Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age 3110223899, 9783110223897

Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age

Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture Edited by

Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge

≥

Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age Edited by

Albrecht Classen

≥

Walter de Gruyter · Berlin · New York

앝 Printed on acid-free paper which falls within the guidelines 앪 of the ANSI to ensure permanence and durability.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Urban space in the middle ages and the early modern age / edited by Albrecht Classen. p. cm. ⫺ (Fundamentals of medieval and early modern culture ; 4) Chiefly in English with three contributions in German. Includes index. ISBN 978-3-11-022389-7 (alk. paper) 1. Urbanization ⫺ History. 2. Cities and towns ⫺ Growth ⫺ History. I. Classen, Albrecht. HT361.U718 2009 307.7609⫺dc22 2009027975

ISBN 978-3-11-022389-7 ISSN 1864-3396 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. ” Copyright 2009 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Printed in Germany Cover design: Christopher Schneider, Laufen Printing and binding: Hubert & Co., Göttingen

TableofContents

Introduction AlbrechtClassen UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModernAge: Historical,Mental,Cultural,andSocialEconomicInvestigations . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

C.DavidBenson TheDeadandtheLiving:SomeMedievalDescriptionsofthe RuinsandRelicsofRomeKnowntotheEnglish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

KishaG.Tracy DefiningtheMedievalCitythroughDeath: ACaseStudy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183

AlanV.Murray TheDemographicsofUrbanSpaceinCrusadePeriod Jerusalem(1099–1187) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

AndreasMeyer HereditaryLawsandCityTopography:OntheDevelopment oftheItalianNotarialArchivesintheLateMiddleAges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

BrittC.L.Rothauser “Areuer...brighterþenboþethesunneandmone”: TheUseofWaterintheMedievalConsiderationofUrbanSpace . . . . . . . . . . 245

BirgitWiedl JewsandtheCity:ParametersofJewishUrbanLife inLateMedievalAustria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

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RosaAlvarezPerez NextDoorNeighbors:AspectsofJudeoChristian CohabitationinMedievalFrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309

JeanetteS.Zissell UniversalSalvationintheEarthlyCity:DeCivitateDei andtheSignificanceoftheHazelnutin JulianofNorwich’sShowings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

PatriciaTurning “WithTeethClenchedandanAngryFace:”Vengeance, VisitorsandJudicialPowerinFourteenthCenturyFrance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

JeanE.Jost UrbanandLiminalSpaceinChaucer’sKnight’sTale: PerilousorProtective? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 373

DanielF.Pigg ImaginingUrbanLifeandItsDiscontents: Chaucer’sCook’sTaleandMasculineIdentity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 395

ShennanHutton Women,Men,andMarkets:TheGenderingofMarketSpace inLateMedievalGhent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

LiaB.Ross AngerandtheCity:WhoWasinChargeoftheParis cabochienRevoltof1413? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433

FabianAlfie “TheMerchantsofMyFlorence”:ASocioPolitical Complaintfrom1457 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 463

JanHirschbiegelandGabrielZeilinger UrbanSpaceDivided?TheEncounterofCivicand CourtlySpheresinLateMedievalTowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 481

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KlausAmannandMaxSiller UrbanLiteraryEntertainmentintheMiddleAgesand theEarlyModernAge:TheExampleofTyrol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 505

ConnieScarborough UrbanSpacesintheTragicomediadeCalistoyMelibea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 537

AlbrechtClassen HansSachsandhisEncomiaSongsonGermanCities: ZoomingIntoandOutofUrbanSpacefroma PoeticPerspective.WithaConsiderationof HartmannSchedel’sLiberChronicarum(1493) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 567

MarilynSandidge UrbanSpaceasSocialConscienceinIsabellaWhitney’s “WyllandTestament” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

MichaelE.Bonine WaqfanditsInfluenceontheBuiltEnvironment intheMedinaoftheIslamicMiddleEasternCity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615

PnarKayaalp TheRoleofImperialMosqueComplexes(15431583) intheUrbanizationofÜsküdar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 645

MarthaMoffittPeacock EarlyModernDutchWomenintheCity: TheImagingofEconomicAgencyandPower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 667

AllisonP.Coudert Sewers,Cesspools,andPrivies:WasteasRealityand MetaphorinPremodernEuropeanCities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 713

ListofIllustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 735 Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

AlbrechtClassen (UniversityofArizona)

UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModern Age:Historical,Mental,Cultural,andSocialEconomic Investigations1

InvestigativeQueries:TheStartingPoint,WhereHaveWeCome From,WhereAreWe,WhereAreWeGoing? When did urban space gain relevance in the Middle Ages, or when was it perceivedasaseparateandsignificantentitywherehumanaffairswerenegotiated anddecided,wherepowerstructuresmanifestedthemselves,andwherethereal economiccenterrested,incontrasttotheworldoftheruralpopulation?Whatdid thecityreallymeanformedievalorearlymodernpeople,asfaraswecantrustthe countlessliteraryandhistoriographicaldocumentsfromthattimeperiod?The contrast between the urban world of the Roman Empire and that of the early MiddleAgeswithitsalmostexclusivefocusonagricultureasitseconomicbaseis moreorlessselfevident.Althoughmanycitieshadoriginallybeenfoundedbythe RomansthroughoutEurope,theycontinuedtoexist,evenifmanyhadtowait many centuries until they experienced a solid flourishing again in terms of population,wealth,thearts,architecture,andtheeconomy.2

IwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetoMarilynSandidge,WestfieldStateCollege,Westfield,MA, forhercriticalreadingofthisintroductionandgreatsupportinmanyotherways.Allremaining mistakesare,ofcourse,myown.MycolleagueFabianAlfie,UniversityofArizona,readthrough many of the contributions and alerted me to a number of small errors, for which I am very thankful. JohnRich,TheCityinLateAntiquity.LeicesterNottinghamStudiesinAncientSociety,3(London andNewYork:Routledge,1992);TownsinTransition:UrbanEvolutioninLateAntiquityandthe EarlyMiddleAges,ed.NeilChristieandS.T.Loseby(Aldershot,Hants,England,andBrookfield, VT:ScolarPress,1996);BertrandLançon,RomeinLateAntiquity:EverydayLifeandUrbanChange, AD312–609(NewYork:Routledge,2000);YizharHirschfeld,“Habitat,”InterpretingLateAntiquity: EssaysonthePostclassicalWorld,ed.G.W.Bowersock,PeterBrown,andOlegGrabar(Cambridge,

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Ifamedievalorearlymodernwritermentionedatownoracity,dids/hereally meanthesameaswedotodaywhenwerefertosuchaplace?Andifatown/city is mentioned, what value or meaning was attached to it? When and how did medievalartistsreflectuponurbanspace,andwhydidtheydoso,whennormally ecclesiasticspaceandcourtsseemtohavedominatedpublicimaginationmostof the time? How did medieval people view and respond to the ancient urban civilization,whichcontinuedtobepresentfarbeyondthefallofRomeinthefifth centurybothintheformofnumerouscitiesestablishedbytheRomansandin literaryworkspredicatedonRomanmodelsdealingwithurbanspace?3Wasthe ancientRomancityachallenge,ormodel,orabaseuponwhichmedievalpeople builttheirownsocietywithinanurbansetting? Undoubtedly,urbanspacecertainlymeantsomethingquitedifferenttopeople intheMiddleAgesandtheearlymodernagethantothosewhostilllivedwiththe Romancultureinmindordrewtheirvaluesandinspirationfromthatancient world.Wecanprobablyassertthatthesamekindofdifferenceexistsbetween,on theonehand,ourmodernattitudetoandrelationshipwithurbanspace,andthat heldbypeopleinthepremodernera,ontheother.Atanyrate,however,boththen and today urban space constitutes a focal point for many different societies, perhapsmoreinthepostmodernagethaninthepremodernage,buteventhen townsandcitiesprovedtobesomeofthemostcriticalnodesinthelargernetwork ofawholecountryorpeople.4 The modern Italian novelist Italo Calvino expressed it perhaps best in his fictionaltravelnarrative,Lecittàinvisibile,animaginaryaccountbyMarcoPolo writingtotheMongolrulerKublaiKhan,describing,forinstance,thecityZaira:

MA,andLondon:TheBelknapPressofHarvardUniversityPress,2001),258–72. Seethevariouscontributionsto:LaFindelacitéantiqueetledébutdelacitémédiévale:delafinduIIIe siècleàl’avènementdeCharlemagne.Actesducolloquetenuàl’UniversitédeParisXNanterreles1,2et 3 avril 1993, réunis par Claude Lepelley. Munera. Studi storici sulla tarda antichità, 8 (Bari: Edipuglia,1996).Forcomprehensiveandmostupdatedscholarshiponthislargetopic,seethe entriesdealingwithcity,citylaws,urbandivinities,urbanlaw,andurbanarchitectureinDerneue Pauly:EnzyklopädiederAntike,ed.HubertCancikandHelmuthSchneider.Vol.11(Stuttgartand Weimar:Metzler,2001),890–912. Therearewholebookshelvesfullofstudiesonurbanspacetoday;see,forinstance,AllanB. Jacobs, Great Streets (Cambridge, MA, and London: The Hit Press, 1993); Martin M. Pegler, Streetscapes(NewYork:RetailReportingCorporation,1998);DavidPinder,VisionsoftheCity: Utopianism,PowerandPoliticsinTwentiethCenturyUrbanism(Edinburgh:EdinburghUniversity Press2005);UrbanSpace.No.5:FeaturingGreenDesignStrategies,ed.JohnMorrisDixon.Designed by Veronika Levin (New York: Visual Reference Publications, 2007). As urban architects commonly express also nowadays, the question of what constitutes urban space and how to designitconstitutesacriticalquestionforsocietyatlargebecauseofallpeopleinvolved,the managementandmaintenance,safety,andtheneedtoofferfunctionalityandaestheticappealat thesametime;seeSarahGaventa,NewPublicSpaces(London:MitchellBeazley,2006).

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The city does not consist of this [how many steps make up the streets rising like stairways,ibid.],butofrelationshipsbetweenthemeasurementsofitsspaceandthe eventsofitspast:theheightofalamppostandthe distance fromthegroundofa hanged usurper’s swaying feet; the line strung from the lamppost to the railing oppositeandthefestoonsthatdecoratethecourseofthequeen’snuptialprocession; theheightofthatrailingandtheleapoftheadultererwhoclimbedoveritatdawn. . . . A description of Zaira as it is today should contain all Zaira’s past. The city, however,doesnottellitspast,butcontainsitlikethelinesofahand,writteninthe cornersofthestreets,thegratingsofthewindows,thebanistersofthesteps...,every segmentmarkedinturnwithscratches,indentations,scrolls.5

Calvino composed his novel directly drawing from Marco Polo’s Milione, but whereastheVenetiantravelerwasmostlydeterminedbymercantileinterestsand the curiosity about the foreign world in its physical manifestation, Calvino exploredthementalstageofurbanspaces.6

CitiesintheTransitionalPhasefromtheLateRomanEmpireto theEarlyMiddleAges OnepointregardingtownsandcitiesintheMiddleAgesneedstobestatedright from the beginning, which will hopefully deconstruct one of the many myths about that period as a time of alleged primitivism, barbarism, and lack of civilization. Although we tend to identify towns or cities and complementary urbanlifewiththeearlymodernage,morenarrowlydefinedastheRenaissance, manycitiesalreadydottedtheearlymedievallandscape,thoughinmostcases considerablysmallerinsizeandphysicalextentthanthosecenturieslater.And dependingonthespecificregioninEurope,urbancultureextensivelyinfluenced medievalsocietyasearlyastheeleventhandtwelfthcenturies,andthisevenin face of the fact that a vast majority of the population continued to live in the

ItaloCalvino,InvisibleCities,trans.fromtheItalianWilliamWeaver(1972;NewYorkandLondon: HarcourtBraceJovanovich,1974),10–11;seealsothecontributionstoMedievalPracticesofSpace, ed.BarbaraA.HanawaltandMichalKobialka.MedievalCultures,23(MinneapolisandLondon: UniversityofMinnesotaPress,2000),especiallyMichaelCamille,“SignsoftheCith:Place,Power, andPublicFantasyinMedievalParis”(1–36). MarinaZancan,“LecittàinvisibilidiCalvino,”Letteraturaitaliana:Leopera,vol.4:LNovecento,part 2:Laricercaletteraria,ed.AlbertoAsorRosa(Turin:EinaudiGallimard,1996),828–930;Martin McLaughlin,“Calvino’sRewritingofMarcoPolo:Fromthe1960ScreenplaytoInvisibleCities,” MarcoPoloandtheEncounterofEastandWest,ed.SuzanneConcklinAkbariandAmilcareIannuci (Toronto,Buffalo,andLondon:UniversityofTorontoPress,2008),182–200.

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countrysideandthatthearistocracystillheldontoitsleadingroleasinherited fromtheearlyMiddleAgesatleastuntilthefifteenthcentury.7 Urbanspaceandurbanculturethenhadmostlikelyadifferentcharacterthan duringtheRenaissance,yetnotnecessarilywithoutsignificantsimilaritiesinsocial and economic terms, and definitely regarding civic pride and identity. This phenomenonhasbeenstudiedmanytimes,yetitcontinuestovexusdeeply,and requiresevernewapproachesdrawingfromdifferentsourcematerial,whether historical,arthistorical,literary,orsocialeconomic.Inaddition,themeaningof urbanspacechangesfromareatoarea,fromcountrytocountry,andsoalsofrom languageregiontolanguageregion.Surprisingly,however,commonelementscan bediscoveredeverywhere,asIwilldiscussbelow,whetherweinvestigatethe treatmentoftowns/citiesandtheirculturalmanifestationineighthcenturyIberia orinthirteenthcenturyNorway.8 Wehavetotakegeneralstatementsaboutmedievalurbanismreallywithagrain ofsalt,aswhenKathrynL.Reyersonclaims,tryingtosummarizethestateofart inherfield:“Oneofthemostdramaticinstancesofretrenchmentandshrinkage that distinguishes the ancient world from the medieval is to be found in the medievaltown.ThecivilizationsoftheGreeksandtheRomanswereessentially urban....Incontrast,thebarbariansandtheirinstitutionswerenot,ingeneral, associated with towns, although there certainly existed fortified enclosures, oppida,inGaulandinGermany....ThecontrastsbetweentownsoftheRoman period and those of the early Middle Ages were profound. From a complex juridicalvocabularyassociatedwithtownsinantiquityonepassesinMerovingian times to a simplified system of classification. Three terms were used by the Merovingianstodescribeurbanforms:civitas,castrum,andvicus.”9Sheprimarily subscribes to the ideas developed by Henri Pirenne regarding the loss of

ThisfindsremarkableexpressioninthevastcorpusofBooksofHoursinwhichtheworldof agricultureprovidestheessentialbasisforthecalendarbecauseofthecycleofseasonscouldbe bestobservedinnature,TeresaPérezHiguera,MedievalCalendars(1997;London:Weidenfeld& Nicolson,1998),128–32.However,atcloserexaminationtherearealsonumerous,thoughvery smallreferencestourbanlifeemerginginthedistantbackground.Anexcellentexamplefollowing thesamemodel,thoughnotaBookofHours,provestobethepictorialcycleintheCastellodel BuonconsiglioinTrento,ibid.,181–83.Hereanaristocraticcompanyenjoysitselfwiththrowing snowballsateachother,whilehuntersstandbyinthebackground,nexttothemightycityand castle. SeethecontributionstoTheComparativeHistoryofUrbanOriginsinNonRomanEurope:Ireland, Wales,Denmark,Germany,Poland,andRussiafromtheNinthtotheThirteenthCentury,ed.Howard B.ClarkandAnngretSimms.BARInternationalSeries,255(Oxford:B.A.R.,1985).Foraspecific casestudyforthewestern,nonRomanizedworld,seeDublin.Part1:To1610,ed.H.B.Clark, Anngret Simms, and Raymond Gillespie. Irish Historic Towns Atlas, 11 (Dublin: Royal Irish Academy,2002). KathrynL.Reyerson,“Urbanism,WesternEurope,”DictionaryoftheMiddleAges,ed.JosephR. Strayer.Vol.12(NewYork:CharlesScribner’sSons,1989),311–20;here311–12.

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importanceofthetownfortheearlyMiddleAges(313),butthensheadduces actuallyconsiderableevidencethatseemstopointtowardadifferentdirection, emphasizing the role of Emperor Charlemagne, and of the Church at large to dedicatemuchnewenergytothedevelopmentofurbanspace.Sheconcludesthis section,however,withthenegativesummary:“thereturntothetowninitiatedby Charlemagnefailedbecauseitwaslinkedtoapoliticaleffortthatdidnotendure” (314). Thesizeofcitiesdoesnotreallymatterfortheexplorationofurbancultureand urbanspaceinthepremodernworld,especiallynotinthetimeshortlyafterthe Roman period, as long as we can recognize that urban space continued to dominatesocial,economic,andpoliticallife.Historiansandarcheologistshave disagreed, however, over the definition of what constitutes a city in concrete terms. Would an administrative seat, or an economic center be sufficiently significanttotalkaboutacityintheearlyMiddleAges?Assooftenhasbeenthe case,simplisticanswersdonotserveuswell;insteadweneedaKriterienbündel(a bundleofcriteria),asestablishedbyEdithEnnen,including1.defense;2.street planning;3.market(s);4.amint;5.legalautonomy;6.aroleasacentralplace;7. arelativelylargepopulation;8.economicdiversification;9.urbantypesofhouses not specifically geared for agricultural living and production; 10. social differentiation;11.acomplexreligiousorganization;and12.judicialfunctions.10 Butagain,asscholarshaverepeatedlywarned,wehavetoacceptremarkable differencesbetweenurbansettlementsnorthoftheAlpsandsouthofthem,ifwe canuntanglethethornyissueofwhatmakesupatownandwhatacity.11Political and military developments in medieval England also led to a considerably differentdevelopmentofcitiescomparedtothoseonthecontinentbecausealong periodofinternalpeacehadmadethecitywallmostlyunnecessaryfordefense purposesatleastsincethethirteenthorfourteenthcentury,anditmaintainedonly

EdithEnnen,DieeuropäischeStadtdesMittelalters.3rd,rev.andexpandeded.(1972;Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1979);Engl.trans.asTheMedievalTown,trans.NatalieFryde.Europe intheMiddleAges,5(AmsterdamandNewYork:NorthHollandPub.,1979). ChrisWickham,FramingtheEarlyMiddleAges:EuropeandtheMediterranean400–800(Oxfordand NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,2005),591–96.Thismodelwasessentiallyputtogetherby MartinBiddle,“Towns,”TheArcheologyofAngloSaxonEngland,ed.DavidM.Wilson(London: Methuen, 1976), 99–150; here 100. See also Wolf Liebeschütz, “Cities, Taxes, and the AccommodationoftheBarbarians,”FromRomanProvincestoMedievalKingdoms,ed.ThomasF. X. Noble. Rewriting Histories (London and New York: Routledge, 2006), 309–23. For a nice overview of the social, economic, military, religious, and literary aspects determining the transitionfromlateantiquitytotheearlyMiddleAges,thoughwithouttakingurbanisminto consideration, see William R. Cook and Ronald B. Herzman, The Medieval World View: An Introduction.Sec.ed.(1983;NewYorkandOxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2004),90–128.But theydiscuss,rathersuperficially,theriseofthecitysincethetenthcenturyonpp.178–84.

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theroleasacustomsbarrier,protectingthemerchantclassinsideandallowingthe citytolevytollsonallgoodsimportedbyoutsidetraders.12 Curiously, however, as Chris Wickham alerts us, already in the late Roman Empirethegeneralappealoflivinginthecityhaddeclined,especiallybecauseof thegrowingmilitarizationofRomansocietyandthenewfocusonlandedestates for the elite. Concomitantly, as he observes, “cities changed too. Their own identitiesshifted,astheybecamelessthestageofallsignificantcivilaristocratic activity,lessthefocusforanautonomous,inwardlooking,publicpolitics.Public spacebecamemorereligious,forexample,asbishopsbecamemoreimportant(the smallerthecity,byandlarge,themorereligiousitspublicspacebecame—inthe civitasofnorthernFrancia(France)andEnglandwhichkepttheirbishopsbutlost theirurbaneconomicfeatures,religiousceremonialwasallthatwasleft).”13 One of the key reasons seems to have been the switch of a taxation system controlledbylocalgovernmentstoataxationsystemorganizedbythecentral governmentinmostcasesfaraway,underminingsomeofthecrucialmotivating factorsthathadtraditionallysupportedtheurbanelite—theendofthecuria,both incitiesintheeasternandinthewesternEmpire,whichsubsequentlyledtothe “physicaldecayoftheforum/agoraanditsassociatedcivicbuildingsatthecentre ofcities,which...couldhappenatthesametimeasthebuildingorrepairofrich privatehousesandprivatelyfoundedchurcheselsewhereintown.”14 Nevertheless,citiesdidnotsimplydisappearinthewakeofextensivemilitary problemsandpoliticalcrisesduringthepostRomanperiod,butthearistocratic elitefounditlessandlessattractivetolivethere,whichwastobecometheclear harbingeroftheearlymedievalworldwhere“participationinthepoliticalretinue ofacountcouldbedonefromeitheranurbanoraruralbase;andcountsmight nothavesomuchauthoritythatsocialleadersneededtobeintheirretinuesat all.”15 Thiscouldleadtoageneraldisintegrationoftheurbancommunity,butnot necessarilyso,whichforcesustobeextremelycarefulintheassessmentofurban historyatthatearlystageintheMiddleAges.AsPabloC.Díazputsit,“Ifuntilthe

13 14

A.E.J.Morris,HistoryofUrbanFormBeforetheIndustrialRevolutions.Thirded.(1972;NewYork: LongmanScientific&Technical,1994),97–99. ChrisWickham,FramingtheEarlyMiddleAges,595. ChrisWickham,FramingtheEarlyMiddleAges,598;TimothyW.Potter,TownsinLateAntiquity: IolCaesareaandItsContext.OccasionalPublication,IanSandersMemorialFund,2(Sheffield:Ian SandersMemorialFund,1995),63–102.SeealsoTownsandTheirTerritoriesBetweenLateAntiquity andtheEarlyMiddleAges,ed.GianPietroBrogiolo.TheTransformationoftheRomanWorld,9 (Leiden,Boston,andCologne:Brill,2000);TownsinTransition:UrbanEvolutioninLateAntiquity andtheEarlyMiddleAges,ed.NeilChristieandS.T.Loseby(Aldershot:Ashgate,1998);Giacomo Gonella, The History of Early Medieval Towns of North and Central Italy: the Contributions of ArchaeologicalEvidence(Oxford:Archeopress,2008). ChrisWickham,FramingtheEarlyMiddleAges,602.

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beginning of the fourth century possessor and decurio were considered synonymous,bytheendofthatcenturyandinthefifthwefindthatthemembers of the curia belonged to a genuinely urban middle class, especially small landownersandmerchantsorartisansnotconnectedwithlandowning.”16 Afterall,themanyexamplesofsignificantandevengrowingcitiesspeakaloud anddistinctlanguage.Insomeregionsthearistocracynotablylivedincities,such asinpostsixthcenturyItaly,buteventherethenumberofimportantaristocrats residinginthecountrysidewasalsonotnegligible.InMerovingianFrancethe majorityofnobleslivedoutsideofthecities,butagain,thisdidnotnecessarily affect urban growth negatively after ca. 550 C.E. Chris Wickham provides the valuablesummary:“In700–50,say,Egypt,Italy,andSyriaPalestineareclearlythe regions with the most urbanized aristocrats. Next come southern Spain and southern Gaul, perhaps the Marmara subregion close to Constantinople, and maybeAfrica,wherecitieswerenottheonlylocationsforaristocraticliving,but importantonesallthesame.”17

TheHighMiddleAges Assoonasweturnourattentiontothetenthandeleventhcenturies,thesituation changesremarkably,andbecomesmuchmorecomplex.AsJosephandFrances GiesemphasizewithregardtoearlymedievalMilan,forinstance,it“boasteda hundredtowersinthetenthcentury.Itsprosperityhadderivedoriginallyfromits fertilecountrysideandtheroadandrivernetworkofwhichitwasthehub.But duringthetenthandeleventhcenturiesitbecamethechiefworkshopofEurope. Itssmithsandamorersturnedoutswords,helmets,andchainmailfortheknights ofItaly,Provence,Germany,andevenmoredistantlands,whileitsmintstruck over twenty thousand silver pennies a year.”18 They point out the intricate relationshipbetweenadvancedagriculturalproductivity,suchaswinegrowing,

PabloC.Díaz,“CityandTerritoryinHispaniainLateAntiquity,”TownsandTheirTerritories BetweenLateAntiquityandtheEarlyMiddleAges,2000,1–35;here7.Heoffersthemostinsightful conclusionthatthefundamentaltransformationoftheRomancitytothepostRomancitywas triggeredbythe“alterationoftheschemeofrelationshipsandreciprocalinfluencesthatdefined the former with respect to the latter. In practice, city/country unity broke dwn, the territoria becameindependentfromthecontrolofthecity,andtheStatefunctionariesactedfromthecity onaruralareawhich,despiteadministrativeschemes,wasregulatedbyitsownmechanisms.The countryacquireditsownmorphologyandintheendthecityremainedasaconsumingappendix unabletoexistwithoutthecountry,butwhichthecountrycouldwellaffordtoignore”(34–35). ChrisWickham,FramingtheEarlyMiddleAges,608–09;heemphasizestheexceptionalsituation ofearlymedievalEngland(withhardlyanyurbanismuntilca.700),andtheRhinelandwithits significanteconomicprosperityfocusedonurbaneconomies. JosephandFrancesGier,LifeinaMedievalCity(NewYork:Harper&Row,1981),11.

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and sophisticated craftsmanship production methods, which led to the developmentofmajormarkets,thecentralpointswithinacity.Inotherwords, technologicaldevelopmentshadadirectbearingonimprovementsinagriculture, craftsmanship, and merchandising/trade, which all in turn supported and strengthenedthedevelopmentandgrowthofcitiesmuchearlierintheMiddle Agesthancommonlyassumed. Nevertheless,bothinourinvestigationofthisperiodandlateroneswehaveto becarefulnottoconfusegeneraltrendswithspecificcases,andalsonottofall preytoglobalassumptionsaboutthesteadygrowthofmedievalcitiesfarintothe earlymodern world, as if history could be described as a progressive, linear process. As for Italy, for instance, the period from 550 to 750 is commonly described as a time of urban crisis and widespread decline in economic and culturalactivities,whereastheperiodfrom750to950ismostlyseenasatimeof noteworthyrevivalandnewgrowth.19 Using the French city of Troyes as an example, Joseph and Frances Gies underscore:“Allhadabbeysandmonasteries,aswellasmanychurches—mostof timber, a few of stone with timber roofs. A feature of many cities, including Troyes,wasthepalaceofasecularprince.Therewerestillemptyspacesinthese municipalities—swampy land along a river, or an unexploited meadow. Most citiesrangedinareafromahundredacrestohalfasquaremile,inpopulation fromtwoorthreethousandtobetweentenandtwentythousand.Manyhadbuilt timberbridgesonstonepiers,andinLondonastonearchbridgehadactually been constructed.”20 Considering the extensive privileges and freedoms that citizensenjoyed,incontrasttotheruralpopulationlivingwithintheframework ofhighlyrestrictivefeudalism,thelureofthecityalreadyintheearlyMiddleAges wasconsiderable. Notsurprisingly,manymedievalpoets,evenwhenfocusingprimarilyonthelife atcourtandthecourtlyprotagonists,projected,atleastinthebackground,oron the sideline of the major events, cities, citizens, and the power of urban communitiesinproducingmoney,productsofcraftsmanship,food,clothing,and all kinds of the nice amenities of a more sophisticated lifestyle. I will provide belowanumberofexamplesfromthetwelfththroughthefifteenthcenturieswhen urbanlifeincreasinglygainedineconomic,political,andmilitaryimportance,and soalsobecameattractiveforliteraryprojections. Remarkably,despitecountlessmilitaryattacksduringtheageofmigrationand beyond, lateantique and earlymedieval cities were not simply abandoned or 19

TownsandTheirTerritoriesBetweenLateAntiquityandtheEarlyMiddleAges,ed.GianP.Brogiolo, 2000;Città,castelli,campagneneiterritoridifrontiera:5.SeminariosulTardoanticoel’Altomedioevoin ItaliaCentrosettentrionale,MonteBarroGalbiate(Lecco),910giugno1994,ed.GianP.Brogiolo. Documentidiarcheologia,6(Mantua:Ed.S.A.P.,Soc.ArcheologicaPadana,1995). JosephandFrancesGies,LifeinaMedievalCity,15.

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allowedtodeclinebecauseoftheattacksbyGermanicpeoples,oftenratherfalsely identifiedas‘barbarians.’Evenwhencitieswerebesiegedanddestroyed,most wererebuiltandthenmightevenhaveflourishedmorethaneverbefore.Only whenacitylostitspositionasarelevantnoduleintheinternationalnetworkof tradecouldithappenthatitwasabandoned.Consequently,thesheernumbersof citiesandtheirgrowthinmedievalEuropeprovestoberemarkableevenfroman earlytime. Accordingtosomestatistics,therewereca.twentymajorcitiesataround900 C.E.incentralEurope;byca.1150thenumberhadgrowntoca.200,andbyca. 1250C.E.themedievallandscapewasdottedbyca.1500cities.Infact,90%ofall citiesstillinexistencetodayinthatlargegeographicareawerefoundedbetween 1100and1350.IneleventhcenturyGermany,about40outof120townsthatcan beidentifiedtodayweresitesofbishops’seats,and20werenearmonasteries,and about60developedaroundroyalfoundations.Nevertheless,thesignificanceofthe “specific location on an important longdistance trade route, as well as [ ] he existence of a stronghold providing protection for the growing merchant community”mustnotbeoverlooked,northeextensiveimpactofthecolonization process extending into central, eastern, and northern Europe at least since the twelfthcentury.EvenIrelandexperiencedastrongurbanizationprocessasaresult ofitscolonizationbytheAngloNormansbeginningintheeleventhcentury.21 Thisdoesnotmeanthatthoseearlycitiescouldpridethemselvesonalarge numberofinhabitants.InCologne,forinstance,onlyafewthousandpeoplelived duringthetenthcentury,whereasLondon(Lundenwic)housedbetweenfiveand tenthousandpeople.22Intheeleventhandtwelfthcenturiesthepopulationof Parisisestimatedtohavebeenbetween80,000and200,000;Florence,Venice,and Milanboastedofupto100,000peoplebytheyear1300,whereasFlemishtowns normallydidnotexceed50,000people.Ofcourse,wehavetobecarefulintrusting anyofthosefiguressincetheyareallestimatesanddependverymuchonthe selectionofcriteria,hencethevastrangeforParis,forexample.23Butcitiessouth oftheAlpswiththeirlongstandingMediterraneanculturestandoutbecauseof theirextensivepopulation,sometimesreachinguptoninetythousandpeopleeven inthemiddlecategory,suchasCordoba,Spain,whereasRomeandAthens,for

AnngretSimms,“TheEarlyOriginsandMorphologicalInheritanceofEuropeanTowns,”Urban Landscapes:InternationalPerspectives,ed.J.W.R.WhitehandandP.J.Larkham(LondonandNew York:Routledge,1992),23–42;here27;andN.J.BakerandT.R.Slater,“MorphologicalRegions inEnglishMedievalTowns,”ibid.,43–68.SeealsoA.E.J.Morris,HistoryofUrbanForm,94–95 (someofhisperspectives,however,areverymuchbasedonolderresearch,butheprovidesan excellentsurveywithgoodvisualmaterial,maps,andgraphs. FelixBarkerandPeterJackson,London:2000YearsofaCityandItsPeople(London:Cassell,1974), 15–44,withexcellentillustrativematerial. KathrynL.Reyerson,“Urbanism,”315–16.

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instance,representcitiesofamoreindividualstatusthatwouldneedparticular treatmentforwhichthereisnoroomhere.24 We can be certain now that many of the Roman cities, even those founded outsideofItalyandeventhosenorthoftheAlps,continuedtoexistlongafterthe falloftheRomanEmpire,thoughtheyexperiencedtremendouschanges,both economically and architecturally, and successfully competed with new city foundations,ultimatelyandtoalargedegreesurvivinguntiltoday.25Afterall, administrativeandjudicialservicescontinuedtobeofsupremeimportance,even forthenewcolonizersandrulerswhotookoverthelandswheretheRomanshad dominatedbefore,suchasontheIberianPeninsula.26Thisdoesnotimplyatall thattheancientRomancitiesdidnotundergotremendouschange,buttheydid notsimplydisappear. AsAdelaCepasnoteswithregardtothecityofCluniainNorthernHispania, “Clunia’sarcheologicalstoryisafamiliarone:afasturbandevelopmentinthe earlyempirefollowedbyalateRomanperiodmarkedbythechangeoffunction and/orabandonmentofmostofitsstructures....Bythelateempire,though,most of the public buildings had lost their former function. The abundant material cultureunearthedby Palolsince1958isinsharpcontrastwiththeusepeople madeofthecity’sbuildings....AfterthefifthcenturyClunia,tobesure,didnot lookmuchlikethestandardRomancityithadoncebeen.”27 Similar developments can be observed in other areas of the former Roman Empire,wherewealsodiscoverplentyofevidenceregardingthereasonsforthe survival and then growth of urban centers. After all, as Grenville Astill

H. Steuer, “Stadt: Kulturgeschichtlich,” Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Sec., completelyrevisedandexpandeded.byHeinrichBeck,DieterGeuenich,andHeikoSteuer.Vol. 29(BerlinandNewYork:deGruyter,2005),447–72;here451–53.Thisarticlealsoprovidesan extensivebibliography. Steuer,“Stadt:Kulturgeschichtlich,”458–61,emphasizesthattherewerehardlyanyconstruction activities in Gallic and Italian cities until the seventh century, but between 650 and 700 this changedremarkably,probablybecauseofrenewedtradeandcommerce,paralleltotheemergence ofanurbannetworkalongthecoastoftheNorthSea.Heinsiststhatwehavebeendeludedby thetraditionalhistoriographicalperspectiveofaruralworldnorthoftheAlpsandanurbanworld intheMediterraneanregionduringthelateantiquityandtheearlyMiddleAges:“Mitgewissen Unterschieden,dieauchnichtübersehenwerdensollten,entwickeltensichüberallnachBedarf zentraleOrte—dieeinenineinerurspr.,vonStämmenbewohntenLandschaft,dieanderenauf derverwandeltenGrundlagedesehemaligenRöm.Reiches”(461). See,forinstance,J.Arce,“LosgobernadoresdelaDiocesisHispaniarum(ss.IV–Vd.C.)yla continuidaddelasestructurasadministrativasromanasenlaPenínsulaIbérica,”AntiquitéTardive 7(1999):73–83. AdelaCepas,“TheEndingoftheRomanCity:TheCaseofCluniaintheNorthernPlateauof Spain,”PeopleandSpaceintheMiddleAges,300–1300,ed.WendyDavies,GuyHalsall,andAndrew Reynolds.StudiesintheEarlyMiddleAges,15(Turnhout:Brepols,2006),187–207;here191–92. Specializedresearchonhertopiccanbefoundthere.

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emphasizes, “urbanization continued to be stimulated and dominated by aristocratic production and consumption until at least the late eleventh/early twelfth century, when there are signs that some of the urban population had achieved sufficient economic and political power to achieve a degree of independence. This trend had considerably accelerated by the later twelfth century,whenthereisextensiveevidencefortheincreasedcommercializationof thecountrysideandagreaterinvolvementofalargepartofthepopulationinthe market.”28 Ofcourse,therewasnocityjustlikeanyother,andyetwecannotignorethe fundamentalidentityofthemostcriticalfeatures.However,onapoliticallevel, someweredominatedbythebishopandhiscathedral;otherswerecontrolledby afeudallordwhohadhisresidenceinthecityornearby;othersagainenjoyed considerablefreedomfromlocallordsandachievedadegreeofindependencethat was unprecedented even in antiquity, only subordinated under the king or emperor, particularly in the later centuries. As Joseph and Frances Gies summarize: “Medieval cities enjoy a great deal of individual liberty, varying degreesofselfgovernment,andlittledemocracy.Theircharters,manyofwhich werewritteninthetwelfthcentury,areprincipallygrantsoffreedomfromfeudal obligations—theheadtax,thelaborservice,thetaxatwill,themarriagetax—in returnforpaymentofacashimpost.Limitsaresetfortheirmilitaryservice,they areallowedtooperatetheirownlawcourtsforlessercrimes(‘lowjustice’)and, usually,theyarepermittedamayorandcouncil.”29

UrbanSpaceasanEpistemologicalChallenge Ascountlessstudieshavealreadydemonstrated,theparticularfocusonindividual citiesallowsforindepthinvestigationsofspecificaspectsofeachculture,whether weconsiderreligiousgroupsandtheirconflictswitheachother,economicaspects concerning individual social classes (merchants and bankers versus crafts men/artisansandjourneymen),genderrelationships,agedifferences,culturaland linguisticgroups(FlorentinesinLondon,GermansinVenice,FlemishinCologne, etc.),30 or the world of sexuality (prostitution, brothels, pimps, rape, adultery,

29 30

GrenvilleAstill,“Community,IdentityandtheLaterAngloSaxonTown:TheCaseofSouthern England,”PeopleandSpaceintheMiddleAges,233–54;here234. Ibid.,199. Forastudyofearlymodernimmigrantsincitiessincetheseventeenthcentury,seeAlexander Cowan,“ForeignersandtheCity:TheCaseoftheImmigrantMerchant,”MediterraneanUrban Culture1400–1700,ed.id.(Exeter:UniversityofExeterPress,2000),45–55.

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marriage,etc.).31Thecitywasregularlythesitewheremajortensionsdeveloped andwerefoughtoutmostintensively,asseenwhenwethinkofthepogromsthat were directed against Jewish populations in Rhenish cities during the First Crusade(1096),32orinthewakeoftheBlackDeathin1348–1350,andsubsequently farintothelatefifteenthcentury,suchasinNuremberg.Onamoremundane level,consideringeverydaylife,wemightwanttofollowArsenioFrugoni’slively, butprobablyalsoveryaccuratedescription,takingexceptiononlyindetailsor consideringlocalvariantshereandthere: Themedievalcity,aftertheeleventhcentury,hadsomuchferventlifeandconfidence thatwecanreadilyrecognizecharacteristicsofourownmodernworldinit.Butitis alsoextraordinarilydifferentinmanyways,andweneedtoemphasizethataswellas wefollowmedievalpeoplethroughanaverageday.Betweentheeveningtwilightand thegraynessbeforedawnonecanhardlymakeoutthewallsofthehousesforthere isnolightinginthemedievalcityaswesaid.Ateveningcurfewthewomencoverthe coalsinthehearthwithashtoreducethefirehazardandkeepthemaliveuntilnext morning.Thehousesarebuiltwithbeamsofoakandeveryoneisapotentialtinderbox waitingtoblazeupsoatnighttheonlyflamesleftburningarethecandlesbeforethe holy images. Why would the streets need to be lit anyway? In the evening the entrancestothedangerousneighborhoodsarebarred,chainsarestretchedacrossthe rivertopreventasurpriseattackfrombarbarianraiderscomingupstream,andthecity gates are locked tight. The city is like one big household, with everything well secured.33

Alice Beardwood, Alien Merchants in England 1350 to 1377: Their Legal and Economic Position (Cambridge,MATheMedievalAcademyofAmerica,1931);GretheJacobsen,“GuildsinMedieval Denmark:theSocialandEconomicRoleofMerchantsandArtisans,”Ph.D.diss.Universityof Wisconsin,Madison,1980;TimothyO’Neill,MerchantsandMarinersinMedievalIreland(Dublin: IrishAcademicPress,1987).Forspecificexamplesoftheroleofmerchantsinamedievalcity,see JohnEdwards,ChristianCórdoba:TheCityandItsRegionintheLateMiddleAges.CambridgeIberian andLatinAmericanStudies(Cambridge,London,etal.:CambridgeUniversityPress,1982);Peter Spufford,PowerandProfit:theMerchantinMedievalEurope.5thed.(2002;NewYork:Thames& Hudson,2003).SeealsothecontributiontothepresentvolumebyFabianAlfie.Astosexuality inmedievalcities,thatis,primarilyprostitution,seeRuthMazoKarras,“ProstitutioninMedieval Europe,”HandbookofMedievalSexuality,ed.VernL.BulloughandJamesA.Brundage(NewYork andLondon:Garland,1996),243–60.SeealsosomeofthecontributionstoSexuality:intheMiddle AgesandtheEarlyModernAge,ed.AlbrechtClassen.FundamentalsofMedievalandEarlyModern Culture, 3 (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, 2008), especially Gertrud Blaschitz’s study on brothelsandprostitutes(715–50). Thesetragiceventshavealreadybeenrichlydocumentedandanalyzed,andforagoodanthology alsoofprimarytextsdealingwiththedesperateactionstakenbytheJewsintheRhenishcities, seeRobertChazan,EuropeanJewryandtheFirstCrusade(Berkeley,LosAngeles,andLondon: UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1987). RobertArsenioFrugoni,“Introduction,”ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,trans.William McCuaig(ChicagoandLondon:TheUniversityofChicagoPress,2005),1–13;here6.

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Pursuingthisapproachfurther,wecanalsostudythedesignofthestreetpatterns, of the houses, the interior spaces, the work spaces, the churches, the public buildingsandsquares,thecitywall,thegates,thestoragehouses,themarketstalls andshops,administrativeoffices,churches,schools,andlibraries.34Thecitylife wasdeterminedbothbyeconomicaspectsandreligiousperspectives.Infact,even ifnotnecessarilypresentineverybody’smind,St.Augustine’sconceptofthecity of God as the spiritual ideal for the earthly city as its natural counterpart represented the fundamental paradigm for medieval urban dwellers.35 Consequently the need arose for countless ecclesiastic buildings, altars, relics, chapels,confessionals,andsotheneedfortherespectivepriestsandotherclerics was supreme, transforming the earthly city often into the location for the individual’squestforaspiritualhome. Whatevercitywemightwanttouseasanillustrativeexample,invirtuallyevery casethecitizensexpressedgreatprideintheirsocialenvironment,whetherinthe citywallsorthefacadesoftheirownhomes,theirchurchesorthepiazza/city square, as wonderfully illustrated by the latemedieval artist Neroccio di BartolomeodiBenedettode’Landi,whose“TheVirginCommendsSienatoJesus from1480(Siena,ArchiviodiStato)showsthekneelingVirginholdingasmall modelofthecitystandingonthreemarblecolumnsofdifferenthue,presenting ittoChristhoveringabove.Themodel’sthreecolumnsrepresentthefundamental Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity, as reflected by their individual colors.36 But there was no reason for any urban community to trust in its own self assuranceandconfidence,ascountlessexamplesofdestroyed,burntdown,and razedcitiesdemonstrate,allvictimsofinnumerablewars,feuds,fires,andnatural catastrophes.Theworshipofsaints,thededicationofchurchesandcathedralsto theVirginMaryandalsotomartyrsashelpersinemergencies,militaryornatural, found enormous and most impressive expression in wall paintings, and sculptures,andinnamingofecclesiasticbuildingsinmedievalandearlymodern cities. Not surprisingly, St. Christopher, the giant who carried the baby Jesus acrossariverwithoutknowinghistrueidentity,wasoneofthemostpopular saintsinmedievalurbanartforverygoodreasons.37

35 36 37

Forrecentexaminationsofthearchitecturaldesignandsocialfunctionofurbanhouses,seethe contributions to Medieval Domesticity: Home, Housing and Household in Medieval England, ed. Maryanne Kowaleski and P. J. P. Goldberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), especiallybyFelicityRiddy,MarkGardiner,SarahReesJones,andJaneGrenville. Frugoni,“Introduction,9–10. ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,21–23;theillustrationisonp.22.. Frugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,27–31.SeealsoCarolArmstrong,LivesandLegendsoftheSaints: With Paintings from the Great Art Museums in the World (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995)—thoughforyoungreaders,stillusefulfortheillustrations.

