for eel-consciousness.
“Car je ferai un grant mangerie”: Food and Identity in the Manière de langage - Ashley Powers, Ohio Wesleyan University
The manuscript mentioned in the title also featured in one of yesterday’s panels: a set of dialogues intended as something of a phrasebook to teach French to English people. The book is not merely a phrasebook but also a guide to conduct. Food is a significant theme. Such conduct books do not simply describe, but prescribe behavior. A contrast between two meals, described in detail, demonstrates this purpose. One is the meal eaten by a lord on the road when staying at an inn, the second eaten by two laborers. The lord’s meal is described in detail with a large variety of dishes in several courses. (Much of the content of the paper is lists of dishes and ingredients.)
The meal of the gardener and ditch-digger at an inn is much less varied, though hearty and calorie-rich. The diners have crude manners and eat quickly from hunger.
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Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - 13:21
There is usually a “Can these bones come to life” panel with papers on hands-on or experimental historical culture. While the participants are often drawn from an SCA-adjacent population, the topic is not usually SCA-specific. I come to this session having no idea what the general topic or take is going to be. But as someone who has spent a lot of my life in the SCA, it’s hard to look away. (I’m also being distracted by participating in a parallel chat about the panel in an entirely different channel.)
"Can These Bones Come to Life?" I: The Society for Creative Anarchronism [sic], a Problematic Medievalism? (A Panel Discussion)
[Note: the typo in the title was not included in the splash slide provided by the presenter, so it wasn't an intentional joke.]
We start off with a discussion of the different ways in which academic historians and historic re-enactors reconstruct the past, and the different ways their gaps affect understanding. At the same time, there is significant overlap, both for good and ill. Academia has been shifting to embracing a more embodied understanding of historic artifacts and activities. Both academia and amateur historical activities have been grappling with the legacy of white supremacy. The embodied medievalism of re-enactment groups is a source of enthusiasm and dedication, for those who bridge the gap to academia and for those who feel shut out of that realm.
The first speaker focused on how re-enactment provided that connection of enthusiasm to draw her into an academic career. The second speaker introduces examples of the problematic middle ground among researchers of material culture between museum professionals on the one hand, who may have negative impressions of re-enactors based on past encounters, and re-enactors on the other hand who may be interested in the utility of end products more than the research, and who may give the impression of not respecting traditional scholarship.
The third speaker (with no direct SCA experience) looks at the angle of how to utilize re-enactor-based knowledge and enthusiasm in the classroom, while distinguishing the boundaries between history and fantasy. Yet fantasy doesn’t negate a love of history; how many medieval scholars were drawn to the field through Tolkien, after all? An emotional connection with one’s subject can be a key driver of engagement, but what if they emotional connections are to problematic elements such as religious conflict (crusades), sexisim (chivalry), or racism (the myth of “western civilization”).
The fourth speaker started off interested in history, but failed to find support for those interests in the local face of re-enactment culture. In trying to construct a personal alternative for providing immersive historical education, they encountered regular overlap between the resources for material culture and problematic political elements. We now get an extended promotion of a particular “Viking” related group that hit the spot. (He acknowledges it will come across as a promotion.)
The discussion now shifts to some of the social dynamics around diversity and inclusion, the general socio-political attitude of the SCA as a whole. The presider suggests that while the expectation of the panel had been to look at problematic issues within the structure of the SCA itself, it’s ended up being more about integrating the resources of the SCA and the academy. As the panel opens up to audience discussion, we’re getting more nuance and more discussion of the variety of experiences within the organization. We’re getting the background on the infamous “swastika trim” episode, which was a relatively recent flashpoint for SCA discussions around the intersection of modern political symbolism and the elements of history that have been mined for that modern political symbolism. Basically, can “but it’s historically accurate” be a defense for something that has extremely negative modern socio-political implications? How much does the immediate contemporary context affect the reception of problematic historic elements? There’s also the issue that some of the problematic understandings of history that are present in amateur medievalism are fed to them from the academy. This is exacerbated by the gap between the academy and the amateurs, whereby the amateurs are not given the tools to critically interrogate their sources and resources, leading to swallowing the problems with the actual facts. The elimination of “gatekeepers” cuts both ways, in that open access to the provision and consumption of historic information puts a greater burden on the individual to have critical filters—a burden that most people don’t have the resources for.
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ConventionsTuesday, May 11, 2021 - 08:55
This session on medieval magic is sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence, adding another group to the general interest in the history of magic. I was dithering between this and the first DISTAFF (textiles) session, since both are being recorded for later viewing. In both sessions, only one paper has permission for social media sharing—which originally was going to be how I chose which to view in real time. So…a toss-up.