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EverydayLifeinaMedievalCity Bothbirthanddeathtookplaceinthecity,thefirstrequiringextensivemedical care and health service, the other requiring considerable efforts to bury the deceasedappropriately.AsthecontributorstoDeathinTownssuggest,lifeinacity couldbeprecarious,consideringinfectiousdiseases(KeithManchester).Burial practicesdeterminedmedievalurbanculturequitesignificantly(AlanMorton); and hospitals that provided the last resting place for the dying were of great importancefortheurbanpopulation(RobertaGilchrist).FarintothelateMiddle Agesthecemeterieswerecentrallylocated,rightnexttotheparishchurch,hence in the middle of the city (Julia Barrow). Finally, the funeral processions and memorialcultandservicesplayedanimportantpartinurbanlife(ClareGittings; MalcolmNorris).38Onlybythefifteenthcenturydidcemeteriesfinallydisappear from the city center because space became limited, and the city governments realizedthehealthhazardsresultingfromtheburyingofthedeadsonearthe watersupplyoftheurbanpopulation.39 Urban space, however, cannot be identified as a collective image equally relevantandidentifiableforeachinhabitant.AsM.GottdienerandAlexandrosPh. Lagopoulosobserve,thoughfromamodernperspective:“Theimageofthecity incognitivemapsisnotthecityitself,norisitsomereflectionoffundamental innateprocessesofspatialperception,becauseweknowthatmostofthewaysin whichpeopleperceivespacearesociallylearnedandexperientiallybased.The cognitivemapissomuchaproductofsocialinteractionthatevenindividuals living near each other in the very same neighborhood will hold different conceptionsoftheirareaasaproductofseparatesocialnetworks....Insum, cognitivegeographylocatestheproductionofspatialmeaningwithintheminds ofindividuals.”40

DeathinTowns:UrbanResponsestotheDyingandtheDead,100–1600,ed.StevenBassett(1992; LondonandNewYork:LeicesterUniversityPress,1995).SeealsoColinPlatt,KingDeath:The BlackDeathandItsAftermathinLateMedievalEngland(TorontoandBuffalo:UniversityofToronto Press,1996),19–31. Anja Tietz, “Der Gottesacker der Stadt Eisleben: Martin Luthers Einfluss auf das Begräbniswesen,” Martin Luther und Eisleben, ed. Rosemarie Knape. Schriften der Stiftung LuthergedenkstätteninSachsenAnhalt,8(Leipzig:EvangelischeVerlagsanstalt,2007),189–205. Foranolder,yetstillvaluablestudyofthistopic,seeHerbertDerwein,Geschichtedeschristlichen FriedhofsinDeutschland(Frankfurta.M.:Franzmathes,1931). M. Gottdiener and Alexandros Ph. Lagopoulos, “Introduction,” The City and the Sign: An IntroductiontoUrbanSemiotics,ed.id.(NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1986),11.

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In other words, there is a certain type of social grammar that allows the individualtoperceivetheurbanspaceinthefirstplace,andtodeterminethat space from a social perspective in the second place: “Urban semiotics then becomesthestudyofspatialstructuresderivedfrominternalizedgrammarsof patterns and designs which become externalized through semiosis.”41 These theoreticalapproacheslaidthefoundationfortheculturalhistoricalanalysisof urbanspacealsointhepremoderntimeswheretownsandcitiesbegantogrowor continuedtheirexpansionsinceRomantimes.Therearecountlesssignsinacity to interpret, and in a way these very signs make up the urban space; concomitantly,boththeurbanspaceanditssemioticsareconstantlysubjectto historicalchangebecausethesocialsubjectperceives,interprets,andcreatesthe signs differently at any given moment.42 However, this is not to ignore the tremendousimpactthatsocialdeterminantshadontheindividualandthesocial group,whetherwethinkoftheChurch,theguild,orthefamily,whichalsoshade andinfluencetheperspectiveofandthemodelingofurbanspace,andthisboth intheMiddleAgesandtoday. As Roland Barthes notes, though again from a modern perspective, but still pertinenttoourtopic,“thecitycenterisalwaysfeltasthespacewheresubversive forces,forcesofrupture,ludicforcesactandmeet.Playisasubjectveryoften emphasizedinthesurveysonthecenter....Incontrast,allthatisnotthecenter is precisely that which is not ludic space, everything which is not otherness: family,residence,identity.”43 SomeofthemajorliteraryprotagonistsintheMiddleAges,suchasAlexanderthe GreatandApolloniusofTyre,clearlyoperateincitiesandutilizecitiesfortheir globalstrategies,andthisatatimewhenmostmedievalcitieswerestillafarcry fromthemodelprovidedbyancientcitiesandwhenmostaudienceswouldnot have been familiar with the concept of true urban living space as antiquity.44

41 42

43 44

GottdienerandLagopoulos,“Introduction,”15. UmbertoEco,“FunctionandSign:SemioticsofArchitecture,”TheCityandtheSign,55–86;here 69: “So, in the course of history, both primary and secondary functions might be found undergoinglosses,recoveries,andsubstitutionsofvariouskinds.Theselosses,recoveries,and substitutionsarecommontothelifeofformsingeneral,andconstitutethenorminthecourseof thereadingofworksofartproper.” RolandBarthes,“SemiologyandtheUrban,”TheCityandtheSign,87–98;here96. Rolf Bräuer, “Alexander der Große: Der Mythos vom unbesiegbaren Eroberer der Welt als Vorbild,WarnungundpejorativesExempel,”Herrscher,Helden,Heilige,ed.UlrichMüllerand WernerWunderlich.MittelalterMythen,1(St.Gallen:UVK.FachverlagfürWissenschaftund Studium, 1996), 3–19. See also the contributions to Alexanderdichtung im Mittelalter: Kulturelle SelbstbestimmungimKontextliterarischerBeziehungen,ed.JanCölln,SusanneFriede,andHartmut Wulfram.VeröffentlichungenausdemGöttingerSonderforschungsbereich529“Internationalität nationalerLiteraturen.”SerieA,1(Göttingen:Wallstein,2000).

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Certainly, medieval knights, as reflected by courtly poets, roam the forests, meadows,andfields;theyvisitcastlesandleaveagainfornewadventures,asif theworldofburghers,merchants,bankers,andcraftsmendidnotmatterordid notevenexist.Inotherwords,most,ifnotall,medievalcourtlyromancestendto refrain from discussing urban life, cities as such, and the class of burghers, althoughthehistoryofmedievalcitiesbeginsveryearlyandgainsinconsiderable significanceatleastbytheeleventhortwelfthcentury. Theseobservationsraisethequestionsofwhendidmedievalmentalitytakenote ofthecityasasignificantseparateentityonthehorizonofmostpeople’sminds? And when did people realize the remarkable difference between urbanite dwellers,theruralpopulation,andmembersofthearistocraticcourts?Canwe properlyusetheriseofthecity,orofthecentralurbanspace,asthebenchmark forthetransitionfromtheMiddleAgestotheRenaissance,oratleasttotheEarly Modernperiod?Orlookingbackwards,canwedrawfromthehistoryofurban centersinlateantiquitytoidentifymorespecificallywhentheancientworldreally cametoanend,givingrisetothemedievalperiod? Allthesetransitionswerecertainlyfluidandtookalongtime,butifwetalk aboutparadigmshiftsinurbanhistory,wecanclearlyrecognizetheimportance ofcitiesasstakesinthelongtermshiftfromoneperiodtoanother.Urbanlifedid notsimplydisappearwiththeendoftheRomanEmpire,thoughtherewas,over thecenturies,aremarkabledeclineineconomicactivitiesandartisticproduction inthoseurbancentersalongwitharefocusonagriculturalproduction.45Inearly medievalTuscany,forinstance,thatis,duringthesixthtotheeighthcenturies,we canobservethetrendtowardtheestablishmentof“concentratedruralpopulation, withinwhichitisdifficult,ifnotimpossible,todiscernarcheologicaldatathat pointstosocialdifferentiation....Insidethesevillagestheprocessofcreatingthe materialsettlementstructuresonan‘urban’modelparalleledtheestablishmentof ruralaristocracies,andstartedonlyinthemideighthcentury.”46 TheslowbutsteadydisappearanceofpublicRomanbuildings,forinstance,and the use of the amphitheaters and colloseums as quarries for private buildings signalafundamentalshiftininterestandorientationamongthelocalpopulation, althoughtheeconomicproductioninthoseoldRomancentersdidnotdisappear. Onthecontrary,asJoachimHenningunderscores,“specializedcraftproduction flourished in Merovingian times. Gregory of Tour’s sixthcentury Paris was a

ChrisWickham,“RethinkingtheStructureoftheEarlyMedievalEconomy,”TheLongMorning ofMedievalEurope:NewDirectionsinEarlyMedievalStudies,ed.JenniferR.DavisandMichael McCormick(Aldershot,Hampshire,andBurlington,VT:Ashgate,2008),19–31;here27–29. RiccardoFrancovich,“TheBeginningsofHilltopVillagesinEarlyMedievalTucscany,”TheLong MorningofMedievalEurope,55–82;here68.

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livingcitywithworkshopsandmarkets.”47TurningtoCologne,theauthornow corroboratesthattheruralizationprocessdidnotoccur,thattherewasnomajor hiatus between the ancient Roman world and the early Middle Ages as far as urbanlifewasconcerned.“Instead,theMerovingianperiodsawflourishingcraft production,includinghighlyspecializedinstallationssuchasglassovens.When productionactivitiesnextpickedupisstillindisputebutitseemstobeaboutthe tenthcenturyatthelatest.”48 Butabsolutecontinuitywasneveragiven,andthedestinyofmedievalcities oftendependedonglobaldevelopmentsineconomic,military,andsocialterms. Someurbancentersexperienceddramaticdeclines,otherswitnessedarebirth,and othersagainsimplycontinuedtheirsteadygrowth.Inthisregard,thefocuson urbanspaceallows,thoughnotpursuedhereinfurtherdetail,anexcellentinsight into larger issues pertaining to empire building under the Merovingians and Carolingians,longtermfamines,economicrestructuringprocesses,andmilitary conflicts.49

TheChurchandtheCity Concomitantly,theroleofecclesiasticalbuildingswithinmedievalcities,especially ofcathedralsandparishchurches,abbeysandconvents,cannotbeunderestimated withregardstoattractingnewsettlementsaroundthemandprovidingbothmore securityandculture.50Moreover,churches,monasteries, priories,chapels,and other ecclesiastical buildings represented focal points for urban growth and developmentthroughouttheentireMiddleAgesandfarbeyond,suchasinthe case of the city of Mainz on the Rhine, today west of Frankfurt, as a major ecclesiasticalcenter,asthelocalofmajoreconomicproductionandtrade,andas asignificant“transitpointfortheshipmentofgoodsbroughtacrosstheAlps,

48 49 50

JoachimHenning,“StrongRulers–WeakEconomy?Rome,theCarolingiansandtheArcheology ofSlaveryintheFirstMillenniumAD,”TheLongMorningofMedievalEurope,33–53;here50. Henning,“StrongRulers,”50–51. Henning,“StrongRulers,”51–53,withfurtherliteratureonthistopic. InaseriesofshortarticlesBerndFuhrmanndiscussesthefollowingaspects:urbanspaceinlate antiquity and the early Middle Ages; urban space in the high and late Middle Ages; urban buildingmethods,urbanlivingculture;urbanprocurementoffoodandothersupplies,alongwith handlingofwasteproducts;andurbansocialtopography,in:EnzyklopädiedesMittelalters,ed.Gert MelvilleandMartialStaub,vol.II(Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,2008),256–79; forabibliography,see478–79.Asinmostothercasesinthisencyclopedia,theseentriesprovide nice surveys, with a lot of concrete data, but the critical, academic, approach is lacking, not surprising (and also not necessarily to be expected) for an encyclopedia. See my review, forthcominginMediaevistik.

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includingspicesfromtheeast,andwasvisitedbyMuslimsandJewishtraders.”51 ThesameappliestoLucca,Italy,whichboastedofover50churchesbeforethe tenthcentury;henceitwasamajorecclesiasticalcenterofgreaturbansignificance, although,orparticularlybecause,itmaintainedcloseconnectionwithitsrural hinterland.52 Even the aristocracy tended to settle in the city, the site of the archbishop’sseat. Intheseearlymedievalcitiespeoplecouldfindtheironlyreliablerefugeinthe caseofanemergencybecausetheretheyfoundtheonlybuildingsoutofstone availableanywhere,hencecouldresistfireorflooding,andheretheenemycould not easily achieve the desired goals and cause havoc. The belfries served exceedinglywellaswatchtowers,andtheneutralityofapublicspaceinvited administrators,rulers,andrepresentativesoflargerurbangroupstomeettherefor negotiations,councils,ordebates.ButmanycitiesnorthoftheAlps,particularly inScandinavia,theBaltics,andIreland,suchasYork,England,orDublin,were mostlybuiltoutofwood,evenifcloseto10,000peoplecouldlivethereattheend ofthetenthcentury.53 Notsurprisingly,thechurchprovedtobetheideallocationtodepositimportant legal and political documents; and the city governments liked to store their privileges,seals,measures,andweightsinchurches.Inotherwords,theparish church,andsothecathedralinlargercities,emergedasthecentralpointforurban administrationandinformation,whichalsoledtothefoundationofimportant librariesrightthere(see,forinstance,Heidelberg).Finally,churcheswerethefirst buildingsinmedievalcitieswithmechanicalclocks,andthebellsstructuredthe livesofallpeoplelivinginacity,atleastsinceca.1370–1380.54Butwhatdoesall thismeanforthecreationandfurtherdevelopmentofurbanspaceintheMiddle Agesandtheearlymodernage?Andhowdoweunderstandspaceinthefirst place,certainlyamostcomplexsemioticphenomenonwheretheprivateandthe public intersect, communication channels operate or not, community is established,andlawandorderpracticed?

53 54

JuliaM.H.Smith,EuropeafterRome:ANewCulturalHistory500–1000(Oxford,NewYork,etal: OxfordUniversityPress,2005),192. LynetteOlson,TheEarlyMiddleAges:TheBirthofEurope(Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire, andNewYork:PalgraveMacmillan,2007),134–35. Olson,TheEarlyMiddleAges,137. Jan Kuys, “Weltliche Funktionen spätmittelalterlicher Pfarrkirchen in den nördlichen Niederlanden,”TheUseandAbuseofSacredPlacesinLateMedievalTowns,ed.byPaulTrioand MarjanDeSmet.MediaevaliaLovaniensia.SeriesI/StudiaXXXVIII(Leuven:LeuvenUniversity Press,2006),27–45;seealsoGabrielaSignori,“SakraloderProfan?DerKommunikationsraum Kirche,”ibid.,117–34.

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CriticalApproachestotheMedievalCity Alltheseinquiriesare,ofcourse,onlybasedonrhetoricalquestionsthatcannotbe answeredeasily;otherwisethepresentvolumewouldnothavebeennecessaryor even possible in the first place. We know that the emergence of the city as a separate topographic and architectural entity dramatically and unavoidably changed the topography and mentality of the Middle Ages and then deeply influenced and determined the earlymodern world. As the contributors to a symposiumheldinTrient,November9–11,2000,indicate,thephenomenonofthe medievalcityfundamentallytriggeredthecreationofanewtypeofconsciousness, theriseofanurbanclass,anurbanculture,andanurbanidentity.55Andasearly modernhistoriansandhistoriansofmentalityhaveoftenconfirmed,thoseurban centersalloverEuropeincreasinglyattractedagrowingamountofwealth,even effectivelycompetingagainstthetraditionalpowerplayers,especiallytheChurch andthenobility,thoughitwouldhavetobeamatteroffurtherandintensive debate as to the role which territorial dukes played, and how much the royal courtscouldmaintaintheircultural,military,andpoliticalsupremacyevenwhen locatedoutsideofcitywalls. Butthecriticalfunctionoftownsandcities—forthepurposeofthisstudyIwill not draw a particular distinction between both terms, though statistically and economicallythecitywouldhavetobedefinedasamuchlarger,muchdenser, andmuchmoreimportantentitythanatown—inthenetworkofproductionand consumption,tradeandmarkets,alreadysocentralintheworldofantiquity,also continued to play the most important role ever since, whether a city was an episcopal,ducal,royalpropertyornot.56

Aspettiecomponentidell’identitàurbanainItaliaeinGermania(secoliXIV–XVI),acuradiGirogio ChittoliniandPeterJohanek.Annalidell’IstitutostoricoitalogermanicoinTrento,12(Bologna andBerlin:IlMulinoDunkerandHumbolt,2003);seealsothereviewbyElenaDiVenosa,inStudi medievali49,1(2008):436–44.Chittolinicorrectlyemphasizes:“Ilperiodopropostoèstatoquello deisecoliXIII–XVI;un’etàincuilacittàdaunlatohamaturato,siainItaliacheinGermania,una forte‘coscienzacivica’,dalpuntodivistapolitico;eincui,nellostessotempo,devefronteggiare altreforzepoliticheesterne,comesignori,principie‘dominanti’,edèquindisollecitataariflettere eaesprimereinformeparticolarilapropriaidentità”(8).BerndRoeckemphasizes,ontheother hand,theneedtoanalyzethefundamentaltransitionfromtheimaginarycity,asborrowedeither from antiquity or from the autochthone examples, as reflected on seals or frescoes, to the realisticallyidentifiablecityvastlyexpandedbeyondthetraditionalcastleandthenarrowrange ofhousesshadowedbythetallchurchtowersandthecitywall:“DieStadtwirdzurNeuzeithin immer entschiedener in ihrer spezifischen optisch greifbaren Individualität gefaßt, und sie begegnetschließlichalsGegenstandautonomerDarstellung”(ibid.,12). H.vanWerveke,“TheRiseoftheTowns,”TheCambridgeEconomicHistoryofEurope.Vol.III: EconomicOrganizationandPoliciesintheMiddleAges,ed.M.M.Postan,E.F.Rich,andEdward Miller(Cambridge:AttheUniversityPress,1963),3–41;here22–24.

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Themodernworldis,asweallknow,increasinglydominatedbyurbanculture, andlessandlessoftheworldpopulationislivinginthecountry,whichisastrong trendthatcontinuestoimpactourmodernlivesbothintheWesternandinthe Easternworld.57Modernurbanspacesarebeingdesigned,andartificiallycreated forpolitical,economic,social,andculturalpurposes.58Theoppositewasnormally thecaseinpremoderntimes,andyettherootoftheexplosivedevelopmentof citiesallovertheEuropeanlandscaperestsintheeleventhandtwelfthcenturies, ifnotearlier,asIhavediscussedabove.Itwouldreallytakeuntiltheeighteenth, and especially the nineteenth centuries for cities of the size of a megapolis to emerge,thoughtrulyurbanspaceexistedalreadyintheMiddleAges,evenifonly inamicroscopicdimensioncomparedtowhatweexperiencetoday. Thehistoricalexplorationofthemedievalcityhasalongtradition,obviously becauseurbancentershaverepresentedthenodesofanevergrowingnetwork deeplyinfluencingmedievalsociety.Constitutionalhistorianshavetreatedthe phenomenonofthecityfrommanydifferentperspectives,especiallywithregard tourbanprivilegesandfreedomsthatmadelifeinacitysodifferentfromliving inthecountrywithinruralcommunitieswherefeudalstructurescontinuedto dominatefarintotheeighteenthandnineteenthcenturies.FritzRörig,forinstance, examined the rise of the medieval city in the wake of the crusades, the developmentofanurbanlandscapeincentralandeasternEuropeduringtheso calledeasternColonization,thenewrelationshipbetweencityandstatesincethe late Middle Ages, the considerable growth of the urban population and the establishmentofurbanpowerallovermedievalEurope.Heidentifiedasthemajor causesforthistremendousphenomenontheestablishmentofindependentcity governments(noteverywhere,butoftenenough),theroleoftheguilds,anurban educationsystems,andhencetheriseofliteracy,theeconomicpowerofcities,and manytimesurbannavalpowerbothalongmajorriversandthecoastlinesofthe variousseas,apartfrommilitarypowerandtheirdefensesystems. In most cases the newly established urban pride and identity found its best expressioninthecityhalls,ortownhalls,alwaysveryrepresentativebuildings,

EncyclopediaofUrbanCultures:CitiesandCulturesAroundtheWorld,ed.MelvinEmberandCarol R.Ember.4vols.(Danbury,CT:Grolier,2002);ChrisJenks,UrbanCulture:CriticalConceptsin LiteraryandCulturalStudies.4vols.(LondonandNewYork:Routledge,2004);AlanC.Turley, UrbanCulture:ExploringCitiesandCultures(UpperSaddleRiver,NJ:Pearson/PrenticeHall,2005). Theliteratureonmodernurbanspaceisactuallylegionanddoesnotneedtobediscussedor listedhereindetail. Thenumberofrelevantstudiesthathaveappearedonlyrecentlyisalmostuncountable;see,for instance,UrbanDesign,ed.AlexKriegerandWilliamS.Saunders.Architecture/UrbanStudies (Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,2008);JohnR.Short,AlabasterCities:UrbanU.S.since 1950.Space,Place,andSociety(Syracuse,NY:SyracuseUniversityPress,2006);ACompanionto Urban Economics, ed. Richard Arnott and Daniel P. McMillen. Blackwell Companions to ContemporaryEconomics,4(Malden,MA,andOxford:Blackwell,2006).

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though differences between English and French cities, on the one hand, and Germancitiesontheother,dependingonthepoliticalframework,nottospeakof ItalianandSpanishcities,continuedtoberemarkable.59JeanDenisG.G.Lepage callsthisunparalleleddevelopment“urbanemancipation,”andcomments: In spite of the authorities’ resistance, the burghers were gradually admitted into society and obtained their freedom. As early as 1032 the burghers of Venice proclaimed their freedom and bound themselves by oath to defend it. The same happenedinMilanin1067andLuccain1068.In1070,thecityofLeMansinFrance wasinrebellion,followedbyCambraiin1077andthenbythenorthernItaliancities ofLombardyandGenoa.Inthe12thcenturylargescalecityemancipationbeganinall theareasbetweentheSeineandMeuserivers,aswellasinThuringia,Saxonyand Bavaria.60

ButextensivedifferencesbetweenWesternandSouthern,betweenNorthernand EasternEuropealwaysneedtobetakenintoconsideration,especiallyasfaras efforts toward urban independence and economic influences are concerned. Nevertheless,mosteconomictrade,butthenalsothecreationofart,theflowering ofschoolsanduniversities,andtosomeextentalsotheproductionofliterature relied heavily, if not exclusively, on cities with their markets, craftsmanship, politicalpower,andmilitarysecurity.Infact,ashistorianshaveobservedonly veryrecently,citieswereverydifficulttoconquer,andmanysiegeshadtobe abandoned“iftherewasrealresistance.Scalewasaverybigissuebecausearmies wererarelyverylarge.Tortona,attackedbyBarbarossaonhiswaytoRome,was asmallplace,butitheldoutfromFebruarytoApril1155.HebesiegedCremafrom July 1159 to January 1160 and Milan, for the second time after the failure in August/September1158,fromMay1161toMarch1162.”61JohnFrancestatesit veryclearly:“acitywithawilltoresistwassoformidablethatmanysiegesfailed. Bycontrastcastleswereusuallysmallerandsometimesweakertargets.”62

FritzRörig,TheMedievalTown,trans.J.A.Matthew(1932;BerkeleyandLosAngeles:University ofCaliforniaPress,1967);seealsothecontributionstoTheEnglishMedievalTown:AReaderin EnglishUrbanHistory1200–1540,ed.RichardHoltandGervaseRosser.ReadersinUrbanHistory (LondonandNewYork:Longman,1990);R.H.Hilton,EnglishandFrenchTownsinFeudalSociety: AComparativeStudy.PastandPresentPublications(Cambridge,NewYork,etal.:Cambridge UniversityPress,1992);Villesetsociétésurbainesaumoyenâge:HommageàM.leProfesseurJacques Heers.Culturesetcivilisationsmédiévales,XI(Paris:Pressesdel’UniversitédeParisSorbonne, 1994). JeanDenis G. G. Lepage, Castles and Fortified Cities of Medieval Europe: An Illustrated History (Jefferson,NC,andLondon:McFarland&Company,2002),251. JohnFrance,“SiegeConventionsinWesternEuropeandtheLatinEast,”WarandPeaceinAncient and Medieval History, ed. Philip de Souza and John France (Cambridge, New York, et al.: CambridgeUniversityPress,2008),158–72;here163. France,“SiegeConventions,”163.

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However, each city faced different challenges and enjoyed different opportunities,whethertherewasanoverbearingoverlordorthelackofaunifying system on a global level, such as in Germany, at least since the end of the Hohenstaufendynasty.CitiesfacedconflictswithMuslimneighborsontheIberian peninsula,conflictswithnobles,suchasinEngland,aboveall,andstruggleswith theGermanemperor,suchasinItaly.63Eachmedievalandearlymoderncitywas different in its historical roots, its economic and political conditions, and the contextofitscultural,geographical,andreligiousconditions.Atthesametime,we can group many cities into the same categories with regard to their origins, developments,structures,andculturalandeconomicemphases. Historians have regularly divided medieval European cities into three geographicalzones,firsttheinner,orsouthernzonecomprisingtheterritoryofthe formerwesternRomanEmpire,centeredontheMediterranean.Thenorthernzone consistedofthosecitieslocatedintheareanorthoftheAlps,mostlysituatedon thebanksoftheriversRhineandDanube.Thethirdzonecomprisedtheregion whereRomancultureandcivilizationhadexertedeitherverylittleornoinfluence, suchasScotland,Ireland,Scandinavia,andtheSlaviccountrieswhereeconomic andculturalaspectsdidnotattractthecolonizers’interests.64 But then there were new foundations, relocations, merging of smaller settlements,grantingofprivilegesthattriggeredthecreationofmarketsandhence ofcities.Newcitieswerenotonlyplannedandrealizedatoneswoopintheearly modernage,say,inthelateRenaissance,butalreadyinthehigh,orlate,Middle Ages, such as AiguesMortes. As Georges Zarnecki observes, “This large enterpriseisapreciousexampleofatownbuiltpracticallyanewinthethirteenth century, and was not finished until the next reign, that of Philip the Bold (1270–1285).”Contrarytomanymodernassumptions,thiswasnottheonlycase inmedievalEurope.65

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Lepage,CastlesandFortifiedCities,252–53. TheclassicalstudyofthisphenomenonisEdithEnnen’sFrühgeschichtedereuropäischenStadt. VeröffentlichungdesInstitutsfürGeschichtlicheLandeskundederRheinlandeanderUniversität Bonn (Bonn: L. Rörscheid, 1953). Now see also Joachim Herrmann, “Siedlungsgeschichtliche GrundlagenundgeschichtlicheVoraussetzungenfürdieEntwicklungBerlins,”Frühgeschichteder europäischenStadt,ed.HansJürgenBrachmannandid.SchriftenzurUrundFrühgeschichte,44 (Berlin:AkademieVerlag,1991),7–18.ForafocusontheRussianworld,seeTheCityinRussian History,ed.MichaelF.Hamm(Lexington:UniversityPressofKentucky,1976);forafocuson Scotland, see Edinburgh: The Making of a Capital City, ed. Brian Edwards and Paul Jenkins (Edinburgh:EdinburghUniversityPress,2005).Foranarcheologicalapproachtothistopic,see JohnSchofieldandAlanVince,MedievalTowns:TheArcheologyofBritishTownsinTheirEuropean Setting(LondonandNewYork:Continuum,2003),21–26.SeealsoEdithEnnen,Dieeuropäische StadtdesMittelalters.2ndexpandedandimproveded.SammlungVandenhoeck(1972;Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1975). Georges Zarnecki, Art of the Medieval World: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting, The Sacred Arts. LibraryofArtHistory(NewYork:HarryN.Abrams,1975),395.

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Overandoveragain,itdeservestobeemphasizedthatthevarietyofmedieval andearlymoderncitieswasconsiderable,whetherwethinkofabishop’sseat,a castle of a nobleman, an imperial palace or estate, a juncture of major trading routes,etc.,aroundwhichthenemergedtheearliesturbansettlementandthen developed over time. Not surprisingly, then, urban growth did not proceed lineallyandsystematically,andthereweremanysetbacksandfailuresatspecific timesandperiods,especiallywhenwethinkofthedeepimpactofthesocalled BlackDeath,nottospeakofwars,famines,economiccrises,andotherfactors.66 Detailscannotbeexaminedanddiscussedhere,whichwouldonlyrepeatwhat hasoftenbeenstatedelsewhere;henceitwillsufficeforourpurposesjusttokeep inmindthatthehistoryofmedievalandearlymoderncitiesdifferedconsiderably fromregiontoregion,fromcountrytocountry,andalsofromculturetoculture. Inotherwords,despiteaseeminglyuniformhistoryofmedievalcities,varieties anddifferencesdominatedconsiderably,theresultofwhichstillcanbeobserved today.Thedifferencesareasremarkableasthesimilarities,andmuchdepended on economic prosperity, political fortune, religious appeal, and growth of the population.Consequently,therangeoftopicscoveredbyscholarsinthisarea cannot even be exhaustively defined. To gain just a taste of the enormous potentialsforresearchintomedievalandearlymoderncitylife,andtograspthe wealth of critical insights into this field, following I will list a few random examplesofmorerecentpublications. Paul Trio, like many other historians, has worked intensively on medieval confraternities,focusingonGhent.67JohnHendersonhadprecededhimwitha comparablestudiesontheconfraternitiesinmedievalFlorence.68MarjanDeSmet investigated,togetherwithPaulTrio,therelationshipbetweenChurchandtown inthelatemedievalLowCountries.69Povertyandthehospitalinlatemedieval

JosephP.Byrne,TheBlackDeath.GreenwoodGuidestoHistoricEventsoftheMedievalWorld (Westport,CT,andLondon:GreenwoodPress,2004),57–72;JürgenStrothmann,“Der‘Schwarze Tod’ – Politische Folgen und die ‘Krise’ des Spätmittelalters,” Pest: Die Geschichte eines Menschheitstraumas,ed.MischaMeier(Stuttgart:J.G.Cotta’scheBuchhandlung,2005),179–98. PaulTrio,Volksreligiealsspiegelvaneenstedelijkesamenleving:debroederschappenteGentindelate middeleeuwen.SymbolaeFacultatisLitterarumetPhilosophiaeLovaniensis.SeriesB,11(Leuven: UniversitairePersLeuven,1993);id.,“ConfraternitiesintheLowCountriesandtheIncreasein WrittenSourceMaterialintheMiddleAges,”FrühmittelalterStudien38(2004):415–26. JohnHenderson,ConfraternitiesandtheChurchinLateMedievalFlorence(Oxford:BasilBlackwell, 1986). MarjanDeSmetandPaulTrio,“DeverhoudingtussenKerkenstadindeNederlandenindelate Middeleeuwen,onderzochtaandehandvanhetinterdict,”Jaarboekvoormiddeleeuwsegeschiedenis 5(2002):247–74.Seealsoherarticle“TheInvolvementoftheLateMedievalUrbanAuthoritiesin theLowCountrieswithRegardtotheIntroductionoftheFranciscanObservance,”Revued’histoire ecclésiastique101,1(2006):37–88.

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urbansocietyconstitutetheresearchinterestofSheilaSweetinburgh,70butwealso needtomentiontheseminalstudybyMichelMollatfrom1978focusingonthe pooratlarge.71ThecontributorstoArmutundArmenfürsorge(2006)examinethe publicdiscourseaboutthepoorwithinthecontextofthemonasticorders,therole ofhospitalsandothercharitableinstitutions,thepointsofcontactsbetweenJews andChristiansintheareaofcharityforthepoor,andthevarietyofperspectives on the poor in texts and images from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries.72Citiesweredeeplyaffectedbywarandbynaturalconsequences,73but theirsteadyrisefromtheearlyMiddleAgestotheRenaissanceandbeyondcould notbestopped,anddespiteourcommonassumptionthatthemedievalworldwas dominatedbychivalryandknighthood,alongwiththeChurch,whereasthevast majority of peasant population was simply downtrodden, holds true only for certainperiodsandcertainareas,andeventherewewouldhavetodifferentiate considerably.74 Moreover,itwouldbeerroneoustoassumethaturbanlifeinthepremodern periodwastranquilandstable,withmostpeopleonlybusilyworkinghardto makealivingascraftsmenandartists.Thehistoryofurbanuprisingsandrevolts extendsovercenturiesandindicateshowmuchtheseurbancommunitieswerein constantfluxandunderwentregularchangesaccordingtopolitical,economic, religious,andsocialtransformations.75Infact,thedenselivingconditionsinacity,

SheilaSweetinburgh,TheRoleoftheHospitalinMedievalEngland(Dublin:FourCourts,2004); eadem,“ClothingtheNakedinLateMedievalEastKent,”ClothingCulture,1300–1600,ed.C.T. Richardson(Burlington,VT:Ashgate,2004),109–21. MichelMollat,ThePoorintheMiddleAges:AnEssayinSocialHistory,trans.ArthurGoldhammer (1978;NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress,1986) ArmutundArmenfürsorgeinderitalienischenStadtkulturzwischen[dem]13.und16.Jahrhundert: Bilder, Texte und soziale Praktiken, ed. Philine Helas and Gerhard Wolf. Inklusion/Exklusion: StudienzuFremdheitundArmutvonderAntikebiszurGegenwart,2(Frankfurta.M.,Berlin, etal.:PeterLang,2006).ForrecentstudiesonmarginalizedpeopleintheMiddleAges,seeLiving Dangerously:OntheMarginsinMedievalandEarlyModernEurope,ed.BarbaraA.Hanawaltand AnnaGrotans(NotreDame,IN:UniversityofNotreDamePress,2007).Buttheurbancontext doesnotplayanysignificantroleinthecontributions. See,forinstance,GerhardFouquet,“FüreineKulturgeschichtederNaturkatastrophen:Erdbeben inBasel1365undGroßfeuerinFrankenberg1476,”StädteausTrümmern:Katastrophenbewältigung zwischenAntikeundModerne,ed.AndreasRanftandStephanSelzer(Göttingen:Vandenhoeck& Ruprecht,2004),101–31. See,forinstance,thecontributionstoArtandPoliticsinLateMedievalandEarlyRenaissanceItaly, 1250–1500,ed.CharlesM.Rosenberg.NotreDameConferencesinMedievalStudies,2(Notre Dame:UniversityofNotreDamePress,1990). JelleHaemers,“AMoodyCommunity?EmotionandRitualinLateMedievalUrbanRevolts,” EmotionsintheHeartoftheCity(14th–16thCentury),ed.ElodieLecuppreDesjardinandAnne LaureVanBruaene.StudiesinEuropeanUrbanHistory(1100–1800),V(Turnhout:Brepols,2005), 63–81;AurelioEspinosa,TheEmpireoftheCities:EmperorCharlesV,theComuneroRevolt,andthe TransformationoftheSpanishSystem.StudiesinMedievalandReformationTraditions,137(Boston:

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where the various social classes—and by the same token also the two genders—hadtointeractwitheachotheronadailybasisrepeatedlyresultedin conflicts and tensions, some of which erupted into riots and military confrontations.Butmanyuprisingswere,asIhavementionedabove,specifically directedagainstthecity’soverlord,abishoporasecularruler,whetherwethink ofMilan(1035–1037,1042–1045),Cambrai(1077–1227),Laon(1107–1112and1128), Cologne (1073 and 1074), Bruges (1127–1128), Rome (1143–1155), London (1191–1216),andmanyothersthroughouttimefarintothesixteenthcentury.76 Afterall,asevenDanteAlighiericonfirmedinhisDivinaCommedia(Paradiso), peoplearesocialbeingsandneedtolivetogetherinordertoprosperandgrow: Ond’elliancora:“Ordì:sarebbeilpeggio perl’omointerra,senonfossecive?” “Sì”rispuos’io;“equiragionnoncheggio.”77 [Andhecontinued:‘Nowtellme,woulditbeworse formanonearthifhewerenotasocialbeing?’ ‘Yes,’Iagreed,‘andhereIasknoproof.’]

FollowingClaireE.Honess,itdeservestobenotedthatDantestronglyembraced thenotionoftheciviccommunityformingtheessentialframeworkforproductive human life. She comments, “Dante states very explicitly that the individual is worseoffinthislifeifheisnotacitizen,apointofviewclearlyillustratedbythe exchange...betweenthepilgrimandCharlesMartel[Par.VIII,115–17].”78Inthis regardwemightevenconsiderDantetobealreadyfarremovedfromtraditional medieval ideology: “Dante’s notion of citizenship . . . represents a rethinking, thoughnotnecessarilyarejection,ofmanyofthemostcommonmedievalideas ontheroleoftheChristianwithinpoliticalsociety,putforward,aboveall,bySt

Brill,2008).SeealsothecontributiontothepresentvolumebyLiaB.Ross. KnutSchulz,“DennsieliebendieFreiheitsosehr...:KommunaleAufständeundEntstehungdes europäischenBürgertumsimHochmittelalter(Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,1992). SeealsoGerdSchwerhoff,“ÖffentlicheRäumeundpolitischeKulturinderfrühneuzeitlichen Stadt:EineSkizzeamBeispielderReichsstadtKöln,”InteraktionundHerrschaft:DiePolitikder frühneuzeitlichenStadt,ed.RudolfSchlögl.HistorischeKulturwissenschaft,5(Constance:UVK Verlagsgesellschaft,2004),113–36. DanteAlighieri,Paradiso.AversetranslationbyRobertandJeanHollander.Introductionand NotesbyRobertHollander(NewYork,London,etal.:Doubleday,2006);seethecommentaryat 199.Cf.alsoClaireE.Honess,FromFlorencetotheHeavenlyCity:ThePoetryofCitizenshipinDante. ItalianPerspective(London:ModernHumanitiesResearchAssociationandManeyPublishing, 2006),37:“FollowingAristotle,Dantemaintainsthat,socially,humanbeingsinclinenaturally towardsthatwhichtheybelievetobegood—the‘vitafelice’—anaimwhichindividualsalonecan neverhopetoachievewithoutthehelpoftheirfellowhumanbeingswithinthecommunity.”I wouldliketoexpressmythankstomycolleagueFabianAlfie,UniversityofArizona,forpointing outthispassageinDanteandthestudybyHoness. Honess,FromFlorencetotheHeavenlyCity,38.

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Augustine.”79Inotherwords,anindividual’sidentificationwithurbanspaceand theurbancommunitymightbeconsideredacriticalbenchmarktodifferentiate social,mental,andideologicaldifferencesbetweentwoglobalperiods,theMiddle Agesandtheearlymodernage(notnecessarilytheRenaissance). SomemedievalcitiesgrewoutofancientRomansettlements;otherswerethe productofearlymedievalfoundationsofmonasteriesandbishoprics;othersagain developedoutofsmallruralsettlementsoraroundcastleswherecraftsmenwere constantlyneeded,apartfromtheservantsandfarmhands.Thereare,ultimately, manydiverseexplanationsfortheestablishmentandgrowthofcities,sosuffice heretoobservethatitwouldbeutterlyerroneoustoregardpremoderncitiesas negligibleentitieswithinthecontextoffeudalsociety,eventhoughmedievalpoets tendtoignorethemerchantsorregardthemasdubious,untrustworthy,unstable, andoftensimplynotasreliableandhonorablecharacters.80AsH.vanWerveke concludes, The towns, once they had acquired their own constitution and had become independentpoliticalentities,oftentriedthroughtheirtownprivilegetoconsolidate theirprosperityandtheirpreponderanceoverthesurroundingcountryside,whichhad originallyresultedfromthefreeinterplayofeconomicforces.Inthesameway,within thetowns,therulingclass,whoseascendancywasoriginallyfoundedonwealthalone, tendedtotransformitselfintoapoliticallyprivilegedpatriciate,capableforthatreason ofmodifyingtoitsownadvantagetheconditionsofmateriallife.Ontheotherhand, inthoseplaceswhere,about1300orlater,thelowerclasswasabletoassureitselfeven a modest participation in the management of public affairs, it also exercised an influence on economic life by striving for regulation, with the object no longer of higherproductivitybutofasociallymoreequitabledistributionofexistingsourcesof wealth.81

SomeofthemostimportantareasinEuropewherecitiessprangupandflourished throughout the centuries were: southern England, Flanders, northern France,

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Honess,FromFlorencetotheHeavenlyCity,39. WolframvonEschenbach,however,particularlyinhisWillehalm(ca.1220),castsquiteadifferent picture of the admirable, highly ethical and courteous merchant; see Danielle Buschinger, “L’Image du marchand chez Wolfram von Eschenbach,” Guillaume et Willehalm: Les Epopees françaisesetl’œuvredeWolframvonEschenbach,ed.eadem.GöppingerArbeitenzurGermanistik, 421(Göppingen:Kümmerle,1985),7–13.ForWillehalm,seeWolframvonEschenbach,Willehalm: NachderHandschrift857derStiftsbibliothekSt.Gallen.Mittelhochdeutscher Text, Übersetzung, Kommentar,ed.JoachimHeinzle.MitdenMiniaturenausderWolfenbüttelerHandschriftund einemAufsatzvonPeterundDorotheaDiemer.BibliothekdesMittelalters,9(Frankfurta.M.: DeutscherKlassikerVerlag,1991). H.vanWerveke,“TheRiseoftheTowns,”41;seealsothevariouscontributionstoTheCambridge EconomicHistoryofEurope.Vol.II:TradeandIndustryintheMiddleAges,ed.M.M.Postanand EdwardMiller(1952;Cambridge,London,etal.:CambridgeUniversityPress,1987).

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southernandwesternGermany,northernandcentralItaly,andeasternSpain.82 ButsignificantcitiescouldalsobefoundinScotland,Scandinavia,intheBaltic countries, and Russia.83 The difficulties for urban communities, or communes, throughoutmedievalandearlymodernEuropetoestablishthemselves,tofend off regional or local lords, and to find their own identities were legion, and although many succeeded to establish more or less their freedom and independence,othersultimatelyfailedandweretotallydominatedbyanoblelord, abishop,ortheemperorhimself,asJeanDenisG.G.Lepageconfirms: Somecitiesobtainedonlyprivilegesbutremainedunderthedirecttutelageofthelocal lord,prelate,bishoporarchbishop.Othercitiesweresubmittedtotheauthorityofa prince,kingoremperor.Stillotherurbancommunitiesbecametotallyindependent. Called communes in northern Europe and municipalities in the South, freetowns becamecollectivepowers,autonomouslaicrepublics,orindependentprincipalities. Accordingtothecharter,freecitieshadtherighttomaintainapermanentarmy,build fortifications,makewar,andconcludealliancesandpeacetreatises.84

Notsurprisingly,awholesleuthofrelevantdocumentsinurbanarchivesand elsewhere confirm the profound impact of urban life on medieval and early modernsocietyineverypossiblemeaningoftheword,thoughmostimportantly with regard to politics and economics. Nevertheless, from a mentalhistorical perspective,thecityassuchdoesnotseemtohaveplayedamajorroleinpublic discourse,orrather,itemergedonthementalhorizonverylate.Atleastthisisthe generalimpressionthatneedstobecriticallyanalyzedinholisticandspecialized terms.

NewApproachestotheStudyofUrbanSpace ThepurposeofthepresentIntroductionandthenumerouscontributionscannot betostudythehistoryofmedievalandearlymoderncitiesinEuropeandthe neighboringworldregionsatlarge,thoughallthoseaspectswillcomeintoplay invariouscontributionstothisvolume.Afterall,thenumberofrelevantstudies oncitiesintheirhistoricalandsocialeconomiccontextislegion,eitherfocusing onglobalaspectsoronspecificthemesrelevantforindividualcitiesinparticular

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FortheLowCountries,seethecontributionstoTheUseandAbuseofSacredSpaces,2006. JeanPierreLeguayetal.,“Stadt,”LexikondesMittelalters,Vol.VII(Munich:LexmaVerlag,1993), 2169–2208; see also Clive Foss, “Urbanism, Byzantine” (304–07); A. L. Udovitch, “Urbanism, Islamic”(307–311);KathrynL.Reyerson,“Urbanism,WesternEuropean”(311–20),Dictionaryof theMiddleAges,ed.JosephR.Strayer.Vol.12(NewYork:CharlesScribner’sSons,1989). Lepage,CastlesandFortifiedCities,256.SeealsoOlson,TheEarlyMiddleAges,186–89.

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regions.85Similarly,theinterestinparticularaspectsofurbanculturehasalsobeen intense because its examination sheds important light on the development of medieval and earlymodern society.86 This does not mean, however, that the characteristics of urban culture, or medieval and earlymodern life within the urbanspace,havebeenadequatelyandsatisfactorilyanalyzedanddiscussed.A vastcorpusofrelevantsourcematerialsisavailabletoexaminefurtherandtoa much greater depth about the physical environment and social services, civic religion, the urban economy, social organization and tensions, including riots, uprisings,generalprotests,andmobactivities,andthepoliticalstructures(guilds andthepatriciate).87Theseincludeurbanchroniclesandaltarpieces,liturgical plays, secular plays, letters, musical pieces, sculptures, and so also urban architecture.Surprisingly,manyofsocalledStadtbücher,containingawiderange ofdocumentsmirroringallkindsofsocial,legal,economic,religious,andpolitical activitiesinthecity,stillawaittheirthoroughexamination.Everypersonwho wantedtogaintheprivilegetojointheciviccommunityhadtoapplyandwaitfor

See,forinstance,DasLebeninderStadtdesSpätmittelalters:InternationalerKongressKremsander Donau20.bis23.September1976.ÖsterreichischeAkademiederWissenschaften.Philosophisch historische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 325. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Mittelalterliche RealienkundeÖsterreichs,2(Vienna:VerlagderösterreichischenAkademiederWissenschaften, 1980);L’evoluzionedellecittàitalianenell’XIsecolo,acuradiRenatoBordoneeJörgJarnut.Annali dell’Istitutostoricoitalogermanico,25(Bologna:SocietàeditriceilMulino,1988);BrigitteStreich, ZwischenReiseherrschaftundResidenzbildung:DerWettinischeHofimspätenMittelalter(Cologneand Vienna:BöhlauVerlag,1989);KnutSchulz,“DennsieliebendieFreiheitsosehr...”;EvamariaEngel, DiedeutscheStadtdesMittelalters.Beck’sHistorischeBibliothek(Munich:C.H.Beck,1993);Heike Bierschwale and Jacqueline van Leeuwen, Wie man eine Stadt regieren soll: Deutsche und niederländischeStadtregimentslehrendesMittelalters.MedievaltoEarlyModernCulture,8(Frankfurt a.M.,Berlin,etal.:PeterLang,2005). See,forinstance,PenelopeDavis,TownLifeintheMiddleAges(London:Wayland,1972);Crossroads ofMedievalCivilization:TheCityofRegensburgandItsIntellectualMilieu,ed.EdelgardE.DuBruck and Karl Heinz Göller. Medieval and Renaissance Monograph Series, V (Detroit: Michigan ConsortiumforMedievalandEarlyModernStudies,1984);TownsinTransition:UrbanEvolution inLateAntiquityandtheEarlyMiddleAges,ed.NeilChristieandS.T.Loseby(Aldershot,Hants, England,andBrookfield,VT:ScolarPress,1996):DavidNicholas,TheGrowthoftheMedievalCity: FromLateAntiquitytotheEarlyFourteenthCentury(LondonandNewYork:Longman,1997);Stadt undLiteraturimdeutschenSprachraumderFrühenNeuzeit,ed.KlausGarber,StefanAnders,and ThomasElsmann.2vols.(Tübingen:Niemeyer,1998);seeespeciallyGarber’scontribution“Stadt undLiteraturimaltendeutschenSprachraum”(3–89).AdrianJ.Boas,JerusalemintheTimeofthe Crusades(London:Routledge,2001). ThesearethesubheadingsintheanthologyofrelevantdocumentsforthehistoryofItaliancities inTheTownsofItalyintheLaterMiddleAges,trans.andannotatedbyTrevorDean.Manchester MedievalSourcesSeries(ManchesterandNewYork:ManchesterUniversityPress,2000).Seealso GerdSchwerhoff,“ÖffentlicheRäumeundpolitischeKulturinderfrühneuzeitlichenStadt:Eine SkizzeamBeispielderReichsstadtKöln,”InteraktionundHerrschaft:DiePolitikderfrühneuzeitlichen Stadt,ed.RudolfSchlögl.HistorischeKulturwissenschaft,5(Constance:UVKVerlagsgesellschaft, 2004),113–36.

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officialapproval,whichwasthenrecorded.Guildshadregulations,whichwere jotteddowninsuchcitybooks,orchronicles,88andjudicialconflictswerealso documented.Inotherwords,acarefulexaminationoftherelevantsourcesallows ustogainfarreachinginsightsintothebasicstructureanddevelopmentofan urbancommunityovertime,andshedssignificantlightonthecity’stopography, economicpositionwithintheglobalEuropeannetworkoftrade,therelationship between the Christian majority and the Jewish minority (never the other way around!),andtheconditionsofeverydaylifewithinthefamilies.89 Tostudymedievalcitiesandtheirurbanspacebothineconomicandsocial,and soinculturalandintellectualtermsrequiresahighlycomplexapproach,taking into view a kaleidoscope of various social classes, physical aspects, economic interestsandconcerns,legalcriteria,andreligiousfactors.90Theinterestofthe presentcollection,however,thoughtouchinguponmanyoralloftheseaspects, liesinmentalhistoricalinvestigationsthatfind,forinstance,remarkablesource materialinsuchthingsasthesocalledfamilybooks(HausandFamilienbücher;see alsobelow).Thesewerenormallycomposedbymembersofanindividualfamily whoweredeeplyconcernedwiththeirownidentityandthatoftheirfamilyboth pastandpresent,reflectinguponpersonal,dynastic,andcommunalinterests,and drawingfromawidevarietyofspecificurbansources.91 But how did medieval and earlymodern people really perceive the city as a material object versus an idea and utopian concept? How did outsiders, often makingupthevastmajorityofthepopulation,thatis,thepeasants,andthenalso noblemen,respondtotheriseandconstantgrowthofcities?Whatdidurbanspace meanforthetraveler,thechurchman,thewidow,thestudent,thepoet,theartist, thelawyer,orthecraftsman?Someanswerscanbeprovidedeasilybecauseofthe

Seetheextraordinarilyvaluableseriesofcitychronicles,ChronikenderdeutschenStädtevom14.bis ins16.Jahrhundert(1862–1968;Göttingen:Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1961–1969). A great example prove to be the Weimar city books, see Die Weimarer Stadtbücher des späten Mittelalters:EditionundKommentar,ed.HenningSteinführer.VeröffentlichungenderHistorischen KommissionfürThüringen.GroßeReihe,11(Cologne,Weimar,andVienna:BöhlauVerlag,2005). SeealsoDasältesteRostockerStadtbuch(etwa.1254–1273),ed.HildegardThierfeldermitBeiträgen zurGeschichteRostocksim13.Jahrhundert(Göttingen:Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1967).There aremanysimilarexamplesforotherareasofmedievalEurope;see,forinstance,Epistolaridela Valènciamedieval,ed.d’AgustínRubioVela;pròlegd’AntoniFerrando.2vols.(ValènciaSpain: Institut Interuniversitari de Filologia Valenciana; Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat,1998–2003);MedievalGloucester,1066–1547,anextractfromtheVictoriaHistoryofthe County of Gloucester. Vol. IV: the City of Gloucester, ed. Nicholas Herbert (1988; Gloucester : GloucestershireRecordOffice,1993). Evamaria Engel and FrankDietrich Jacob, Städtisches Leben im Mittelalter: Schriftquellen und Bildzeugnisse(Cologne,Weimar,andVienna:BöhlauVerlag,2006). BirgitStudt,“Einführung,”HausundFamilienbücherinderstädtischenGesellschaftdesSpätmit telaltersundderfrühenNeuzeit,ed.eadem(Cologne,Weimar,andVienna,2007),1–31.

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excellent availability of critical archival and literary documents, but many questionswillremainbecausewestilldonotknowenoughaboutpeople’sreal attitudes,ideas,andvaluesconcerningthecityandurbanlifeintheMiddleAges andtheearlymodernage. Itisclearthatburghersgenerallydisplayedastrongsenseofidentitywiththeir home city, as powerfully reflected by festivals, public rituals, coats of arms, donations,legalpractices,thecitygovernmentitself,andthelocalarts.92Thebest evidenceforthisnotsosurprisingphenomenonconsistsofthecathedralsand otherchurcheserectedinmedievalandearlymoderncities,monumentsinstone ofcommunaleffortsextendingovermanygenerationstoprovetotheoutside worldtheglory,wealth,and power ofanurbancommunity,butespeciallyto displayitsdedicationtoGodandtoillustrateGod’sobviousfavorgrantedtothe city.93 Both the pictorial program in stone (sculptures) on the facades and the individual portals, and then the ideological program in images, such as the frescoesandthestainedglass,explicitlyaddressurbanvaluesandidealswithin areligiousframework,thatis,civicprideinthebestpossiblerepresentationofthe cityinitsecclesiasticalarchitectureandartprogram.94Afterall,manychapels, sculptures,altarpieces,andotherelementsinmedievalandearlymoderncities weredonatedandcommissionedbywelltodocitizenswhowantedtorepresent theirwealth,theirpiety,andtheirsocialpoliticalstatuswithinareligiouscontext. Critical investigations of the history of mentality have not yet adequately incorporated ‘urban space,’ though topics such as ‘man and nature’ and ‘the experienceofspace’havecertainlyattractedconsiderableattention.95ButHenri Lefebvre has alerted us to the fact “that an already produced space can be

See the contributions by Pietro Corrao (97–122), Roberto Bizzochi (123–34), Paola Ventrone (155–91)andotherstoAspettiecomponentidell’identitàurbana. SeethecontributionstoDergotischeDominKöln,ed.ArnoldWolff(Cologne:VistaPointVerlag, 1986); Robert A. Scott, The Gothic Enterprise: A Guide to Understanding the Gothic Cathedrals (Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2003);GüntherBinding,AlsdieKathedralenindenHimmel wuchsen:BauenimMittelalter(Darmstadt:PrimusVerlag,2006). UlrichMeier,MenschundBürger:DieStadtimDenkenspätmittelalterlicherTheologen,Philosophenund Juristen(Munich:R.Oldenbourg,1994);id.,“Burgerlichvereynung:Herrschende,beherrschteund ‘mittlere’BürgerinPolitiktheorie,chronikalischerÜberlieferungundstädtischenQuellendes Spätmittelalters,”Bürgerschaft:RezeptionundInnovationderBegrifflichkeitvomHohenMittelalterbis ins 19. Jahrhundert, ed. Reinhart Koselleck and Klaus Schreiner. Sprache und Geschichte, 22 (Stuttgart:KlettCotta,1994),43–89. Seetherelevantcontributionsto“Natur/Umwelt”and“Raum”inEuropäischeMentalitätsgeschichte: Hauptthemen in Einzeldarstellungen, ed. Peter Dinzelbacher. Kröners Taschenausgabe, 469 (Stuttgart: Alfred Kröner, 1993); the 2nd rev. and expanded edition appeared just recently (Stuttgart:Kröner,2008).Hepointsout,however,howmuchairpollutionincitieswasmetwith severeprotestsbytheurbanpopulation,suchasinBruges,Lyon,London,Arles,andelsewhere (652–53).

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decoded, can be read. Such a space implies a process of signification.”96 This specific,culturallyandeconomicallydefinedspaceprovestobecharacteristicof eachindividualsociety:“everysociety—andhenceeverymodeofproduction with its suvariants [sic], i.e. all those societies which exemplify the general concept—producesaspace,itsownspace.”97 Studyingspaceproperlyrequiresone,accordingtoLefebvre,toembracethree concepts,thatis,spatialpractice,representationsofspace,andrepresentational space.98Inaddition,allhistoricaleventsandactivitiesproducespace:“theforces of production (nature; labour and the organization of labour; technology and knowledge) and, naturally, the relations of production play a part . . . in the productionofspace.”99Examiningmedievalcities,forinstance,incomparison with cities in the early modern age, will force us to consider novel use and productionofspace.ToquoteLefebvreagain: ‘people’—inhabitants,builders,politicians—stoppedgoingfromurbanmessagesto thecodeinordertodecipherreality,todecodetownandcountry,andbeganinstead togofromcodetomessages,soastoproduceadiscourseandarealityadequatetothe code.Thiscodethushasahistory,ahistorydetermined,intheWest,bytheentire historyofcities.Eventuallyitwouldallowtheorganizationofthecities,whichhad beenseveraltimesoverturned,tobecomeknowledgeandpower—tobecome,inother words,aninstitution.Thisdevelopmentheraldedthedeclineandfalloftheautonomy ofthetownsandurbansystemsintheirhistoricalreality.100

Concretely,thismeantthatinthecourseoftimetheactualconfigurationofurban spacewaschangedtomeettheneedsforpublicrepresentationandgovernment, leadingtotheemergenceoftheearlymodern,orBaroque,city:“façadeswere harmonizedtocreateperspectives;entrancesandexits,doorsandwindows,were subordinatedtofaçades—andhencealsotoperspectives;streetsandsquareswere arrangedinconcordwiththepublicbuildingsandpalacesofpoliticalleadersand institutions.”101 Lefebvreoffersamostinsightfulanalysisoftheprofoundchangesaffectingthe urban space in the transition from the early to the high Middle Ages with its inventionofthemagnificentGothiccathedrals.Whereasthepreviousperiod,or rathertheChurchofthatperiod,hadprimarilyfocusedonthecrypt,asthesacred spaceofitscultofthedead,thedevelopmentoftallGothicbuildingswiththeir spiresleapingintoverticalspaceinvertedtheconceptofspace.Inhisownwords,

97 98 99 100 101

Henri Lefebvre, The Production of Space, trans. Donald NicholsonSmith (1974; Oxford: Basil Blackwell,1991),17. Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,31. Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,38–39. Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,46. Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,47. Ibid.

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“They[thecathedrals]‘decrypt’inavigorous...senseoftheword:theyarean emancipation from the crypt and from cryptic space. The new space did not merely‘decipher’theold,for,indecipheringit,itsurmountedit;byfreeingitself itachievedilluminationandelevation.”102 Of course, we have to take Lefebvre’s observations with a grain of salt and distinguishfurtherinthedetail,particularly becausehe ignoresthehistoryof Romanesquechurches,manyofwhichhadalreadyexploredandconqueredopen spaceinamajesticfashion,suchasthecathedralofMainz.Butwecancertainly subscribe to his general approach insofar as the medieval city very often establisheditselfaroundthechurchorcathedral,andsoonenough,ifnotparallel toit,aroundthemarket,thecentralhubofaneconomicnetworkthatliberatedthe urbanpopulationfromtheagriculturalproductionandlaidthefoundationfor“a space of exchange and communications, and therefore of networks.”103 He recommends,however,andquiterightlyso,nottolimitourunderstandingof urban space to the economic aspect since there was also space for political representation,privatespace,andspaceofeducationandlearning.104Thisdoesnot mean,however,thattheurbanworldwascompletelydivestedfromagriculture andtypicallyruraloccupations,consideringtheextensivegardens,houseanimals, and also the transfer of rural production of beer, for example, into the city.105 Scholarscontinuetodebatehowmuchtheruralworldspilledoverintothecities, asreflected,forinstance,byspecificbuildingdesignsthatforalongtimeshared manysimilaritieswiththosehousescharacteristicofaruralsettlementwithits

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Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,256–57.HereliesheavilyonErwinPanofsky,GothicArchitecture andScholasticism(1951;NewYork:NewAmericanLibrary,1976),58,whohadcoinedthecrucial term“visuallogic”forthenewChurchdominatedspace. Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,266. HereIbreakoffthediscussionofLefebvre’smarvelous,thoughsometimesalsodeceptivelyglossy explanationsbasedonradicalabstractionsandgeneralizations;forfurthercommentsonhiswork, seeSheilaSweetinburgh,“MayorMakingandOtherCeremonies:SharedUsesofSacredSpace AmongtheKentishCinquePorts,”TheUseandAbuseofSacredPlaces,165–87;here167–70.Felice Riddy,“‘Burgeis’DomesticityinLateMedievalEngland,”MedievalDomesticity:Home,Housing and Household in Medieval England, ed. Maryanne Kowaleski and P. J. Goldberg (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 14–36, convincingly questions some of the fundamental notionspropoundedbyPhilippeArièsthatuntilca.1700therewasnoconceptofprivacy,not eveninurbanhouses.Muchdepends,asRiddyobserves,onthesocialclassandthetime,asthe wealthy inhabitants increasingly created their own private rooms, and this already by the fourteenthandthefifteenthcenturies.Thebestevidenceforthisdevelopmentcanbefoundin latemedievalDutchgenrepaintings. Richard W. Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaPress,2004),40–43.Heemphasizes,forinstance,“By1300,makingbeerwasaviable occupation in towns in northern Europe. Not everyone could be a brewer since there were requirementsofskillatmakingbeer,atorganizingabusinessenterprise,andofaccesstocapital. Still, many individuals did take up the trade, not just to supply domestic needs but as a commercialventure”(43).

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specificneedstoaccommodatehusbandrywithlivingspaceforthefarmerandhis family.106 Social historians have examined many specific aspects, such as particular markersinacityreflectingpowerandcontrolwieldedbyfamilies,individuals, andpoliticalgroups;linguisticfeaturesdeterminingurbangeography;spacefor legal arbitration; staging of spirituality in prayers, meditation, and liturgical rituals;andspaceforpenaltiesandexecutions.107

TheCityandtheCourtlyWorld As has often been emphasized, in a rather stark contrast to our previous observations,theknightlyprotagonistinmedievalliteraturenormallytraverses onlythecountrysideandforests,andreturns,afterhavingaccomplishedhistask andhavingovercomehischallenges,toKingArthur’scourt,whichagainconsists only of a small setting, perhaps a camp with tents, or at times a castle. This observationappliesbothtoGermanandEnglish,FrenchandItalian,Spanishand Portuguesecourtlyromancesorversenarratives,whethertheaudiencewastruly aristocratic only, or also included urban readers/listeners. Despite the city’s growingimportanceatleastsincetheeleventhcentury,medievalpoetsdonot seemtohaveincorporatedurbanspaceastrulysignificantfortheirindividual protagonists,orfortheiraudiences.108Bothheroicepicsandcourtlyromances,

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ThiswasthecentralthesisadvocatedbyW.A.Pantin,“MedievalEnglishTownHousePlans,” MedievalArchaeology6–7(1964,for1962–1963):202–39);thisisnowchallengedbySarahPearson, “RuralandUrbanHouses1100–1500:‘UrbanAdaptation’Reconsidered,”TownandCountryinthe Middle Ages: Contrasts, Contacts and Interconnections, 1100–1500, ed. Katherine Giles and ChristopherDyer(Leeds:Maney,2005),4363.AsJaneGrenville,“UrbanandRuralHousesand HouseholdsintheLateMiddleAges:ACaseStudyfromYorkshire,”MedievalDomesticity:Home, HousingandHouseholdinMedievalEngland,92–123;here95,demonstrates(soherthesis):“some buildingsseemtodependonthedirectandexplicitrelationshipbetweentownandcountrywhile othersemphaticallydonot,butratherrepresentadistinctivelyurbantype.”Sherightlyconcludes, 123:“Inthedevelopmentofthemedievaltown,theforcesofconservatismwerecontinuously pitchedagainstthespiritofentrepreneurship.Materialculturewasusedtosignalthesetensions ....” MedievalPracticesofSpace,ed.BarbaraA.HanawaltandMichalKobialka,2000;JoyceE.Salisbury, TheMedievalWorld.TheGreenwoodEncyclopediaofDailyLife,aTourThroughHistoryfrom AncientTimestothePresent,2(Westport,CT,andLondon:GreenwoodPress,2004).Whereasthe first volume falls short of providing concrete examples, the second addresses mainly a non academicaudience. Uta StörmerCaysa, Grundstrukturen mittelalterlicher Erzählungen: Raum und Zeit im höfischen Roman.deGruyterStudienbuch(BerlinandNewYork:deGruyter,2007).Sheheavilyrelieson Bakthiniantheoriesforheranalysisoftheessentialstructurespertainingtospaceandtimeinthe courtlyromance.Ifwefollowherconclusions,theworldofthecourts,asreflectedintheliterary discourse,knewnothingofurbanspace.Indeed,despitesomefleetingreferenceshereandthere,

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didactictextsandlyricpoetryhardlyevermentioncities,toanastonishingdegree ignoringamajorphenomenonthatwasgoingtochangetheentireworldofthe MiddleAges,orratheraccompaniedthefeudalstructurefromearlyon,ultimately even superseding the agriculturebased society with a society in which craftsmanship and early forms of industrial production dominated within an urbancontext. OneinterestingexamplewouldbetheMiddleHighGermanDiuCrône(The Crown) by the Styrian poet Heinrich von dem Türlin, composed sometime between1210and1240,offeringanamazingpanoplyofArthurianthemesand metaliterary references and reflections, with Gawein emerging as the main protagonist who not only accomplishes many chivalric goals, outdoing even ParzivalinhisquestfortheGrail.Mostuncannily,Gaweinwitnessesmanyscenes obviouslydrawnfromaninfernalfantasy,orfromtheDayofJudgment,which deeplyastonishandfrightenhimandtheaudienceaswell,withoutanyonebeing abletogetinvolvedbecausetheyrepresentimaginarysettingsorquotesfrom previousliterarytexts.Overall,however,asJ.W.Thomasinsightfullycomments, “Thecourtreappearsatintervalsthroughouttheworkassomethingofgreatvalue thatmustbepreservedatanycostfromthedangersthatthreatenitfromwithin andwithout.ForitisnotmerelyacommunityofSybaritesbutalsoasourceofaid fortheoppressedinthesurroundinglands.”109Indeed,peopleinthecountryside receivehelp,whereasthoselivingincitiesarebarelymentioned. AtonepointGaweinentersachapeltopray,whichsomemaidensobservewith greatcuriosity.Whiletheyallwonderwhotheseimpressiveknightsmightbe,one of them sarcastically speculates: “They are two wily merchants who are transportingmuchgoodsandtreasureandarepretendingtobeknightsinorder tosavethemselvesfromrobbery;theythinkthiswillprotectthem.Theirbagsare

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neithertheArthurianromancenortheliterarymanifestationsofTristanandIsoldearepredicated inanyclearsenseoncitylife.AgoodexamplewouldbeTristaninGottfriedvonStrassburg’s eponymousromance(ca.1210)wherethebadlywoundedprotagonistarrivesinDublinunderthe pretenseofbeingamerchantwhohasbeenseverelywoundedbypiratesandnowseekshelpin Ireland.Afterhavingbeenpulled in from thewateroutsideoftheharbor,Tristanisquickly whiskedfromthecityofDublintothecourtoftheIrishqueenIsolde,andweneverhearofDublin again.GottfriedvonStraßburg,Tristan.NachdemTextvonFriedrichRankeneuherausgegeben, insNeuhochdeutscheübersetzt,miteinemStellenkommentarundeinemNachwortvonRüdiger Krohn.UniversalBibliothek,4471(Stuttgart:Reclam,1980),7362–766.ApriestlearnsofTristan’s miraculousskills,andquicklyleavesthecityofDublin,turnstothecastle,andreportstothe queenwhathehaslearnedaboutthisstranger. HeinrichvondemTürlin,TheCrown:ATaleofSirGaweinandKingArthur’sCourt,trans.andwith anintrod.byJ.W.Thomas(LincolnandLondon:UniversityofNebraskaPress,1989),xiii.Fora good summary of the relevant research, see Markus Wennerhold, Späte mittelhochdeutsche Artusromane:‘Lanzelet’,‘Wigalois’,‘DanielvondemBlühendenTal’,‘DiuCrône’.BilanzderForschung 1960–2000. Würzburger Beiträge zur deutschen Philologie, 27 (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann,2005),182–253.

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bulging,andIcanseefromtheirappearancethattheyarefulloftreasure;achild wouldknowthattheydon’tholdhauberks,forthesewouldrattle.”110Gawein seemstohearherwordsashelooksuptothewindow,butthenhesimplymounts hishorseandentersthecitytofindquartersforhimselfandhiscompanion.But themerchantwasalreadyaspecificfigureatthattime,howevermostlyregarded withsuspicionbythearistocracy,especiallybecausehequicklygainedeconomical preponderanceandcouldchallengethetraditionalpoliticalandsocialroleplayed bythenobility.111 Hereisanotheroccasionfortheauthortoaddsomereallybriefremarksona townintheimmediatevicinityofacastle:“Theywanderedaboutonlyashorttime before finding quarters with a worthy merchant, who furnished everything neededfortheircomfort.Themanwassohonest,respected,andwealthythathis likecouldnotbefoundintheentiretown;hewasalsobrave.Hishousestood belowthepalacebutwassotallthatanyonewhowascuriouscouldseefromitall that went on in the palace” (200). Is this really a modest merchant, or a pre capitalistsuperrichinternationaltradesperson?Apparently,histowerhovers evenabovetheroyalpalace,andhiswealthcertainlyequalsthatofaroyalperson, anarrativemotifthatfindssomereflectionsincontemporaryliterature,suchas WolframvonEschenbach’sParzival(ca.1205)andRudolfvonEms’sDerguote Gerhard.112 More interestingly, prior to this brief description, the author has includedascantreferencetoatownwhere,strangelyenough,theentiremale populationismissing:“Gaweinfoundthereatownthatwaslargeandstatelybut lackedonething:neitherinitnorinallthecountryaroundwasthereasingle man”(196).AndlaterHeinrichmentionsanothertown,butonlybecause“ahost ofknightswhomIcannotname”(204)hasassembledthere,preparingitselffora tournament:“Whenthetimecamethefollowingmorningforeverymantoget readyforthetournament,manywereplainlyconcernedwiththecontestsahead” (205). Apparently,then,atcloserscrutinyurbanspacecertainlyfiguredonthemental horizon, but for romance authors only as negligible location where knights

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HeinrichvondemTürlin,TheCrown,200. JennyKermode,MedievalMerchants:York,BeverlyandHullintheLaterMiddleAges.Cambridge StudiesinMedievalLifeandThought,Ser.4,38(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1998); RichardK.Marshall,TheLocalMerchantsofPrato:SmallEntrepreneursintheLateMedievalEconomy. The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science, 117th series, 1 (Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1999). RudolfvonEms,DerguteGerhard,ed.MorizHaupt.Rpt.(1840;Hildesheim:Weidmann,1988); seealsoid.,DerguoteGerhart,ed.JohnA.Asher.2ndrev.ed.AltdeutscheTextbibliothek,56(1962; Tübingen:Niemeyer,1971);foracomprehensiveanalysis,seeSonjaZöllner,Kaiser,Kaufmannund dieMachtdesGeldes:GerhardUnmazevonKölnalsFinanzierderReichspolitikundder“GuteGerhard” desRudolfvonEms.ForschungenzurGeschichtederälterendeutschenLiteratur,16(Munich:Fink, 1993).

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sometimesspendanighttogetsomerest(WolframvonEschenbach’sWillehalm), wheretheyfindnewequipment(HartmannvonAue’sErec),113orarebotheredby theguardsmenwhodonotproperlyrecognizewhotheyreallyare(Wolframvon Eschenbach’sWillehalm). Exceptionstotheruleconfirmourgeneralconclusionsastourbanspaceinthe Middle Ages and beyond, such as when we think of the three holy cities, Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela, all of them evoking a specific imageryastoanidealcitysupportedbyGodortheHolyGhost.114Butavisitto anyofthemalwaysrepresentedamostunusualsituation,andthereportsabout the pilgrimage sites were normally determined by the religious perspective, focusingonchurches,tombs,altars,andtheclergy,not,however,onurbanlife andurbanspaceonthemicroscopiclevel.115 WhenMargeryKempe(ca.1373–ca.1440),forinstance,staysinRomeduringher pilgrimage,sheonlycommentsonherusualprayersandcrying,andtheconflicts

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Hartmann von Aue, Erec. Mit einem Abdruck der neuen Wolfenbütteler und Zwettler Erec Fragmente,ed.AlbertLeitzmann,continuedbyLudwigWolff.7th.ed.KurtGärtner.Altdeutsche Textbibliothek, 39 (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2006). When Erec arrives at the castle where the tournamentistotakeplace,heavoidsthecastleandturnshishorsetowardthetownbelowit: “einmarketundermhûselac”(222)and:“nûvanterandemwege/vondenliutengrôzenschal. / diu hiuser wâren über al / beherberget vaste” (228–34). Chrétien de Troyes, The Complete Romances, trans. with an introd. by David Staines (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana UniversityPress,1990),bycontrast,offersaconsiderablymoredetailedimpressionoflifewithin thecity/town,butwehavetobecarefulinourassessmentofthedetails:“Ereccontinuedhis pursuitofthearmedknightandthedwarf...untiltheyreachedawellsituatedtown,whichwas bothbeautifulandfortified,wheretheyimmediatelyenteredthroughthegateway.Inthetown therewasjubilationamongtheknightsandamongthemaidens,formanybeautifulmaidenswere there.Alongthestreets,somepeoplewerefeedingmoltingfalconsandsparrowhawks;others werebringingtercelsoutside,alongwithsorrelhoodedgoshawks.Elsewhere,otherpeoplewere playinggames,someatdiceoranothergameofchance,othersintentonchessandbackgammon. Infrontofthestablesthegroomswererubbingdownandcurryingthehorses”(5).Althoughwe areledtobelievethatErechasenteredatown,thedescriptionratherinsinuatesthatitisthe courtyardofabigcastle. BiancaKühnel,FromtheEarthlytotheHeavenlyJerusalem:RepresentationsoftheHolyCityinChristian ArtoftheFirstMillenium(Rome:1987);LaGerusalemmeceleste:catalogodella mostra,Milano, UniversitàCattolicadelS.Cuore,20maggio–5giugno1983,ed.MariaLuisaGattiPerer(Milano: VitaePensiero,1983);ClausBernet,“DashimmlischeJerusalemimMittelalter:Mikrohistorische IdealvorstellungenundutopischerUmsetzungsversuch,”Mediaevistik20(2007):9–35. NineRobijntjeMiedema,Die‘MirabiliaRomae’:UntersuchungenzuihrerÜberlieferungmitEdition derdeutschenundniederländischenTexte.MünchenerTexteundUntersuchungenzurdeutschen LiteraturdesMittelalters,108(Tübingen:MaxNiemeyer,1996);seealsoChristianK.Zacher, CuriosityandPilgrimage:TheLiteratureofDiscoveryinFourteenthCenturyEngland(Baltimore:The JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1976);ZacharyKarabell,PeaceBeUponYou:TheStoryofMuslim, Christian,andJewishCoexistence(NewYork:AlfredA.Knopf,2007).Manyotherscholarshave commentedonthesemajorcities;see,forinstance,E.BaldwinSmith,ArchitecturalSymbolismof Imperial Rome and the Middle Ages (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955); Richard Krautheimer,Rome,ProfileofaCity:312–1308(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1980).

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withhersocialenvironment:“ThenthiscreaturewastakeninattheHospitalof St. Thomas of Canterbury in Rome, and there she received communion every Sunday with great weeping, violent sobbing and loud crying, and was highly beloved by the Master of the Hospital and all his brethren.”116 For her, the experienceofestablishingspiritualfriendshipwithaGermanpriestwhodidnot evenunderstandEnglishwasmoreimportant thananythingelseintheentire eternal city: “Another time, while this creature was at the church of St. John Lateran,beforethealtar,hearingmass,shethoughtthatthepriestwhosaidmass seemedagoodanddevoutman”(118).Infact,forMargeryRomeservesonlyas abackdropforherownmysticalvisions,oratleastherattemptstoestablishthose: “AnothertimewhileshewasinRome,alittlebeforeChristmas,ourLordJesus Christcommandedhertogotoherconfessor,Wenslawebyname,andaskhimto giveherleavetowearherwhiteclothesonceagain...”(128). Remarkably,wecanidentify,despitethelackofconcretereferencestocitiesin Arthurianromances,moreliterarytextsandartworksfromtheMiddleAgesand theearlymodernagethatactuallyfocusonurbanspaceandthecityasaunique entitythantraditionallyassumed.Whereasahistoricalapproachtothetopicat stakehascertainlyshedmuchlightontheissue,westillneedtoinvestigatehow peopleinpremoderntimesperceivedthecityasaninnovative,challenging,and, mostimportantly,asapromisingandexcitingsiteforacommunitytoestablish itself,profferingeconomicprosperity,security,culture,education,andreligion. KeithD.Lilleyoffersthisintriguingperspective: InthesamewaythatancientRomancitieswereviewedasmicrocosmsofawider Romancosmology,thesocialandspatialorderingofthemedievaltownscapeactedas amirrorofabroadermedievalcosmology.Inparticular,therewasabeliefthatwhat was good in the world was situated at the centre, while that what was ‘other’ or differentoccupiedthe‘edge’,thespatialmargins....This‘coreperiphery’/‘inside outside’ idea is also reflected in ninth and tenthcentury depictions of the holy JerusalemdescendingfromHeaven.117

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The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. B. A. Windeatt (London: Penguin, 1985), 116. For a comprehensivediscussionofherwork,nowseeAlbrechtClassen,ThePowerofaWoman’sVoice inMedievalandEarlyModernLiterature:NewApproachestoGermanandEuropeanWomenWritersand to Violence Against Women in Premodern Times. Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture,1(BerlinandNewYork:WalterdeGruyter,2007),271–308. Keith D. Lilley, Urban Life in the Middle Ages 1000–1450. European Culture and Society (Houndmills,Basingstoke,Hampshire,andNewYork:Palgrave,2002),242.Hisfocusrestsonthe followingtopics:urbanlegacies;institutionalurbanism;geographiesofurbanlaw;lordshipand urbanization; urban landscapes; urban property and landholding; and townspeople and townscapes.

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BeforeIexaminesomeofthebasicaspectsofmedievalandearlymodernurban history,withanemphasisonthehistoryofmentality,letustakeintoviewsome literaryexampleswithimportantreferencestothecityasasignificantsitefora character’sindividualdevelopment. ThroughouttheentireMiddleAgesandfarbeyond,theanonymousnovelfrom late antiquity, the Historia Apollonia Tyrus, attracted enormous attention and enjoyedfarreachingpopularity.Thismightcomeasasurprisebecauseboththe geographicalsetting—theeasternMediterranean—andthevaluesystemcodified inthetextseemtobefarremovedfrommedievalandearlymodernculture.The protagonistoperatesasanideal,butcertainlyabsoluteruler,onlysubjecttoGod andfortune.Traveltakesplacebymeansofships,andpiratesareasteadythreat. Christianityisnotyetpresent,andthesenseofman’sdestinybeingsubjectto fortune,verymuchinthesenseofBoethianteaching,irrespectiveoftheslightly anachronisticproblem,constitutesacentralconcern.Moreover,andthisisthe most significant observation in our context, the narrator and the numerous subsequent translators focus intensively on the city as the critical stage where people interact with each other and also experience some of their worst and happiestmomentsinlife. Althoughtheearliestsurvivingmanuscriptsdatefromtheninthcentury,sixth centuryVenantiusFortunatusalreadyreferstotheHistoriaApolloniaTyrusinone ofhispoems,describinghimselfasbeingsadderthantheprotagonistApollonius. Throughout the following centuries poets continued to cite the Historia and commentonitsimportance.LibrarycataloguesalloverEuropecontainlistingsfor this text since the ninth century, and the number of actually existing Latin manuscriptsisaboutonehundred.Thentherearecountlesstranslationsintothe various vernaculars and creative adaptations, which often incorporated new materialandpursueddifferentagendas.AsElizabethArchibaldconfirms, BythefifteenthcenturythestoryofApolloniuswasbeingretoldinagreatnumberof vernaculars;itswideappealisdemonstratedbytextsfromhithertosilentareas.These includeaCzechversionwithbiblicalandfolklorecolouring[V19];threeGermanprose versions [V25 and 26], not particularly innovative, but in the case of Steinhöwel’s Volksbuchverypopular;aheavilyChristianizedGreekversion,theDiegesisApolloniou [27];andtwoexemplarySpanishversions,basedrespectivelyontheGestaRomanorum andtheConfessioAmantis[V28and29].118

Oncetheprintingpresshadbeeninvented,theHistoriaachievedrenewedfame and popularity in many different languages, and it was also translated into a

118

ElizabethArchibald,ApolloniusofTyre:MedievalandRenaissanceThemesandVariations.Including the text of the Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri with an English translation (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell&Brewer,1991),48–49.

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dramatic version by Shakespeare with his Pericles (1609). Following Archibald again,“Bythefifteenthandsixteenthcenturiesagreatvarietyofversionsexisted: some stressed chivalric values, others Christian morality; some medievalized heavily,othersreintroducedclassicaldetails.”119Wemightgosofarastoclaim thattheHistoriatrulyrepresentsaworldclassic,andthisuntiltoday.Particularly medievalaudiences,however,seemtohaveenjoyedthistext,despite,orperhaps justbecauseof,itsalmostOriental,thatis,certainlyexotic,setting.Surprisingly, throughoutthenovel,thecityemergesasthecentrallocationwheremostofthe significanteventstakeplace.AstheveryfirstlineintheLatintextindicates:“In thecityofAntiochtherewasakingcalledAntiochus,fromwhomthecityitself tookthenameAntioch”(113). Thisrapistfatherisverymuchconcernedwithpreservingtheairofagoodruler whocaresforhispeople,thecitizensofAntioch:“Hepresentedhimselfdeceitfully tohiscitizensasadevotedparent”(115).Hisopponent, youngApollonius,is similarlyidentifiedwithhiscityanditscitizenswhoareworriedabouthimafter hisreturnhomeandwanttopaytheirrespecttohim.Buthehasalreadyleftagain, havingrealizedthathehadactuallysolvedtheriddlepresentedbyAntiochusand mightfaceseriousdangerofbeingkilled. Significantly, the entire population in the city laments and grieves his disappearance,castingthecityintomourning.Wereceiveashortglimpseofthe actualurbanlifeofaRomancity,basicallyunheardofinanymedievaltext:“So greatwashispeople’sloveforhimthatforalongtimethebarbersweredeprived of clients, the shows were cancelled and the baths were closed” (117). Most importantforourinvestigation,thepoethereallowsadeepglanceintotheinterior ofthecity,referringtotheentertainmentandserviceindustry,andthehealthcare system.120Afterall,densecitylifebroughttogethermassesofpeoplefromallstrata of society, and a certain percentage were always trying to make a living from artistic performances and other types of services, some legal, other illegal, as wouldbethecasetodayaswell.“Gamesofsleightofhand,trainedanimals,and songsandlittleconcertswerehabitualspectacles,especiallywhenthearrivalof

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Archibald, Apollonius, 51. For the German print history of this novel, see Bodo Gotzkowsky, “Volksbücher”:Prosaromane,Renaissancenovellen,VersdichtungenundSchwankbücher.Bibliographie der deutschen Drucke. Part I: Drucke des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. Bibliotheca Bibliographica Aureliana,CXXV(BadenBaden:VerlagValentinKoerner,1991),184–91. GertrudBlaschitz,“DasFreudenhausimMittelalter:Inderstatwasgesessen/ainunrainerpulian . . .,” History of Sexuality in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age, ed. Albrecht Classen. FundamentalsofMedievalandEarlyModernCulture,3(BerlinandNewYork:deGruyter,2008), 715–50.

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oneofthereligiousholidaysmadeitlikelythatanumerouspublicwouldturnup forthesetemptingattractions.”121 Moreover,theentireurbancommunitydemonstratesitscloseknitrelationship whentheyallturntomourningoverthedisappearanceoftheirlord,aswelearn from a boy’s response to the assassin Taliarchus’s inquiry about the curious situationinthecity:“‘Whatashamelessman!Heknowsperfectlywellandyethe asks!Whodoesnotknowthatthiscityisinmourningforthisreason,becausethe princeofthiscountry,Apollonius,camebackfromAntiochandthensuddenly disappeared’”(117). Apollonius,ontheotherhand,hasreachedanothercityinthemeantime,Tarsus, wherefaminethreatenswithouthopeforareprieve.Theyoungkingintervenes, however,and,speakingona platformintheforumtotheentirepopulace,he assuresthemthathewouldsavethem,grantingthemallthegraintheyneed, without taking any money for it because he does not want to appear as a merchant.Thecitizens,intheirthankfulness,“decidedtoerectabronzestatueto him, and they place it in the forum” (121). Whereas in most other medieval narrativesthefocusrestsonthecourtinacastleorpalace,withoutanysenseofan urbanenvironment,herethecitycommunitycomesforwardandexpressesits thankfulnesscollectively.122 Although the narrative focuses on a protagonist, he does not operate in a vacuumandhastodealwiththepeoplelivinginthecityasawhole.Apollonius’s stageofoperationprovestobethecity,whichfindsitconfirmationalreadyinthe nextsceneafterhehasleftTarsusandalmostdrownsonthehighseaduringa mighty storm that makes his ship sink. Albeit he is a shipwreck, Apollonius quicklyregainshisgoodfortuneinthecityofPentapoliswhereheingratiates himselfwiththekingandhisdaughterwhomheeventuallymarries.Hereonce againtheurbancontextemergesinthebackground,eventhoughonlyfleetingly, whenayoungboyannouncestothepublicthatthegymnasiumhasbeenopened: “‘Listen,citizens,listen,foreigners,freemenandslaves:thegymnasiumisopen!’” (125). Fromhereontheeventsthattakeplacearelimitedtothecourt,whereasthecity itselffadesawayintothebackground.Thereasonforthisdevelopmentsimply consistsofthegrowinglovethattheprincessfeelsforthisamazingforeigner,yet

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ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,85.Sheobservesthatinmanycasesthecitygovernments evenpaidforthoseentertainingspectaclesinordertoappeasethepopulationandtokeepitunder control,190,note77:“Quod...camerariuscomunisdeipsiuscomunispecuniadetetsolvatistis tubatoribus,menestreriisetioculatoribusquiveneruntethonoraveruntfestumsanctorumFloridi etAmantiiistaspecunias.” AlbrechtClassen,“ReadingandDecipheringinApolloniusofTyreandtheHistoriavondensieben weisenMeistern:MedievalEpistemologywithinaLiteraryContext,”StudiMedievali49(2008): 161–88.