Introducing the Picatrix: The Prologue's Balancing Act between Content and Perception - Dr. David Porreca, PhD, University of Waterloo
A medieval astrological text, originally Arabic, that provoked controversy among contemporaries. Due to this controversy, it was rarely referenced by name at the time, although one can trace references to it (both text and visual) and was re-copied into multiple other texts. Those who used it balanced the concerns of communicating the content while cautioning readers about the uses of that content. This paper concerns the prologue of the Latin translation.
The prologue is very short, and contains different content in different language editions. All have four main elements: appeals to God, references to the goodness of the sources, a summary of the contents, and rhetorical devices to reinforce the preceding. There is a discussion of differences between the different versions and questions of dating. The sources for the text are framed as supporting its theological legitimacy (it’s a worldly text, not a religious one, but is not in conflict with God) and the breadth of the sources used to create it. At the same time, the prologue suggests that magic (the subject of the text) is not in conflict with nature, but is the culmination of the study of nature. But there are many references to God’s power and to God as the source of all wisdom and knowledge. This seems to be intended to mollify the reader with respect to the text’s non-Christian origin. There is a caution to avoid having the text fall into “the wrong hands” and the author repeatedly emphasizes his benevolent intent in making it available.
While the Arabic prologue has an extensive description of the contents, the Latin prologue simply copies the summaries present at the head of each section of the book (indicating it was compiled after the translation of the body of the text). The six sections open with a description of the planets and their properties, but end with a discussion of “how one might speak to the spirits” and “many other magical affairs” which is likely to be at the heart of the controversy. This potentially controversial material also comprise the largest proportion of the book itself.
Overall, it is clear that the prologue was composed after the translation of the book, has only passing connection to the original Arabic prologue, and is designed to disarm any qualms the reader may have with regard to the text’s content and acceptability.
The Secret in the Prologues to the Collected Treasures: Biblical Allusions, Occult References, and Coded Language in a Thirteenth-Century Medical-Magical Lapidary - Mr. Vajra Regan, PhD candidate, University of Toronto, Centre for Medieval Studies
[The presenter has asked that their paper not be shared on social media.]
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ConventionsTuesday, May 11, 2021 - 07:05
I really love the ongoing interest in magic-related topics in historic research. (The existence of the Societas Magica helps support that, although they aren’t the sponsor for this particular session.) Although I haven’t necessarily used any of the specifics of the magic papers I listen to in my fiction, they go into that “compost-heap memory” such that when I do want to include magical practices in my worldbuilding, I have a varied range of possibilities to be inspired by.
Death as an End to Suffering: Berceo and the Gift of the Virgin - Paul E. Larson, Baylor University
The stories of the cleric Berceo are primarily religious in nature, purporting to be mnemonics for various motifs and themes. In this particular story, the protagonist is suffering from illness and prays to be freed from “the prison of his illness”. The Virgin grants his wish, but by allowing his death rather than by miraculous healing. This subverts both reader expectations and the expectations of the protagonist himself. [Note: We’re going to get readings from the text in the original Spanish without translation, so I may miss nuances.] The usual course of Virgin stories involves earthly rewards, miraculous healing, symbols of correct judgment, etc. But from a theological point of view, being ushered into heaven by the Virgin herself is a positive outcome. The symbolic content thus becomes more memorable due to this “surprise” ending.
The symbolic content involves sets of five: five wounds of Christ, five joys of Mary, five human senses (that lead to sin), five fingers. Berceo uses the five fingers as a type of “memory palace” in his meditations. The paper now digresses into various modern pop culture sets of five, using this as an argument that “five” is a natural and easy-to-remember sample size, which larger sets (allegedly) are harder to remember (with examples).