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wecanbecertainthatthecityitselfremainsaconstantelementbothhereandlater. Andeachtime,despitetheprominentroleplayedbytherespectivekings,wegain aclearsenseoftheurbanpopulationplayingitsownimportantpart.Forinstance, whenApolloniusmarriesArchistrates’sdaughter,thecelebrationsdonotonly takeplaceinthepalace;insteadtheyalsoinvolvetheentirecity:“Therewasgreat rejoicingthroughoutthecity;citizens,foreignersandguestsrevelled”(137).The sameoccursinothercities,suchasMytilene,whereApollonius’sdaughterTarsia istakenasaslaveandprostitutemuchlater.Theurbanpublicisalwayspresent andparticipatesintheeventsthatarelocatedinthecenterofthecity:“Shewas landedamongtheotherslavesandputupforsaleinthemarketplace”(149).Once sheistransferredtothebrothel,wegainanotherinsightintotheurbanspacefilled with people: “Tarsia was taken to the brothel, preceded by a crowd and musicians”(151).Later,whenherfatherhappenstoarriveatMytilene,thecitizens arecelebratingthe“feastofNeptune”(157),andApolloniusallowshiscrewto participateinthehappening,whichopensupanoteworthynarrativebackground withconsiderableurbanspacecrowdedwithpeople. Ofcourse,thecrucialencountersbetweenAthenagoras,theprinceofthecity, andApolloniustakesplaceinthebowoftheshipwherethelatterspendshistime mourning. Once the prince has learned of the other man’s suffering, he sends Tarsia to the ship to lighten up the poor man’s sorrow, which she manages successfully,indeed,whichleadstotheirmutualrecognition.Butforourpurpose the narrative involves two stages here, the ship at the beach, or rather in the harbor,andtheactualcityinthebackground,everpresentbecauseofthebrothel there,thelocalfestivities,andtheextensivefestivities. OnceApolloniushaslearnedofhisdaughter’sdestinyatthehandofthepimp, heexpresseshisintentiontoexacthisrevengeandtodestroythecity.Atenagoras immediately announces this terrible news to the entire city population, which underscores,onceagain,theconsiderabledepthofperceptionuponwhichthis novelispredicated:“WhenprinceAthenagorasheardthis,hebegantocalloutin thestreets,intheforum,inthesenatehouse,saying:‘Hurry,citizensandnobles, orthecitywillbedestroyed’”(169).Theresponseis,ofcourse,enormous,which indicateshowmuchtheurbanpopulationenjoyeditsownweightonthepolitical stageasdescribedhere:“Anenormouscrowdgathered,andtherewassuchan uproaramongthepeoplethatabsolutelynoone,manorwoman,remainedat home”(169). Notsurprisingly,everythingconcludes,likeinafairytale,withahappyending, butthenarratorhastenstoaddabriefcommentonApollonius’srealm,whichis markedbycities,notbycountries,orbyfields,forests,andothertypesofland: “HeruledAntiochandTyreandCyreneashiskingdom,andledapeacefuland happylifewithhiswife”(179).Asaconfirmationforthis,Apollonius’sactionsin Tarsus underscore the importance of the city in the life of all people: “So

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Apollonius added to the public rejoicing in return for this: he restored public works,herebuiltthepublicbaths,thecitywalls,andthetowersonthewalls” (177).Thisfocusonindividualcitiesasthespaceoftragiceventsandpolitical developments characterizes the entire text, which subsequent translators and adaptorsdidnotchangesubstantially.123 InthegoliardicepicHerzogErnst,composedinMiddleHighGermanfirstinca. 1170(ms.A),butfullyavailableonlyintwomuchlatermanuscripts(ms.aandb from1441andlateinthe15thcenturyrespectively)thatarebasedoncopiesfrom theearlythirteenthcentury(reconstructedms.B),themaleprotagoniststruggles foralongtimeagainsthisevilfatherinlaw,EmperorOtte,becauseanenvious advisorhadmalignedtheyoungduke,claimingthatheintendedtousurpthe throne.124Themilitaryconflictragesforalongtime,buteventually,nolongerable to resist the pressure, the duke has to leave his country and he goes on a pilgrimagetotheHolyLand.OnhiswaytherehestopsatConstantinopleandis warmlywelcomedbytheByzantineemperorandhiscourt.Thenarratordoesnot commentonthecityatall;insteadhefocusesonthepersonalrelationshipbetween thesetwoleaderswhodisplaygreatrespectforeachother. AftersometimeErnstreceivesawellequippedshipandembarksonhisnext journey, accompanied by a whole flotilla of Greek ships. But after five days a mighty storm arises and almost everyone drowns, except Ernst and his men. Nevertheless,threemonthspasswithoutthemreachingfirmland,andtheybegin

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FortheGermantradition,particularlywithregardtoHeinrichvonNeustadt’sApolloniusvon Tyrland,seeSimoneSchultzBalluff,Dispositiopicta–Dispositioimaginum:ZumZusammenhangvon Bild,Text,Strukturund‘Sinn’indenÜberlieferungsträgernvonHeinrichsvonNeustadt”Apolloniusvon Tyrland”.DeutscheLiteraturvondenAnfängenbis1700,45(Bern,Berlin,etal.:PeterLang,2006), 136–53.Thepictorialprogramisconsistently,evenifnotalways,predicatedoncityscapesinthe backgroundorloominglargeonthehorizon.SeenowalsoGiovanniGarbugino,Enigmidella Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri. Testi e manuali per l’insegnamento universitario del latino, 82 (Bologna:Patròn,2004);G.A.A.Kortekaas,CommentaryontheHistoriaApolloniiTyri.Mnemosyne, BibliothecaClassicaBatava,Supplementum,284(LeidenandBoston:Brill,2007). HerzogErnst:EinmittelalterlichesAbenteuerbuch,herausgegeben,übersetzt,mitAnmerkungenund einemNachwortversehenvonBernhardSowinski(1974;Stuttgart:Reclam,1979).Forfurther studies,seeAlbrechtClassen,“MedievalTravelintoanExoticOrient:TheSpielmannseposHerzog ErnstasaTravelintotheMedievalSubconsciousness,”Lesarten.NewMethodologiesandOldTexts, ed.AlexanderSchwarz,Tausch,2(Frankfurta.M.,NewYork,andParis:Lang,1990),103–24;id., “MulticulturalismintheGermanMiddleAges?TheRediscoveryofaModernConceptinthePast: TheCaseofHerzogErnst,”MulticulturalismandRepresentation.SelectedEssays,ed.JohnRiederand LarryE.Smith(Honolulu:UniversityofHawaiiPress,1996),198–219;seealsotheintroduction to Gesta Ernesti ducis: Die Erfurter ProsaFassung der Sage von den Kämpfen und Abenteuern des Herzogs Ernst, ed. Peter Christian Jacobsen and Peter Orth. Erlanger Forschungen. Reihe A: Geisteswissenschaften,82(Erlangen:UniversitätsBibliothek,1997),1–83;OdovonMagdeburg, Ernestus, ed. and commentary Thomas A.P. Klein. Spolia Berolinensia, 1 (Hildesheim: WeidmannscheVerlagsbuchhandlung,2000),IX–LXII.

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tofeardyingfromhungerandthirst.Inthelastmoment,sotospeak,theyfinally reachthecountryGrippiawheretheyhopetorestocktheirsupplies.Thesailors releasetheanchorandtheknightsapproachthecityitselfwhichunexpectedly emergesasamiraculousphenomenoninarchitecturalandaestheticterms. Grippiaprovestobethefirstextensivedescriptionofamajorcityinmedieval vernacular literature, if we ignore the numerous references to classical Troy, Carthage,andRome,thethreemonumentalstagesinAeneas’scareer,fleeingfrom burningTroyviaCarthagetoItalywherehefounds,uponthegods’commands, thenewcity,imperialRome.125 ThegoliardicpoetofthisMiddleHighGermantalehadreferredtoseveralcities before,suchasthoseoccupiedbyDukeErnstandtheEmperorrespectively.In thosecaseseachcitywastreatedasafortressthattheenemybesieges,suchas Nuremberg(878),whichcanresistOtte’sarmyandprovestobeimpenetrableto thehostileforces.Insofarastheemperordoesnoteasilyachievehisgoaltosquash theyoungduke,hecallsforanimperialdietinSpeyer,butthatcityishardlygiven anyprofile,andthedescriptionseemstobeentirelylimitedtothecourtwherethe emperorresides(1243–44). In a highly bold move, Ernst secretly enters the palace to assassinate the emperor,whomanages,however,toescapeinthelastminute,whereashisevil advisor,theCountofthePalatinate,isdecapitated.Ernstandhismenmaketheir wayoutofthecampsafely,anddisappearinthedistance,asiftherehadnotbeen anycitywalls,guards,streets,marketsquares,andothertypicalelementsofa fortifiedmedievalcity.

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See,forinstance,AdolfEmileCohen,DevisieopTrojevandewestersemiddeleeuwsegeschiedschrijvers tot1160.VanGorcum’shistorischebibliotheek,XXV(Assen:VanGorcum,1941);C.DavidBenson, TheHistoryofTroyinMiddleEnglishLiterature:GuidodelleColonne’sHistoriaDestructionisTroiaein MedievalEngland(Woodbridge,Suffolk:D.S.Brewer,andTotowa,NJ:Rowman&Littlefield, 1980); Gert Melville, Troja: die integrative Wiege europäischer Mächte im ausgehenden Mittelalter (Stuttgart:KlettCotta,1986);Entrefictionethistoire:TroieetRomeaumoyenâge,ed.Emmanuèle Baumgartner and Laurence HarfLancner (Paris: Presses de la Sourbonne Nouvelle, 1997); FantasiesofTroy:ClassicalTalesandtheSocialImaginaryinMedievalandEarlyModernEurope,ed. AlanShepardandStephenD.Powell.EssaysandStudies,5(Toronto:CentreforReformationand RenaissanceStudies,2004).Thisshortselectionofrelevantstudiesclearlydemonstrateshowmuch themythofTroyhasdeterminedWesternEuropethroughoutthecenturies,thoughthefocushas notnecessarilyrestedonTroyasacityinitsarchitecturaldimensions.SeealsoSylviaFederico, New Troy: Fantasies of Empire in the Late Middle Ages. Medieval Cultures, 36 (Minneapolis: UniversityofMinnesotaPress,2003);BettanyHughes,HelenofTroy:Goddess,Princess,Whore(New York:A.Knopf,2005);WolframA.Keller,Selves&Nations:theTroyStoryfromSicilytoEnglandin the Middle Ages (Heidelberg: Winter, 2008). For solid studies of the role of Troy in medieval German literature, see Manfred Kern, Agamemnon weint, oder, arthurische Metamorphose und trojanischeDestruktionim“GöttweigerTrojanerkrieg”ErlangerStudien,104(Erlangen:Palm&Enke, 1995);ElisabethLienert,GeschichteundErzählen:StudienzuKonradsvonWürzburg“Trojanerkrieg”. WissensliteraturimMittelalter,22(Wiesbaden:L.Reichert,1996).

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Whentheemperorlaterstrikesback,heattacksthecastlesandcitiesinErnst’s dukedomofBavaria,thoughhefacesstiffresistance,particularlybythecitizens ofRegensburg,whogiveuptheirfightonlyafterfiveyearsofbitterfighting. Duringthattimeofsiege,bothsidesmakeeverypossibleattempttothwartthe opponent’smilitaryoperations,butattheendtheemperorcarriesthedaybecause of his better resources. The narrator provides only fleeting descriptions of the entirecity,emphasizingthecitygates(1467),thetowersandotherpartsofthe fortificationsystem(1531),andthemoat(1547),andhealsoreferstothecitizens asthedefenders(1521),butoverallheconceivesofRegensburgasa“burg,”or castle(1570),althoughhealsoresortstotheterm“stat,”orcity(1556).126 ThesituationinGrippiaisentirelydifferent.Wemightreallydoubtwhether NurembergorRegensburgasdescribedherefleetinglyrepresentsacityinthe ancientorinthemodernsenseoftheword,consideringthatthenarrativefocus thererestsalmostentirelyonthefortificationsystem.Bycontrast,Grippiaconsists offullydevelopedurbanspace,withstreets,palaces,squares,acitywall,towers, andapark,initsmostsplendiddesignrepresentingalmostamedievalurban utopia.Asophisticateddefensesystemwithastrongwall,gates,andamoatis presentaswell,butthewall,forinstance,isbrilliantlydecorated,consistingof marble stones glowing brightly in many different colors (2215–29). Moreover, almost undermining the basic function of the wall to defend the city, many sculptureshavebeenattachedthatstronglyreflectthelight(2224–29),asifthey serveonlydecorativepurposes.Thenarrator’seyescarefullywanderoverallthe details,suchasthemerlonsandcrenels,coveredwithgoldandgems(2233–39), asiftheydidnothaveanymilitaryandarchitecturalfunction.Nevertheless,the poet still emphasizes that this was a castle (“burc,” 2240) that could not be conquered. Forourpurposeofexploringthementalhistoricalconstructandperceptionof urbanspaceintheMiddleAgesandtheearlymodernageaspartofthewider mentalhistory,thenarrativepresentationofGrippiadeservesgreaterattention.127 Theradiusoftheentirecityisextensive,andtheforeignerscanhardlyfindtheir wayintoitwithoutgettinglost(2510).Manyvaluablesculpturesdecoratethecity, andsodonumerouspalaces,givingarealofsenseofacomplexarchitectural ensemble.Grippiaislocatednexttothesea,makingitimpossibleforpotential

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JeanDenis G. G. Lepage, Castles and Fortified Cities of Medieval Europe: An Illustrated History (Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland, 2002), offers an excellent and detailed encyclopedic overviewofmedievalcities. HartmutKugler,DieVorstellungderStadtinderLiteraturdesdeutschenMittelalters.Münchener TexteundUntersuchungenzurdeutschenLiteraturdesMittelalters,88(Munich:Artemis,1986), 19,133;AlbrechtClassen,“ConfrontationwiththeForeignWorldoftheEast:SaracenPrincesses in Medieval German Narratives,” Orbis Litterarum 53 (1998): 277–95; Richard Spuler, “The OrientreiseofHerzogErnst,”Neophilologus67.3(1983):410–18.

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attackerstosurroundtheentirecityfromallsides(2553–56).Ananimalpark,like azoo,constitutestheheartofthecity,buttheroyalpalacedominateseverything, coveredwithgoldandgreenemeralds.Theindividualroomsdazzletheobserver with all their gems in the walls (2565–67). One of them impresses above all, obviouslyaking’sprivatechamber(2570–2644).Thenarratoriscarefultoadd interiorspacetohisoveralldescriptionofthecity,therebyprovidingdepthtothe urbantableau. OnceErnstandhisadvisorWetzelhaveleftthebuildingagain,theyentera largeyardinwhichmanycedartreeshavebeenplanted.Totheirdelight,thereis alsoabathhousewherewarmandcoldwaterflowsintothetubsdependingon theuser’sdesires(2670–78).128Oncethewaterhasrunthroughthetubs,itexits themagainandpoursoutontothestreetwhereitcanserveasacleaningagent. Theentiresetupprovestobemostefficientandimpressive,asifGrippiawerean eighteenthcenturycitywithanextensiveandsophisticatedcanalizationandsewer system: dazgeschachmitsinne. diestrâzendarinne beidegrôzundkleine wârnvonmarmelsteine, sumlîchegrüenealseingras. soinderburcerhabenwas undmandâschônewoldehân, sôliezmandazwazzersân überaldieburcgên. sômohtedânihtbestên wederdazhornochdermist. ineinervilkurzenfrist sôwartdiuburcvilreine. ichwæneburcdeheine ûferdeniesôrîchgestê: irstrâzenglizzensôdersnê.

(2682–98)

[Thiswasarrangeddeliberately. Allthestreetsinthecity, boththegreatandthesmallones, werebuiltoutofmarblestones,

128

ForthehistoryofbathsandbathingintheMiddleAges,seeGertrudWagner,DasGewerbeder BaderundBarbiereimdeutschenMittelalter(Zelli.W.:F.Buar,1917);HansJürgenSarholz,Heilbäder imMittelalter:dieAnfängederKurinMitteleuropa.BadEmserHefte,155(BadEms:VDGL,1996); seealsoGeorgesVigarello,ConceptsofCleanliness:ChangingAttitudesinFrancesincetheMiddle Ages,trans.JeanBirrell(1985;CambridgeandNewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress;Paris: MaisondeSciencesdel’Homme,1988).

AlbrechtClassen someasgreenasgrass. Whenpeoplewokeupinthecity(castle) anddesiredittobeclean, theyletthewaterimmediatelyrunout throughouttheentireplace. Nothingofallthedirtanddust couldthenstaybehind. Veryquicklythecity wasveryclean. Ibelievethereisnoothercity intheworldlikethisone: itsstreetsgleamlikesnow.]

Thecontemporaryaudiencewouldhaveagreed,andevenwithinthenarrative contextwecanconfirmtheremarkabledifferencebetweenthosecitieslocatedin WesternEurope,suchasNurembergandRegensburg,andGrippiasomewherein theexoticOrient.Generallyspeaking,neitherlargepublicspacesnorhygienein the modern sense of the word was fully available or of major significance in medievalcities,129thoughtheyquicklyemergedinthelateMiddleAgesandthe Renaissance,alongwithmajorpublicbuildings,suchastownhalls,guildhouses, courtbuildings,etc.130AsPhilippeContaminenotes: Perhapsthemoststrikingfeatureofthemedievalcitywasthescarcityofpublicplaces and buildings. Streets and squares were under the jurisdiction of the municipal, seigneurial,orroyalauthorities,andtherightofeminentdomainwasnotunknown. Nevertheless,onehastheimpressionthatthepublicspherewaslimitedandresidual; worsestill,itwasconstantlythreatenedbyprivateencroachment.131

Nevertheless,wemustnotforgetthat“[p]eopleintheMiddleAgesspentalotof timetogether,inthestreetswiththeirneighbors....Dealersandartisansforthe mostparthadtheirshopsinthehousestheylivedin,onthegroundfloor,and displayedtheirproductsinthestreetoncountersmadeofwood,orbuiltintothe

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130 131

SeethecontributionstoMedievalPracticesofSpace,ed.BarbaraA.HanawaltandMichalKobialka. Medieval Cultures, 23 (Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 2000). As HanawaltandKobialkaemphasizeintheirintroduction,“Byfocusingonthepracticeswithina heterogeneousspace,itbecomesapparentthatspaceisthoroughlyimbuedwithquantitiesand qualitiesmarkingthepresenceofbodies,signs,andthoughtsthathaddisappearedfromviewor adiscourseinthetopographyofthemedievallandscape.”(xi) GeorgesZarnicki,ArtoftheMedievalWorld,395–97. PhilippeContamine,“PeasantHearthtoPapalPalace:TheFourteenthandFifteenthCenturies,” RevelationsoftheMedievalWorld,ed.GeorgesDuby,trans.ArthurGoldhammer.AHistoryof PrivateLife,II(1985;Cambridge,MA,andLondon:TheBelknapPressofHarvardUniversity Press, 1988), 425–505; here 438. See also the entertaining and well informed study by Daniel Furrer,WasserthronundDonnerbalken:EinekleineKulturgeschichtedesstillenÖrtchens(Darmstadt: PrimusVerlag,2004),38–55.Healsodiscussesthehistoryofmedievalbaths.

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wallofthehouse.”132OnlybythelateMiddleAgesdidthissituationbeginto change,andbothconcernsforpublichygieneandtheimprovementofpubliclife were voiced repeatedly, which led to more distinct separations of private and publicspaces.AntonioofBeatiscommented,forinstance,onMechelninBelgium: “Superbcity,verylargeandhighlyfortified.Nowherehaveweseenstreetsmore spaciousormoreelegant.Theyarepavedwithsmallstones,andthesidesslope downslightly,sothatwaterandmudneverremainstanding.”133 ReturningtotheMiddleHighGermangoliardicpoem,notsurprisingly,Grippia withitsalmostmodernlookingcanalizationsystemwouldhavetoberegardedas anextraordinaryexception,perhapsalmostlikeanarchitecturalideal.Medieval citiescertainlydidnotlooklikethat,andthecommentsaboutRegensburgand NurembergdonotindicateatallanysimilaritieswithGrippia.Ofcourse,thepoet projectsanidealsetting,almostanurbanutopia,butheonlyglorifiesthebuilding elements,whereasthepeoplepopulatingthatcityquicklyturnouttobemembers ofamonstrousrace,halfhumanandhalfcrane.Astobeexpected,hardlyhave ErnstandWetzelfinishedtakingabathandputontheirarmoragainwhenthe Grippiansreturnfromawarcampaignduringwhichtheyhavekilledthekingof Indiaandhiswife,andhavekidnappedtheirbeautifuldaughter.TheGrippian kingwantstomarryher,butwhenaservantdiscoversthetwotravelershidingin adarkcorner,theybelievethatsomeoftheprincess’sservantshavefollowed,so they stab her to death with their beaks, which then forces the heroes to rush forwardandkilleveryoneintheirway,hackingawaythroughthethrongstothe citygatewheretheyareeventuallyrescuedbytheirownpeople.Outsidethey unexpectedlyfaceanarmyofGrippians,andtheycanbarelyfighttheirwaytothe ships,losingmanyoftheirownmen. Once Ernst and his companions have left Grippia behind, they encounter numerousotheradventures,buttheynevercomeacrossacityliketheonebuilt bythosecranepeople,althoughtheyspendalongtimewithothermonstrous peoples in the mysterious East. Surprisingly, not even Jerusalem is deemed importantenoughtoreceiveanyparticularattentionlaterinthenarrative.We onlylearnthatDukeErnsteventuallyreachedthegoalofhispilgrimage/crusade

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ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,49–50.Shereferstoliteraryandarthistoricalevidence, suchasanovellabyFrancoSacchettiandaminiatureinamanuscriptfromca.1470.Turningfrom thepublictotheprivatespace,sheemphasizes:“Theshortageofspaceintheinteriorsdrove peopleoutofdoors;thestreetsbecameevermorenarrow,evenastheybecamemoreanimated, becausemenandwomenstoppedinfrontofthecounterstobuy,tomakecontracts,tochat, perhapswithamemberofthehousehold....Womenlikedtobeatthewindoworonthebalcony ...”(51).“Menlikedtobeinthestreetsandthepiazzas,doingbusiness,makingpurchases, talkingandarguingaboutthings”(58).Whetherthisstrictgenderdifferentiationregardingpublic andprivatespaceinamedievalcitycanbeupheldremainstobeexaminedmorecarefully.See thecontributiontothisvolumebyLiaB.Ross. CitedfromContamine,“PeasantHearth,”441.

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andfoughtforalongtimeagainsttheinfidels,acquiringagreatreputation.Once hehasbeensecretlyinformedthathisfatherinlaw,theGermanemperor,has changed his mind and would welcome him back home, Ernst departs from Jerusalem and travels to Europe, paying on his way west a visit to Rome, of course. But again, here the narrative focus does not rest on the urban space; insteadweonlyhearthatthedukewasledtoSaintPeteranddonatedvaluable cloths(5800–24). OnlyGrippiaemergesasaveritablecityinthemodernsenseoftheword,but itseemsmorelikeanexoticentitythananidealmodel,despiteallitsbeautyand cleanliness.AndonceErnsthasreachedGermanyagain,allpersonalencounters takeplaceatcourtandinacathedral,whichleavesouttheurbanspaceentirely. Although medieval society was mostly determined by feudalism—for an exception, see Iceland—and the dominance of the rural population at least in statisticalterms,itwouldbeincorrecttoignorethedeepandgrowingimpactof citiesandcitylife,aswehaveobservedrepeatedly.Historianshavepaidgreat attentiontothisphenomenon,andwewouldcarryproverbialowlstoAthensif we wanted to review and rewrite the history of medieval cities.134 Individual scholarshavealsodiscussedhowthecitywaspresentedandprojectedinmedieval literature.HartmutKugler,forinstance,examinesthelaudesurbium,theliterary imagesofCarthageandRome,themetaphorofthecelestialcityofJerusalemand itsconcretefunctioninthehistoricalcontext,andfinallythecityasthecenterof aregiondeterminedbyhumanactivities,implyingthesitusurbisasthecentral locationofacomplexcommunalsystem.135Butasourdiscussionofthegoliardic epicpoemHerzogErnsthasindicated,wealsoneedtoapproachthetopicofurban spacefromamentalhistoricalperspective. Howmightthevariousaudiencesofthismostpopulartalehavereactedtothe stunningdescriptionofGrippia?Diditrepresentaliterarydreamorawarning againstexcessivedevelopmentoftheurbanspacewhichcouldonlybefoundin theexoticEast?Afterall,Ernsttakestoomuchtimeenjoyingtheurbanprivileges, wanderingaroundinamazementandthentakingabath,whereheiscaughtby surprise when the Grippians finally return and begin with their wedding 134

135

See,forinstance,NormanPounds,TheMedievalCity.GreenwoodGuidestoHistoricEventsofthe Medieval World (Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood, 2005). He discusses the following topics:origins;theurbanplan;theurbanwayoflife;theChurchinthecity;citygovernment; urbancraftsandtrade;health,wealth,andwelfare.Hecorrectlyconcludesthatthecitybecame “thefastestgrowingandthewealthiestofanydivisionofsociety,anditwasquicktomakeits influencefeltatleastinwesternandcentralEurope”(153).Reviewingthearchitectural,artistic, intellectual,religious,andpoliticalinheritancefromtheMiddleAges,allattributabletothecity, henotes:“Theartisticandculturalachievementofwesterncivilization,likeitspoliticallegacy, wasbyandlargetheachievementofitscitiesandtowns”(163). Kugler,DieVorstellung.

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festivities. On the one hand the protagonist proves to be a victim of his own curiosity and temptability, awestruck by the beauty and wealth of the urban architecture.Ontheother,hisentirejourneyrepresentsariteofpassageforhim, ultimatelyleadingtoaformofrebirthonceheandhismenhavetraveledthrough amountainonalittleraftduringtheirnextmajoradventure.136 ThiswouldimplythatGrippiarepresentsthefirstofmanychallengesforhim, thoughthecityitselfwouldnotconstituteathreattohischaracterormorality. Instead,heisseriouslyconcernedwithanderoticallyinterestedinrescuingthe Indianprincess,thoughheunderestimatesthemilitaryprowessandstrengthof thecranepeople.Infact,heandhiscompanionWetzelwouldhavediedattheend hadnothiscomradesarrivedintimetofreethemfromthedeadlyconflictwithin thecity,forcingtheirwaythroughthegatetotheinside. One could also not really blame Duke Ernst for his desire to visit the city a second time and then to take a bath in the most sophisticated bathhouse —apparentlyanexoticrarityforhimandhisadvisor.Nevertheless,thecityitself representsothernessandthedangerofthemysteriousOrientfortheChristian warrioronhispilgrimagetoJerusalem.137Despiteallitsluxuriousness,splendor, size,andwealth,GrippiawouldnotbeaplacewhereErnstcouldexist,orjustrest, andattheendhemustliterallyhackhiswayoutofthecity,barelysurvivingthe onslaughtbytheGrippianarmyoutside.Thisdoesnotmean,however,thatthe anonymous poet of Herzog Ernst would cast this city as a site of sinfulness, debauchery,anddecadence,perhapsasanewSodomandGomorrah.Infact,the protagonist deeply admires the urban architecture and enjoys the unheard of amenitiesthatthiscityoffersitsuninvitedguests. Admittedly,thecranepeoplearenotdescribedinpositiveterms:theycarryout a brutal and unjustified warfare against India, and they immediately stab the kidnappedprincesstodeathwhentheythinkthatsomeIndiansoldiersarehiding inthepalace.Buttheybehavelikemostothermedievalpeoplewouldhave,and theirkingcouldeasilybecomparedtoanyotherEuropeanruler,consideringthe vastcorpusofbridalquestnarratives. Thegoliardicpoemcontainselementsofcriticismofandadmirationforthisnew typeofcity;itoffersamostappealingimageofsuchanarchitecturalmarveltothe

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David Malcolm Blamires, Herzog Ernst and the Otherworld Voyage: A Comparative Study. PublicationsoftheFacultyofArtsoftheUniversityofManchester,24(Manchester:Manchester University Press, 1979); Albrecht Classen, “Medieval Travel into an Exotic Orient: The Spielmannsepos Herzog Ernst as a Travel into the Medieval Subconsciousness,” Lesarten: New MethodologiesandOldTexts,ed.AlexanderSchwarz.Tausch,2(Frankfurta.M.,NewYork,and Paris:PeterLang,1990),103–24. Forfurtherreflectionsuponthisphenomenon,seethecontributionstoDiesseitsundJenseitsreisen imMittelalter:Voyagesdansl’icibasetdansl’audelàaumoyenâge,ed.WolfDieterLange.Studium Universale,14(BonnandBerlin:BouvierVerlag,1992).

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generalaudienceandyetalsowarnsthemnottoidentifytoocloselywiththiskind ofcitybecausetheinhabitantsbelongtothemonstrousraces,whichassociates theirurbanspacealsowithasenseofthedangerousexotic. InalllikelihoodthepoetreflecteduponthenewexperiencesthattheChristian crusadershadintheHolyLandwheretheyencounteredasuperiorandhighly advancedurbanculturewhichwassoontoinfluencewesterncivilizationaswell intermsofurbanspace. YetthiswasonlyoneofamyriadofperspectivestowardthemedievalcityinEast and West, and we also would have to consider the most important world of learningandschoolingatleastsincethetwelfthcenturythatemergedinurban centerswhenthetraditionalcathedralschoolslostesteemandhadtocedemuch oftheirinfluenceandauthoritytonewinstitutionsofhigherlearning.138Afterall, withthetwelfthcentury,universitiessprangupeverywhereinEurope,allofthem locatedincitiesanddrawingspecificallyfromurbanlife,whetherinParis,Oxford, Cambridge, Bologna, Salamanca, Salerno, or in Montpellier, Toledo, and ultimatelyalsonorthoftheAlpsinPrague,Heidelberg,Cracow,andVienna.The lifeandcareerofPeterAbelard(1079–1142),oneofthemostfamousmedieval philosophers,wasintimatelyandsignificantlypredicatedanddependentonurban space, despite his various attempts to withdraw into an isolated monastic communityfarawayfromParis.139Infact,asanysurveyofmedievalliteraturewill

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C. Stephen Jaeger, The Envy of Angels: Cathedrals Schools and Social Ideals in Medieval Europe, 950–1200. Middle Ages Series (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994); Alan Balfour,TheMedievalUniversities:TheirDevelopmentandOrganization(London:Methuen,1975); UniversitiesandSchoolinginMedievalSociety,edWilliamJ.Courtenay.EducationandSocietyin theMiddleAgesandRenaissance,10(Leiden:Brill,2000);VernL.Bullough,Universities,Medicine and Science in the Medieval West. Variorum Collected Studies Series, 781 (Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 2004); Rainer Christoph Schwinges, Studenten und Gelehrte: Studien zur Sozial und KulturgeschichtedeutscherUniversitätenimMittelalter.EducationandSocietyintheMiddleAges andRenaissance,32(Leiden:Brill,2008).Thereisalegionoffurtherdetailedresearchonmedieval andearlymodernlearningandschooling.NowseeHuntJanin,TheUniversityinMedievalLife, 1179–1499 (Jefferson, NC, and London: McFarland, 2008), though his study is marred by numerous mistakes and a rather superficial treatment of his topic. Particularly his explicit criticismofallegedlyhairsplittingscholarshipinthiscontextisratherironicandamusing.The most seminal study proves to be A History of the Universities in Europe, ed. Hilde de Ridder Symoens.Vol.1:UniversitiesintheMiddleAges(CambridgeandNewYork:CambridgeUniversity Press,2003). NowseeLettersofPeterAbelard,BeyondthePersonal,trans.JanM.Ziolkowski.MedievalTextsin Translation(Washington,D.C.:TheCatholicUniversityofAmericaPress,2008),whichoffersan excellentoverviewofAbelard’sbiographyandthemostcriticalpositionsofmodernresearch focusedonhisworkandrelationshipwithhissocialenvironment.Themostcomprehensivestudy of medieval universities continues to be Universities in the Middle Ages, ed. Hilde de Ridder Symoens History of the University in Europe, 1 (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge UniversityPress,1992).

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demonstrate,bythethirteenthcenturythefocusofliteraryproductivitymoved awayfromthecourtstotheurbancenters,reflectingaprofoundtransformation process even in terms of mental history.140 Nevertheless, the universities increasinglybecametheintellectualcentersoflatemedievaltowns,andtherewere numerouseconomicconsequencesfortheurbanpopulationaswell,whetherwe thinkofroomandboardforscholarsandstudents,bookproduction,theerection ofspecialuniversitybuildings,andartsandentertainment.141 Turning to the late Middle Ages, increasingly cityscapes dot the imaginary landscapeofpoetsandwriters.OneofthemostinfluentialFrenchpoets,Christine dePizan(ca.1364–1430),wentevensofarastoutilizethemetaphorofthecityfor herruminationsonwomen’sfreedomandequality.142InherCityofLadies(1405) she creates one of the most remarkable manifestoes for women’s rights and women’spowerintheMiddleAges,drawing,forinstance,fromAristotle’sPolitics andAugustine’sCityofGod,bothtimesbeing inspiredbytheirphilosophical religiousmetaphorofthecityasthecentralsiteofhumanhistory.143Allthese

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Ursula Peters, Literatur in der Stadt: Studien zu den sozialen Voraussetzungen und kulturellen Organisationsformen städtischer Literatur im 13. und 14. Jahrhundert. Studien und Texte zur SozialgeschichtederLiteratur,7(Tübingen:Niemeyer,1983);ÜberBürger,Stadtundstädtische LiteraturimSpätmittelalter:BerichtüberKolloquienderKommissionzurErforschungderKulturdes Spätmittelalters1975–1977,ed.JosefFlecksteinandKarlStackmann.AbhandlungenderAkademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen.; PhilologischHistorische Klasse, 3. Folge, 121 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1980);HeinzSchilling,DieStadtinderfrühenNeuzeit.Enzyklopädie deutscherGeschichte,24(Munich:Oldenbourg,1993).Forarecentsurveyofliteraturecomposed inlatemedievalcities,seeGraemeDunphy,“LiteraryTransitions,1300–1500:FromLateMedieval toEarlyModern,”EarlyModernGermanLiterature:1350–1700,ed.MaxReinhart.TheCamden House HistoryofGermanLiterature,4(Rochester,NY,andWoodbridge,Suffolk:Boydell& Brewer,2007),43–87;here62–74. Francsisco Bertelloni, “Nähe und Distanz zu Aristoteles: Die neue Bedeutung von civitas im politischenDenkendes13.bis15.Jahrhunderts:ZwischenThomasvonAquinundNikolasvon Kues,” University, Council, City: Intellectual Culture on the Rhine (1300–1550): Acts of the XIIth InternationalColloquiumoftheSociétéInternationalepourlÉtudedelaPhilosophieMédiévale,Freiburg imBreisgau,27–29October2004,ed.LaurentCesalli,NadjaGermann,andM.J.F.M.Hoenen. RecontresdePhilosophiemédiévale,13(Turnhout:Brepols,2007),323–47. Thenumberofolderandmorerecentstudiesonthistextislegion;sufficeitheretorefertoashort selection:Forasympathetic,briefthoughconciseintroductiontoChristine,seeElisaNarinvan Court,“ChristinedePizan,”EncyclopediaofMedievalLiterature,ed.JayRuud(NewYork:Factson File,2006),135–38.SeealsoBärbelZühlke,ChristinedePizaninTextundBild:ZurSelbstdarstellung einerfrühhumanistischenIntellektuellen.ErgebnissederFrauenforschung,36(StuttgartandWeimar: J.B.Metzler,1994);SisterPrudenceAllen,R.S.M.,TheConceptofWoman.Vol.2:TheEarlyHumanist Reformation,1250–1500(GrandRapids,MI,andCambridge:WilliamB.Eerdmans,2002),610–54. LoriJ.Walters,“LaRéécrituredeSaintAugustinparChristinedePizan:DeLaCitédeDieuàla Citédesdames,”AuChampsdesescripture:IIIe.ColloqueinternationalsurChristinedePizan,ed.Erick Hicks,DiegoGonzalez,andPhilippeSimon.Étudeschristiniennes,6(Paris:Champion,2000), 195–215.

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detailsdonotneedtobediscussedherefurthersincetheyhavebeenexplored manytimesbefore,whereasthemetaphoritselfdeservesgreaterattentionthanit hasenjoyedsofar.144 Three allegorical ladies appear to the authornarrator who represent fundamentalvirtuesthatanywomancanorshouldsubscribeto,ifnotanyperson: reason,rectitude,andjustice.TheychallengeChristinetobuildacitywhereall womencanproperlyresidebecauseitwouldbebuiltuponthosevaluesandideals bywhichallpeoplecouldlivehonorably.Whereasacitynormallyrepresented, in concrete, material terms, a location where a maximum of protection was availabletothecitizens,theseallegoricalfiguresimplyconsiderablymore:“sothat fromnowon,ladiesandallvaliantwomenmayhavearefugeanddefenseagainst the various assailants, whose ladies who have been abandoned for so long, exposedlikeafieldwithoutasurroundinghedge....”145 LadyReasonevengoesintofurtherdetailswhyChristineshouldbuildacityfor allwomen:“youwilldrawfreshwatersfromusfromclearfountains,andwewill bringyousufficientbuildingstone,strongerandmoredurablethananymarble withcementcouldbe.ThusyourCitywillbeextremelybeautiful,withoutequal, andofperpetualdurationintheworld”(177).Ontheonehand,themetaphorof thecityserveswellasanexpressionofstrengthforwomeninahostileworld;on theotheritindicatesthatwomencanhaveaplaceoftheirown,beingproudof theirownbeautyandinnerstrength.ComparingthecityoftheAmazonswiththe onetobeerectedbyChristine,LadyReasoninsiststhatthelatterwilllastlonger than the former because of its better and more solid foundation and defense mechanisms:“[it]willbefarstronger,andforitsfoundingIwascommissioned, inthecourseofourcommondeliberations,tosupplyyouwithdurableandpure mortartolaythesturdyfoundationsandtoraisetheloftywallsallaround,high andthick,withmightytowersandstrongbastions,surroundedbymoatswith firmblockhouses,justasisfittingforacitywithastrongandlastingdefense” (178). WhereasinHistoriaApolloniusthereisaclearsenseofaveritablecitywitha complexpopulation,hereChristineresortstostandardimagesofthecitybasically constituted by its defense structures. The actual city as a site for a closeknit

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See,forinstance,JudithL.Kellog,“LeLivredelacité desdames:ReconfiguringKnowledgeand ReimaginingGenderedSpace,”ChristinedePizan:ACasebook,ed.BarbaraK.Altmann,DeboraL. McGrady,withaforewordbyCharityCannonWillard.RoutledgeMedievalCasebooks,34(New YorkandLondon:Routledge,2003),129–46;BetsyMcCormick,“BuildingtheIdealCity:Female MemorialPraxisinChristinedePizan’sCitédesDames,”StudiesinLiteraryImagination36,1(2003): 149–71. TheWritingsofChristinedePizan.Selectedanded.byCharityCannonWillard(NewYork:Persea Books,1994),176.SeealsoChristinedePizan,TheBookoftheCityofLadies,trans.andwithan introductionandnotesbyRosalindBrownGrant(London:Penguin,1999).

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population, or community, with countless social groups and classes that all collaborate, in a way, to make the urban identity possible, however, does not actually surface in the text. Only Lady Rectitude offers meaningful reflections upontheactualurbanspace,whensheremarks:“Allthingsaremeasuredbythis ruler,foritspowersareinfinite.ItwillserveyoutomeasuretheedificeoftheCity whichyouhavebeencommissionedtobuild,andyouwillneeditforconstructing thefaçade,forerectingthehightemples,formeasuringthepalaces,houses,and allpublicbuildings,thestreetsandsquares,andallthingspropertohelppopulate theCity”(179).146 LadyJustice,finally,inhercommentsaboutwhathermeaningmightbeinthe constructionoftheallegoricalcity,mentionsfurtherarchitecturalelements:“my jobwillbetoconstructthehighroofsofthetowersandoftheloftymansionsand innswhichwillallbemadeoffineshininggold.ThenIwillpopulatetheCityfor youwithworthladiesandthemightyQueenwhomIwillbringtoyou”(180). OnlysomeoftheillustratedmanuscriptscontainingChristine’stextalsoprovide imagery of an actual city. Ms. Harley 4431, British Library, London, however, provestobeanexcellentexceptionwhereonfol.323Droitture(Rectitude)leads thesibylsintothecity.Weclearlyrecognizethecitygateandwall,alargenumber ofhouseswithvariousrooftops,andonehousethatisstillintheprocessofbeing erected,withbeamsfortheroofalreadysetupbutnotyetcoveredbytiles.The artistevenincludedchimneys,reflectingontheneedforcomfortwithintheliving spaces.147 Asimilarscene,providingfascinatingdetailsofcarpenters’workontheroofs, canbefoundinthesplendidilluminationinthemanuscripthousedinMunich, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Codex gall. 8, fol. 90v.148 Ms. Ffr. 1177 in the Bibliothèque National, Paris, on the other hand, shows very little interest in depictingconcreteurbanspace.Onfol.45r,forinstance,weseeJustice,wholeads the sibyls into the city, with a door to the immediate right opening up rather unexpectedly because the actual city gate with its two tall towers rises in the

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MaureenQuilligan,TheAllegoryofFemaleAuthority:ChristinedePizan’sCitédesDames(Ithacaand London:CornellUniversityPress,1991),104–17. Quilligan,TheAllegory,106.Shealsoobserves,“Droitture’semphasisonthesibylscontinuesthe subtlecritiqueofRomebeguninsectiononebyReasonandreinforcedbyheremphasisonan alternatetraditionoffemalecivilizationwithitsverydifferentsetofcities,CarthageandBabylon” (108). Seeplate1(followingp.42)inSusanGroagBell,TheLostTapestriesoftheCityofLadies:Christine dePizan’sRenaissanceLegacy(Berkeley,LosAngeles,andLondon:UniversityofCaliforniaPress, 2004).Otherilluminationsgofarbackinthematicdesignpriortotheerectionoftheutopiancity, suchastheminiatureintheBelgianmanuscriptofLeLivredelacitédesdames,RoyalLibraryof Belgium,Brussels,MS9235,fol.10v;seetheplateviiiinGroagBell’sTheLostTapestries.