Morisco Magic? Approaching an Ecology of Practices in Transconfessional Contexts - Donald W. Wood, Oklahoma State University
Morisco magic falls around the overlap/intersection of religious practice and science. It might be seen as a type of “folk magic” including herbal treatments as well as the use of prayers, “word magic”, and other practices. The paper takes a close reading of how these varied practices interact with each other in magical texts, rather than trying to classify them according to modern categories. The investigation focuses on one specific manuscript (in Arabic script but mixed? Spanish text) and its relationships to other texts. Contents include the preparation of amulets, a description of the characteristics of specific days on which actions may be performed and their properties. (I missed the content of the 2nd section.) Third section is recipes for a wide variety of remedies, charms, pharmaceuticals, etc. We get descriptions of the specific features of various formulas that illustrate connections between the sections of the book and between the formulas in this section. For example, several formulas are attributed to Galen. All the formulas follow a similar structural format: opening, instructions, and testament including an Arabic word meaning “finished, complete.” Many of the remedies include sections of Arabic or pseudo-Arabic text, sometimes with no context, presumably to be written out and used as a charm. Such texts were to be written out, sometimes by the patient, and might be written with an edible ink such as saffron and the result ingested. But these sorts of “word magic” are either accompanied by, or alternating with, pharmaceutical remedies based on flavored syrups, herbs, etc. (sometimes including magical stones) to be consumed. But plant-based remedies might also be placed on the body, rather than consumed. The organization of the book does not treat the different types of treatments as categorically distinct, although there is some organization around the condition being treated.
Following the Blood Lines in Zayas's "El traidor contra su sangre" - Elizabeth L. Spragins, College of the Holy Cross and Emily Colbert Cairns, Salve Regina University
The novella “El traidor contra su sangre” tells parallel tales of love and death in an extended patriarchal family where the children contradict the father’s expectations in their love lives. (The brief synopsis makes it clear this is definitely soap opera territory.) Two murdered women in the story both have miraculous corpses that bear witness to the crimes. There is a theme of breast feeding as transmitting bloodlines in a mystical sense, and the conflicts between masculine notions of “honor” and feminine bodily resistance. (I think.) The men in the story are obsessed with family “purity” and economic control, restricting the potential life paths of the women in the family. Women’s romantic/marital connections are a potential source of “contamination” of the family bloodlines. This can be prevented by physically enclosing them, either in houses or convents. An analogy is made with how male violence against women (in this case, stabbing) is a form of penetrating those enclosures, contrasted with sexual penetration. The first is a failed attempt to dishonor (or prove dishonor on) a woman, while the second (which would be dishonor) is proven to be false by the mystical behavior of the corpse. We get a review of the symbolic understanding of various types of female blood. The victim’s uncontrolled bleeding after her murder is considered to be proof of her virginity, as a substitute for bleeding on defloration. The second female victim has been married by a son of the family against his father’s wishes. She insists on nursing her own child rather than hiring a wetnurse, bringing in the second “female fluid” relevant to this story. There was a theory that women transmitted virtue through their breastmilk, thus the mother’s insistence on providing her own milk was a means of protecting the “purity” of her child’s bloodlines (from the potential contamination of a lower class wetnurse’s milk). Humoral theory held that breast milk was directly converted to blood in the child’s body. The husband succumbs to his father’s disapproval of his wife by murdering the wife, leaving his child to be nursed by an outsider—thus “contaminating” his family bloodline, the very thing his father was trying to control.
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ConventionsMonday, May 10, 2021 - 15:02
Although it isn’t entirely clear from the session title, the common theme here is thinking in the context of transgender and gender fluidity.
Butler and þæt Bodiġ: Constructing, Performing, and (Mis)Reading the Female Body in Ælfric's Life of Saint Agnes - Thelma Trujillo, University of Iowa
Looks at the choices and inclusions that Aelfric made in working from multiple source manuscripts to write his own saints’ lives. Aelfric primary focused on the “virgin martyr” as his epitome of female sanctity, reflecting an ambivalent attitude toward the female body. Using Butler’s framework of gender as performance, we see how Saint Agnes manipulates gender performance to create a space for female sanctity. She remains intelligible as female while refusing to be constrained by female category structures.
Agnes rejects her earthly (non-Christian) suitor, but not the symbolic structures of a woman’s “life script” framing God as her lover and expected husband using the language of physical love. Her pagan suitor is shows as not recognizing the references to God and interpreting her descriptions as indicating a human rival. There is a discussion of whether medieval people would have understood this attitude as being a “sexual orientation”, that is, as a re-orientation of sexual desire toward the divine. There is a discussion of the purpose of motifs of rape and torture within this type of saint’s life.
Agnes is the only female saint in Aelfric’s text where devotion to God is frame in terms of a bodily sexuality and marriage. At the same time, she rejects the physical performance of the expected female role.