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background.Thereisnorealsenseofacityhereobviouslybecausetheartistic focusrestsonthegroupofsibylsandtheirhighlystylishfashion.149 Subsequently,returningtoChristine’stext,thereisnotmuchtalkaboutthecity as such anymore because the allegorical imagery has fulfilled its purpose. Nevertheless, overall Christine explicitly indicates how much the city had emergedasacrucialmetaphorforallaspectsinhumanlife,andthatastrongand reliablehumanexistencecruciallyneedstherelevantsupportwithinacity,atleast forthenonaristocraticclasses.Forher,andmanypeopleamongheraudiences thattendedtosupportandevenadoreher,thedefenseofwomenagainstmale attacksbothinphysicalandmetaphoricaltermscouldbefullyachievedonlyby hidingbehindcitywalls,atleastinimaginaryterms,nothowever,behindthose ofacastle,probablybecauseChristineidentifiedwiththecityaswomen’strueand onlysafehaven. At the same time, as fleeting references in Christine’s texts indicate, those freedoms of the urban culture were not necessarily stable and could be easily lost.150 But this city, in its literary and subsequently also visual manifestation, providedasignificantmediumforthefemalereadersandviewerstoidentifywith their own community. The city becomes, in Christine’s terms, the location of memoryandutopiaaswellwherewomencanfindrefugeandasafeexistence dominatedbyvirtuesandethicalandmoralideals.151Inasubtle,butcertainly significantwayDantehadalsooutlinedthisconceptinhisParadisowherewomen, primarilyasmothersandwives,wereregardedastheessentialmembersofthe urbancommunitywhokeptthememoryofthegloriouspastaliveandpassedit ontotheirchildren.AsHonessnowobserves,“theimageoftheFlorentinewomen putforwardinParadisoXVservesasaveryclearillustrationthat,forthepoet,both men and women function as citizens, and that both are able to function as

149

150

151

Quilligan,TheAllegory,127.TheillustrationofCarthagewhereDidocommitssuicideinMs.Royal CV20,London,BritishLibrary,fol.65r,seemsratherodd.Thegroupofthreemenwitnessing Dido’sdeathtotheirrightstandsbehindalowwall,andtheactualcitiesrisesbehindthem,with orientallookingtowersinthedistance,whereasaseriesofconnectedhousesconstitutetheactual city;seeQuilligan,TheAllegory,172.SeealsoSandraL.Hindman,“WithInkandMortar:Christine dePizan’sCitédesDames(AnArtEssay),”FeministStudies10(1984):457–77;eadem,Christinede Pizan’s“EpistreOthéa”:PaintingandPoliticsattheCourtofCharlesVI(Toronto:PontificalInstitute ofMediaevalStudies,1986);RosalindBrownGrant,“IlluminationasReception:JeanMiélot’s Reworkingofthe‘EpistreOthea’,”TheCityofScholars:NewApproachestoChristinedePizan,ed. MargareteZimmermannandDinaDeRentiis.EuropeanCultures,2(BerlinandNewYork:de Gruyter,1994),260–71. DianeWolfthal,“‘Douleursurtoutresautres’:RevisualizingtheRapeScriptintheEpistreOthea andtheCitédesdames,”ChristinedePizanandtheCategoriesofDifference,ed.MarilynnDesmond. MedievalCultures,14(MinneapolisandLondon:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,1998),41–70. MargareteZimmermann,“ChristinedePizan:Memory’sArchitect,”ChristinedePizan:ACasebook, ed.BarbaraK.AltmannandDeborahL.McGrady.RoutledgeMedievalCasebooks(NewYork andLondon:Routledge,2003),57–77;here66–71.

UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModernAge

examples, conveying a fundamental lesson about the relationship between individualandcommunity.”152 Globallyspeaking,livinginthecitystillmeantthattheindividualcouldenjoy vast advantages over the people living in the countryside. Lady Rectitude indicateshowimportantacitywasforeveryonewhocouldenjoytheprivilegeof livingthere.Moreimportantly,though,sheprovidesadeepglanceintotheactual structure of a latemedieval city with its highly diversified topography: “our constructionisquitewelladvanced,forthehousesoftheCityofLadiesstand completedallalongthewidestreets,itsroyalpalacesarewellconstructed,andits towersanddefenseturretshavebeenraisedsohighandstraightthatonecansee them from far away” (191–92). This idyllic, perhaps utopian, city signals how muchurbanlifewasaspiredtobyeveryonewhocouldaffordtolivethere:“How happywillbethecitizensofouredifice,fortheywillnotneedtofearorworry aboutbeingevictedbyforeignarmies,forthisworkhasthespecialpropertythat itsownerscannotbeexpelled”(192). Thiscityhousesonlymostintelligentanddignifiedladies:“theyshallallbe womenofintegrity,ofgreatbeautyandauthority,fortherecouldbenofairer populacenoranygreateradornmentintheCitythanwomenofgoodcharacter” (192).Despitetheobviousidealization,Christinepowerfullycircumscribesthe latemedieval value system according to which the best place for a person’s residencewouldbethe citybecauseherethehighestgoalsofethics,morality, justice,rectitude,andreasoncanbeachievedbytheresidents. However, she immediately forces us also to discriminate between the ideal imageofanurbanspacewherepeoplewithanoblespiritlive,andtheoftenharsh and excruciating conditions for married women who suffer from brutal and ignoranthusbandsandmanyothermaleperpetrators—inthecity,especiallyifthe womendidnotenjoymaleprotectionfromafatherorahusband:“Howmany harsh beatings—without cause and without reason—how many injuries, how manycruelties,insults,humiliations,andoutrageshavesomanyuprightwomen suffered,noneofwhomcriedoutforhelp.Andconsiderallthewomenwhodie ofhungerandgriefwithahomefullofchildren,whiletheirhusbandscarouse dissolutelyorgoonbingesineverytavernallovertown,andstillthepoorwomen arebeatenbytheirhusbandswhentheyreturn,andthatistheirsupper”(193). Christinevocallychallengeshusbands’abuseoftheirwives,particularlywithin theurbansetting,thoughsheknowsofnootherrealisticrecoursebuttowithdraw intothemetaphoricalCityofLadies,aliterarydreamworldwheretheurbanspace

152

Honess,FromFlorencetotheHeavenlyCity,51;seealsoJacquesGoudert,Danteetlapolitique(Paris: AubierMontaigne,1969),139.

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turnsintoasafehavenforwomenagainsttheirviolentandbrutalhusbands.153She isrealisticenough,however,torecognizeandadmitpubliclythattheurbanspace, asamostfamiliarsiteoflatemedievalsocietyaccordingtoherownexperience andthatofheraudience,provestobeasitewheremenofallclasses,ages,and politicalstatusescanalsoroamfreelyandabusewomen,wheretavernsinvite peopletocomeinanddrink,wherevicesandsinfulnessflowerfreely,andwhere thephysicallyweakermembersofsocietycanbecomevictimsofthosewithmore power. Ofcourse,andnottrulyexpected,Christinedoesnothavearealanswerforhow todealwithmaleviolence,bothwithinmarriageandoutside—infact,noonein the late Middle Ages had any pragmatic suggestion or solution, except to recommendtowomenthattheysubmittotheirdestinyandtopraytoGod—but shedreamsofacitywhereuprightandvirtuouswomencanlivefreelyfromall thatabuseanddedicatedtothefundamentalvirtuesandvaluesinhumanlife: “NowwehavecomebacktoourCity,thankGod,withallthenoblecompanyof fairanduprightwomenwhomwewilllodgethere”(194). Similarly,LadyJusticealsooffersheradviceandmakesacontributiontothe CityofLadies,againinmetaphoricalterms,andemphasizesattheend:“itseems tomethatIhaveacquittedmyselfwellofmyofficeincompletingthehighroofs of your City and in populating it for you with outstanding ladies, just as I promised”(205).Thecityemergesbothasametaphorofwomen’sveryownspace freeofmalepersecutions,andasasitewheretheyhavetoaccepttheirearthly blight.AsChristinecommentsherself,thisuniquecityhouses“ladiesfromthe pastaswellasfromthepresentandfuture,forithasbeenbuiltandestablishedfor everyhonorablelady”(205).Itisacityof“virtue,soresplendentthatyoumaysee yourselvesmirroredinit,especiallyintheroofsbuiltinthelastpartaswellasin theotherpartswhichconcernyou”(206). Christinecontinueswithadiscussionofmarriage,especiallywithanevilor cruelhusband,andappealstoherfemalereaderstobepatientandhumble.For her, this audience consists of women from all social classes, “whether noble, bourgeois, or lowerclass” (207), which signals that she perceives the city as a cosmosoftheentiresociety.Shestronglysuggeststhatherfemaleaudienceflee theevilcityoftheirpresentexistenceandseekrefuge,paralleltoAugustine’sCity ofGood,inthecityofvirtuousandglorifiedladies:“Andsomayitpleaseyou,my mostrespectedladies,tocultivatevirtue,tofleevice,toincreaseandmultiplyour City,andtorejoiceandactwell”(207).

153

Albrecht Classen, The Power of a Woman’s Voice in Medieval and Early Modern Literature. FundamentalsofMedievalandEarlyModernCulture,1(BerlinandNewYork:deGruyter,2007), 181–84.

UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModernAge

ForChristineandhercontemporariesthecityhadobviouslyalreadyemerged asthecentraliconoftheirtime,akeymetaphorwithmultipleconnotations.154As RosalindBrownGrantnowsuggests,“Christine’suseofthesymbolofthecity underpins one of the central arguments of her text, namely that women have contributedtothemoralandspiritualdevelopmentofcivilizationasepitomized by the urban community.”155 Of course, the moral symbolism alluding to the desiredprotectionofwomen’schastitywithinthiscitycannotbeoverlooked,and has been discussed numerous times. But the fact that Christine resorts to the imageryoftheurbanspaceinthefirstplacealsoindicatestheconsiderableinterest in the city as the locus of latemedieval culture and civilization, replacing the court,thepalace,andthechurch,despitethepoet’sgreatconcerntoappealtoher most important patrons, the higher echelons of French aristocracy, hence the courtlyaudience. ForChristine,thecityprovestobethelocationwherevirtuescanbloomand findthenecessaryprotection,if,andthisisabigcaveat,thiscitycanbeproperly builtandconstructedappropriatelyforwomen’sneedsanddesires.156 Itwasaliteraryimagination,yetitwasalsopredicated,bydefault,onavery concreteconceptofthecityinitscomplexstructureandproperties.Discussingthe cityinhercontext,Christinereaffirmsthefundamentalsignificanceofthecityas the new and all important central location of social, economic, and cultural religious activities, even though she projects virtually nothing but a fantasy concept.Thisisnottodenythepermeabilityofthecitywall,andtheopennessof theurbanspaceinitsmetaphoricalconnotation,totheoutsideworld,especially in intellectual terms, insofar as the author allows the numerous references to outstandingwomenfromthepast,whetherprincessesormartyrs,toenterthe femalespace,therebyopeningaextensivecommunicationsysteminwhichthecity servesasthecentralhub.157

154

155

156

157

SandraL.Hindman,“WithInkandMortar:ChristinedePizan’sCitédesDames:AnArtEssay,” FeministStudies10(1984):457–84. ChristinedePizan,TheBookoftheCityofLadies,trans.andwithanintrod.andnotesbyRosalind BrownGrant(London:Penguin,1999),xxix–xxx.SeealsoBrownGrant,ReadingBeyondGender: ChristinedePizanandtheMoralDefenceofWomen(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1999). DouglasKelly,ChristinedePizan’sChangingOpinion:AQuestforCertaintyintheMidstofChaos. Gallica(Woodbridge,Suffolk,andRochester,NY:Boydell&Brewer,2007),84–85.Heemphasizes howmuchChristineknewhowtodiscriminateamongvirtuousandsinfulwomenasburghers inhernewcity:“Women,likemen,canbegoodorbad.TheCitéacknowledgesthisbyadmitting onlytheformerwithinitswalls.Hence,someoutsiderswillfitthemisogynists’stereotypesas Christineunderstandsthem...”(97). HereIdrawfromapaperbyFedericaAnichini,“ChristinedePizan’sCityofLadies:Excavating Prejudice,BuildingKnowledge,”deliveredatthe44thInternationalCongressonMedievalStudies, May7–10,2009,Kalamazoo,MI,attheWesternMichiganUniversity.Seealsothecontributions toTheCityofScholars:NewApproachestoChristinedePizan,ed.MargareteZimmermannandDina DeRentiis.EuropeanCultures,2(BerlinandNewYork:WalterdeGruyter,1993).

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This finds intriguing confirmation in the poetic works of her contemporary, ThomasHoccleve,whoworkedasascribeinLondon,beingfirstcitedinChancery rollsfromshortlypriortoJune21,1387toMay8,1426,aposthumousnote.158He wasbornaround1367andbeganhiscareerasanapprenticeclerkinthePrivy Seal,servingasunderclerktoGuydeRoucliff.Shortlybefore1408hehadachieved sucharankthathewasassignedanassistantclerk,JohnWelde.Heretiredin1426 anddiedsoonafter.159Hocclevehassufferedforalongtimebeingregardedasa secondarypoetinthelongshadowcastbyGeoffreyChaucer,butrecentresearch hasrecognizedhismostidiosyncraticapproaches,styles,themes,andimages.160 HemightactuallybecomparabletoFrançoisVillonandOswaldvonWolkenstein becauseofhisstronginterestinautobiographicalselfreflectionsinhispoemsand therebellious,satirical,sometimesalmostgrotesqueverses.161InhisLaMaleRegle, forinstance,writtenin1405,he“presentshimself...asanapostatetothegod Helthe.Hehasfortwentyyearsbeenagluttonandafool,eatinganddrinking untilhecan’tgetoutofbedinthemorning,andspendingallhislittlemoneyto buytheflatteringwordsofboatmenontheThamesandof‘Venusfemellusty childrendeere.’ThepoemshowsChaucer’sinfluenceinthecomicpresentationof Hoccleve’spastmisdeeds,butitisquiteunChaucerianinitsdetailedimagination ofclerklylifeinearlyfifteenthcenturyLondon.”162 HoccleveregularlyreferstohimselfandhislifeinthecityofLondon,providing notsystematic,butmostinterestinginsightsintohowanearlyfifteenthcentury

158

159 160

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162

A.C.Reeves,“ThomasHoccleve,Bureaucrat,”MediaevaliaetHumanistican.s.5(1974):201–14;see alsoT.F.Tout,“LiteratureandLearningintheEnglishCivilServiceintheFourteenthCentury,” Speculum4(1929):365–89;EthanKnapp,TheBureaucraticMuse:ThomasHoccleveandtheLiterature ofLateMedievalEngland(UniversityPark,PA:ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversityPress,2001), 20–43,etpassim.SeealsoGünterHagel,ThomasHoccleve:LebenundWerkeinesSchriftstellersim EnglanddesSpätmittelalters.EuropäischeHochschulschriften.Reihe14:AngelsächsischeSprache undLiteratur,130(FrankfurtamMain,Bern,etal.:PeterLang,1984). SelectionsfromHoccleve,ed.M.C.Seymour(Oxford:ClarendonPress,1981),xi–xxxiii. ThoughaddressingamajortextinHoccleve’sœuvrethatdoesnotnecessarilyshedlightonour topic, Nicholas Perkins, Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes: Counsel and Constraint (Woodbridge, Suffolk:D.S.Brewer,2001),shedsimportantlightonHoccleve’spositioninthehistoryofMiddle Englishliterature.SeealsoThomasHoccleve,TheRegimentofPrinces,ed.CharlesR.Blyth.Middle EnglishTexts(Kalamazoo,MI:MedievalInstitutePublications,1999). AlbrechtClassen,DieautobiographischeLyrikdeseuropäischenSpätmittelalters:StudienzuHugovon Montfort,OswaldvonWolkenstein,AntonioPucci,Charlesd’Orléans,ThomasHoccleve,MichelBeheim, HansRosenplütundAlfonsoAlvarezdeVillasandino.AmsterdamerPublikationenzurSpracheund Literatur,91(AmsterdamandAtlanta:EditionsRodopi,1991). Knapp,TheBureaucraticMuse,37.SeealsoA.C.Spearing,MedievaltoRenaissanceinEnglishPoetry (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1985),110–20;EvaM.Thornley,“TheMiddleEnglish PenitentialLyricandHoccleve’sAutobiographicalPoetry,”NeuphilologischeMitteilungen68(1967): 295–321; Albrecht Classen, “Hoccleve’s Independence from Chaucer: A Study of Poetic Emancipation,”FifteenthCenturyStudies15(1990):59–81;id.,“TheAutobiographicalVoiceof ThomasHoccleve,”ArchivfürdasStudiumderneuerenSprachenundLiteraturen228(1991):299–310.

UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModernAge

poetperceivedandreactedtotheurbanspaceuponwhichhisownexistencewas predicated.InhisLaMaleRegle,forinstance,Hocclevecommentsingeneralabout themoraldeclineofhistime,ofwhichheisjustasguilty,wastinghismoneywith drinking,partying,andenjoyinglifetoexcess.Repeatedlyhementionshislifein thetaverns:“Ofhimþathauntithtauerneofcustume,/Atshortewordes,the profytisthis:”(161–62).163Satiricallyhecastshimselfasthebestknownmaninthe entireareaaroundWestminster,clearlysignalingtherelevanceoftheurbanspace inthatquarterforhispersonaldebaucheries: WherwasagrettermaistireekthanY, OrbetaqweyntidatWestmynstreyate, Amongthetauerneresnamely Andcookes,whanIcameerlyorlate? Ipynchidnatatheminmynacate, Butpaiedhemasþattheyaxewolde, WherforeIwasthewelcomeralgate Andforaverraygentilmanyholde.

(77–84)

Moreover,hespecificallyoutlineshiswayfromthetavernhometothePrivySeal, providinguswithatruesenseofadensecitylifewithmanystreets,spaces,bars, bridges,people,traffic,andsoforth(185–92).Yet,warninghisaudienceaboutthe negativeexamplethathehimselfhadofferedasarowdycharacter,healsoreveals interesting aspects about the social life of the lower classes, if not of the poor peopleandtheworkers,inLondon:“Andtherthebootmentookvponmekeep, /Fortheymyriotkneewenfernago./WithhemIwasituggedtoandfro,/Sowel was him þat I with wolde fare, / For riot paieth largely eueremo” (195–99). Subsequentlyheturnstoextensivemoralizationaboutthedangersofdeceptive andflatteringwordsutteredbyservantstotheirlords,abouttheconsequencesof aviolentlifeinpublic,especiallyintaverns,thenaboutlying,andtheproblem withmoney:“A,nay,mypoorepursandpeynesstronge/Hanartid[compelled] me speke as I spoken haue” (395–96), ending with an appeal to his patron to rewardhimmonetarily(445–48). Hocclevecertainlyfollowsmanytraditionalmedievaltropesandthemesinthis andotherpoems,buthedoesnotshyawayfrompositioninghimselfinthemidst ofalloftheseruminations,therebygrantingtheaudienceimportantinsightinto the concrete living conditions of a clerical poet in the big city of London.164 AdditionalconfirmationforthisnewperspectivecanbefoundinhisComplaint fromNovember1421wherehesorrowfullyreflectsuponhistragicsufferingfrom

163

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‘My Compleinte’ and Other Poems, ed. Roger Ellis. Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Exeter: UniversityofExeterPress,2001),68. Katherine C. Little, Confession and Resistance: Defining the Self in Late Medieval England (Notre Dame,IN:UniversityofNotreDamePress,2006).

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mentalillness.Asthenarratoremphasizes:“ForoftewhanneIinWestmynstir Halle/AndekeinLondounamongethepreeswent,/Isythechereabatenand apalle/Ofhemþatwerenwontemefortocalle/Tocompanie...“(72–76).165 Everyonefleesfromhim,afraidofhisboutoflunacy,comparinghimtoavessel lostatsea(81)orawildox(120).Thenarratorthenseeksrefugeathomewherehe staresintothemirrortofindoutwhohereallyis:“Andinmychaumbreathome whanneþatIwas,/MysilfealooneIinþiswisewrou3t./Istreitevntomymirrour andmyglas/Tolokehoweþatmeofmychereþou3t”(155–58),therebysignaling thetwosidesofthecoinlivinginacity,thatis,thepublicandtheprivate.166But hebitterlycomplainsthatpeoplesubsequentlymistookhimasstillbeingilland avictimoflunacy,althoughhehadrecoveredyearsearlier:“Manbihisededis andnotbyhiselookes/Shalknowenbe,asitiswriteninbookes”(202–03). Naturally,Hoccleveultimatelyfocusesprimarilyonphilosophical,ethical,and moralconcerns,askinghisaudiencetoreflectuponareasonableapproachtothe recognitionandidentificationofanindividualandalsohowapersonshouldlive properlyinthisworldlyexistence.Butevenwithin thisframeworkweclearly recognizeasenseoftheurbanspacepopulatedbythepoet,hisfriends,andmany other people, all of them gazing at each other with curiosity, fear, suspicion, interest, and other emotions, and all this here indicated through the autobiographicallens: ManyasautemadeItothismirrour, ThinkingifþatIlookeinþismanere AmongefolkeasInowedo,noonerrour Ofsuspectelookmayinmyfaceappere. Thiscountinaunce,Iamsure,andþischere IfIitforthevseisnothingrepreuable Tohemþathanconceitisresonable

(162–68).

AlthoughHocclevedoesnotdiscussthecityassuch,itnoticeablyconstitutesthe crucialsocialframeworkforhisentireexistence,bothconsideringhispartyingand troublemakingintavernsandelsewhere,andhiswalkingtoandfromhiswork, finallyspendingtimeathomeandexamininghisface,andhencehisidentity.

TheCityasaThemeandMotifinMentalHistoricalTerms

165

166

QuotedfromSelectionsfromHoccleve,77;seealsoSeymour’scomments,122–35.Cf.thenotesby RogerEllisinhisanthology,‘MyCompleinte’,128–30. D.M.Palliser,T.R.Slater,andE.PatriciaDennison,“TheTopographyofTowns600–1300,”The CambridgeUrbanHistoryofBritain.Vol.1:600–1540,ed.D.M.Palliser(Cambridge:Cambridge UniversityPress,2000),153–86;here175–78.

UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModernAge

Significantly,bythelateMiddleAges,agrowingnumberofindividualcitizens, belongingtoboththeupperclass(merchants)andtothearistocracy,realizedthat theyneededtotakestockoftheirlivesandtoreflectupontheirfamiliesinalarger context, leading to the creation of a fairly large corpus of socalled Haus und Familienbücher(HouseandFamilyBooks),asmentionedabove.167Thesememorial booksshedimportantlightonthesocialnetworkwithintherespectivecity,onthe social and economic structure, and the intellectual development, that is, the educationallevelthattheindividualauthorshadachieved.Mostlyservingprivate purposes,thesefairlycompendiousvolumescontainavastvarietyofinformation relevant for many different social and age groups, containing data about the family business, the marriage relationships, births and deaths, offices, gifts, income, property; hence they lend themselves extremely well to an indepth analysis of latemedieval urban everyday life, mental structures, religious attitudes,gender,andeconomicandpoliticalissues.168 Aswehavelearnedthroughmuchrecentresearch,thesefamilybooksserved notonlythepurposeofmemorializingtheprecedingandpresentgenerations. Theywerealsocommonlycomposedbymembersofindividualfamilieswhohad eitherexperiencedadramaticriseinpowerorsuddenlyfacedamajordeclinein theirfamilyfortune,ifnotsimplythedisappearanceoftheentirefamilythrough

167

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HausundFamilienbücher,inderstädtischenGesellschaftdesSpätmittelaltersundderfrühenNeuzeit, ed.BirgitStudt.Städteforschung.ReiheA:Darstellungen,69(Cologne,Weimar,andVienna: Böhlau,2007). See,forinstance,PierreMonnet,“LaMémoiredesélitesurbainesdansl’EmpireàlafinduMoyen Âgeentreécrituredesoiethistoiredelacité,”Memoria,communitas,civitas:Mémoireetconscience urbainesenoccidentàlafinduMoyenÂge,ed.HannoBrand,PierreMonnet,andMartialStaub. BeiheftederFrancia,55(Ostfildern:Thorbecke,2003),49–70;HeinrichSchmidt,Diedeutschen StädtechronikenalsSpiegeldesbürgerlichenSelbstbewußtseinsimSpätmittelalter.Schriftenreiheder Historischen Kommission bei der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 3 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1958). The interest in these urban documents of autobiographical naturehasbeenintenseinrecentyears;seethecontributionstoDasdargestellteIch:Studienzu SelbstzeugnissendesspäterenMittelaltersundderfrühen Neuzeit,ed.SabineSchmolinsky,Klaus Arnold, and Urs Martin Zahnd. Selbstzeugnisse des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit, 1 (Bochum:Winkler,1999);GabrieleJancke,AutobiographiealssozialePraxis:Beziehungskonzeptein Selbstzeugnissen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts im deutschsprachigen Raum. Selbstzeugnisse der Neuzeit,10(Cologne,Weimar,andVienna:Böhlau,2002).Forfurtherbibliographicalinformation, see Birgit Studt, “Erinnerung und Identität: Die Repräsentation städtischer Eliten in spätmittelalterlichen Haus und Familienbüchern,” Haus und Familienbücher, 1–31. See also Gabriele HofnerKulenkamp, Das Bild des Künstlers mit Familie : Porträts des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts.SelbstzeugnissedesMittelaltersundderbeginnendenNeuzeit,2(Bochum:Winkler, 2002);SünjePrühlen,“Alsesunsthirgebruchlichis”:eineAnnäherungandasspätmittelalterlicheund frühneuzeitliche Alltags und Familienleben anhand der Selbstzeugnisse der Familien Brandis in HildesheimundMollerinHamburg.SelbstzeugnissedesMittelaltersundderbeginnendenNeuzeit, 3(Bochum:Winkler,2005).

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deathorlackofheirs.169Afterall,urbancenterswerethesiteofintensivesocial struggles despite the rather rigid class structures, separating, for instance, particularlythecraftsmenfromthemerchantclass,commonlyidentifiedasthe patriciate.170 Forthetimebeing,itmightbeenoughtoreflectupontheemergingearlymodern citywherealimiteddegreeoflibertydominatedandwhereindividualwritersof socalledfamilyandhousebookscreatedindividualizedandyetmostinsightful reflections upon their own history and that of their cities. This stands in remarkablecontrasttosomecontemporarylatemedievalandearlymodernbook illustrationswherethecityitselfdoesnotseemtoexistinmentalhistoricalterms. InoneofthemostspectacularmanuscriptcopiesofthethirteenthcenturyRoman delarose,composedbyGuillaumedeLorrisca.1237,thencontinuedandvastly expandedbyJeandeMeunca.1264/1274,171dedicatedtotheFrenchKingFrancis I (1515–1547) probably shortly after his famous victory over the Swiss army defendingtheduchyofMilanagainsthiminSeptember1515,wecomeacrossa most remarkable example of how urban space and the city itself continued to

169

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171

Studt, “Erinnerung und Identität,” 9; see also Valentin Groebner, “Ratsinteressen, Familieninteressen:PatrizischeKonflikteinNürnbergum1500,”StadtregimentundBürgerfreiheit: HandlungsspielräumeindeutschenunditalienischenStädtendesSpätenMittelaltersundderFrühen Neuzeit, ed. Klaus Schreiner and Ulrich Meier. Bürgertum: Beiträge zur europäischen Gesellschaftsgeschichte,7(Göttingen:Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1994),278–308;PierreMonnet, “RealeundidealeStadt:DieoberdeutschenStädteimSpiegelautobiographischerZeugnissedes Spätmittelalters,”Von derdargestelltenPersonzumerinnertenIch:EuropäischeSelbstzeugnisseals historische Quelle (1500–1850), ed. Kaspar von Greyerz, Heinz Medick, and Patrice Veit. Selbstzeugnisse der Neuzeit, 9 (Cologne, Weimar, and Vienna: Böhlau, 2001), 395–430; id., “ParticularismesurbainsetpatriotismelocaledansunevilleallemandedelafinduMoyenÂge: Francfortetseschroniques,”IdentitérégionaleetconsciencenationaleenFranceetenAllemagnedu MoyenÂgeàl’epoquemoderne.Actesducolloqueorganiséparl’UniversitéParisXIIValdeMarne, l’InstitutuniversitairedeFranceetl’Instituthistoriqueallemandàl’UniversitéParisXIIetàlaFondation SingerPolignac,les6,7et8octobre1993,ed.RainerBabelandJeanMarieMoeglin.Beihefteder Francia,39(Sigmaringen:J.Thorbecke,1997),389–400. Thistopichasbeendiscussedmanytimeswiththefocusonmanydifferentcitiesinlatemedieval andearlymodernEurope;see,forinstance,AlexanderCowan,TheUrbanPatriciate:Lübeckand Venice, 1580–1700. Quellen und Darstellungen zur hansischen Geschichte, neue Folge, 30 (Cologne:Böhlau,1986);seealsothecontributionstoTownsinSocieties:EssaysinEconomicHistory and Historical Sociology, ed. Philips Abrams and E. A. Wrigley. Past and Present Publications (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978); and to Florentine Tuscany: StructuresandPracticesofPower,ed.WilliamJ.ConnellandAndreaZorzi.CambridgeStudiesin ItalianHistoryandCulture(CambridgeandNewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,2000). AlbrechtClassen,“GuillaumedeLorris”(285–86),“JeandeMeun”(345–47),“RomandelaRose” (548–49),EncyclopediaofMedievalLiterature,ed.JayRuud(NewYork:FactsonFile,2006).

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hoverinthebackgroundoflatemedievalmentality,andyetalsodemandednew attention.172 Typicallyforthattimeandtheroyalculture,thededicationilluminationfocuses onthecourt,withthekinginthecenter,receivingthevolume.Thespectator’s gaze travels into the background through a loggia, which opens up to a vast landscapewithsomebuildingonahilltotheleft(4r).Astobeexpected,manyof theillustrationsshowgardenstructureswithahighwallaroundtheareaanda mightygatedtower(e.g.,fol.12r).Occasionallywesee,againinthebackground, akindofcitysurroundingapalace,butthebuildingsbeforethat,suchasinfol. 21r,aredilapidatedorseemtobesimplewoodenconstructions.Atothertimes, profilesofanextensivefortressemergeinthebackground(fol.25r),orthelover isshownapproachingapalace(fol.29r),whereasurbanspace,orcitylife,doesnot seem to figure at all. If there is any realistic background, then it consists of landscapes,regularlywithabluemountainrisingupinthedistance(fol.57vand fol.58r).Whenothertypesofbuildingsdotthelandscape,theybelongtoarural setting,ormightrepresentacountryestate(fol.fol.61r).Onfol.104rweobserve agroupofcourtiersinfrontofaimaginarycity,which consists of severaltall buildingsandtowers,whileaspecificcityassuchisnottrulyrecognizable. The absence of true urban space in favor of parklike nature scenes with individualbuildingsinthebackground,someofwhichseemtoformpartofa farm,whereasothersrepresentboththeoldcastleontopofamountainandthe newpalaceatitsfoot(fol.147v),speaksvolumes,especiallyincomparisonwith contemporaryprintedbooks,suchasHartmannSchedel’sNurembergChronicle, whichalreadybelongstoanewworld,theGermanRenaissance(seebelow).173 Onlyonetimehastheilluminatormadeanefforttoprovidethesightofacity with a solid wall (fol. 202v). Because the city is ablaze in fire, the citizens are fleeingthroughthecitygate,whileflamesengulfthetalltowersandhighrising

172

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SeethecommentaryofthefacsimileeditionbyMargaretaFriesen,DerRosenromanfürFrançois I.NewYork,PierpontMorganLibrary,M.948(Graz:AkademischeDruckundVerlagsanstalt, 1993;VollständigeFaksimileAusgabedesRosenromansfürFrançoisI.M.948ausdemBesitzder PierpontMorganLibraryinNewYork.CodicesSelecti,XCVII(NewYork:ThePierpontMorgan Library;Graz:AkademischeDruckundVerlagsanstalt;Lyon:LesSillonsduTemps,1993).She emphasizes, 120: “Schwere Rundtürme, Festungsruinen, strohgedeckte Fachwerkhäuser und mächtigeRenaissancepalästebestimmendieHintergrundsgestaltung.IhreAnordnungimBildfeld wirdimmerneukomponiert.ZwarsindesdiegleichenGrundtypenvonBauwerken,diesich wiederholen,dochführtihreabwechslungsreicheVariierunginjederMiniaturzueinemanderen Ergebnis. Wenn auch die Paläste (fol. 29r, 50v, 79v oder 84v) im Stil der Renaissance wiedergegebenwerden,sowirddochderForderungderitalienischenRenaissancebaukunstnach Symmetrie, Gleichmaß und Harmonie keine Rechnung getragen. Immer schieben sich die BaumassenvoneinerSeiteinsBildundunterlaufenjeglichenVersuch,Pilaster,Gesimseund Bauornamentesymmetrischangeordnetdarzustellen”(120–21). SeethecontributiontothisvolumebyAlbrechtClassen.

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buildings.Thelargenumberoffrightenedcitizensindicatesthatthewallshidea fairlylargeurbanspace,butthatspaceisnotvisible,nordoesitevokeanyinterest fortheartistortheaudience.Afterall,thisfamousallegoricalromancerepresents one of the masterpieces of the Middle Ages, and this particular copy in the PierpontMorganLibraryinNewYorkwascomposedforanddedicatedtothe FrenchKingFrancisI.Itdoesnotcomeasasurprisethatsucharoyalartworkand pieceofliteratureisfarremovedfromtheearlymodernawarenessaboutand interestinurbanspaceincountlessothercontexts.174

TheSocialDiscourseAboutUrbanSpaceandIdentity Overall,wefaceafascinatingandintricatecombinationorcompetitionofvarious discoursesbytheindividualpowerplayersinlatemedievalandearlymodern society.Whereasthenobilitytriedhardtomaintainitstraditionalstatusaslong aspossible,boththecityassuchandthewealthiestburghersstruggledwithall theiroptionsavailabletocarveoutanicheinpubliclifeforthemselves,togain recognition,andtodeterminethenatureofthecontemporaryculturewiththehelp oftheirownmeans,oftenopenlycompetingwiththemembersofthearistocracy serving at courtssituatedincities,suchasViennaandSalzburg.175Wecannot expect,ofcourse,tofindnecessarilyrepresentationsofthedifferentsocialclasses andgroupswithinthesametextgenresorartworks,thoughwestillwouldhave toagreewiththegeneralobservationthatanamalgamationprocessinthelate Middle Ages brought nobility and urban patriciate significantly close to each other.176 Moreover,evenwithinthetraditionalmedievalcity,aprofounddiscrimination processtookplace,increasinglyexcludingthecraftsmenandthepoorermembers

174

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UlrichMüller,“Burg,”Burgen,Länder,Orte,ed.id.andWernerWunderlich.MittelalterMythen, 5(Constance:UVKVerlagsgesellschaft,2008),143–60.Fortheroleofcastlesinlatemedieval Germanliteratureandwoodcutsfromtheperspectiveofmentalhistory,seeAlbrechtClassen, “DieBurgalsMotivinderLiteraturdesdeutschenSpätmittelalters,”toappearinDieBurgim Mittelalter,ed.PeterDinzelbacher. ChristianSchneider,Hovezuht:LiterarischeHofkulturundhöfischesLebensidealumHerzogAlbrecht III. von Österreich und Erzbischof Pilgrim II. von Salzburg (1365–1396). Beiträge zur älteren Literaturgeschichte(Heidelberg:UniversitätsverlagWinter,2008),50–63. WolfgangHerborn,“BürgerlichesSelbstverständnisimspätmittelalterlichenKöln.Bemerkungen zuzweiHausbüchernausdererstenHälftedes15.Jahrhunderts,”DieStadtindereuropäischen Geschichte:FestschriftfürEdithEnnen,ed.WernerBeschetal.(Bonn:L.Röhrscheid,1972),490–520; HorstWenzel,“AristokratischesSelbstverständnisimstädtischenPatriziatvonKöln,dargestellt anderKölnerChronikGottfriedHagens,”Literatur,Publikum,historischerKontext,ed.GertKaiser. BeiträgezurÄlterenDeutschenLiteraturgeschichte,1(Bern,Frankfurta.M.,andLasVegas:Peter Lang,1977),9–28.

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of the urban society from the city government. As George Huppert observes regardingFrankfurtamMain:“Frankfurt’séliteconsistedofsome45families,less than1percentofthepopulation.Thissmallgroupretainedexclusivecontrolofthe 15 top offices from the fourteenth to the eighteenth centuries and it invented elaborateassociationstosafeguarditspositioninthecity.”177Atthesametime,this urbaneliteendeavoredhardtoclimbevenhigherandtojointhenobility,ifthe necessarycriteriaforthismovecouldbemet:“Thestandardtestofnobility,bythe latesixteenthcentury,wasthedemonstrationthatafamilyhadlivednobly—that is,withoutworking—forthreegenerations.Thisstandardwaseasilymetbythe membersofurbanélites,butitdidnotsatisfythefeudalnobility,fromwhose perspectivenobilitywasaninheritedqualityresidinginthebloodandtestedon thebattlefield.”178 Nevertheless, the urban centers attracted a growing number of people from differentbackgroundsandsocialclasses,andwithdifferenteducationallevelsand individualinterests.Majorcouncilsmetincities,suchasConstance(1414–1418) andBasel(1431–1449).179Tradeandbankingwerecentrallylocatedincities,and soweretheeducationalsystem,healthcare,craftsmanship,andthearts.Musical entertainmentandtheliteraryprocesswereintimatelyassociatedwiththecity,as the countless songbooks indicate.180 Scholarship has amply investigated the kaleidoscopicrangeofcharacteristicfeaturesoflatemedievalandearlymodern citylife,whetherweconsidertheareasoflegalpractice,food,religion,armsfor theburghers,exteriorandinteriorarchitecture,keepingofanimals,fashion,the availability of mills, and, most critically, of good drinking water.181 Beer, for

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George Huppert, After the Black Death: A Social History of Early Modern Europe. Sec. ed. InterdisciplinaryStudiesinHistory(1986;BloomingtonandIndianapolis:IndianaUniversity Press,1998),45. Huppert,AftertheBlackDeath,50. ChristopherM.Belitto,TheGeneralCouncils:aHistoryoftheTwentyOneGeneralCouncilsfrom NicaeatoVaticanII(NewYork:PaulistPress,2002);TheChurch,theCouncils,andReform:theLegacy oftheFifteenthCentury,ed.GeraldChristianson,ThomasM.Izbicki,andChristopherM.Belitto (Washington,DC:CatholicUniversityofAmericaPress,2008). AlbrechtClassen,DeutscheLiederbücherdes15.und16.Jahrhunderts.Volksliedstudien,1(Münster: Waxmann, 2001); id., Georg Forsters Liederbücher im 16. Jahrhunderts: Letzte Blüte und Ausklang einer Epoche. Rezeptionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen zur Gattung des spätmit telalterlichenLiedes,”LiedundpopuläreKultur.JahrbuchdesDeutschenVolksliedarchivs48(2003): 11–47;seealsothevariouscontributionstoStadtundLiteraturimdeutschenSprachraum. See the contributions to Das Leben in der Stadt; Keith D. Lilley, Urban Life in the Middle Ages; NormanPounds,TheMedievalCity;RobertaMagnusson,“PublicandPrivateUrbanHydrology: WaterManagementinMedievalLondon”(171–87),andThomasF.GlickandLuisPabloMartinez, “MillsandMillers in MedievalValencia”(189–234),WindandWaterintheMiddleAges:Fluid TechnologiesfromAntiquitytotheRenaissance,ed.StevenA.Walton.MedievalandRenaissance TextsandStudies,322.PennStateMedievalStudies,2(Tempe:ArizonaCenterforMedievaland RenaissanceStudies,2006).

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instance, a major beverage in medieval urban culture, deeply determined the socialandeconomicfabricofcities,whetherwethinkofthebreweriesthemselves, the purchase of basic ingredients, the varying types of fuel for the brewing process,trade,taxation,theimpactofbrewingonthelabormarket,andproperty rights.182Onlytheurbanmarketwithalargepoolofcustomersmadepossiblethe development of considerable differentiation in the brewing process, creating specialists and competition among breweries. But many town governments imposedstrictregulationsandtaxsystems,whichillustratesnicelytowhatextent theproductionofbeerhadadeepimpactonurbanlifeatlarge.183 Practically every aspect of human life was intimately connected with urban space,asHartmutBoockmann’scomprehensivesurveyindicates.Hediscussesthe followingtopics:walls,gates,towers,andweapons;urbanhouses;interiorspace; hygieneandhealth;tradeandtraffic;craftsmanship;cityhalls;lawandorder; urbanstrugglesforsuperiorityamongthevarioussocialclasses;thecityasasite fortheducalresidence;funeralsandmemorials;urbanchurchesandmonasteries; hospitals;pilgrimagetocities;piety,superstition,andheresy;Jewsincities;guilds andconfraternities;children;schoolsandeducation.184

LateMedievalUrbanLifeinArt Althoughthegrowthofmedievalcitieswasaubiquitous,thoughcertainlynotan automatic,progressive,andlinear,phenomenon,theperceptionofcitiesdiffered widely,particularlybecausesomanydifferentpeoplecongregatedwithincities. However,thosewholivedwithinthecitywallscertainlyidentifiedwiththecity andregardedtheirownexistenceasconsiderablymoresecurethanthatinthe countryside.AsChiaraFrugonicomments:“Inthefollowingcenturies[sincethe thirteenthcentury—A.C.],downtotheRenaissance,thisawarenessofacontrast, denoted by the walls, between order and chaos, organized space and savage nature,growsmoreacute;asaresulteveryviolentdeath,everyeventthatdisturbs thepeacefulunfoldingofaliferegulatedbylaws—liketheexecutionsthat,the 182

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RichardW.Unger,BeerintheMiddleAgesandtheRenaissance,38,emphasizes:“Thesourceofthe urban brewing industry was not the presence of brewhouses in monasteries or episcopal households,regardlessofthetechnicalinfluencesuchestablishmentscouldanddidhave.Itwas rather the transfer of traditional brewing practice from the countryside to the cities by rural migrants,thepeoplewhoformedthepopulationofEuropeantownsinthetwelfthandthirteenth centuries.” Unger, Beer in the Middle Ages, 43–50. He underscores that in the end “[t]he tax system and regulationingeneralhinderedsmallscalebrewingandpromotedthedevelopmentofanurban industryincreasinglydominatedbyprofessionalbrewers.” HartmutBoockmann,DieStadtimspätenMittelalter.2nded.(1986;Munich:Beck,1987).Hisbook isrichlyillustrated,whereasthebibliographyprovestobesomewhatthin.

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statutestellus,didinfacttakeplace‘outside’—isordinarilyrepresentedoccurring intheopen.”185 Even though medieval artists continued to create idealistic images of cities, commonly following the model of the Holy Jerusalem, hence treating the city basicallyasasymbolandnotasarealisticspace,186bythelateMiddleAgesthecity becametheobjectofintensivecriticalanalysisbecauselocalgovernmentsemerged thatfeltincreasinglyindependentandwantedtoexpressthisnewsentimentof civicprideandidentityinpublicartworks,suchasAmbrogioLorenzetti’s“Sala dellaPace”inthePalazzoPubblicoofSiena(1338–1339).187MichelFeuillethas recentlydescribedtheurbannetworkvisibleinLorenzetti’sfrescoesasfollows: L’artiste a serré les unes contre les autres de nombreuses maisons, hautes et confortables,colorées,percéesdemultiplesfenêtres,surplombantenencorbellement lesruesetlesplacesets’ouvrantpourdavantaged’agrémentsurd’éléganteslogge. Comme signe supplémentaire de cette croissance de l’habitat urbain, l’artiste représenteunchantierdeconstructionous’affaireuneéquipedemaçonsjuchéssur deséchafaudages.188

[The artist has pressed the houses tightly together, tall and comfortable, colored,piercedopenbymanywindows,extendingincantileversoutonto thestreetsandsquares,openingupontoelegantloggiastoenhancethecharm ofthescene.Asasupplementarysignoftheinterlacingoftheurbanhabitat

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Chiara Frugoni, A Distant City: Images of Urban Experience in the Middle Ages, trans. William McCuaig(1983;Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1991),11. Frugoni,ADistantCity,108–09;seealsoKugler,DieVorstellungderStadt,79–141. Frugoni,ADistantCity,118–88.SeealsoGeorgeRowley,AmbrogioLorenzetti.2vols.(Princeton, NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1958);ChiaraFrugoni,PietroandAmbrogioLorenzetti([Bergenfield, NJ, ?, and New York ?]: Scala Books, 1988); Randolph Starn, Ambrogio Lorenzetti: The Palazzo Pubblico,Siena(NewYork:GeorgeBraziller,1994);MaxSeidel,DolceVita:AmbrogioLorenzettis PorträtdesSieneserStaates(Basel:Schwabe&Co.,1999);“Lapaceèallegrezza”:L’ordinamentodiuna cittàoperosasull’esempiodell’affresco“IlBuonGoverno”diAmbrogioLorenzettidaSiena,acuradiA. LuisaHaringandErichKaufer(Siena:EdizioniIlLeccio,2002);AmbrogioLorenzetti:Lavitadel trecento in Siena e nel contado senese nellecommittenze istoriate pubbliche e private. Guida al Buon Governo,acuradiAlbertoColli.IntroduzionediMarioAscheri(Siena:ArtiGraficheNencini Poggibonsi,2004);LucianoBellosiandGiovannaRagionieri,Giottoelasuaeredità:FilippoRusuti, PietroCavallini,Duccio,GiovannidaRimini,NeridaRimini,PietrodaRimini,SimoneMartini,Pietro Lorenzetti,AmbrogioLorenzetti,MatteoGiovannetti,MassodiBanco,PuccioCapanna,TaddeoGaddi, Giovanni da Milano, Giottino, Giusto deMenabuoi, Altichiero, Jacopo Avanzi, Jean Pucelle, i fratelli Limbourg(Florence:IlSole24Ore,2007).Likewise,ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity, intensively draws from this pictorial evidence for her mentalhistorical investigation of late medievallifeinthecity. Michel Feuillet, “La Fresque des Effets du Bon Gouvernement d’Ambrogio Lorenzetti dans le PalazzoPubblicodeSienne:unemiseenimagedeladialectiquevillecampagneàlafinduMoyen Âge,”Villehabitée,villefantasmée:Actesducolloque“Lavilledansethorslesmurs”...,ed.Georges FrédéricManche(Paris:L’Harmattan,2006),79–92;here80.