Of Breasts and Beards: Hirsutism and the Shifting Genders of Saint Wilgefortis and the Lady of Limerick in Late Medieval Visual Culture - Sara K. Berkowitz, Auburn University
The paper looks at instances of conflicting visual signifiers of gender, especially as interpreted as bodily transformation. Saint Wilgefortis prayed to escape an unwanted marriage and was granted a beard. The “Lady of Limerick” was famous as a bearded woman. Male beards in the middle ages were considered a symbol and prerogative of masculinity, as well as a sign of male virtue. But in art, beards could also represent racialized identity. So “bearded women” represented cross-category individuals, having a definitively masculine attribute, while still being considered categorically female.
There are a variety of versions of the Wilgefortis legend with different contexts and locations, united by the theme of using the miraculous beard as a way to escape an unwanted marriage. There are speculations as to whether the legend originated by a misreading of a male image wearing clothing interpreted as feminine. Depictions vary between showing a very full complete beard and a very wispy partial beard. In some images, other physical signifiers (such as breasts) are hidden and only clothing is able to indicate her assigned gender.
A manuscript illustration of the Bearded Lady of Limerick (in the Topography of Ireland by Gerald of Wales) shows her as one of the “miracles and marvels” shown naked, with very small pendant breasts, a full long beard, and in the process of spinning with a distaff and spindle. She has not only a beard, but has hair all down her spine. But the description also suggests that she is a bilateral hermaphrodite, with only half her face being bearded and the other half being smooth. The distaff and act of spinning are noted as being strongly gendered as a feminine activity. [Thank you!] Berkowitz suggests that the shape of the distaff and spindle are phallic, creating a mixed message. [I’m not sure I buy this part.] A bearded woman can never be fully female, but also cannot create masculinity.
The same section of Gerald’s manuscript depicts an “ox man,” shown naked with ox-like hoofs on hands and feet. This reinforces the classification of the bearded woman as monstrous. Bearded women are ambiguously sexed, and thus to some extend undermines the interpretation of the beard as a male signifier.
Menopause: Melusine's Final Transformation - S. C. Kaplan, Independent Scholar
A brief recapitulation of the legend of Melusine. Rather than exploring the dynastic elements of Melusine’s story, Kaplan focuses on Melusine’s final transformation, after her husband Raymond’s betrayal, as aligning with menopause. Her original transformation, when she is cursed to periodically transform into a half-snake, occurs when she is 15 and she appears to be in maturational stasis for the next 400 years until she marries and begins producing her 10 sons. Does Melusine age naturally or does she move in and out of human time as she transforms? If her husband had kept his promise not to gaze on her when she is transformed, and not to tell anyone about it if he finds out, she would have aged and died “naturally” (i.e., as a human). But since he fails to keep his promise, she turns fully inhuman and flies away. In all this, the question of whether she ages naturally (as a human) is—Kaplan maintains—irrelevant. Melusine’s “feminine” status boils down to associating socially with women, bearing and raising children, and supporting feminine religious establishments. Otherwise, her behavior and actions are more aligned with the role of an aristocratic man rather than a woman. Raymond, her husband, is teased that he is insufficiently masculine in that he is obedient to his promise to Melusine and insufficiently curious about her secrets.
Raymond doesn’t consider pursuing this knowledge until late in their marriage, at a time when Melusine is producing children at much longer intervals than at the beginning of the marriage. Once she is no longer popping out sons every year or two, her atypical femininity becomes more a source of anxiety. This is the point in her life when (triggered by Raymond’s betrayal) she fully transforms to a serpent and leaves him, but returns regularly to visit her children (but not her husband). This, Kaplan suggests, represents the physical and interactional changes in a woman’s life at menopause.
Respondant: Roland Betancourt
(It’s really hard to take coherent notes on responses, so I’m going to skip trying, as usual.)
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ConventionsMonday, May 10, 2021 - 13:31
This is the first of my “to watch” sessions that was recorded, so I took the opportunity to run out and do some errands, then got back just 20 minutes into the session and decided to check it out live.
A Kingdom For a Horse: Horses, Humans, and Emotional Attachment in Early Indo-European Sources - Stéfan J. Koekemoer, University of New Mexico
(I came in just at the end of this. The session was recorded, so I may go back later, especially since the Q&A indicates there was discussion of magical healing of horses.)
Lexeme Tracing as a Way to Establish Texts in the Anglo-Saxon "Library": A Test Case with the Veterinary Text Mulomedicina chironis - Bethany Christiansen, Independent Scholar
Studying the question of which texts and portions of texts were available to pre-conquest English people by tracing particular technical vocabulary that carries over. Focuses on a single lexeme (word) Greco-Latin moium (penis) which is rare and therefore indicates access to the specific texts that use it, in this case, a treatise on medical care of mules. The theory is that if a rare word is correctly glossed or translated in English manuscripts, that indicates that there was knowledge of the texts that present it in context. This analysis is only possible when the vocabular item is rare, and when the texts that might include it are also rare.
The end goal here isn’t specifically to do with veterinary practice, but with determining the hypothetical contents of long-vanished libraries. No early English veterinary texts survive, but we can identify the types of evidence that would indicate which ones might have been known in pre-conquest England.
Several texts are relevant to the question of early English familiarity with the word moium (listed in the presentation). The proof-of-familiarity appears in a text on human medicine where a stags penis is used as an ingredient in a remedy. This remedy is an Old English translation of a known Latin text, which itself provides no context for the meaning of moium. So the translation of the word as OE scytel must rely on knowledge of that context from other sources. Since moium itself is rare, the number of possible sources is limited and therefore informative. Interestingly, scytel itself is also a rare lexeme, but can be derived as a metonym from a word meaning “shooter, arrow-like thing”.
One possible alternate explanation is that the translator did simply guess meaning from context (given that the ingredient is in a recipe to treat impotence). Another possibility is that the word wasn’t actually that rare at the time, but that texts including it have had differential survival. There’s also the objection that there isn’t enough rare technical terminology to be able to test this method for identifying lost texts that may have been in circulation.
Fighting Dire Prognoses: Intra-Active Healing in Thirteenth-Century Equine Veterinary Praxis - Elizabeth S. Leet, Washington & Jefferson College – [The presenter notes: “I do not want any images in or of my presentation live-tweeted/shared on social media.” I’m interpreting these notes very conservatively, just to be safe, and not blogging any papers that have restrictions noted.] A paper examining “heroic measures” taken to heal laminitis in a horse belonging to the Holy Roman Emperor, compared to modern veterinary practices.
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ConventionsMonday, May 10, 2021 - 10:59
I picked this session for the “transvestite saint” paper, given my own interests in the how that topic intersects my interests. (Also, given the intersection with my own ‘zoo paper a couple years ago on gender-disguise narratives.) The other papers are less directly interesting to me, so I’ll probably be multi-tasking during them.
Revisiting the "Transvestite" Saint - C. Libby, Pennsylvania State University
References Bullough’s work on changing the paradigm when considering TS (transvestite saints), moving away from the “pathologizing” narrative driven by early 20th century social dynamics. This leads to a current transgender framing.
Brief review of the genre and the stated motifs/motives within the narratives. Example: St. Eugenius/Eugenia. [Note: LHMP entries tagged with St. Eugenia]
While disguise is clearly an element of the saints’ lives (as opposed to gender change), post-sexological analysis of these texts emphasized the disguise/deception theme and connected them with contemporary attitudes toward transvestism, applying a pathologizing lens. Themes from psychology were retrospectively applied to the interpretation of early hagiography, viewing the TS as undergoing a rejection of the feminine and desire for the masculine as a sign of pathology and trauma, while also focusing on the male monastic response as a key theme. [Note that Anson, who is covered in the LHMP, is one of the authors referenced as engaging in this approach.] But Bullough continues the interpretation of TS through a modern lens, projecting the misogynistic asymmetric view of female and male transvestism (status gain versus status loss) onto the past, without placing it in the historic context of non-religious cross-dressing.
More recent work breaks away from the focus on gender “disguise” and points to how the focus on deception encourages and maintains hostile responses to cross-gender performance. Discussion of the Rykener case and how Karras is revisiting that data in light of transgender studies. [Note: see LHMP entries mentioning Rykener.] But Libby notes that even Karras & Linkenen’s more recent work is rooted in binary models. (Lots of references to researchers and publications in this field that I can’t catch.)
Jesus in Furs: Masochism and Queer Bodies in The Book of Margery Kempe - Megan Vinson, Indiana University
[Note: OK, I’m just not going to be able to follow this one because it’s being presented in the context of theoretical frameworks and technical vocabulary that I’m not fluent in. Sorry.]
Performance and Disruption: A Late Antique Ascetic Experiment in Gender as Assemblage - Dr. Katie Kleinkopf, University of Louisville
Looks at how Byzantine ascetics manipulated gender as a way of getting closer to God, but also at how scholars have approached the ascetic movement in ways that deployed their own gender ideologies. (Makes an interesting connection between the physical isolation of ascetics, and how it allowed them to step outside gender binaries, with the way that contemporary virtual spaces allow one to step outside embodied binary gender.)