AlbrechtClassen the artist shows a construction site where a team of masons perched on scaffoldingisbusilyatwork.

Simultaneously,theconcerngreweverywhereregardingthepropergovernment of cities, as reflected by a large corpus of corresponding critical poems and treatises about good and bad urban governments (“Stadtregimentslehren”). Particularlythosetextsthatcontainalsogeneraldidacticconceptswerewidely disseminated, such as the Antwerpse school and the stanzas “Hoemen ene stat regerensal”and“Vonguo ttenrae tten,”especiallybecausetheywerenotfocusedon oneindividualcityandcouldbeappliedeverywhere.Buttheentiregenreenjoyed considerablepopularitybetween1300and1500,whentheinterestinthemseems tohavedeclined,althoughwithsomemajorexceptionsfarintotheseventeenth century.189 Latemedievalart,especiallyfromtheFlemisharea,demonstratestheenormous fascinationexertedbythenewurbanism.AsJamesSnydercomments,forinstance, regardingthepainting“MadonnawiththeChancellorNicolasRolin”byJanvan Eyck (ca. 1435), “The background landscape in the Rolin Madonna has been identified as Bruges, Autun, Liège, Maastricht, and Geneva. But as with his architectural interiors, Van Eyck is his own architect and city planner here, fashioning a convincing setting that at the same time serves as a symbolic backdropforthefigures.Thecityontherightbank,behindMary,isfilledwith countlesschurchesincludingonehugecathedral,allofwhichareproperattributes ofNotreDameonceagain....”190 Significantly,wecanalsodiscoveraremarkabledepictionofurbanspaceinthe famousEnglishLuttrellPsalterfromthefirsthalfofthefourteenthcenturywhich providesmuchinformationaboutdailylifebothinthecountrysideand,tosome extent,alsoatcourt(scenesofgames,jousting,hunting,etc.).Althoughthisheavy tome,consistingof309leaves,writtenbyonesinglescribe,focuses,initspictorial program,mostlyonruralaspectsoffarmwork,createdbyatleastfivedifferent illuminators,wealsodiscoveronespectacularimageofawalledmedievaltown (fol.164v).JanetBackhouseoffersthefollowingdescriptionandcomment: The townscape (41) is thus of special interest, not so much for its dancers and musiciansasforthesubstantialvarietyofthebuildingscrammedwithinitswalls.The centralfeatureisacruciformchurchwithatowerandsteeple.Itappearstoberoofed

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HeikeBierschwaleandJacquelinevanLeeuwen,WiemaneineStadtregierensoll,145,summarize their finding as follows: “Die Sprüche erinnerten Amtsträger in abbreviierter Form an ihre amtlichen und moralischen Pflichten, gleichzeitig vermittelten sie ein Bewußtsein von der herausgehobenengesellschaftlichenPositionderRatsherren,womitihnenindiesemSinneauch repräsentativeFunktioneneigneten.” JamesSnyder,NorthernRenaissanceArt:Painting,Sculpture,theGraphicArtsfrom1350to1575(New York:HarryN.Abrams,1985),109.

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withleadandthesteepleiscrownedwithaweathercock.Thecitywallsarestrongly constructedofdressedstone,withsuitabletracesoffortification[crenellation,A.C.]. Betweenthetwoisavariedcollectionofhouses,someroofedwithtilesandothers withthatch.Whilethemajorityaretimberframed,someseemtobeofstone,acouple evenpossiblyofbrick.Variousformsofwindowanddoorarediscernible.Thethird housefromtheleftintheuperrowisjettiedoutoverthesquare.Severalbuildings havehighlydecorativepiercedchimneysandthegrandestofthehouses,inthelower righthandcorner,boastsarowofdecorativecrestsalongitsridge.Thishousehasa shieldofarmshangingfromapoleonthefacewhichfrontsthesquare.Thejettied houseandthehousenearesttothecitygatearebothapparentlyidentifiableasinns becausetheycarrythesignofabushonapole.191

Theartisthereobviouslydeviatedfromthetraditionaltownscapecharacterized by a cluster of houses densely packed together behind tall city walls, profiled mostlybychurchtowersandspires,normallygivingusnosenseofamarketor anyotheropenspace.Here,bycontrast,wewitnessastronginterestintheurban setting,people’slivingconditions,diversearchitecture,andalsointheopeningup ofthecitytotheoutside,asreflectedbyarowofdancers,allbutonewiththeir backtotheviewer,leavingthecitygateontheleft.MichaelCamilleidentifiedthe dance performance as the procession associated with the Rogation Day (ChristianizationoftheancientMayfestival).192Agroupofwomenassembledon topofthegategazesdownuponthem. Atanotheroccasion,oneoftheartistsalsoincludedtheimageofacastle(of love)besiegedbyknights,onfol.75v, placed at the bottom of the page, but this

clearly serves allegorical purposes because the defenders are women throwing flowers down upon the attackers, men.193Sincethecityscapeonfol.164vproves tobetheonlyoneintheentirepsalter,andsinceitconsistsofsomanyinnovative elements,itdeservestoberegardedasaunique,butmostimportantsignalofthe

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JanetBackhouse,MedievalRuralLife intheLuttrellPsalter(TorontoandBuffalo:Universityof TorontoPress,2000),50–51.SeealsoEricGeorgeMillar,TheLuttrellPsalter:twoPlatesinColourand EightyThreeinMonochromefromtheAdditionalManuscript42130intheBritishMuseum(London: PrintedfortheTrustees,1932);MichaelCamille,MirrorinParchment:TheLuttrellPsalterandthe MakingofMedievalEngland(Chicago:UniversityofChicagoPress,1998).Forastunningfacsimile, nowseeTheLuttrellPsalter:AFacsimile,commentarybyMichelleP.Brown(London:TheBritish Library,2006).TheimagereproductioninBackhouse’sbookisconsiderablylargerthaninthe facsimileandallowsustostudyevenminutedetailswithoutanydifficulties. MichaelCamille,MirrorinParchment,274–75;seealsothecommentarybyMichelleP.Brown,45. Sheclaimsthatthemusicians’trumpetsbearthearmsofLuttrelandSutton,ibid.,buttheenlarged imageinBackhousedoesnotconfirmthat. SeeBrown’scommentary,39.

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emergenceofthecityasamajorfocusofpublicattention,evenamongthelanded gentry.194

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AsBackhouse,MedievalRuralLife,51–52,comments,“Medievalstonehouseswhichwouldhave been known to Sir Geoffrey Luttrell survive both within the city of Lincoln and at Boothby Pagnell,onlyafewmilesnorthofhisIrnhamhome.Timberframedhousesare,however,more susceptibletodecayandtoalterationandarecorrespondinglylesseasytopinpoint.Asurviving earlyfourteenthcenturycityscapeofthetypeofferedbythisminiaturewouldindeedbeararity, thoughthehousesofwhichitiscomposedcanbecomparedwithknownbuildings.”

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Figure1:LuttrellPsalter,fol.164verso

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This growing and profound interest in urban space as the new pictorial backgroundbecomesalmosteverpresentinfifteenthcenturyFlemishart,evenif theviewer’seyeisdirectedprimarilyontheforeground,mostlyaninteriorsetting, suchasinRobertCampin’s“SaltingMadonna”fromca.1430(NationalGallery, London).Thewindowinthetopleftissetfarinthebackground,andopensonly asmallspacelookingontothecity,thedetailsofwhicharehardtorecognize. Nevertheless, because of the darkness in the room, except for the brightly illuminatedMadonnanursingtheInfant,andalsofortheBiblelyingopenonthe lectionary,theviewer’sattentionisalmostequallydividedbetweenthereligious sceneandtheurbanworldnicelyframedinthedepthofthepictorialspace.195 HansMemlingwascertainlyamasterofthismotifandincludedmanyelaborate detailsofurbanspaceinhisaltarpieces,suchasintheleftpanelofthe“Altarpiece oftheVirginwithSaintsandAngels”from1479(HospitalofSaintJohn,Bruges), wherenumerousbuildingsinacityfillthebackground.Buteventhecenterpiece, though focusing on the Virgin with the Child, surrounded by shepherds and angels,ispredicatedontheideathatallimportanteventsinhumanexistencetake placewithintheframeworkofacity.196 In simultaneous altarpieces, such as Lucas Moser’s “Magdalen Altarpiece” (exterior) from 1431 (Church, Tiefenbronn), we recognize, at the same time, a harborsetting,aninteriorspace,andapublicsceneunderatower.197Otherartists whofollowedthesamestrategyanddesignmodelwereJohannKoerebeckeand DerikBaegert,andfinallyalsoMichaelPacher,tonamesomemorenamesofthose whoconfirmthegeneralinterestinthecityasapictorialmotif.198 AlbrechtDürermightwellhaveofferedoneofthemostintriguingexamplesof theintensivefascinationwithurbandevelopmentwhenhecreatedhisoilpainting “TheFeastoftheRoseGarlands(TheBrotherhoodoftheRosary)”in1506,today housedintheNárodniGalerieinPrague.199TheGermancolonyofmerchantsin

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SeeJamesSnyder,NorthernRenaissanceArt,123,no.119.Seealsoaverysimilarsetupanddesign inDiericBouts’s“MadonnaandChild”fromca.1465(NationalGallery,London);here145,no. 142. Snyder,NorthernRenaissanceArt,197,colorplate31.SeealsoGerardDavid’s“Altarpieceofthe BaptismofChrist”fromca.1502–1507(Groeningemuseum,Bruges;here198,colorplate33,and Michael Wolgemut’s (attributed) “Resurrection” from the Hofer Altarpiece, ca. 1485 (Alte Pinakothek,Munich);here204,colorplate40. Snyder,NorthernRenaissance,221,no.212. Snyder,NorthernRenaissance,232–37.SeealsothecomprehensivestudiesbyFrederickHartt, HistoryofItalianRenaissanceArt:Painting,Sculpture,Architecture(EnglewoodCliffs,NJ:Prentice Hall,andNewYork:HarryN.Abrams,n.d.[1969]);andAndréChastel,TheStudiosandStylesof theRenaissance:Italy1460–1500,trans.JonathanGriffin(1965;London:ThamesandHudson,1966). For a wonderfully largesize digital version, see the copy online at: http://i.blog.empas.com/pia212/33660574_750x638.jpg;orat: http://www.wga.hu/framese.html?/html/d/durer/1/05/03rose.html; alternatively, see the site: http://www.booksplendour.com.au/gallery/classics/Durer/durer_The%20Altarpiece%20of%20

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Venice,housedintheFondacodeiTedeschi,hadcommissionedhimtopaintthis panelfortheirchapelintheparishchurchofSanBartolomeo,whichshowsthe enthronedVirginMary,holdingtheinfantJesusonherlap,whilePopeJuliusII (?)andthedesignateHolyRomanEmperorMaximilianIkneeltobothhersides, thelatteralreadycrownedwithagarlandofrosesbytheVirgin,whereasJesusis justabouttocrownthePope.Agroupofpeople,noneofwhomcanbeeasilyor positivelybeidentified,throngaroundthethrone,whichallowedDürertoinclude himselfinthebackgroundontherighthandsidestandingnexttoatree.Leftto hishead,inthefardistance,emergesasplendidcitywithwonderfultowers,walls, urbanresidences,andhouses,allbeforeamightymountainouslandscape.The lowerpartofthecityextendsintoasunfloodedlowersectionofthecity,enriched withanelegantbridgeandgatetower,nottomentionmanyotherdetailsonly faintlyrecognizable. WhetherDürerhereportrayedareallyexistingcity,orcreatedanideal,doesnot concernushere,buthemadesuretogivetheviewerthesenseofthespectacular natureofurbanspaceastheultimateresourceinwhichtheindividualcanfinda homeandalsoanidentity.SoitmightbeNuremberg,butitcouldbeanyother city,aproudrepresentationoftheearlymodernurbanspace.200Thepaintingitself laterbecameacrownjewelofEmperorandCzechKingRudolphII’scollection, whoboughtthismasterpiecefortheexorbitantpriceof900goldducats.201There arestrikingparallelstotheimageofNuremberginHartmannSchedel’sfamous worldchronicle.

TheCityinLateMedievalLiterature For those who were not members of the civic communities, the urban space representedasourceoftremendousattractionandalsosuspicion.Throughoutthe MiddleAgesweobservehowbothpeasantsandaristocrats,bothgoliardsand scholars,musiciansandmedicaldoctorsinvestedmuchenergyandresourcesto joinanurbancommunity,thatis,togainlegalstatusasacitizen.Evencraftsmen facedahardtimeachievingthatstatusiftherewerenotsufficientpositionsopen as masters in the specific professions. It was a privilege, not a right one was

200

201

the%20Rose%20Gardens.jpeg(lastaccessedonDec.9,2008). Foradetailofthiscityscene,seePeterStrieder,TheHiddenDürer(1976;RushcuttersBay,NSW, Australia:BayBooksPty,1978),94–5. AlbrechtDürer:TheFeastoftheRoseGarlands1506–2006,ed.OlgaKotková(Prague:Národnigalerie vPraze2006):CatalogofanexhibitionheldatNationalGalleryinPrague,CollectionofOld Masters,WallensteinRidingSchool,June21–Oct.1,2006;forareview,seeJeffreyChippsSmith, inSehepunkte7(2007),No.2at: http://www.sehepunkte.de/2007/02/12411.html(lastaccessedonDec.9,2008).

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necessarilybornwith,asweknowfrommanycraftsmenwhostrovewithalltheir mighttomarryeitheracraftsman’sdaughterorhiswidowbecauseonlyinthat caseweretheyallowedtosettleinthetown,thentoriseinrank,andtogainthe statusasmasterwhocouldrunaworkshopinthecity.202 Primarilyinurbancentersmoneychangedhands,andthecostoflivingwas veryhigh,buttherewerealsomanyformsofentertainmentandlearning.Inthe citiescustomerscouldfindallkindsofspecializedservices,includingthatofsex workers,i.e.,prostitutes.Brothelswerestrategicallylocatedatthecitygatesto helpreducetheproblemwithsexualviolence,andprostitutesactuallysometimes played a rather significant role in diplomatic affairs, officially welcoming a dignitaryoutsideofthecitygates.203Butprostituteswerealwaysregardedand treated as outsiders, and their social existence was not enviable, very much actuallyliketoday.Nevertheless,theyconstitutedanoticeablesocialgroupwithin latemedievalurbanlife,attractingnumerouscustomersandalsotriggeringsharp criticismbytheclerics,althoughtheirprofessionwasmostlyregardedlikemost othersdespiteitsmorallynegativeassociation.

202

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There is a legion of relevant scholarship; see for instance John Harvey, Mediaeval Craftsmen (London:Batsford,1975);DeutschesHandwerkinSpätmittelalterundfrüherNeuzeigt:Sozialgeschichte – Volkskunde –Literaturgeschichte, ed. Rainer S. Elkar. Göttinger Beiträge zur Wirtschafts und Sozialgeschichte,9(Göttingen:Schwartz,1983);HeatherSwanson,MedievalArtisans:AnUrban ClassinLateMedievalEngland(Oxford:BasilBlackwell,1989);StevenA.Epstein,WageLaborand Guilds in Medieval Europe (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991); Artisans in Europe,1300–1914,ed.JamesR.Farr.NewApproachestoEuropeanHistory,19(Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress,2000);IngeborgSeltmann,Handwerker,Henker,Heilige:Bildererzählen vom Leben im Mittelalter (Ostfildern: Thorbecke, 2005); Günther Binding, Wanderung von Werkmeistern und Handwerkern im frühen und hohen Mittelalter. Sitzungsberichte der WissenschaftlichenGesellschaftanderJohannWolfgangGoetheUniversitätFrankfurtamMain, 43.1(Stuttgart:Steiner,2005).SeealsotheHausbücherderNürnbergerZwölfbrüderstiftungen,online at:http://www.nuernbergerhausbuecher.de(lastaccessedonDec.8,2008). Gertrud Blaschitz, “Das Freudenhaus im Mittelalter,” 715–50. See also Leah Lydia Otis, ProstitutioninMedievalSociety:TheHistoryofanUrbanInstitutioninLanguedoc(Chicagoand London:TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1985);BeateSchuster,“FrauenhandelundFrauenhäuser im15.und16.Jahrhundert,“VierteljahrsschriftfürSozialundWirtschaftsgeschichte78,2(1991): 172–89;PeterSchuster,DasFrauenhaus:StädtischeBordelleinDeutschland(1350–1600)(Paderborn, München,WienundZürich:FerdinandSchöningh,1992);BeateSchuster,DiefreienFrauen.Dirnen undFrauenhäuserim15.und16.Jahrhundert(FrankfurtundNewYork:Campus,1995);RuthMazo Karras,“Prostitution,”WomenintheMiddleAges:AnEncyclopedia,ed.KatharinaM.Wilsonand NadiaMargolis(Westport,CT,andLondon:GreenwoodPress,2004),vol.II:770–75.SeealsoRuth MazoKarras,“TheRegulationofBrothelsinLaterMedievalEngland,”SistersandWorkersinthe MiddleAges,ed.JudithM.Bennett,ElizabethA.Clark,JeanF.O’Barr,B.AnneVilen,andSarah WestphalWihl (1976; Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 1989), 100–34; eadem,CommonWomen:ProstitutionandSexualityinMedievalEngland.StudiesintheHistoryof Sexuality(1996;NewYorkandOxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1998);FernandoBruquetasde Castro,HistoriadelosburdelesenEspaña:delupanares,puteríosrealesyotrasmancebías(Madrid: EsferadelosLibros,2006).

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Significantly, prostitutes were simply one social group in a kaleidoscope of urbandwellers,thoughtheirunusualprofessionmakesthemstandoutinour investigations,whereasthehistoricalsourcesdonotnecessarilyconfirmthat.204 Customerscouldbecriticizedharshlybecauseoftheiroriginalvowofchastity (clerics),ortheycouldberidiculedbecausetheyhadbecomevictimsoftheirown lustfulness and ignorance, especially when they became victims of the manipulationsofgobetweensandpimps.205 OnelatemedievalGermanpoet,OswaldvonWolkenstein(1376/1377–1445), whosecastlewaslocatedinmoderndaySouthTyrol(nowinItaly),butwhowas privileged enough to travel throughout Europe in many different functions, reflectedrepeatedlyonhisexperienceswithprostitutesandalsodiscussedhis observationsinvariouscities,somepleasant,othersdisagreeable.Thelastfew decadeshavewitnessedanevergrowinginterestinthismostfascinatingpoet whoseworksplacehimoddlybetweentheMiddleAgesandtheRenaissance.He producedincrediblydetailedautobiographicalpoetry,yethealsoreliedheavily ontopicallanguageandimagery.Hislifecanbetracedingreatestdetailboth through historical documents (ca. 1000 are still available today) and his song poetry. Oswald traveled extensively all over Europe, and he was intensively involved in local and national politics. Musicologists and philologists have likewiseexpressedgreatrespectforhiswork,thoughheheavilycopiedmelodies andprobablyalsomanytopics,motifs,images,metaphors,andexpressionsfrom contemporaryFrench,Flemish,andItalianpoets.206

204

205

206

SeeSarahMcDougall,“TheProsecutionofSexinLateMedievalTroyes,”SexualityintheMiddle AgesandEarlyModernTimes,691–714. GretchenMieszkowski,MedievalGoBetweensandChaucer’sPandarus.TheNewMiddleAges(New York:PalgraveMacmillan,2006);seealsohercontribution“OldAgeandMedievalMisogyny:The OldWoman”(299–19)toOldAgeintheMiddleAgesandtheRenaissance:InterdisciplinaryApproaches toaNeglectedTopic,ed.AlbrechtClassen.FundamentalsofMedievalandEarlyModernCulture, 2 (Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2007), along with the parallel, but certainly not identicalcontributionbyKarenPratt,“Devetula:theFigureoftheOldWomaninOldFrench Literature”(321–42),ibid.Intriguingly,althoughbothrelyonmuchofthesamematerial,they reachratherdifferentconclusions. DieLiederOswaldsvonWolkenstein,ed.KarlKurtKlein.3rdnewlyrevisedandexpandeded. byHansMoser,NorbertRichardWolf,andNotburgaWolf.AltdeutscheTextbibliothek55(1962; Tübingen:Niemeyer,1987);WernerMarold,KommentarzudenLiedernOswalds,revisedanded. byAlanRobertshaw.InnsbruckerBeiträgezurKulturwissenschaft.Germanistische Reihe,52 (1926;Innsbruck:InstitutfürGermanistik,1995);JohannesSpicker,OswaldvonWolkenstein:Die Lieder.KlassikerLektüren,10(Berlin:Schmidt,2007);forOswald’sborrowingfromItalianpoetry, see Albrecht Classen, Zur Rezeption norditalienischer Kultur des Trecento im Werk Oswalds von Wolkenstein(1376/771445).GöppingerArbeitenzurGermanistik,471(Göppingen:Kümmerle, 1987);forthebesthistoricalbiography,seeAntonSchwob,OswaldvonWolkenstein:EineBiographie. SchriftenreihedesSüdtirolerKulturinstitutes,4(1977;Bozen:VerlagsanstaltAthesia,1989);see also Albrecht Classen, “Oswald von Wolkenstein,” German Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation 1280–1580, Dictionary of Literary Biographies, 179, ed. James Hardin and Max

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Oswaldprovestobeanextraordinaryliterarysourceformanydifferentaspects in the history of latemedieval mentality, whether we want to probe gender relationships, religious sentiments, legal concepts, political issues, travel experiences,pilgrimage,theenjoymentoflanguages,sexuality,marriage,andthe relationship between landed gentry and peasantry, not to forget Oswald’s conflictual interaction with the territorial duke of Tyrol, Frederick IV.207 Interestingly,Oswaldalsodrewfromhispersonalexperiencesinvarioussouth Germancitiesforsomeofhisautobiographicalpoems,offeringintriguinginsight into how an aristocratic singerpoet who worked in the diplomatic service of EmperorSigismund,theTyroleanDukeFrederickIV,andtheBishopofNeustift nearBrixenoperatedintheurbanspaceofConstanceandÜberlingen. Forinstance,inhissongKl.45“Wermachenwell”hemockinglydiscussesthe experienceofforeignersinthecityofÜberlingenontheLakeConstancewhere hyperinflationhascausedthevisitorstosufferbadlyfromtheirinnkeepersand others who provide services. In fact, Oswald is surprisingly detailed as to the specificprices,thecurrencyused,andthenastothecustomers’complaintsasto thehighcostsofallgoods:“fleischlützel,krutaingrossgeschrai;/aussklainer schüssel gat der rai / von mangem lai” (9–11; They serve little meat, but any amountofcabbage;/therowofmanypeople/eatsfromasmallbowl).208

207

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Reinhart(Detroit,Washington,DC,andLondon:GaleResearch,1997),198–205;AlanRobertshaw, Oswald von Wolkenstein: The Myth and the Man. Göppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 178 (Göppingen:Kümmerle,1977).SeealsoDieLebenszeugnisseOswaldsvonWolkenstein:Editionund Kommentar, ed. Anton Schwob. 3 vols. (Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar: Böhlau, 1999–2004) (ultimately5vols.intotal).SeenowAlbrechtClassen,ThePoemsofOswaldvonWolkenstein:An English Translation of the Complete Works (1376/77–1445). The New Middle Ages (New York: PalgraveMacmillan,2008). See,forinstance,AlbrechtClassen,“OnomatopoesieinderLyrikvonJehanVaillant,Oswaldvon WolkensteinundNiccolòSoldanieri,”ZeitschriftfürdeutschePhilologie108,3(1989):357–77;id., “Der Bauern in der Lyrik Oswalds von Wolkenstein,” Euphorion 82, 2 (1988): 150–67; Die autobiographischeLyrikdeseuropäischenSpätmittelaltlers:StudienzuHugovonMontfort,Oswaldvon Wolkenstein,AntonioPucci,Charlesd’Orléans,ThomasHoccleve,MichelBeheim,HansRosenplütund Alfonso Alvarez de Villasandino, Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur, 91 (AmsterdamandAtlanta,GA:EditionsRodopi,1991);id.,“ToFearornottoFear,thatisthe Question: Oswald von Wolkenstein Facing Death and Enjoying Life. FifteenthCentury MentalitätsgeschichteReflectedinLyricPoetry,”FearandItsRepresentationsintheMiddleAgesand Renaissance, ed. Anne Scott and Cynthia Kosso. Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance,6(Turnhout,Belgium:Brepols,2002),274–91;SieglindeHartmann,Altersdichtung und Selbstdarstellung bei Oswald von Wolkenstein. Göppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik, 288 (Göppingen:Kümmerle,1980);seealsothecontributionstoOswaldvonWolkenstein:Beiträgeder philologischmusikwissenschaftlichen Tagung in Neustift bei Brixen 1973, ed. Egon Kühebacher. InnsbruckerBeiträgezurKulturwissenschaft,.GermanistischeReihe,1(Innsbruck:Institutfür deutschePhilologiederUniversität,1974). Thetranslationismine,borrowedfrommytranslationofOswald’scompleteworks(NewYork: Palgrave,2008).

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Significantly,Oswalddoesnotreallyrelatedetailsaboutthecityitself,orthe urbanspace.Instead,hispoembasicallyreflectshishighlysubjectiveperspective and perception, focusing on eating and drinking, payment, housing, entertainment,suchas:“Zwargüterkurzweilsichtmanvil/damittenaufdem blatze,/mittanzen,springen,saitenspil/vonainerrauhenkatze”(43–46;Truly, you can observe there in the middle of the square much entertainment, like dancing,jumping,andplaywiththefiddle,presentedbyanunkemptcat).The characteristicallyselfcenteredpoetOswaldcastsanimageofhimselfasaman whorambunctiouslypartakesofallthepleasuresthatacitycanoffer,constantly referring to sexual enticements and joys, though he then also indicates, in a stronglyironic,ifnotsarcastic,mannerhowmuchhehadtosufferinthecity becauseofhispersonalpovertyandinabilitytoseethroughthevariousstrategies oftheprostitutes,hisowninnkeeper,foodproviders,andotherstorobhimofhis money:“Meinwiert,derwasbeschaidenzwar,/erschieddasgoldvonleder;/das namichanderbettstatwar,/zwelfpfenninggultenainfeder”(52–55;Myinn keeperknewhisbusiness:hetookthegoldoutof[my]leatherbag.Inoticedthat atthepriceforabed:Onefeathermattresscosttwelveducats!). Inthissensetheparallelstohiscontemporary,MargeryKempe,amongmany otherlatemedievaltravelers,areratherstriking,thoughshepursuedprimarily religious goals when she visited Rome. Oswald addresses a specific audience, probablyhiscompanionsinÜberlingen,orhisfamilyandfriendsbackhomein ruralTyrol,noneofwhomhadaclearsenseofwhatthecitytrulymeant,being only dazzled, if not dumbfounded, by the splendor, noise, crowds, sexual attractions,music,andfood.Inaway,Oswald’spoemcanbereadasthetypical reflectionofanignoranttouristwhoonlyperceivesthemostglaringaspectsofa siteorcity,eitherdeeplyintriguedbytheglitterandsham,ordisgustedbythe abuse of the foreigners at the hand of the urban merchants and other service providers,includingpimpsandprostitutes. ForourpurposesitdoesnotmatterwhetherOswaldcreatedthispoemduring hisparticipationintheCouncilofConstanceasadiplomatortranslator,orat someothertimelaterintheserviceofEmperorSigismund,in1430,whohadtaken quarters there instead of in Constance because of civic unrest in that city.209 Instead,wecanobservehowmuchthepoetfocusesonhispersonalexperiences in a highly idiosyncratic fashion, almost satirizing city life as a place for entertainment,struggle,andstrife,not,however,asasitewithwhichalanded aristocratlikeOswald,irrespectiveofhiscosmopolitanismandpolyglotskills,

209

SeethecommentsbyBurghartWachingerinOswaldvonWolkenstein,Lieder:Frühneuhochdeutsch /Neuhochdeutsch.AusgewählteTexteherausgegeben,übersetztundkommentiertvonBurghart Wachinger. Melodien und Tonsätze herausgegeben und kommentiert von Horst Brunner (Stuttgart:Reclam,2007),376–77.

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wouldhavefullyidentified.Otherwisehewouldnothavemocked,forinstance, thepoorqualityofthelocalwine,whichhesarcasticallycontrastswiththosethat hecanfindinhishomeregion:“Vasstsüsserweinalsslehentranck,/derreuhet mirdiekelsokranck,/dassichveierrtmeinhelsgesangk,/dickgenTraminnstet meingedanck;/seinhertertwangk/pringtscharpfenungelimpfen”(31–36;Really sweetwine,likejuiceoftheblackthorn,mademythroatveryscratchyandmade mysonggetstuckdeepinthere.InmythoughtsI’dratherturntotheTraminer wine.Itsharshgripcausesconsiderablediscomfort). However,wecanneverfullytrustthatOswaldisformulatinghistrueopinion because he always demonstrates an enormous degree of an actor’s attitude, constantlyperforminginchangingrolesandwithshiftingmasks,whichapplies eveninhisautobiographicalpoetry,thoughweshouldnotunderestimatehisfull concernwithcreatinghisliteraryselfportrait.210Thisfindsitsconfirmationinhis poeticencomiumonConstance,Kl.98“Owunniklichesparadis,”wherethesinger issuddenlyfullofpraiseforthewonderfulandmostpleasingatmosphereinthe city,whichhasnothingtodowiththeshiftfromÜberlingentoConstance,closely situatedtoeachother.Onthecontrary,Oswaldsimplyshiftstoadifferentregister inhispoetictreatmentofcitylife,oneunderscoringallitspositivefeatures,then ridiculingtheabusecommittedbyinnkeepersandprostituteswhotraditionally sufferedfromabadreputation.211 In“OwunniklichesParadis”healsoturnshisfullattentiontotheladiesinthe city,212 praising them for their beauty which pleases him mightily (9–16), particularly because of their elegant comportment, sophisticated speech, and educatedmanners(17–19).However,thecityitselfdoesnotreallyenterhisliterary horizon;insteadheonlyemphasizestheextraordinaryopportunitytoenjoythe dancewiththeladiesinthecitydancehall(28),whoimpresshimasmuchas courtlyladieshavealwaysdoneintraditionalcourtlypoetry:“Undderichnicht

210

211 212

Albrecht Classen, Die autobiographische Lyrik des europäischen Spätmittelalters, 1991; Johannes Spicker,LiterarischeStilisierungundartistischeKompetenzbeiOswaldvonWolkenstein(Stuttgartand Leipzig:Hirzel,1993);SieglindeHartmann,“OswaldvonWolkensteinetlaMéditerranée:espace devie,espacedepoésie,”JahrbuchderOswaldvonWolkensteinGesellschaft8(1994/95):289–320. JohannesSpicker,OswaldvonWolkenstein:DieLieder.KlassikerLektüren,10(Berlin:ErichSchmidt, 2007), 38–51, takes a much too extreme counter position and questions virtually all autobiographical comments in the poet’s work as authentic. See my review, forthcoming in NeuphilologischeMitteilungen.ForOswald’smetapoeticreflectionsabouthimself,seeAlbrecht Classen,“SangeskunstundmoderneSelbstverwirklichungimWerkOswaldsvonWolkenstein (1376/77–1445), in hôhem prîse: A Festschrift in Honor of Ernst Dick, ed. by Winder McConnell. GöppingerArbeitenzurGermanistik,480(Göppingen:Kümmerle,1989),11–29. RichardW.Unger,BeerintheMiddleAges,50–51;180–81;218–19,etpassim. Marold/Robertshaw,Kommentar,241,identifies“Paradis”(Paradise)asasuburbnorthwestof Constance,locatedoutsideofthecitywallwhichwasused,atleastintheMiddleAges,asasite fortournamentsandfestivals.

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vergessenwil;/dasmachtirminniklichgestalt./miterenlustichlichfreudenspil /vindtmanzuCostnitzmanigvalt”(29–32;Icannotforgetthematallbecauseof theirdelightfulappearance.Polite,delightfulentertainmentofallkindsyoucan findinConstance).Butifwesearchforanyspecificreferencetothecityitself,we come up emptyhanded, except for the brief mention of the dance hall “der Katzen”(28).213 Ofcourse,andthisisrathersignificantforouroverallinvestigation,thisshould notreallysurpriseusbecausethepoetdoesnotperceivehimselfaspartofthe urbancommunityandonlydiscussesConstanceasonepointduringhismany travelsanddiplomaticmissions.Infact,thecityitselfdoesnotmattertohimper se,andhereactstothevariousurbanexperiencesonlyinsofarastheyhadeither anegativeorapositiveimpactonhim. Afterall,inKl.123“Derseineslaidsergecztwellsein”Oswaldharboredquite differentfeelingsregardingConstance,nowreturningtothesameregisterthathe had used in his Überlingen song Kl. 45. Again, he sarcastically reports the women’sabuseoftheoutsideguests,robbingthemofalltheirmoney,thoughhe probablyonlymeansthelocalprostitutes: Derseineslaidsergecztwellsein undungenecztbeschorenfein, derziechgenCostnitzandenRein, obimdieraisswolfüge. Darinnsowontmangfreulinzart, diekunnengrasenindempart, obsichkainhardarinnverschart, dazernitgerentruge.

(Kl.123,1–8)

[Hewhowantstobefreeofhisworries andwouldliketobeshorndryclean, oughttotraveltoConstanceontheRhine,214 ifthistripfitsintohisplans. Manyfinewomenlivethere whoknowwellhowtoscratchgentlythebeard, lookingtoseewhetherahairmightbehidinginit thatmightbotherhim.]

Notsurprisingly,Oswaldbiographershavetoucheduponthosepassagesonly fleetinglybecausetheyrealizeonlytoowellthatthepoetdoesnotdemonstrate anyremarkableinterestinthecityassuchandtreateditonlyasabackdropforhis

213

214

Marold/Robertshaw,Kommentar,242,identifies“inderKatzen”astheoldguildbuildingforthe cityaristocracyandthepatriciate. Technically,thisiscorrectsincetheRhine,originatingfromSwitzerland,isflowingthroughLake Constance,whileConstanceissituatedonthenorthwestside.

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reflections upon his personal sentiments and experiences.215 Contemporary chroniclerssuchasUlrichvonRichentalregularlyprojectedtheveryopposite perspectiveofthecitybecausethelatter,atleast,livedinConstanceandsowas naturallyinclinedtopaintaverypositivepictureofhishomecity.GeorgeF.Jones addstheunusualbutcertainlycorrectanglethatthehighpricesinConstancewere reallyreasonableconsideringtheeconomiccircumstances.Moreover,“thecity fathersofConstancebrokewithmedievalmonopolisticpracticebypermitting tradesmenandartisansfromoutsidetoopenshopinthecityforthedurationof thecouncil.”216AndastoOswald’ssatiricaldescriptionoftheuglywomeninthe city,Jonesadds:“Oswald’sparodisticdescriptionofthehousemaidistypicalof thetimes,forhepresentsexactlytheoppositeofthestylizedidealoffeminine beauty.”217 Concludinghissongwithsomereflectionsuponhisoverallexperienceinthe city,Oswaldfinallystates: wennichvonCostnitzschaidensol, desemphindichanderseitten. Ichpreissdenedlen,guldinSchlegel, zudemsokerichmeinensegel, ettwoichinderwelthinker, deslobichseldenmeide.

(75–80)

[WhenIhavetoleaveConstance, Iwillnoticeitattheside.218

215

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217

218

AntonSchwob,OswaldvonWolkenstein,107–08.Hecorrectlycomments,107:“SeineKonstanzer Lieder berichten vornehmlich von Lustbarkeiten am Rande des Konzils, von Trinkgelagen, Tanzveranstaltungen,derGeschäftstüchtigkeitderKonstanzer“freulin”unddenWucherpreisen derWirte”(HisConstancesongsreportprimarilyofentertainmentatthemarginofthecouncil, of drinking bouts, dance events, of the economic skills of the Constance “ladies” and of the usuriousprices).Subsequentlyheaddstheinsightfulcharacterization,109:“WährendOswalds Lieder den Anschein erwecken, als ob er nichts anderes zu tun gehabt hätte, als seinen Zechgenossen die ernüchternden Erlebnisse eines amüsierfreudigen Provinzlers in der Bodenseestadtvorzutragen,überstürztensichdiepolitischenEreignisse”(WhileOswald’ssongs evoketheimpressionasifhehadnothingelsetodobuttopresentthesoberingexperiencesofa manfromtheprovinceinterestedinfindingsomefun[inthecity],thepoliticalevents[thathe mentions]comequicklyoneaftertheother). GeorgeF.Jones,OswaldvonWolkenstein.Twayne’sWorldAuthorsSeries,236(NewYork:Twayne Publishers,1973),52. Jones, Oswald von Wolkenstein, 52. For the rhetorical register of old women, see Gretchen Mieszkowski,“OldAgeandMedievalMisogyny:TheOldWoman,”OldAgeintheMiddleAges, 299–319. See also Karen Pratt, “De vetula: the Figure of the Old Woman in Medieval French Literature,”ibid.,321–42. Meaning:Iwillnothaveanymoneyleft;mybagontheleftsidewillbeempty.

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Ipraisethenoble,goldentruncheon,219 inthedirectionofwhichIturnmysail; whereverImightgetintheworld, Iwillneverwithholdmypraiseforit.]

However much Oswald turned his attention to individual cities—and he also discussesNuremberg(Kl.99),andAugsburg(Kl.122)—inrealitythisaristocratic poetcouldnotidentifywithurbancentersandincludedthemonlyascurioussites whereheasavisitorhadbothpleasantanduncomfortableexperiences,wherethe food prices were excessive and the prostitutes unfriendly to him.220 Not surprisingly,wheneverhefoundanopportunitytoridiculeanddecrythenew classofrichmerchants,suchasinhissong“Ainburgherundainhofman”(Kl.25), Oswaldmadefulluseofthis,thoughwithouttherebyidealizingthearistocracy altogether.Instead,hiscriticismagainstthosewhomakealivingascourtiersis characterizedbyridiculeandwrath.221 Everythingdependsontheindividualviewpoints,ofcourse,andwhileOswald, asalandedgentry,onlypassedthroughanumberofGermanandotherEuropean cities, reflecting upon them fleetingly as it fit his own personal agenda, his contemporarySwissauthorHeinrichWittenwilerarguedvehementlyinfavorof cities that knew how to assess their individual situation in contrast to foolish peasantsanderraticaristocrats.InhishighlysatiricaldidacticallegoricalpoemDer Ring(ca.1400)heprimarilypaintsadeftlycriticalimageoftheworldofthestupid peasantswhoareutterlysubjecttotheiremotions,lackrationality,andcannot learnfromanyseriousteaching.Theversenarrativefocusesonayoungpeasant couplethatintendstogetmarried,thoughtheyfaceanumberofobstaclesthat theyhavetoovercomeuntiltheycanfinallyjoininawedding.Butthenviolence breaksout,andthisquicklyeruptsintoafullblownwarinwhichtheentirevillage wherethegroomhadoriginatedfromiswipedout.Onlytheprotagonistsurvives, buthedoesnotdemonstratethathehaslearnedanythingfromthecatastrophe,

219

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221

Eitherthenameofaninn,thenitwouldbe“Schlegel,”oranironicreferencetosomebeatingthat hereceivedthere;seeWernfriedHofmeister,inOswaldvonWolkenstein,SämtlicheLiederund Gedichte.InsNeuhochdeutscheübersetztvonWernfriedHofmeister.GöppingerArbeitenzur Germanistik,511(Göppingen:Kümmerle,1989),352. Wachinger,inOswaldvonWolkenstein,Lieder,376:“ImmergehtesOswalddabeinichtumdie Städtealssolche,sondernumdieStilisierungvonErfahrungenbeigeselligenGelegenheiten. InsofernstehendieseLiedermitdemInteresseanStadtbeschreibungenundStädtelob,dassich im15.Jahrhundertentfaltete...,nurinsehrentferntemZusammenhang”(Oswaldisnevertruly interestedinthecitiesassuch;insteadheisconcernedwiththestylizationofexperiencesatsocial gatherings.Inthissensethesesongsareonlyremotelyconnectedwiththeinterestindescribing citiesandsingingthepraiseofcities,whichdevelopedinthefifteenthcentury). Seealsothesonnet“EmerchatantidellamiaFiorenza”composedbytheFlorentinewoolbeater Burchielloin1457,studiedinthisvolumebyFabianAlfie.

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andnaivelywithdrawsintotheBlackForest,spendingtherestofhislifeasan hermit.222 Aspartoftheirwarpreparations,theLappenhausenfarmersdeliberateintheir councilwhomtheycouldapproachasallies,andtheyfirstsendmessengerstothe cities asking for their help. The narrator, however, first tries to provide his audiencewithanunderstandingoftheurbanworldaseverywelleducatedperson shouldknowit,anddevelopsalengthylistofthemajorcitiesalloverEurope, beginningwithRome,Venice,andBruges,thenturningtotheSpanishcitiesof SantiagodeCompostela,Pamplona,Barcelona,Sevilla,andsoforth,coveringalso those in France, Italy, Cyprus, Tyrol, Savoy, Flanders, Germany, Switzerland, Bohemia,Poland,andAustria.HementionsConstantinople,aboveall,buthis knowledgebeginstofadewhenheturnstoPrussiaandneighboringcountries (7608–86). The number of cities cited here amounts to 72, a highly symbolic numberoftenusedinlearned,encyclopedicworks,ifweconsider,forinstance,the 72 disciples whom Christ sent out to the world (Luke 10:1) and the common assumptionintheMiddleAgesthattherewereonly72languagesspoken,223which impliesthatWittenwilerregardedthenetworkofcitiesthatspanstheglobeindeed as the most important aspect of public life where all trade, administration, banking, and education took place and also where the most intelligent and culturedpeoplelive,anexplicitslapagainsttheruralpopulation.224 Wittenwilerdoesnotspecificallyexpressaninterestintheurbanspaceperse, atopicthatwouldnothavebeenappropriateforhisnarrativefocusofsatirizing foolish peasants. But he projects the representatives of the various cities as extraordinarilywise,circumspect,careful,diplomatic,andpeaceoriented,allin clear contrast to the hotheaded members of Lappenhausen, the country bumpkins,everreadytostartfightinginconsideratelyanddisregardingallrisks andimplications.AstheRomansenatorunderscores:

222

223

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HorstBrunner,HeinrichWittenwiler:DerRing.Frühneuhochdeutsch/Neuhochdeutsch.Nachdem Text von Edmund Wießner ins Neuhochdeutsche übersetzt und herausgegeben. Universal Bibliothek, 8749 (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1991); Christoph Gruchot, Heinrich Wittenwilers “Ring”: KonzeptundKonstruktioneinesLehrbuches.GöppingerArbeitenzurGermanistik,475(Göppingen: Kümmerle,1988);EckhartConradLutz,Spiritualisfornicatio:HeinrichWittenwiler,seineWeltund sein‘Ring’.KonstanzerGeschichtsundRechtsquellen,XXXII(Sigmaringen:Thorbecke,1990); OrtrunRiha,DieForschungzuHeinrichWittenwilers“Ring”1851–1988.WürzburgerBeiträgezur deutschen Philologie, 4 (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1990); Albrecht Classen, VerzweiflungundHoffnung.DieSuchenachderkommunikativenGemeinschaftinderdeutschenLiteratur desMittelalters.BeiheftezurMediaevistik,1(Frankfurta.M.,Berlin,Bern,etal.:PeterLang,2002), 401–35. ArnoBorst,DerTurmbauvonBabel:GeschichtederMeinungenüberUrsprungundVielfaltderSprachen und Völker. Vol. 1 (Stuttgart: A. Hiersemann, 1975), 674–75; Bernhard Sowinski in: Heinrich Wittenwiler,“DerRing”,herausgegeben,übersetztundkommentiertvonBernhardSowinski. HelfantTexte,T9(Stuttgart:helfantedition,1988),476–77. Sowinski,HeinrichWittenwiler,“DerRing”,477.

UrbanSpaceintheMiddleAgesandtheEarlyModernAge “Lamparterseinweisgenuog. DievonFranchreichsunderchluog, Teutschermanistauchgelert; Darumbseiindieerbeschert: WasderpriolvonFlorentz UndderammanvonCostentz, VonPareisderhaubtman Sprechent,dazseialzgetan!’

(7695–702)

[‘TheLombardsaresmartenough, ThosefromFranceareparticularlyclever, TheGermansarealsolearned; thereforethefollowingdeservethehonor: WhatthePriorofFlorence andthemagistrateofConstance, andthegovernorofParis say(recommend),thatshallbeaccepted!’]

Particularly the Constance magistrate is given extra space to formulate his theoreticalconceptsabouthowtogivecounciltofriendsandfoesandhowto approach the request by the Lappenhausen peasants in a most pragmatic manner.225Heemphasizes,forinstance: Zeschirmenseinwirallegpunden Einencristanzedenstunden, Somanimvilunrechttuot Anleib,aneralsandemguot; Dochgeschechdasindermass, Dazmanallermänchleichlass Ungeschlagenundgestochen: Wondazwürdanunsgerochen, Obdersogeschlagenman Wäreinsandernundertan.

(7781–90)

[Weareallobligatedtoprotect aChristianatanytime whenhesuffersfrominjustice tohisbody,hishonor,andtohisproperty. Thisprotectionoughttobedoneinsuchamanner thatonestaysawayatallcost frombeatingandstabbinghim.

225

Somescholarshavetriedtoreadasarcastic,parodistictoneintoWittenwiler’sdescriptionofthis magistrate;see,forinstance,Lutz,Spiritualisfornicatio,212,butthiswouldnotdojusticetothe undisputably positive characterization of the amman; see Riha, Die Forschung zu Heinrich Wittenwilers“Ring”,15and169.

AlbrechtClassen Thatwouldbeavengedagainstus, ifthisbeatenman werethesubjectofanotherlord.]

Aftershortfurtherdeliberations,thecouncilofcitiesdecidestoacceptthisandthe previousrecommendationsandtoabstainfromtakingsidesinthisconflictamong thepeasants.Notsurprisingly,thewarhungrypeopleofLappenhausentherefore turntotheneighboringvillageswheretheyfindmanystrangefellowsandobscure creatures willing to join them, though at the end everyone will be slain. By contrast,thoughnotfurtherdiscussedinthetext,thecitiesstayoutofthefight andcontinuetothriveandtoprosper,aclearswipeatthefoolishpeoplelivingin the countryside, and a powerful, even if somewhat elusive, praise upon the intelligentandculturedburghers. Searchingforfurtherevidenceofthegrowing,ifnotcentral,significanceoflate medievalandearlymoderncitiesinpublicandprivatelife,wecouldeasilyrefer to the rich entertaining literature of short, hilarious tales, such as the fabliaux, mæren,novelli,andfazetie.BothBoccaccioandChaucer,bothHeinrichKaufringer andtheanonymouscomposer/softheNovellino(alsoknownasLibrodinovelleedi belparlargentile),thenthefamous,alsonotorious,PoggioBraccioliniandGiovanni Straparolahave,amongmanyothers,richlycontributedtothisgenreandhave amplydrawnfromtheirownexperiencesinurbansettings.Wecansafelyassume that their audiences were also constituted of city dwellers, that is, the urban intelligentsia that could fully enjoy the social parodies, witticism, and specific allusions to the intricacies and complexities of the compact living conditions withinacity.Whereastraditionalcourtlyliterature(romanceandlovepoetry)is commonly predicated on life at court, these short didactic and entertaining narrativesareusuallysetincities.226 Oneatfirstsightratherinnocuous,yetstillmeaningfulexamplewouldbethe firsttaleoftheseconddayinBoccaccio’sDecameronwherethesettingisTreviso:

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RobertJ.ClementsandJosephGibaldi,AnatomyoftheNovella:TheEuropeanTaleCollectionfrom Boccaccio and Chaucer to Cervantes (New York: New York University Press, 1977); Klaus Grubmüller,DieOrdnung,derWitzunddasChaos:EineGeschichtedereuropäischenNovellistikim Mittelalter: Fablaiau – Märe – Novelle (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 2006). Concerning Boccaccio, he observesthatamajorityofhisnarrativestakeplaceincitiessuchasGenoa(I8andII9),Bologna (I10,VII7,X4),Treviso(II,1),Naples(II,5,III6,VI2,etal.),Pistoia(III,5),Venice(IV,2),Brescia (III,6),Salerno(IV,10),Rome(V3andX8),andsoforth.Moreover,Boccacciohasalsosethiseyes onmajorcitiesoutsideofItaly,suchasLondon,Bruges,Paris,andAlexandria(272–73).Forabrief introductionintothegenreofGermanmærenandtherelatedlatemedievalnarratives,seeErotic TalesofMedievalGermany.Selectedandtrans.AlbrechtClassen;withacontributionbyMaurice Sprague;andwithaneditionofFrobenChristophvonZimmern’s“DerenttäuschteLiebhaber.” Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies, 328 (Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and RenaissanceStudies,2007).

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Era,nonèancoralungotempopassato,untedescoaTrivigichiamatoArrigo,ilquale, poverouomoessendo,diportarepesiaprezzoservivachiilrichiedeva;e,conquesto, uomodisantissimavitaedibuonaeratenutodatutti.Perlaqualcosa,overoonon verochesifosse,morendoegliadivenne,secondocheItrivigianiaffermavano,che nell’oradellasuamortelecampanedellamaggiorchiesadiTrivigitutte,senzaessere daalcuntirate,cominciaronoasonare.227 [NotlongagotherelivedinTrevisoaGermannamedArrigo.Hewasverypoor,and hiredhimselfoutasaporter.Buthewasamanofmostholylifeandeveryonethought himagoodman.Whetherthiswassoornot,thepeopleofTrevisosaythatwhenhe was dying the bells in the largest church of Treviso began to ring miraculously, untouchedbyhumanhand.228]

Theinformationprovidedisnotessentialforthefurtherplotdevelopment,except thatitclearlysignalswheretheeventstakeplace.However,aswecanclearly perceive,thecityalwaysrepresentsadenseurbanspacewithcrowdsofpeopleof allkindsofsocialclasses,fromtherichandmightytotheoldandsick,withan intensivereligiouslifeembracingall,butalsoaplacewhereindividualssuffer frompovertyandhavetomakeameagerlivingbydoingsimplemenialjobs.229In otherwords,Boccaccio’snarratorshedslightonreligious,sociological,economic, andurbanpoliticalaspects.230 Surprisingly, however, the rich corpus of fourteenth and fifteenthcentury illustratedBoccacciomanuscriptsoffershardlyanyspecificreferencestourbanlife andoffersonlytinyindicationsofurbansettings.231Whereashereonepersonalone

227

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GiovanniBoccaccio,sceltaaintroduzionediNinoBorsellino.CentoLibriPerMilleAnni,ed.Walter Pedullà(Rome:IstitutoPoligraficoeZeccadelloStato,1995),322. GiovanniBoccaccio,TheDecameron,trans.RichardAldington(1930;NewYork:DellPublishing, 1970),83.ForanexcellentanalysisofmanyofBoccaccio’srhetoricalstrategies,seeMarilynMigiel, ARhetoricoftheDecameron(Toronto,Buffalo,andLondon:UniversityofTorontoPress,2003). ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,69–80,offersgoodillustrationsanddrawsfromavariety ofliteraryandhistoricaldocuments. See,forinstance,MarioBaratto,RealtàestilenelDecameron(1970;Vicenza:NeriPozzaEditore, 1974);VittoreBranca,Boccaccio:TheManandHisWorks,trans.RichardMonges.Cotrans.anded. DennisJ.McAuliffe.ForewordbyRobertC.Clements(NewYork:NewYorkUniversityPress, 1976),56–85;FrancescoBruni,Boccaccio:L’invenzionedellaletteraturamezzana(Bologna:Società editriceilMulino,1990). Boccacciovisualizzato:NarrareperparoleeperimmaginifraMedioevoeRinascimento,acuradiVittore Branca,vol.3:Opered’arted’originefrancese,fiamminga,inglese,spagnola,tedesca(Turin: Giulio Einaudieditore,1999).Therearecommonlysomecitywalls,individualhouses,towers,interior settings,andpalaces.Butseetheremarkableexceptionofanelongatedstreetperspectivedrawing theviewer’sgazedeepintothebackground:Decasdesnobleshommesetfemmes,Munich,Bayrische Staatsbibliothek,msGall.6,fromParisorTours,1458,here127,no.185.Interestingly,theartist allowsusfirsttolookontoascholar’sstudyontheleftwhereBoccacciohimselfisseatedathis deskwritinghistext,observedbyallthefiguresinhisnarrative,beforetheeyeturnstowardthe majorsceneintheforegroundwherethebookisofferedtoMainardode’Cavalcanti,beforethe longlineofhousesmakingupthesidesofadenselypopulatedstreetwithpeoplewalkingand

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attractstheattentionoftheentirecitybecauseofhisallegedsanctity,manyother contemporary accounts and chronicle reports underline the relevance of the religiouslifewithinthecityinwhichtheentirecommunityparticipated.Beguines, forinstance,todrawfromanonliteraryexample,experiencedbothcriticismand suspicionandalsoenjoyedgreatrespectandauthoritybecauseoftheirchaste(or notsochaste)lifeintheirurbansettlements.232Buttheycreatedtheirownspaces withintheurbanworld,withdrawingintotheirBeguinage,suchastheonein Bruges.Atthesametimetheyintensivelypartookinthechurchlifeofthecity, attending church masses, confessing, praying, participating in the regular performances and rituals, altogether creating a kind of “street mysticism,” as UlrikeWiethaushascalleditregardingtheVienneseBeguneAgnesBlannbekin.233 Ofcourse,withBoccaccio,afourteenthcenturyFlorentine,wewouldnotexpect muchelse,yetitstilldeservestobeemphasizedhowmuchhelocatesmostofthe eventsinhisaccountsincitiesandlargelyfavorstheurbanspaceastheideal settingfortheeventsthatcharacterizehistales.Notthathefocusesoncitiesfor theirownsake,butforhim,asformanyotherauthorsofshortnarratives,the humaninteractionsincitiesprovideenoughofprovocativeandsatiricalmaterial toachievethegoalofteachingandentertaininghisaudienceatthesametime, suchasintheseventhtaleofthethirddaywhereEmiliaexplainsherchoiceof storywith:“Amepiacenellanostracittàritornare,dondealleduepassatepiacque di dipartirsi, e come un nostro cittadino la sua donna perduta racquistasse mostrarvi”(458;“Itpleasesmetoreturntoourcity,whereasthelasttwotale

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ridingonhorsebackextendbehindit.WhereasBrancacharacterizestheinteriorspaceasItalian, hebelievesthatthestreetscenereflectsFrenchurbanarchitecture(126,notetofol.10rwherethe miniature is located). Another interesting example proves to be a miniature illuminating Boccaccio’s Teseida, Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, ms 2617, fol. 39r, from ca. 1457–1461and1470–1471,hereno.362.Althoughthecityitselfdoesnotcomeintofullfocus,we observeurbanspacefullybecausethepublicinAthensthrongsaroundatriumphalcarriage transportingtheprotagonistTheseusandtwoladies,whilefivegrievingwidowssitontheside. All the windows are filled with curious onlookers. The masses behind the carriage slowly disappearinthewindingstreetsinthebackground. ErnestW.McDonnell,TheBeguinesandBeghardsinMedievalCulture:WithSpecialEmphasisonthe BelgianScene(1954;NewYork:OctagonBooks,1969);SaskiaMurkJansen,BridesintheDesert:The SpiritualityoftheBeguines(Maryknowll,NY:OaksBooks,1998);WalterSimons,CitiesofLadies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries, 1200–1565. The Middle Ages Series (Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2001);HelgaUnger,DieBegine:eineGeschichtevon AufbruchundUnterdrückungderFrau.HerderSpektrum,5643(Freiburgi.Br.:Herder,2005). UlrikeWiethaus,“SpatialityandtheSacredinAgnesBlannbekin’sLifeandRevelations,”Agnes Blannbekin,VienneseBeguine:LifeandRevelations,trans.fromtheLatinwithIntrod.,Notesand Interpretive Essay by eadem. Library of Medieval Women (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2002), 163–76;here170.Sheis,ofcourse,heavilyobligatedtoPeterDinzelbacherandRenateVogeler, LebenundOffenbarungenderWienerBegineAgnesBlannbekin (†1315):EditionundÜbersetzung. GöppingerArbeitenzurGermanistik,419(Göppingen:Kümmerle,1994).

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tellerswerepleasedtodepartfromit,”207).Notsurprisingly,shehasheraccount begininFlorence: FuadunqueinFirenzeunnobilegiovaneilcuinomefuTedaldodegliElisei,ilquale d’unadonna,monnaErmellina,chiamataemoglied’unoAldobrandinoPalermini, innamorato oltre misura per li suoi laudevoli costumi, meritò di godere del suo disiderio.(458) [InFlorencetherelivedanobleyoungman,namedTedaldodegliElisei,deeplyinlove withaladynamedMonnaErmellina,thewifeofAldobrandinoPalermini;andon accountofhiseminentvirtueshefullydeservedtoenjoyhisdesires,208]

ButpoetssuchasFrançoisVillon(1431–1463),whowasdeeplyimpactedbyhislife inParisanddeftlyuseditasthefoilandbackgroundforhispoetry,234deliberately didnotshyawayfromdrawingfreelyfromtheurbansetting,buttheninavery different, much more intimate, approach compared to that of Oswald von Wolkenstein: Item,Iaddontothestick ThehousesignofSaintAntoineStreet Orelseaclubfordrivingballs, AnddailyapotfulfromtheSeine Tothose‘pigeons’who’rebadlyoff Alllockedupinthe‘aviary,’ Myfinemirror,justwhattheyneed, Andthesmilesofthejailer’swife.235

Asfragmentaryasthisimpressionisticallusionmightbe,itcertainlyindicatesthe extenttowhichthispoetlivedinandwiththecityanditscitizens,asisalsonicely illustratedbyastanzainhisLeTestament: Item,Igivemybarber,called ColinGalerne,wholivesquiteclose ToAngelottheherbalist, Abigiceblock(Fromwhere?TheMarne), Tospendthewintercomfortably. Lethimkeepitnearhisstomach;then, Sotreatinghimselfallwinterlong, Nextsummerhe’llbewarmenough.

234 235

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AlbrechtClassen,“Villon,François,”EncyclopediaofMedievalLiterature,663–65. FrançoisVillon,“TheLegacy,”stanza29,orC23,quotedfromFrançoisVillon,CompletePoems,ed. withEnglishtrans.andcommentarybyBarbaraN.SargentBaur(Toronto,Buffalo,andLondon: UniversityofTorontoPress,1994).Becausethisisabilingualedition,Irefrainfromcopyingthe OldFrenchoriginalaswell.

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AsMichaelCamillecommented:“Exampleslikethissuggestthatinthinkingabout theplacethatwasthemedievalcitywehavetoenlargeourconceptionofpublic spacetoincludethissharedsystemofsigns....Therewasatasteinthefifteenth century for fantasies made up from street names and house signs . . . . the medievalcitywaspeopledbysigns....”236AsDavidA.Feinconfirms,Villon differsremarkablyfrommostofhisFrenchpredecessorsinhisutilizationof“more graphic imagery.”237 He goes so far as to underscore: “Filled with images of familiarindividuals,sites,sharedexperiences,theTestamentdrawstheintended reader into a poetic world in which he finds constant reflections of his own world.”238Nevertheless,Villondoesnotpaintcompletelyrealisticimagesoflate medievallifeinthecity;instead,asinthecaseofmostothercontemporarypoets, he transformed the urban setting for his own purposes, both to entertain the audienceandtoreflectuponhisownpositionwithinfifteenthcenturysociety. Livingwithintheurbancontext,however,alsoseemstohaveforcedhimtobox hiswaythroughthethrong,metaphoricallyspeaking,asafairlylittlerecognized, often rather maligned, poet struggling to achieve public fame for his satirical verses.239Buthewasbothaproductofthecityandalsoinfluencedtheculturein thecitywithhispoems,offeringfascinatingcommentsontheworldhelivedin, deftlyreflectingonitskaleidoscopicnature. Wefindconfirmationforthisobservationnotonlyinliterarydocuments,but alsoinawealthoflatemedievalandearlymodernart,asIhavenotedalready above.Itmightbeimportant,however,alsotoconsidertherichsourceoffifteenth and sixteenthcentury miniatures, such as those contained in Books of Hours—smallsized collections of texts, almost like psalters, but for private purposes, and usually richly illustrated—and countless other didactic, and religiousmanuscripts.Thewealthofrealisticdetailsprovestobeoverwhelming, almostburstingoutoftheseams,ortheframe,oftheimages.Therangeofspecific detailsconcerningpeople’slives,housingconditions,butthenalsostreetscenes,

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238 239

MichaelCamille,“SignsoftheCity:Place,Power,andPublicFantasyinMedievalParis,”Medieval PracticesofSpace,ed.BarbaraA.HanawaltandMichalKobialka.,2000,1–36;here17. DavidA.Fein,FrançoisVillonandHisReader(Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress,1989),29.See also id., François Villon Revisited. Twayne’s World Authors Series, 864 (New York: Twayne Publishers;London,MexicoCity,etal.:PrenticeHallInternational,1997).SeealsoJohnFox,The PoetryofVillon(London,Edinburgh,etal.:ThomasNelsonandSons,1962),andDavidMus,La PoétiquedeFrançoisVillon(Paris:ChampVallon,1967),forsolidintroductionstothispoet. Fein,FrançoisVillon,41. JaneH.M.Taylor,ThePoetryofFrançoisVillon:TextandContext.CambridgeStudiesinFrench (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 117–18; she specifically emphasizes: “As he invitesustolookandfeelviahisperceivingconsciousness,hisurgentself,hemakesindifference impossible . . . . Villon’s passionate personal and ideological engagement—with an issue as seeminglyanodyneastherelativemeritsofthecityandtheriverbank—isoneofthemostpotent weaponsinhispoeticarmoury”(138).

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everyday life settings, palaces, markets, interiors of churches, bedrooms, constructionsites,altarpieces,etc.seemsinexhaustible. Obviously,bytheendoftheMiddleAgesartistsalloverEuropefeltdeeply fascinatedbythenewopportunitiestoexploretherealityoftheirworld,although theywerestillrequiredtoconnectitwiththespiritualdimensionaimedforbythe genreofthebookofhours,amongmanyotherswheretheminiatureassumed centralposition.240Spaceasatopicgainedsupremeimportance,whethertheopen landscape,farmland,ortheurbanenvironment.AsMauritsSmeyersobserves, “People,objects,andnaturewereallrepresentedinthegreatestdetail.Thevaried clothingwaspaintedwithallofitsfolds,clasps,buttons,anddecorativeelements. Miniaturists showed how all of the individual components of furniture and implements were fastened to one another and embellished, in addition to conveyingthedistinctivequalitiesofthematerials.Theinteriorswereminutely observed.”241

UrbanSpace,SocialConflicts,andtheHistoryofEmotions Atthesametime,urbanspacebecameincreasinglythecriticalsettingforpeople’s emotionstobeactedout,performed,ritualized,andstaged,bothinthestreets wheretheindividualsactuallyinteractedwitheachother,and,concomitantly,on thelatemedievalstagewhereShrovetideplaysandmanydifferentreligiousplays (Christmas,Passion,Easter,etc.)providedamediumforcommunicatingwiththe citizensregardingtheirreligiousvaluesandmorality.242

240

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MauritsSmeyers,FlemishMiniaturesfromthe8thtotheMid–16thCentury:TheMedievalWorldon Parchment(Leuven:Brepols,1999),chaptersVI–VIII. Smeyers,FlemishMiniatures,422.SeealsoRogerS.Wieck,PaintedPrayers:TheBookofHoursin MedievalandRenaissanceArt(NewYork:GeorgeBraziller,1997);GregoryClark,TheSpitzMaster: AParisianBookofHours.GettyMuseumStudiesonArt(LosAngeles:J.PaulGettyMuseum,2003); Libro de horas de Juana I de Castilla, Juana I de Castilla (Barcelona: M. Moleiro, 2005); Albrecht Classen,“TheBookofHoursintheMiddleAges,”Futhark:RevistadeInvestigaciónyCultura2 (2007):111–29. SeethecontributionsbyValerieM.Wilhite(203–222),EveMarieHalba(223–42),DirkCoigneau (243–56),andStijnBussels(257–69)inEmotionsintheHeartoftheCity;JodyEnders,TheMedieval TheaterofCruelty:Rhetoric,Memory,Violence(IthacaandLondon:CornellUniversityPress,1999); eadem,DeathbyDramaandOtherMedievalUrbanLegends(ChicagoandLondon:Universityof ChicagoPress,2002);MitchellB.Merback,TheThief,theCrossandtheWheel:PainandtheSpectacle ofPunishmentinMedievalandRenaissanceEurope(ChicagoandLondon:TheUniversityofChicago Press, 1998); Johan Nowé, “Wir wellen haben ein spil”: Zur Geschichte des Dramas im deutschen Mittelalter.DarstellungundAnthologie(LeuvenandAmersfoort:Acco,1997);EckehardSimon,Die Anfänge des weltlichen deutschen Schauspiels 1370–1530: Untersuchung und Dokumentation. MünchenerTexteundUntersuchungenzurdeutschenLiteraturdesMittelalters,124(Tübingen: Niemeyer,2003).

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Allthiswasimportantbecauseinthelatefifteenthcenturyurbanlifeunderwent, itseems,afundamentalparadigmshift,liberatingitfinallyanddefinitivelyfrom thecountrysideasthemainsourceofincome.AsHenriLefebvreobserves: Thehistoricalmediationbetweenmedieval(orfeudal)spaceandthecapitalistspace whichwastoresultfromaccumulationwaslocatedinurbanspace—thespaceofthose ‘urbansystems’whichestablishedthemselvesduringthetransition.Inthisperiodthe townseparatedfromthecountrysidethatithadlongdominatedandadministered, exploitedandprotected.Noabsoluteriftbetweenthetwooccurred,however,and theirunity,thoughrivenwithconflict,survived....Theurbaniteslocatedthemselves by reference to the peasants, but in terms of a distantiation from them: there was thereforedualityinunity,aperceiveddistanceandaconceivedunity.243

Ifweconsider,forinstance,theconstantridiculingofthepeasantinlatemedieval Shrovetide plays, as composed by the Nuremberg Mastersinger Hans Sachs (1494–1576),thisobservationgainsstrongsupportfromliteraryhistory.ButSachs, likemanyofhiscontemporaries,didnotsimplymakeafoolofhispeasantfigures. In“DerfarendtSchulerimParadeiß,”forinstance(1550),bothwifeandhusband prove to be ridiculous and ignorant, but not because they are peasants. They represent, basically, common people’s lack of intelligence, discrimination, foresightedness,andsmartness.Thewifedislikeshersecondhusbandandgrieves thelossofthefirst,whoseemstohavebeenmuchkinderandmoregenerousthan thesecond.Whenastudentarrivesandbegsforfood,hetriestoimpressherwith thereferencetoPariswherehehadstudieduntilrecently.Shedoesnotseemto knowanythingaboutParis;insteadsheisonlyfamiliarwiththeterm‘paradise,’ whichshenowconfuseswiththeactualcity.Immediatelysheinquiresaboutthe wellbeingofherhusbandthereandhastolearn,tohergreatchagrin,thatheis sufferingfromseverepovertyandcannoteveneatanddrinktohissatisfactionas everyoneelse.Thepeasantwomanthusdecidestoutilizetheidealopportunity andgetsclothing,food,andmoneyfromherhidingplaces,askingthestudentto takethemtoherdeceasedhusband.Thestudentismorethandelightedwithhis goodluck,takeseverythinganddisappearsasquicklyaspossible. Assoonasthesecondhusbandreturnshome,helearnsfromhiswifewhathas happened,andrealizeshowbadlyshehadbeenduped.Pretendingtobeworried thatshemightnothavegiventhestudentenoughmoneyforherfirsthusband,he rushesaftertheyoungman,whorecognizeshimearlyenoughtohideallgifts. Whenthefarmerarrivesatthespot,heissorashandimpatientthathedoesnot realizewhoisstandinginfrontofhim.Consequently,uponthestudent’sadvice herunsoveraswampyfieldonfoot,tryingtocatchthe‘thief.’Foolishly,hehad askedthestudenttoholdthehorseinthemeantimebecausethegroundofthat fieldwouldbetoosoft.Theyoungmanchucklesoversomuchfoolishness,and 243

Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,268–69.

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thenridesaway,knowingfullwellthathehasnowcheatedboththeignoramus wifeandherhusband.Thepeasantlearnsofthissoonenoughandharshlyblames himself, but then he also begins to understand how stupid he has performed himself.Deeplyembarrassedherefrainsfromblaminghiswifeandcontinuesto playhispreviousrole,hopingthatallthiswillremainasecret.Unfortunately, however,hiswifehasalreadyspreadthewordeverywhereinthevillage,making bothofthemthepubliclaughingstock.Thisprovidesthepeasantwithhisfinal lessonbecauseheperceivesnowthatalthoughmarriedlifeisfraughtwithmany difficulties,misunderstandings,anddisagreements,mostlybothpartnershaveto beblamedforanyconflictsanddisagreements.Hence,agoodmarriagewouldbe based on mutual respect, tolerance, and love, that is, above all, the ability to overlookfailings,iftheyarenottooegregious,andtoaccepttheotherwithall his/hershortcomingsaslongaslovebondsthemtogetherbecausetheonewho criticizesmighteasilyprovetobejustasfoolishorignorantastheother.244 Despitetheruralsetting,thereisnodoubtthatSachsintendedthisShrovetide playforanurbanaudiencebutusedapeasantcoupleasthemajorprotagonistsso astoavoiddirectlycriticizinghisurbanaudience.Thebasicmessageaddressesthe basicprinciplesofhappymaritallife,andinthishespecificallytargetedmarried peopleinNurembergandothercities,wherevertheplaywasperformed,whereas it seems most unlikely that it ever might have reached a village audience.245 AlthoughSachsprojectedtheworldofpeasants,whichwascertainlyeasiertodo thantopresentanurban,perhapsamerchantorpatrician,couplefightingwith eachother,hehadnointention,asallthecontextandcommonpracticeofthe urbantheaterindicate,ofdealingwiththelivesofpeasants.Afterall,thecritical point of his play targeted one of the most important aspects in the lives of burghersintheearlymoderncities:marriage.246ButfortheplaywrightSachs,the humorouslessoncouldbemoreeasilyconveyedtohisaudienceifthepointof criticismwerenottoodirect.Laughingaboutsillypeoplelivinginthecountryside washighlycommonandregularlyappealedtotheurbanaudience,providing themwithastrongsenseofculturalsuperiority.Sachs’strueliterarystrength, however,restedinhisabilitytoprojectasubstituteworld,populatedbyfarmers

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Cited from: Hans Sachs, Meisterlieder, Spruchgedichte, Fastnachtspiele: Auswahl. Eingeleitet und erläutertvonHartmutKugler.UniversalBibliothek,18288(Stuttgart:Reclam,2003),87–102. AlbrechtClassen,“Women,Wives,andMarriageintheWorldofHansSachs,”Daphnis32,3–4 (2003):491–521. AlbrechtClassen,“Love,Marriage,andTransgressioninMedievalandEarlyModernLiterature: Discourse,Communication,andSocialInteraction,”DiscourseonLove,Marriage,andTransgression inMedievalandEarlyModernLiterature,ed.AlbrechtClassen.MedievalandRenaissanceTextsand Studies,278(Tempe,AZ:ArizonaCenterforMedievalandRenaissanceStudies,2004[appeared in2005]),1–42;id.,DerLiebesundEhediskursvomhohenMittelalterbiszumfrühen17.Jahrhundert. Volksliedstudien, 5 (Münster, New York, Munich, and Berlin: Waxmann, 2005). See also my contributiontothepresentvolumeonHansSachs’surbanencomiapoems.

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andtheirwives,whichneverthelessintriguinglyservedasapoignantmirrorof people’sliveswithintheurbanframework.

LateMedievalDevelopmentofUrbanSpace Ultimately,then,inthiscontextalsofollowingLefebvre,theearlymoderntown or city created its own identity and its own history, resulting in considerable conflicts with the royal and papal powers all over Europe. “Together with its territory, the Renaissance town perceived itself as a harmonious whole, as an organic mediation between earth and heaven.”247 This also had tremendous implications for urban planning and urban architecture because a systematic designandstrategyincreasinglydeterminedthefurtherdevelopmentofurban growth:“TheRenaissancetownceasedtoevolve‘afterthefashionofacontinuous narrative’,addingonebuildingafteranother,anextensiontoastreet,oranother squaretothosealreadyinexistence.Fromnowoneachbuilding,eachaddition, was politically conceived; each innovation modified the whole, and each ‘object’—asthoughithadhithertobeensomehowexternal—cametoaffectthe entirefabric.”248 Remarkably,alreadyinthelatethirteenthcentury,apartfromnewcitiesthat were strategically planned and built to serve specific military and political purposes,suchasAiguesMortesinsouthernFrance(seeabove),manydifferent citiesinTuscany,249orKellsinIreland,250individualcityadministratorsdecided

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Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,271. Lefebvre,TheProductionofSpace,272;hereLefebvrereliesstronglyonManfredoTafuri,Teoriee storiadell’architettura(RomeandBari:LaterzaFigli,1968);seealsoChiaraFrugoni,ADistantCity; and The Towns of Italy in the Later Middle Ages; Oscar Schneider, Nürnbergs grosse Zeit: reichsstädtische Renaissance, europäischer Humanismus (Cadolzburg: Ars vivendi, 2000); Naomi Miller,MappingtheCity: theLanguageandCultureofCartographyintheRenaissance(Londonand New York: Continuum, 2003); Patricia Fortini Brown, Private Lives in Renaissance Venice: Art, Architecture,andtheFamily(NewHavenandLondon:YaleUniversityPress,2004);Manfredo Tafuri,InterpretingtheRenaissance:Princes,Cities,andArchitects.HarvardUniversityGraduate SchoolofDesignSeries(NewHaven:YaleUniversityPress;Cambridge,MA:Inassociationwith HarvardUniversityGraduateSchoolofDesign,2006). David Friedman, Florentine New Towns: Urban Design in the Late Middle Ages (New York: ArchitecturalHistoryFoundation;Cambridge,MA:MITPress,1988). GeorgesZarnecki,ArtoftheMedievalWorld,395;GeorgesJehel,AiguesMortes,unportpourunroi: lesCapétiensetlaMéditerranée(RoanneLeCoteau:Horvath,1985);MichelÉdouardBelletand PatrickFlorençon,DieFestungsstadtAiguesMortes.Itinérairesdupatrimoine(Paris:Onum,Éd.du Patrimoine,2001).Forthedegreetowhichmedievaltownswereactuallyplanned,seeAnngret Simms,“TheEarlyOrigins,”UrbanLandscapes,1992,30:“Kellsistypicalofothermonasticsites whichappeartohavebeendesignedinconformitywithaplannedarrangement,inwhichthe roundtowerusuallystandstothewestofthechurch.Theentrancetotheenclosurewasgenerally

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toimprovetheconditionofthestreets,whichobviouslyalsoinvolvedthesewer system.AsweknowofsomeItaliancities,forinstance,in“1290,itwasdecidedto brickoverallthestreetsofSienabecausethesidestreets,whichwereunbricked, were spilling filth and mud into the thoroughfares, which were already ‘paved’(withbricks,thatis,notstones).IntheportionofLorenzetti’sfrescoIlBuo Governo.GliEffettidelBuonGovernoincampagna(GoodGovernment.TheEffects intheCountryside),weseewideandwellkeptroadsdividingfieldsandhillsinto asinuouscheckerboard,exactlythewaythemagistracyfortheroadsofSienaand thesurroundingdistrictprescribedthattheyshould.”251 In other words, modern assumptions that urban efforts to work toward the improvementofpublicstreets,hygiene,andthesewersystemdidnotbeginbefore theeighteenthornineteenthcenturyhavetobeseriouslyquestioned,considering thatmuchdependsonacity’ssize,theavailabilityofflowingwater,theplanting of gardens, and the city’s geographical location, and the percentage of people continuingwithfarmingandgardeninginsideofthecitywalls.252Howcitiestruly dealtwithwasteproducts,however,stillescapesourfullunderstanding,though wecanbecertainthatthiswasregularly regardedasaproblemthatrequired publicattention.Infact,thegrowthofcitiesthroughouttimescreatedevernew difficulties and new solutions, so practical approaches pursued in, say, the eighteenthcentury,werecertainlydifferentthanintheMiddleAges,yettheissue

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locatedtotheeastandwasmarkedbyaspecialcross,aboundarycross,aroundwhichmarket functionsdeveloped.”Othercities,suchasRostockontheBalticSea,developedonlyinstagesand experiencedanumberofdevastatingsetbacksthroughouttime(37–39). ChiaraFrugoni,ADayinaMedievalCity,38;DuccioBalestracciandGabriellaPiccinni,Sienanel Trecento:Assettourbanoestruttureedilizie(Firenze:Clusf,1977),41;forfurthersourcematerial regardingtheinnovativeurbanrenovation,seeZdekauer,LavitapubblicadeiSenesinelDugento (Siena:I.Lazzeri,1897),104;seealsoW.Braunfels,MittelalterlicheStadtbaukunstinderToskana (Berlin:G.Mann,1959);CesareBrandi,PitturaaSienanelTrecento,acuradiMicheleCordaro (Turin:GiulioEinaudi,1991).Cf.KeithD.Llilley,“MappingtheMedievalCity:PlanAnalysisand UrbanHistory,”UrbanHistory27(2000):5–30. CitingL.Mumford(TheCityinHistory[1961;Harmondsworth,Middlesex:Penguin,1992]),A.E. J. Morris, History of Urban Form, 100, emphasizes: “Sanitary conditions are closely related to density.Althoughmedievaltownshadonlyrudimentaryrefusedisposalarrangementsandwater supplywasacontinualproblem—particularlyinhilltowns—itmustnotbeassumedthatdisease was necessarily an everyday accompaniment to urban life.” See also the contribution to the present volume by Britt C. L. Rothauser. Allison P. Coudert, also in this volume, argues differently,andherevidenceisverysolidaswell,whichindicatesthatherewearedealingwith longtermproblemsinthedevelopmentofmedievalandearlymoderncitiesthatwerenotfully addressed or even solved perhaps until the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For the significanceofwaterandhygienethroughouttimesinthevariouscultures,seeTheNatureand FunctionofWater,Baths,BathingandHygienefromAntiquitythroughtheRenaissance,ed.Cynthia KossoandAnneScott.TechnologyandChangeinHistory,11(LeidenandBoston:Brill,2009).

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remainedthesame.253Buttherearemanyotherissuescharacterizingtheearly moderncitythatcontinuetochallengemodernhistoriography,whichdonotneed tobediscussedhereingreaterdetail,thoughwehavetobeawareofthewider implications for the global approach taken in the present volume.254 We must recognize, however, that altogether the medieval and earlymodern city, here disregarding the myriad of differences, did not simply develop in a chaotic, irregular,andunsystematicfashion.Bothtownplansanddistinctlayoutsofstreet patterns,neighborhoods,openspaces,etc.signalthatmanycitiesgrewsowell overtimebecausetheiradministratorsorlords(bishops,princes,orthepatriciate [i.e., the upperranking governing class]) had great interest in seeing to the promotionandfurtheringofurbandevelopment,andthisevenintheearlyMiddle Ages.255 Satirical andironicauthors,suchasGiovanniBoccaccio(Decameron),Franco Sacchetti(CentoNovelle),PoggioBracciolini(Facetie),HermenBote(authorshipstill somewhat uncertain; Till Eulenspiegel), Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof (Wendunmuth), MartinMontanus(Wegkürzer),MichaelLindener(RastbuechleinandKatzipori),and MargueritedeNavarre(Heptaméron),hencewritersfromalloverEurope,describe inanumberoftheirshortprosenarrativeshowpeopleencounterconflictsandare thrown into the privies, fall into a sewer canal, or come into most unpleasant contactwithhumanfecesinotherwayswhileoperatinginthecity,aimingfora loveaffairorbeingvictimizedbycheatersandcriminals.Thesameappliestothe vast corpus of fourteenth through fifteenthcenturies German short verse narratives, the mæren, perhaps best represented by Heinrich Kaufringer (ca. 1400).256 ButthefigureofTillEulenspiegeldemonstratesalsohowmuchaprotagonist, whooperatesmostcunninglywithinurbanculturetopulleveryone’sleg,toreveal theundersideofpolitesociety,andtoridiculepretenses,hypocrisy,arrogance,

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SeethecontributiontothisvolumebyAllisonP.Coudert.Forfurtherdetailsandimages,see JacobBlume,VonDonnerbalkenundinnererEinkehr:eineKloKulturgeschichte(Göttingen:VerlagDie Werkstatt,2002);DanielFurrer,WasserthronundDonnerbalken:einekleineKulturgeschichtedesstillen Örtchens(Darmstadt:Primus,2004). RaymondWilliams,TheCountryandtheCity(NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1973);Jande Vries,EuropeanUrbanisation,1500–1800(London:Methuen,1984);ChristopherR.Friedrichs,The EarlyModernCity,1450–1750.AHistoryofUrbanSocietyinEurope(London:Longman,1995); AlexanderFrancisCowan,UrbanEurope1500–1700(London:Arnolds,1998);DavidNicholas,The LaterMedievalCity,1300–1500.AHistoryofUrbanSocietyinEurope(London:Longman,1997); CountryandtheCity:Wymondham,NorwichandEatoninthe16thand17thCenturies,ed.JohnWilson. NorfolkRecordSociety,70(Norfolk:NorfolkRecordSociety,2006);JaroslavMiller,UrbanSocieties inEastCentralEurope:1500–1700.HistoricalUrbanStudiesSeries(AldershotandBurlington,VT: Ashgate,2007). AnngretSimms,“TheEarlyOrigins,”UrbanLandscapes,1992. EroticTalesofMedievalGermany.Selectedandtrans.AlbrechtClassen,2007.

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false claims, and false pride, utilizes feces in many different situations, both creatinggeneraldisgustandpubliclaughter.257 Whereas medieval authors virtually never turn their attention to this topic, especiallynotwhentheyallowtheurbanspacetoentertheirdiscourse,whichis rareenough,thesituationhadchangedconsiderablybythesixteenthcentury.In Kirchhof’sshortjestnarrative“Voneinemstudentenundbauren“(“OfaStudent andaPeasant,”Wendunmuth,1563,vol.1,no.141)wehearofastudentwhohas hisapartmentwithawindowtowardthebackyardinthecityofLeipzig.Thelocal farmerswhoregularlycometothemarketandselltheirproducts,apparentlydo nothaveachancetouseanypublictoilets,whichisespeciallydifficultforthem aftertheyhavedrunkabeerortwoincelebrationofhavingmadeagoodbusiness deal and having paid off some of their debt to a rich merchant. They have, however,discoveredthatthebackyardwherethestudenthappenstoliveprovides theneededopportunity,whichcausesanintensivestenchandbadlybothersthe student,whoexpressivelyvoiceshisseriousprotestagainsttheirhabitwithout bringingaboutanychangeintheirbehaviorbecausetheysimplyfollowthecall ofnatureanddisregardhiscomplaints.258 Finallythestudenthitsuponabrilliantideaandusesanimalbloodwhichhe shoots,bymeansofacontraption,ontooneofthemwhoisjustabouttodohis businessunderneathhiswindow.Thepoorfellowbelievestohavebeenfatally shot, regarding the massive amount of blood on his body, and he faints. His friendscometohisrescueandtakehimtothedoctor,whorealizes,however,that there is only the old, well known hole, and no actual wound, as the narrator emphasizes.Realizingthatthepeasantisonlyavictimofthestudent’sstrategy, helaughsaboutthesituation,doesnotchargehispatient,andinsteadencourages him to return to drinking, since nothing else could be done (W 1, S. 172).259 Altogether, the student is the winner in this case because the fooled peasants realizethatthebackyardcannolongerbeusedasatoiletandavoidthelocation fromthenon. Eventhoughwecannotbecertainwhetherthenarrativeindicatesthaturban authoritieswereseriouslyconcernedwithcreatingpublictoiletsandbuildinga sewersystem,weknowforsurethatthehumorinthistaleispredicatedonthe

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Albrecht Classen, “Till Eulenspiegel: Laughter as the Ultimate Epistemological Vehicle in the HandsofTillEulenspiegel,”Neophilologus92(2008):471–489;id.,“TransgressionandLaughter, theScatologicalandtheEpistemological:NewInsightsintothePranksofTillEulenspiegel,” MedievaliaetHumanistica33(2007):41–61. Forfurtherexaminationsofhowearlymoderncitydwellersperceivedandhowtheauthorities dealtwithstench,seeTheCityandtheSenses:UrbanCulturesince1500,ed.AlexanderCowanand JillSteward.HistoricalUrbanStudies(Aldershot,England,andBurlington,VT:Ashgate,2007). HansWilhelmKirchhof,Wendunmuth.Vol.1,ed.HermannÖsterley.BibliothekdesLitterarischen VereinsinStuttgart,IC(1869;HildesheimandNewYork:Olms,1980).