A brief review of hierarchical (although not necessarily binary) categorical gendered expectations in late antiquity. Various examples of how physically isolated ascetics were pursued by their contemporaries who wanted to claim knowledge of their embodiment (including gender) with an almost fanatic curiosity. Isolation allowed ascetics to remove themselves from the established gender expectations and to construct their own identities at will, accepting and rejecting various gendered attributes. (Lots of specific examples from ascetics’ lives, illustrating ascetic refusal to become legible to others in terms of gender.)
Respondant – Roberta Magnani
Magnani provided commentary and responses to the papers, but I needed to step away for a bit so I haven’t tried to capture them.
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ConventionsMonday, May 10, 2021 - 09:26
I dithered between two sessions—neither being recorded—in this time-slot. The one I didn’t choose was #28 Homosocial Communities and Seclusion, because there was only one paper that looked like it might possibly be related to relationship potential in homosocial environments. (What can I say, I have highly specific interests.) Instead I chose this session, which looks at several topics relating to cross-cultural interactions during travel. This is the sort of information I file away in my “compost-heap memory” where it may later serve to add verisimilitude in a story about characters on the road.
Nuns on the Run: The Sisters of Syon Abbey and Their Links with Continental Europe, 1415-1580 - Virginia Rosalyn Bainbridge, Univ. of Exeter
Starts with a brief background on the exile of Syon Abbey after the dissolution of the abbeys. Bainbridge is involved in a prosopography project to trace the lives of the members of the abbey in this context. [Insert Brexit joke relating to Henry VIII’s break with Rome.] Touches on the importance of personal/familial connections among personnel and supporters of Syon Abbey with respect to these changes. The “links with the continent” referenced in the title are an extensive catalog of these personal/familial connections that led to the founding, expansion, and transition of the institution. (I’m not going to try to take notes on details.)
Cursing, Haggling, and Choosing an Inn in French: Vignettes of Travel and Daily Life in the Manières de langage of 1396, 1399, and 1415 - Martha Carlin, U. of Wisonsin-Milwaukee
(This is the paper that most caught my attention. Her powerpoint won’t open so she’s winging it.) This genre of literature were intended to be guidebooks for foreign students, but they also include extensive dialogues (perhaps intended as phrasebooks) which provide detailed views of daily life. They include ordinary activities of interest to travelers, with valuable examples of ordinary speech and conversation. [Hey, authors of historical fiction – this should be invaluable to you!] But what prompted the collection of texts during this particular period? Around 1396 three was a lull in hostilities between England and France, with some significant high-level contacts around royal alliances, so this may have been the context for providing English travelers with guidance.
Scene: a lord with a brand new townhouse sends his servants out to buy furnishings, provisions, clothing, and other supplies. Focus is on vocabulary, but provides a picture of household needs.
Scene: the lord is preparing a short journey to Paris on business and instructs his servant to make arrangements to prepare the horses, as well as ordering a fine dinner before leaving. There is an example of giving travel directions. The servant is sent on ahead to secure lodgings in Paris and has a vivid exchange with the innkeeper, whom he knows personally. There is a discussion of what makes good versus bad lodgings. The servant then goes to the market to buy the makings of dinner and returns to the inn to prepare them. (Note that the innkeepers neither supply nor prepare the food!) The lord, on arriving, inspects the “young ladies” that the inn-wife has available for companionship and selects one to share his dinner. The lord supplies spiced wine and entertainment including dancing for all the gentle people at the inn, and then takes the young lady to bed. The lord gives the inn staff lavish gifts and then departs.
Scene: A similar encounter shows what traveling is like for people of the lower classes (possibly two of the servants of the previous lord). Significant contrasts with the lord’s experience! Also: implications of an erotic overture between the two (male) servants that is refused.
The texts are extremely valuable resources for the lives of servants and the lower class, who are poorly represented in other genres of text. Alas, these manuscripts have not yet been published in English translation.
For those who might like to follow up on this genre of text, here are some links I found – these are not related directly to the paper being presented.
WorldCat listing for a 1995 edition of the texts.
Reference to a journal article with translated extracts. Free access to pdf download.
A blog looking at some brief passages as an example of Anglo-Norman language.
The English Hospice in Rome: Home away from Home
Joel T. Rosenthal, Stony Brook University
English pilgrimages to Rome were popular as early as the 5th century and have a long and continuous history. English travelers were not always well treated as visitors, which inspired the establishment of an English hospice (lost track of dates, maybe in the 14th century?) which resulted in an English expatriate community being established there. There are detailed records of visitors from certain periods, including the late 15th century, which give us a useful picture of the pilgrims. Mostly middling class, mostly men, lots of clergy. But overall quite a diversity. To some extent, going on pilgrimage was an “entertainment” for those who were able to do it. But “those who were able” included members of mendicant religious orders, so money wasn’t the only issue. After England’s break with Rome, the hospice transforms from a travelers’ residence to a college for training English Catholic personnel in exile. Lots of anecdotal examples from the registers, and a note that the English hospice still exists.
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ConventionsMonday, May 10, 2021 - 07:41
(Chosen because of the paper on Amazons.)
The organizing theme of the session is to examine topics that occur across cultures, or where different cultural perspectives may provide insight.
The Amazons in Medieval Arab and Western Travel Accounts - Sally Abed, Alexandria University
(This presenter has requested that their material not be shared on social media, alas. The topic is a comparison of the depiction of “Amazon tribes” in different literary traditions, rather than the depiction of individual “Amazonian women-warrrior” types, for which see, e.g., Kruk 1998.)
Metafictional Romance in the Medieval Orient and Occident - Padmini Sukumaran, Kean University
Presents the 1001 Nights as the example from the Orient. In addition to being central to the framing story, Scheherazade inserts herself into the narrative through the characters of the genies, as well as shaping the meta-narrative by the introduction of stories of happy romance, or of the betrayal of trust and unjust murders (her own framing story). Several embedded stories are analyzed for structure and how they contribute to Scheherazade’s overall purpose of manipulating her murderous husband’s attitude.
The next metafiction presented is the Tale of Genji, focusing on discussions of types of women and how they are desirable, as well as the different ways in which they express themselves in love letters. Types of women are then compared to types of painting, and to types of calligraphy. These motifs are brought together later in a discussion of storytelling and the relationship of illustrated romances to fact and reality.
The Occident themes are brought in via Yonec, in which the lady’s imagination creates her reality via storytelling. This section is very brief. The paper doesn’t directly pull together the various examples, although I can see the structural parallels around the motif of storytelling within stories, and the ways that storytelling empowers the female characters to shape their own narratives.
From Constantinople to Castilla and Avalon: Intericonicity, Warrior Saints, and Epic Arete in the Christianization of Britain and Spain - Inti Yanes-Hernandez, Dexter Southfield
Looks at parallels between the role of the King Arthur myth in the Christianization of Britain, and El Cid as a symbol during the Reconquista of Spain, via Byzantine mythic prototypes. [Note: the themes are interesting, but I’m not following the details very well.]
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ConventionsSunday, May 9, 2021 - 19:55
Yes, it's that time again! Time to blog the papers presented at the annual International Medieval Congress (at least, the ones in the session I attend). Normally, I'd be in Kalamazoo for this, enjoying the company of my fellow medieval history geeks, pretending the entire thing is intended as my birthday party, and limited to attending one session of papers at a time. This year, of course, I'm attending from my home office, zooming with my fellow medieval history geeks, and not quite as limited because some of the sesions will be recorded for later viewing. The conference proper starts tomorrow morning, but the plenary sessions are pre-recorded, so I got in the mood by watching one of those tonight.
My usual blog heading identify the day and timeslot of the papers, but since I may be watching some out of order, I'll stick to session numbers. As usual, these are quick, stream-of-consciousness notes. I'll indicate if I know I'm missing context or have lost track of the thread, but I may also misunderstand the presentation, not catch names and references correctly, and similar errors. Any anomalies in my summaries should not reflect on the presenters or their work.
Plenary Session II: The Black Queen of Sheba: A Global History of an African Idea - Wendy Laura Belcher, Princeton Univ.
(Note: I don’t typically attend the plenary sessions, which are often earlier in the morning than I’m up and moving at the ‘Zoo. But for the virtual conference, they’re pre-recorded. And this one attracted my interest because of having used the motif of the Black Queen of Sheba in the fictitious opera appearing in Mother of Souls.)
Opens with the outline of the legend, in which the Queen of Sheba, the wisest and most beautiful woman in the world, goes to visit King Solomon because she’s heard of his wisdom. They enjoy an intellectual companionship for quite some time, but Solomon decides he wants to have a child with her and tricks her into agreeing to share his bed. She returns home, bears the child, who grows up, returns as an adult to visit Solomon but declines to remain in Israel, preferring his mother’s land. Complex things happen and Solomon sends a group of the sons of noblemen back with him, taking the ark of the convenant with them, and thus God’s blessing is transferred from Israel to Ethiopia.
The talk covers the questions of when story (as represented in the physical text the Kebra Nägäśt 1321, hereafter referred to as "KN") was composed and by whom, and what that means on a symbolic level. Belcher holds the position that it was written by Ethiopians and thus represents the oldest surviving sub-Saharan African text, which has an obvious symbolic importance in the modern world. Arguments against this include the multi-lingual nature of the vocabulary and a somewhat loose understanding of Ethiopian geography displayed in the text. The text reads like an ancient Greek novel in content and style. These together suggest a Greek-Egyptian or Syriac origin for the story. In favor of an Ethiopian origin is the focus on the triumph of an African queen, the literary tradition, and other details I didn’t catch.
We get a brief overview of the social geography of the diversity of Christianity in the 10th century. The “non-Chalcedonian” Christian religions looked to the highlands of Ethiopia as the most important Christian center – a Christianity that has nothing to do with European Christianity but developed independently in the Near East. Ethiopia had a strong literary tradition in the Ge’ez language, with thousands of surviving medieval manuscripts.
When was the text written? No full version has been found anywhere except in Ethiopia, or earlier than 1321. But other texts reference parts of the story. Hypothesis: text was written between 900-1100 CE.
When did the Queen of Sheba become viewed as African? (The Bible only references “Sheba”.) But by 93 AD, Josephus refers to her as Queen of Etypt and Ethiopia, and by 1181 in Germany, she is depicted in art as Black.
When did the motif of her bearing a son to Solomon occur? First mentioned in the 800-900s, so pre-existing motif.
When did the motif appear that she controlled a significant totem? 900s-1000s (Coptic Egyptian) mentions a magical inscribed pillar with all the wisdom of the earth. So the motif of a powerful object pre-exists, but not the specific one in the Ethiopian text.
When did the Queen of Sheba become located specifically in Abyssinia? Mentioned in 920.
But there is no text in the 900s that all these elements come together in the way they do in the KN. That doesn’t happen until the 1200s when all the elements are mentioned as common knowledge by Egyptian author Abu Salih. This suggests that the KN represents a written creation reflecting a set of elements in common circulation in oral form from at least the 900s.
What does the KN say about its origin? The colophon indicates it was translated from Arabic, from a book present in Ethiopia by 1225, into Ge’ez in 1321. It says the Arabic version is itself a translation of the earlier Coptic version. So likely first written around 900-1100.
Where was it written? Most likely earliest in Egypt, given that the earliest relevant texts are in Egyptian Arabic or Coptic. But Ethiopian scholars assert that the colophon may be a fictional invention to give the text greater legitimacy and that it was written originally in Ethiopian in Ge’ez, in support of a new dynasty. However this is contradicted by the basic facts. Further, the text shows clear linguistic evidence of being a translation from Arabic, not a composition in Ge’ez. But does this establish Egyptian authorship?
But might the existing KN have been a translation of an Arabic text that itself was a translation of an Ethiopian composition? Might it have been written by an Ethiopian living in Egypt in Arabic? Might it have been written by an Egyptian living in Ethiopia? Or by an Ethiopian, living in Ethiopia, writing in Arabic? Or do we take the colophon at face value?
Do we have other types of evidence? Might it have been composed in Ethiopia as an oral text, and only the written text passed through Arabic? There was a long tradition in Ethiopia of having conquered a Jewish kingdom in Yemen in 520 that included brining Jewish sacred objects back to Ethiopia. Around this time, the Ethiopian kings began taking Israeli names. So as early as the 500s the Ethiopians were telling stories about having possession of the ark of the convenant and making that part of their religious iconography. These motifs were especially strong in the 1200s, including an Ethiopian king who adopted a throne name of Solomon. Further, other Christian leaders took note of the Israeolophilia of the highland Ethiopian culture and criticized them as “becoming too Jewish.”
Within this context, it seems most likely that an oral version of the Queen of Sheba story was solidly established in Ethiopia somewhere between 500-1000, but the specific manuscript KN was likely written down in Arabic in Egypt or Syria.
What about the geographic anomalies? The geographic description sounds more like Nubia than highland Ethiopia. Might this have been a confusion arising from the Arabic text? Or might the apparent anomalies be illusory? (Arguments are rehearsed for both sides. Belcher leans toward highland Ethiopia but admits there are problems.)
Overall conclusions: Ethiopian oral composition of 500-900 CE, Arabic-langauge text (possibly from a Coptic original) set down around 900-1100, Ge'ez translation of the Arabic in the 1200s, with the earliest surviving version the KN manuscript of 1321.
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