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realizationthathumanfecesisdisgustingandmustbetakencareofhygienically. Thesatireisaimedatthepeasantswhohavenoaccesstotoilets,whichmight indicate that the situation for urban dwellers, including the student, is very different.Withoutprovidinguswithspecificinformationabouttheavailabilityof toiletsinthecityofLeipzig,Kirchhofstillindicatesclearlythatthepublicwas seriouslyconcernedaboutitasheinvitedhisaudiencetoscoffattheignorantand foolishpeasantswhosimplyusethebackyardtorelievethemselves. Withoutgoingintofurtherdetails,wecandrawfromthisonenarrative,and certainlymanyotherexamples,howmuchurbanspacetrulyoccupiedmedieval andearlymodernmentalityandalsoreflectedspecificaspectsofurbanculture.260 Acarefulanalysisofliteraryexamplesindicateshowmuchinformationwecan cull from literary and arthistorical material regarding human interaction in medievalandearlymoderncitylife,therelationshipofpeoplewithinanurban setting.Takingalltheevidencetogether,wecanbecertainthattheRomancitydid not simply disappear, that the awareness of the significance of urban culture continuedtodominatepublicopinionthroughouttheMiddleAges,thateconomic, political, and cultural life focused on cities from surprisingly early periods onwardsandonlycontinuedtogrowfarintotheearlymodernageandthenuntil today.Undoubtedly,medievalcultureisprimarilyconcernedwiththecourt,but an attentive reading of a wide variety of medieval narratives and paintings indicatesthatthecityitself,despiteasometimesratherdramaticdownturnafter theendoftheRomanEmpire,flourishedagainandattractedmostoftheeconomic resources,culturalactivities,andpoliticalpowerfoundinanygivensociety,at leastinwesternmedievalandearlymodernEurope.

UrbanSpacefromanInterdisciplinaryPerspective Todojusticetothisvasttopic,wewouldhavetodrawfromthewiderangeof disciplines in the humanities, including architecture, archeology, musicology, ethnology,anthropology,andhistory.Thecontributorstothisvolumecanonly representsomeoftheresearchareasbecausetherearenaturallimitationsinall suchscholarlyefforts.Nevertheless,theidealofaninterdisciplinaryapproachstill

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Thereisawealthofrelevantresearchliteratureonthistopic;see,forinstance,ChristopherR. Friedrich, The Early Modern City, 1450–1750. History of Urban Society in Europe (Harlow, England,London,NewYork,etal.:Longman,1995);DavidNicholas,TheLaterMedievalCity 1300–1500. A History of Urban Society in Europe (London and New York: Longman, 1997); ShapingUrbanIdentityinLateMedievalEurope,ed.MarcBooneandPeterStabel.StudiesinUrban, Social,EconomicandPoliticalHistoryoftheMedievalandEarlyModernLowCountries,11 (LeuvenAppeldorn:Garant,2000);TheCambridgeUrbanHistoryofBritain.Vol.1:600–1540,ed. D.M.Palliser(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2000).

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canberealizedtosomeextentbyhavingatleastagroupofmedievalistsandearly modernistsfromdifferentfacultiestalktoeachother.Thisgoalwasrealizedatthe Fifth International Symposium on Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Arizona, Tucson, May 2008. Not every contributor was able to participateinthisvolume,butthepapersassembledherepresentawiderangeof views regarding urban space and its relevance for poets, musical composers, artists,andchronologists. Therewasnospecificattempttodiscuss‘the’medievalorearlymoderncity, neither in pragmatic nor in idealistic terms. Simply put, such a city has never existed.WecanobservemanyparallelswithandsimilaritiesbetweenSpanishand English,FrenchandItalian,DutchandGermancities,butattheendeachurban spaceconstitutesanentityfairlymuchonitsown.Peopleandideasshapethose spacesasmuchassocial,economic,geological,climatic,political,andreligious conditions. But within those spaces people interact with each other most intensively, and we might say that our understanding of everyday life in the MiddleAgesandtheearlymodernageisbestviewedthroughthelensofurban space.Notexclusively,butcertainlydominantlywecanidentifymostclearlyhow peopleviewedchildhoodandoldage,howthegenderrelationshipsdeveloped, whatvaluelove,marriage,andsexualityenjoyed,howcitizensrespondedtothe Church,howChristiansreactedtoJews,261howtheprivatepersonregardedthe membersoftheroyalhousesandotherauthorityfigures,whatpeoplethought about life and death, how they accumulated wealth, what entertainment and healthcaretheylookedoutfor,howtheydefendedthemselves,howtheywere clothedandwhattheydidintheirfreetime. Infact,althoughmedievalliteratureseemstobemostlydeterminedbycourtly ideals and values, this gave quickly way to new and yet old, that is, antique Roman,conceptscenteredonurbanliving.Simplybydefault,wheneverclassical ancientliteratureexperienceditsrevivalorreceptioninthepostRomanperiod, thefocusturnedtowardurbanspace.Admittedly,themerchantdidnotappear

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See, for example, Donatella Calabi, “The Jews and the City in the Mediterranean Area,” MediterraneanUrbanCulture1400–1700,ed.AlexanderCowan,56–68;Convivencia:Jews,Muslims, andChristiansinMedievalSpain,ed.VivianB.Mann,ThomasF.Glick,andJerrilynnDeniseDodds (NewYork:G.BrazillerinassociationwiththeJewishMuseum, 1992).Seealsotheexcellent studiesonurbanspaceandurbanlifeinthelateMiddleAgesandtheearlymodernworld,and so also on the cohabitation of Jews and Christians, by Alfred Haverkamp, Gemeinden, GemeinschaftenundKommunikationsformenimhohenundspätenMittelalter:FestgabezurVollendung des 65. Lebensjahres, ed. Friedhelm Burgard, Lukas Clemans and Michael Matheus (Trier: Kliomedia, 2002). Most important in this regard prove to be the research results by Elisheva Baumgarten,MothersandChildren:JewishFamilyLifeinMedievalEurope,trans.fromtheHebrew. Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the Ancient to the Modern World (Princeton: Princeton UniversityPress,2004).SeealsoBernardLewis,CulturesinConflict:Christians,Jews,andMuslims intheAgeofDiscovery(NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1995).

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earlyontheliterarystage,butbythe endoftheMiddle Ageshewasastable figure,especiallysincetheworldoftheurban settinggainedtremendouslyin importance. Astherichcorpusofletters(ca.140,000), ledgerbooks,accountbooks,deedsofpartnership,insurancepoliciesandbillsof lading,billsofexchangeandcheques,eitherwrittenbyoraddressedtothePrato merchant Francesco di Marco Datini (ca. 1335–1410) indicate, commerce was, already at that time, one of the most profitable businesses and brought in extraordinary wealth for those who knew how to practice their trade well. MerchantslikeDatiniestablishedacommunicationnetworkalloverEuropeand beyond,bymeansofanintensivecorrespondence,andtheyalsoemerged,because oftheirwealth,asmajorartdonorsandpatrons.IrisOrigocharacterizeshimas follows: Hislifewasnotasereneone.‘Destinyhasordained’,hewrotetohiswifeattheageof oversixty,‘thatfromthedayofmybirthIshouldneverknowawholehappyday.’ Thecankerwhichatealljoyaway,bothinyouthandoldage,andwhichisrevealed byalmosteverylineofthiscorrespondence,wasanxiety.Itisthis,perhaps,thatmakes Datiniseemsoakintous,somuchtheprecursorofbusinessmenofourowntime.He wasanastuteandsuccessfulmerchant;buthewas,aboveall,anuneasyman.Eachof hiswasaconstantsourceofanxiety:hemistrustedhispartners,hismanagers,andthe captainswhoseshipscarriedhismerchandise;andhewentinconstantfear,too,ofall themisfortunesthatmightovertaketheseships—shipwreck,piracy,overloading,or anoutbreakofplagueamongthecrew.Andwhenhisgreatfortunewasmadeatlast, freshanxietiessprangup;heworriedabouthisinvestments,histaxes,andhisfines. Hetrustedhisbailiffsandservantsathomenobetterthanthoseabroad.Helivedin dailyapprehension,accordingtoMazzei,ofbeingdefrauded,‘evenoftheshoebuckle ofthewenchthatservesyourslave’.262

Moreover, the rich correspondence also sheds important light on Francesco Datini’s marital life with Margherita with whom, unfortunately, he had no

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IrisOrigo,TheMerchantofPrato(1957;London:TheFolioSociety,1984),6–7.Infact,merchants have left many testimonies about their trade, their lives, their contacts, and also about their personalrelationships.Forfurtherexamplesoflatemedievalmerchants,seeLeletterediGiliode Amoruso,mercantemarchigianodelprimoQuattrocento.Edizione,commentolinguisticoeglossario a cura di Andrea Bocchi. Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für Romanische Philologie, 237 (Tübingen: Niemeyer,1991);ElisabethBarile,PaulaC.Clarke,andGirogiaNordio,Cittadinivenezianidel Quattrocento:IduegiovanniMarcanova,ilmercanteel’umanista.Memorie.ClassediScienzeMorali, LettereedArti,CXVII(Venice:IstitutoVenetodiScienze,LettereedArti,2006).ForaRenaissance perspective,seeF.RuizMartín,LettresmarchandeséchangéesentreFlorenceetMedinadelCampo. ÉcolePratqiquedesHautesÉtudes.—VieSectionCentredeRecherchesHistoriques.Affaireset Gensd’Affaires,XXVII(Paris:S.E.V.P.E.N.,1965).SeealsoGuntherHirschfelder,DieKölner Handelsbeziehungen im Spätmittelalter. Veröffentlichungen des Kölnischen Stadtmuseums, X (Cologne:KölnischesStadtmuseum,1994);CarolinWirtz,KölnundVenedig:Wirtschaftlicheund kulturelleBeziehungenim15.und16.Jahrhundert.BeiheftezumArchivfürKulturgeschichte,57 (Cologne,Weimar,andVienna:Böhlau,2006).

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children,whichultimatelycausedmuchgriefandunhappiness.Inotherwords, thewealthoftestimoniesfromtheworldofthemerchantclassallowsustogain deepinsightintotheeverydaylifeofcitydwellers.263 Globallyspeaking,allthisdoesnotmeanthatthecourtasacentraladministrative andculturalinstitutionlostinimportance;infact,theoppositeseemstohavebeen the case at least since the sixteenth century in the wake of the massive territorializationprocessandthegrowthoftheRenaissanceandthentheBaroque court.264Butthecitydidnotfallintothecourt’sshadow;insteaditexperiencedits owneconomic,political,andculturaldevelopment,asreflectedinearlymodern literature,music,andthevisualarts. Butwewouldbewrongtopursueapolaritybetweenthecityandthecourtsince thefifteenthandsixteenthcenturies.Instead,asarthistoryconvincinglyteaches us, both social worlds competed with and complemented each other. Princes continuedtohavetheirseparateresidencesandpalacesstandingallbythemselves inthecountryside,buttheyalsoventuredintothecitieswheretheyestablished themselves increasingly since the late sixteenth century. As Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann comments, “Innovations in urban architecture were often either directlyinitiatedbyorelsecameinresponsetoaristocrats.Residentialtownscame increasinglyundertheswayoftheirlords,whodesiredtocontroltheircommerce; thepositionofmanyofthecastlesrebuiltorconstructedinthisperiod,dominating thetowns,expressesquitewelltherelationship.”265Manytimestownsthathad burntdownwererebuiltbytheprinceswhothendirectedthearchitectstomodel theurbanspaceaccordingtotheirownneedsforurbanrepresentationofthelord’s power, such as the town of Zamo that was refounded by the hetman Jan Zamoyskí,withacentralizedplanaccordingtoanidealmodelactuallyseldom realizedeveninItalywherethisnewmodeloftheearlymoderncityhadfirstbeen developed. In order to realize this plan, Zamoyskí called in the Italian artist

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Origo,TheMerchantofPrato,157–77. Princes,Patronage,andtheNobility:theCourtattheBeginningoftheModernAge,c.1450–1650,ed. RonaldG.AshandAdolfM.Birke.StudiesoftheGermanHistoricalInstitute,London(London: GermanHistoricalInstitute;NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1991);EinzweigeteilterOrt:Hof undStadtinderFrühenNeuzeit,ed.SusanneClaudinePilsandJanPaulNiederkorn.Forschungen undBeiträgezurWienerStadtgeschichte,44(Innsbruck:StudienVerlag,2005);DerHofunddie Stadt:Konfrontation,KoexistenzundIntegrationinSpätmittelalterundFrüherNeuzeit:9.Symposium derResidenzenKommissionderAkademiederWissenschaftenzuGöttingen,veranstaltetinZusammen arbeitmitderHistorischenKommissionfürSachsenAnhalt,demInstitutfürGeschichtederMartin LutherUniversitätHalleWittenbergunddemDeutschenHistorischenInstitutParis,HalleanderSaale, 25.–28. September 2004, ed. Werner Paravicini and Jörg Wettlaufer. Residenzenforschung, 20 (Ostfildern:Thorbecke,2006). Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann, Court, Cloister, and City: The Art and Culture of Central Europe, 1450–1800(Chicago:TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1995),159.

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BernardoMorandofromPaduawhostrovehardandsuccessfullytodesignthis newcityasanearthlymirrorofthedivineuniverse,reflectingspecificallyonthe lord’scentralpowerinvestedinhim,aspresumed,byGod. Theothermodeloftheearlymoderncitywasthefreecity,onlysubjecttothe emperororking,whooftenenjoyeddemonstratinghispowerthroughapompous entryintothecity,accompaniedbyastoundingartwork,musicalperformances, drawings,poems,andthelike,perhapsbestrepresentedbyCharlesV’sentryinto Nuremberg.266Here“thestructureserectedbytownsmencanbeseenasaresponse to a more general fashion, in which certain architectural elements become the desiredmode.”267However,bothmodelscouldfindexpressioncombinedinone building,suchasthetownhallofPozna,Poland,reconstructedfrom1557to1567 bytheNorthItalianarchitectGiovanniBattistaQuadroofLugano.Ontheone handthebuilding’soveralldesignindicatesthecivicprideandindependence mindedattitudeofthecitizens;ontheotherthecrenellatedparapetonthetop evokestheimageofanaristocraticurbanpalace.Theformerlyattachedportraits ofkingsontheexteriorexpressedexplicitoppositiontothepoweroflocallords andthedesiretoassociatewiththecentralgovernment,whichcertainlyprovided the city with considerably more independence. Moreover, the numerous medallionsshowheadsofwisemenfromantiquity,underscoringthecivicpride that found its excellent expression in this Renaissance building with its three storeyloggia.268 InGermany,bycontrast,manytownhallsweredesignedinthelatemedieval Gothicstylefarintothesixteenthcentury,mostlyinfluencedbyNetherlandish architects,andthisinareasmostlyfurthertothenorthandawayfromtheItalian influence,generallyreflectingmorepatricianandburghervaluesandalsotherise

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AlbrechtKircher,DeutscheKaiserinNürnberg:EineStudiezurGeschichtedesöffentlichenLebensder ReichsstadtNürnbergvon1500–1612.FreieSchriftenfolgederGesellschaftfürFamilienforschung inFranken,7(Nuremberg:DieEgge,1955);RoyC.Strong,ArtandPower:RenaissanceFestivals, 1450–1650(BerkeleyandLosAngeles:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1984);BonnerMitchell,The Majesty of the State: Triumphal Progresses of Foreign Sovereigns in Renaissance Italy (1494–1600). Biblioteca dell’ “Archivum Romanicum,” 203 (Florence: Olschki, 1986); Klaus Tenfelde, “Adventus:ZurhistorischenIkonologiedesFestzugs,”HistorischeZeitschrift235(1982):45–84; ArthurGroos,“TheCityasText:TheEntryofCharlesVintoNuremberg(1541),”TheConstruction ofTextualAuthorityinGermanLiteratureoftheMedievalandEarlyModernPeriods,ed.JamesF.Poag and Claire Baldwin. University of North Carolina Studies in the Germanic Languages and Literatures,123(ChapelHillandLondon:TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress,2001),135–56. DaCostaKaufmann,Court,Cloister,andCity,160. TeresaJakimowicz,Ratuszpoznaski(Warsaw:SportiTurystyka,1979),36;TeresaJakimowicz, DziejePoznania[HistoryofPozna],ed.JerzyTopolski,vol.1(WarsawandPozna:Panstwowe WydawnictwoNaukow,1988),575–86;JanSkuratowicz,Ratuszpoznaski(Pozna:Wydawnictwo Miejskie,2003),122.

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in urban wealth, first observable in the Low Countries.269 Most important, however,medievalcityhallsclearlyexpressedcivicpride,thestrongsenseofa burgeoning independence, and a new emphasis on political urban identity.270 Naturally, the architects had to fend with a variety of social, political, and economicinterests,sothehistoryofbuildingdesignsnorthoftheAlpsdoesnot necessarilytellusthefullstoryabouttheearlymoderncityinitspositionasan independententityorasamajorpawninthehandofalocallordoroftheking because the same architectural style could serve for very different political purposes,unlesswecombinethestudyofspecificdesignswithanexaminationof theconcreteinterestsandmotifsdeterminingthepatronsandothersupporters, includingtheentireurbancommunity.271 Carefullyconsidered,urbanspaceprovestobeamostcomplexissuethatcannot beanalyzedsimplyfromoneperspectiveorinlightofonedisciplinaryapproach. Architecturalhistorymustbetakenintoaccountasmuchasarthistory,literary history, religious history, socialeconomic history, political history, and a smatteringofotherfieldsofinvestigation.Theobviousreasonforthisconsistsof thesimplefactthaturbancommunitieshavealwaysconsistedofaconglomerate ofdifferenttypesofpeoplewithavarietyofsocial,economic,intellectual,and religiousbackgrounds.Thedifferentageshadtolivetogetherasmuchasthetwo

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PeterKurmann,“LateGothicArchitectureinFranceandtheNetherlands,”TheArtofGothic: Architecture,Sculpture,Painting,ed.RolfToman(Cologne:Könemann,1998),156–87;here182–87, withbeautifulfullpageillustrations. StephanAlbrecht,DasBremerRathausimZeichenstädtischerSelbstdarstellungvordem30jährigen Krieg.MaterialienzurKunstundKulturgeschichteinNordundWestdeutschland,7(Marburg: Jonas,1993);id.,MittelalterlicheRathäuserinDeutschland:ArchitekturundFunktion(Darmstadt: WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,2004).SeealsoKristineGreßhöner,“Rathausbauimspäten Mittelalter: Repräsentation und Raumbedarf – Forschungsüberblick und Bibliographie,” Mediaevistik23,forthcoming. DaCostaKaufmann,Court,Cloister,andCity,160–65.Heprovidesmanyexamplesandshowshow the competing architectural models influenced or complemented each other. He shies away, however,fromdrawingspecificconclusionsastoacity’spoliticalandeconomicpositionwithin itshistoricalandgeographicalcontext.Architecturerepresents,afterall,people’slives,ideas, emotions,andpoliticalinterest.Toexaminethehistoryofarchitectureallowsustoreachadeep understandingofurbanspace,thatis,spaceofpeople’scultureandhowtheyperceivedtheir social,religious,andculturalenvironment.Afterall,thearrangementofspecificbuildings,of urbanspaces(markets,parks,etc.),thebuildingofacitywall,theerectionofacityhall,andof otherpublicbuildings,nottospeakofaristocraticandpatricianresidences,andtheestablishment of specific quarters for the various guilds, parishes, and also religious communities (Jewish ghettos),deeplyinfluencedpeople’sattitudestowardurbanspaceastheframeworkofthesocial andreligiouscommunity.

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Figure2:PoznaCityHall

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genders, and collaboration, even on the most mundane level, was of prime importanceforeveryoneinvolved.Infact,thedifferencesbetweenthearistocracy andtheleadingbourgeoisfamilies,atleastsincethelateMiddleAges,werenot asdramaticaswemightthinktoday.272 Aswehaveseenabove,thehistoryofurbanlifecanbebeautifullyemployedto gainadeeperunderstandingoftheparadigmshiftfromthelateRomanEmpire totheearlyMiddleAges,andsoalsooftheparadigmshiftfromtheearlytothe high,thenlateMiddleAges,and,consideringthenextmajorstep,fromthelate MiddleAgestotheRenaissanceandtheageoftheReformation.Ofcourse,urban historywillalwaysfacethedangerofremainingfragmentarybecausejusttoo manyfactorsareinvolvedinshapingthelivesofthemanyindividualswithina city. This very shortcoming, however, also proves to be one of the greatest advantagesinfocusingthematicallyonurbanspacebecauseherewegraspboth thelivesofordinarypeopleandofthesocialandeconomicelite.Outsiders,such as wandering scholars and landed gentry—a curious but certainly not inappropriate coupling of these two groups—viewed the city with awe and disrespect,withadmirationandfear,withjealousyandanger. Poetsexpressedtheirsentimentsaboutcitiesasmuchasmusiciansandpainters did.ChroniclerssuchasHartmannSchedelindicatedtheirgreatprideintheir homecity,andcraftsmenpoetssuchasHansSachswentsofarastoprojecttheir identityinlightoftheurbanspace.ItalianandSpanishmerchantsemergedas major representatives of their own urban communities, and so also medical doctors,internationaltradespeople,architects,composers,andscholars.Afterall, already in the Middle Ages, but above all since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuriesthecityhadturnedintothecrucibleofcultureinthewidestsenseofthe word,although,concomitantly,aristocraticcourtsoutsideofurbancentersalso emergedascrucialcentersofpoliticalpowerandculturaldevelopments. HartmannSchedel’sfamousworldchronicle,hisLiberchronicarum,indeednicely illustratesthesupremeimportanceofthechronicleforourtopic,urbanspacein thepremodernworld.Thischronicle,knownunderitsfulltitleasLiberchronicarum cumfigurisetymaginibusabiniciomundi,wasprintedonJuly12,1493,bythehighly respectedandextraordinarilysuccessfulAntonKobergerinNuremberg,probably themostproductiveandesteemedbookprinterandsellerinallofGermany,and henceinlatemedievalEurope.273AGermantranslationfollowedonDecember23,

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SeethecontributiontothisvolumebyJanHirschbiegelandGabrielZeilinger. Here I am relying on the facsimile edition: The Nuremberg Chronicle: A Facsimile of Hartmann Schedel’sBuchderChroniken:PrintedbyAntonKobergerin1493(NewYork:LandmarkPress,1979); seealsoElisabethRücker,HartmannSchdelsWeltchronik:DasgrößteBuchunternehmenderDürerZeit. MiteinemKatalogderStädteansichten(Munich:Prestel,1988).NowseealsoHartmannSchedel, Weltchronik:Nachdruck[der]koloriertenGesamtausgabevon1493.EinleitungundKommentarvon

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1493.Thechroniclecontainsaltogether1,809woodcutsfrom645woodblocksand thus was, at its time, the one printed book in the entire world with the most illustrations.274 The drawings were created by Michael Wolgemut, Albrecht Dürer’s teacher, and his soninlaw, Wilhelm Pleydenwurff. The Nuremberg bankers and merchants Sebald Schreyer and his brotherinlaw Sebastian Kammermeisterfundedtheentireproject,whichhadactuallyoriginatedasearly as1471,soittookmorethantwodecadestoreachitscompletion. SchedelwasinclosecontactwithmanyNuremberghumaniststoassisthimin special details, such as the famous medical doctor Hieronymus Münzer, who helpedhim,basedonhisowntravelexperiences,tocreateatwopagemapof Germanyandtocover,forthepurposeofachronicle,themostrecenteventson the Iberian Peninsula, where Münzer had traveled between 1494 and 1495, focusingmostlyontheindividualSpanishandPortuguesecitiesandoffering,as oneofthefirst,alwaysglobalviewsovertheentireurbanspaceperceivedfroman elevatedpoint,suchaschurchtowers.275 Indeed,theglobalparadigmshiftfoundpowerfulexpressioninGermany(but alsoinotherpartsofEurope)whereincreasinglytheimperialpowerfadedinits influence, giving way to growing territorial princes and also mighty and independentcitiesforwhichchroniclesgainedanewsignificanceasamediumto reflecttheindividualconcerns,disadvantaginguniversalhistory.276 Mostinterestingly,Schedelpaidgreatattentiontocitiesandoffereddetailed descriptions. Thirtytwo of the urban vedute are apparently done based on personal observations. Most important, on leaf 100 the author included the cityscapeofNuremberg,atriumphantvisualencomiumonthisimperialcity,the

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StephanFüssel(Augsburg:Weltbild,2004). For a completely digitized version of the chronicle, see http://www.obrasraras.usp.br/; and http://mdz1.bibbvb.de/~mdz/kurzauswahl.html?url=http://mdz1.bibbvb.de/cocoon/bsbink/E xemplar_S199,1.html(bothlastaccessedonSept.29,2008). EuropäischeReiseberichtedesspätenMittelalters:EineanalytischeBibliographie,ed.WernerParavicini. Part 1: Deutsche Reiseberichte, ed. Christian Halm. 2nd, revised and expanded ed. with an appendix. Kieler Werkstücke. Reihe D: Beiträge zur europäischen Geschichte des späten Mittelalters, 5 (1993; Frankfurt a. M., Berlin, et al.: Peter Lang, 2001); Albrecht Classen, “Die Iberische Halbinsel aus der Sicht eines humanistischen Nürnberger Gelehrten Hieronymus Münzer: Itinerarium Hispanicum (1494–1495),” Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung111,3–4(2003):317–40;id.,“SüdwesteuropäischeGrenzüberschreitungenaus deutscher Perspektive: Fremdbegegnung zwischen deutschsprachigen Reisenden und der iberischenWeltimSpätmittelalter,”MitteilungendesInstitutsfürÖsterreichischeGeschichtsforschung 116,1–2(2008):34–47. LeopoldHellmuth,“GeschichtsepikundReimchronistik,”VonderHandschriftzumBuchdruck: Spätmittelalter, Reformation, Humanismus: 1320–1572, ed. Ingrid Bennewitz and Ulrich Müller. DeutscheLiteratur:EineSozialgeschichte,2(ReinbekbeiHamburg:Rowohlt,1991),140–48;here 146–47.

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centerofGermaneconomicpower,craftsmanship,andthearts.277(fig.9)Someof thechurchesareidentifiedbyname,andwecanmoreorlesstrusttheartistfor havingportrayedthecityinaratherrealisticmanner,showingusthedoublewall, thecitygates,bridges,and,mostoutstandingly,thecastletoweringabovethecity. But the humanist perspective finds its reflection here as well since the eye is invitedtowanderintothefardistance,tolingeronhillswithsomebuildings,then to move back to the river flowing around the city, and to some building constructionsoutside,suchasthepapermill,thentothegallows,andfencesas partoftheforwarddefensesystem.InthisregardSchedelwasnotatalltheonly onetoperceivehisworldindifferentterms,ascontemporaryvernacularandLatin literaturethatfocusedheavilyoncityencomiaindicates,buthisrichlyillustrated chronicleprovidessomeofthemostimpressiveevidenceforthefundamental paradigmshiftthataffectedviewsofurbanspace.278 In fifteenth and sixteenthcentury Germany and Italy new wealth was accumulated,andtheearlymodernbankingindustrycanbetracedtothelate medievalcities,especiallyinLombardia/Italy,butalsoinFlanders,England,and SouthernGermany.Notsurprisingly,thisalsoledtoconsiderablecriticismand oppositionbythosesocialgroupsthatcouldnotparticipateinthisneweconomy. Theenmitywhichthemiddleclassearnedfromthepracticeofchangingandlending money—inevitably in what was rapidly becoming an international creditbased economy—canbebestunderstoodbytheirmostcommoncaricatures,Avariceand Usury....Whereaspreviouslytransactionstendedtobebasedeitheronbarteroron faith—thedirectexchangeofgoodsinkindorthepromiseofsuchanexchange—now thefaithexchangewasreplacedbymoney.279

Thehatredthathadoftendevelopedovertheabuseofthecommonmanatthe handofpriestsandmonkswhohoardedconsiderablewealthandusedittotheir advantageagainstimpoverishedfarmersorthoseinsuddenneedbecauseofcrop failure,etc.,nowturnedagainstmerchantsandbankers.280 Concomitantly,thenewwealthproducedinthecitiesalsofacilitatedenormous architecturalprograms,lavishdecorationswithsculpturesandfrescoes,making lifeinthecityincrediblyattractive,evenifthepublicdisplayofpowerandwealth

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KlausArnold,“BilderundTexte:StadtbeschreibungundStädtelobbeiHartmannSchedel,”Acta Conventus NeoLatini Hafniensis, ed. Rhoda Schnur et al. (Binghampton, NY: Medieval & RenaissanceTexts&Studies,1994),121–32. HartmutKugler,DieVorstellungderStadtinderLiteraturdesdeutschenMittelalters.Münchener TexteundUntersuchungenzurdeutschenLiteraturdesMittelalters,88(Munich:Artemis,1986), 103,105,164,179–80.

279

AlickMcLean,“MedievalCities,”TheArtofGothic,262–65;here262.

280

SeealsothecontributiontothisvolumebyFabianAlfie.

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often represented more aspiration than reality.281 The common goal was to compete with, to adapt to, and to adopt noble values, aristocratic status, and politicalrankcomparabletothatofthelandedgentry.Ofcourse,muchdepended ontheoriginofacity,whetherfromaRomansettlement/cityorfromabishop’s seat, from a simple trading post or from a harbor, which had tremendous implicationsfortherespectivearchitecture,politicalandeconomicstructure,and socialcultural conditions, making it rather difficult to compare medieval and earlymodern cities according to a roster of just a few categories.282 Concomitantly, some of the wealthiest bankers, or usurers, such as Enrico Scrovegni in Padua, hired the best artists and architects of their time, such as Giotto, to create private chapels for the use of their families only where the iconographicprogramprovidedvisualaidsforconfessionandcontritiononpart oftheusurer.Ofcourse,thisfamousScrovegniChapelalsoallowedhimtodisplay hisextraordinarywealthandpowerthathadmadeitpossibleforhimtohiresuch afamousartistasGiottoandGiovanniPisanotodecoratetheinteriorspace.But ashestatedinhisowndocumentregardingtheendowmentofthechapel,itwas built,todrawfromAnnaDerbes’sandMarkSandona’swords,forthegloryofthe VirginandthecityofPadua,andforthesalvationofhisownsoulandthoseofhis predecessors. More specifically, in Enrico’s own words, found in his last will, composedonlyafewmonthsbeforehisdeathin1336,thechapelwastoserveas hisburialsite.Mostrevealingly,theusurercommandsthat“allofmyillgotten gains...oughttoberestoredandpaidwithanyexpensesincurredatthetime,to allpetitionerswithoutanylawsuit,controversy,trial,condition,orpact.”283 Weknowthatthequestionregardingthepropergovernmentofacity,whetherby abishop,asecularlord,orbytheurbanpatriciateandtheguildsbecameatopic of great intensity in the late Middle Ages and the earlymodern age.284 The sixteenthcenturyjestprosewriterHansWilhelmKirchhofconfirmsthisthrough hisnarrative“Dreyerleyherrschafftineinerstatt”containedinhiscollectionof

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McLean,“MedievalCities,”263:“themedievalbourgeoisieinvestedconsiderableamountsof moneyindevelopingalternativewaysofrepresentingthemselves.Theirstoryisinscribedintheir urbanarchitecturejustasmuchasintheirliterature,portraits,andfamilyhouses.Thestreets, squares,andbuildingsoftheemergingmedievalmiddleclassarenot,however,justrecordsof theirsuccess,butratherexpressionsoftheiraspirations....Instead,theyaspiredtobeingeither nobleorholy,generallyboth.” McLean,“MedievalCities,”264–65. AnneDerbesandMarkSandona,TheUsurer’sHeart:Giotto,EnricoScrovegni,andtheArenaChapel inPadua(UniversityPark:ThePennsylvaniaStateUniversityPress,2008),35–36. HeikeBierschwaleandJacquelinevanLeeuwen,WiemaneineStadtregierensoll,2005,providea solidoverviewofthedidacticliteraturetreatingthistopicfromGermanandDutchcitiesinthe MiddleAgesandtheearlymodernage(untiltheearlysixteenthcentury).

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prosejestnarratives,Wendunmuth(1561).Inabishoprictownaburgheranda foreignerdebatethequestionofwhatwouldbethebestgovernmentfortheurban community. For the burgher there is no alternative but to recognize and acknowledgethebishopoutofadeepsenseoftraditionandloyalty:“wievon altersherundnoch”(118).Buttheforeignerpointsoutthatthecountlessevilsand sexualdeprivationsoftheentireclergy,includingthebishop,wouldmakethe latter unfit to serve as ruler over a city. Although he also recognizes the unchangingnatureofthepresentpoliticalstructure(“dejureetdefacto,”118),he warnshisopponentofthedangersforallwomeninthecitywhoareregularly exposedtoerotictemptationstosleepwiththepriestsandmonks.Thiswould openallfloodgatesforthedeviltoentertheciviccommunityandtodestroyits ethicalandmoralfoundation(ibid.).285 Kirchhofdoesnotpursuethistopicfurtherinthisshortnarrative,butthisone talealonewithitsinsightfuldebate,despiteitsprimaryfocusonthetraditional anticlerical sentiment, clearly indicates how much even within ordinary discussionsorinsatiricalnarrativestheissuecouldsurfaceastowhichwasthe mostappropriateformofurbangovernmentinthesixteenthcentury. Althoughwetendtoidentifytheemergenceofurbanspacewiththeriseofthe Renaissance, and this certainly for many good reasons, we can also draw extensivelyfrommedievalsourceswhichexaminethecityanditsspecificculture andsocialframeworkinordertogainimportantinsightsintothementalhistory of that world. Significantly, the focus on urban space allows for very rich investigationstakingusfromlateantiquitythroughtheMiddleAgesandthenfar intotheearlymodernage.Differencesareclearlynoticeable,andyettherearealso many remarkable similarities and commonalities among the plethora of premoderncities.Tracingthedevelopmentofacityfromitsearliestfoundation to its expansion and steady, if not explosive, growth in the seventeenth and eighteenthcenturieswouldfacilitatetheprojectionofafarreachingandprofound culturalhistory, combiningthephysicalworldofthecityarchitectureandthe publicspaceswiththeimagesofurbanspaceasprojectedbywriters,painters, sculptures,carvers,andalsocomposers. But such a project really requires the collaboration of many scholars from differentdisciplines,asindicatedabove.Criticswillprobably,andrightlyso,point out, however, that this goal has been achieved only partially because the explorationofthecityinpremoderntimeswouldrequiremanymoreperspectives than even this collection of articles could assemble. Architectural historians,

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Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof, Wendunmuth, Vol. II, 2/3. Ed. Hermann Oesterley. Bibliothek des litterarischenVereinsinStuttgart,XCVI(1869;HildesheimandNewYork:GeorgOlms,1980),No. 74,118–19.

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musicologists,religiousscholars,andothershavenotjoinedus.Still,thebreadth of perspectives included here promises to provide us with a solid range of concepts regarding the meaning of urban space. And I also hope that this introduction has covered much ground of scholarship in many different disciplines.Recently,MaryannaKowaleskieditedanexcellenttextbookdedicated to Medieval Towns, which contains, as Ben R. McRee comments, a wealth of materialthatillustratesthedailylivesandconcernsofmedievalurbanpeople.”286 But,asMcReealsoobserves,thereis“notmuchinthecollectionthatdealswith urbantopographyortheusesofurbanspace.”Hopefully,thepresentvolumewill address this desideratum more comprehensively and extensively, focusing on mentalhistoricalaspects,modesofperception,socialandeconomicconditions, andontheinteractionofvarioussocialgroupswithintheurbancommunity. FollowingIwillofferbriefsummariesoftheindividualcontributionstothis volume, which will be, as I hope, a fitting addition to our book series “FundamentalsofMedievalandEarlyModernCulture.”

Whereas most medieval city descriptions take pains to focus both on the architectureandthelivingculture,thatis,thepeople,inthecaseofRomethe situation tended to be remarkably different. C. David Benson explores how medieval English descriptions of Rome (both in English and Latin) seem to perceiveonlyacityofruinsandrelics,reflectingagloriouspast.Inhispaperhe uses, after having outlined the textual history of the major branches of Rome descriptions,ashiscriticalsourcesparticularlyaverseaccountofRomeinserted in the Metrical Version of Mandeville’s Travels and the Augustinian friar John Capgrave’sSolaceofPilgrims,composedshortlyafterhisreturnfromRomein1450, alongwithahandfulofotherimportanttravelreports,suchastheonebyMaster Gregorius. Insteadofprovidinginformationaboutchurchservices,processions,thechurch structureincontemporaryRome,themedievalauthorsprefertoruminateonthe historyofthechurchesinRomeandtheirsupremeimportanceforthepilgrimin the present, and on the ruins from classical times. This is the more surprising consideringthatmostothercityencomiaemphasizethecurrentpopulation,the economy,andpolitics,hencepresentthecityinitspresentstageasacommunity and actual conviviality. Although occasionally there are references to Roman senators,ortoinhabitantsinRomewhotoldthenarratorsomethingaboutthe historyofthecity,thefocuspredominantlyrestsontheruins,henceontheempty, hollowedouturbancenteroftheRomanempire.Theinterestisdirectedatthe

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MedievalTowns:AReader,ed.MaryanneKowaleski(Peterborough,Ontario:BroadviewPress, 2006),reviewbyBenR.McReeinTheMedievalReview09.01.09.

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ashes and sarcophagi of former emperors and at sculptures and monuments dedicatedtothedeadwhosufferedtheirfatefortheirChristianfaith. Roman glory in its physical manifestation, however, often finds critical commentatorswhocondemnmajorpublicbuildings,suchastheColosseum,as pagan temples, clearly in ignorance of the true purpose of those monumental buildings. The authors explicitly voiced their desire to see such unChristian architecturedestroyedandremoved,particularlybecausetheyappearedtobetoo attractiveandalluring,distractingtheRomevisitorsfromthetruepurposesof theirjourney,attendingchurch,seekingindulgence,andaskingforabsolution fromtheirsins. AttheotherendofthediscourseaboutRomewefindMasterGregoriuswhoin hisNarraciodeMirabilibusUrbisRomae(latetwelfthorearlythirteenthcentury) extolsthebeautyandbrillianceoftheancientstatuesandbuildings.However,the majorityofvoicesleanedtheotherwayandhighlightedtheexperienceofdeath inthatcity,thatis,ontheonehand,thedeathofChristianmartyrsandsaints,and ofthemightyandpowerfulinthepastontheother.Thishistoricalperspective, almostbydefault,depopulatesRomewithinthemedievalnarrativesandgives absolutepreferencetothesignificanceofRomeservingasthesiteofremembrance andmemory.Hencethegreatemphasisinthesenarrativesontherelicsandbodies of martyrs, which might well be characteristic, as Benson observes, not of traveloguesorencomiaintendedasguidesfortheactualtravelerorpilgrim;but instead of religious reading material for those who stay behind—religious armchairreaders,ifyoulike.287 Inotherwords,theEnglishencomiaonRomedidnotsimplyignorepeople’s lives,butchoseprimarilytotalk,first,aboutmartyrs,henceaboutthosewhohad diedinRomefortheirfaithandwhoserelicscouldprovidenew,spirituallifeto thefaithfulvisitorstotheancientcity,grantingindulgencesandpardons,hence pavingthewaytothereaders’salvation.Curiously,thenumberofyearspromised by the individual churches and sites of worship quickly reached inflationary dimensions,butthistypifiedthecommon,latemedievalinterestinRomeasone oftheholiestpilgrimagecenters,nexttoJerusalemandSantiagodeCompostela. Second,theyalsofocusedonantiquitythathadsurvivedonlyinitsruins. Even though the descriptions of Rome are mostly void of comments about contemporarylifethere,theyallowthepasttospeakthroughnumerousstories

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ThisisverymuchthesamecaseintheGermanpilgrimageaccountwrittenbyFelixFabrifora femaleaudience,afterhehadpublishedanactualtravelogueinLatin,seehisDieSionpilger,ed. WielandCarls.TextedesspätenMittelaltersundderfrühenNeuzeit,39(Berlin:Schmidt,1999); seeAlbrechtClassen,“ImaginaryExperienceoftheDivine:FelixFabri’sSionspilgerLateMedieval PilgrimageLiteratureasaWindowintoReligiousMentality,”StudiesinSpirituality15(2005): 109–28.NowseealsoSuzanneYeager,JerusaleminMedievalNarratives.CambridgeStudiesin MedievalLiterature(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2008).

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toldaboutindividualbuildingsorsculpturesthatcommemorateamartyrora saint.Theyparticularlyrefertochurchesthatcommemorateamartyrorsaint,or, much more commonly, to churches that owned a relic, even if they were not namedforit.Bythesametoken,theancientsculpturesandmonumentswereof interestaswellbecausetheywerededicatedtopaganfiguresfromancientRome. ThelessthesemedievalwritersreflectuponcontemporarylifeinRome,the moretheyallowthepastlife,thatoftheChristianrolemodelsinlateantiquity,to surfaceintheirtextswhopromise,sotospeak,new,spirituallife.Forthem,dead RomeisthefoundationforanewRome,thefuture,heavenlyJerusalem. Whereasmedievaltheologiansandpreacherscommonlyreferredtotheconcept oftheCityofGodasconceivedofbySt.Augustine,wemustnotoverlook,as KishaTracyremindsus,oftheconsiderablesignificanceofmedievalcitiesasthe locationwheredeathoccurredanddeathwascelebratedasthecrucialtransitory stagetotheafterlife.CemeteriesweremovedoutofcitiesonlybythelateMiddle Ages,hencethepresenceofdeathwasdeeplyfeltandevencelebratedinmedieval life. In fact, it enjoyed a pervasive role. Tombs of deceased secular rulers or bishops,headsofhouseholds,andotherinfluentialpersonalitiesdottedtheurban landscape, both within the precincts of the churches and convents, but also elsewhereonsacredground.Therewasaspecificarchitectureforthedead,and thedeadcontinuedtoinfluenceurbanlifefordecadesandevencenturies. Medievalpoetsexplicitlyreflecteduponthisphenomenon,emphasizing,for instance, the importance of individual rulers as founders of cities, such as in Layamon’schronicle,intheearlythirteenthcenturyBrut,andinthemidtwelfth centuryOldFrenchRomand’Enéas.Thedeathandburialofanadmiredperson could lead to the naming of the city after him or her, which finds most vivid expressioninthediscussionofhowLondongotitsname,accordingtoLayamon. Thekings’restingplacesaresituatedonelevatedlocations,makingthemvisible toallasconstantremindersofthepastheroesandtheiractions,benefittingthe city,similartoepitaphsdedicatedtothedead.288AsTracycommentswithregard totheburialofCamilleintheOldFrenchRoman,thedeceasedqueencontinuesto protectthecitybymeansofamirrorplacedontopofhertomb. The literary accounts find remarkable confirmation in actual medieval architectureandfuneralart,allowingthesurvivingfamilymembersandthelarger urbancommunitytocommemoratethedeadandtodrawspiritualstrengthfrom the deceased founders and rulers. All this clearly signals an awareness of the

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AsimilarapproachcanbeobservedinthealmosttimelessnarrativeofApolloniusofTyre,see AlbrechtClassen,“ReadingandDecipheringinApolloniusofTyreandtheHistoriavondensieben weisenMeistern:MedievalEpistemologywithinaLiteraryContext,”StudiMedievali49(2008): 161–88.

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intimatecorrelationbetweendeathandlifewithinmedievalmentality,particularly withintheurbansetting.289Buturbansocietiesalsoexperiencedatroublesome disruptioninthefamilytraditionsbecauseofpeople’sconstantmigrationfromthe countrysidetothecity.Thewealthiercitizensthereforeturnedtothepriestsand paid for masses to be read for the dead, creating a whole religious memorial business,uponwhichWilliamLanglandcommentsrathersardonicallyinhisPiers Plowman(Btext),criticizingpriestsforseekingpositionsincitiesbecauseofthe muchhigherincomethereresultingfromthefuneralservicesandthecountless ramifications,allleadingtospecificincomefortheclerics. Intriguingly,asTracyoutlinesaswell,theimportanceofthedeadintheirpast lifecouldstronglycontributetoacity’spolitical,military,andeconomicstance,as illustrated by the conditions of eleventhcentury Cambrai or earlymedieval Venice,bothheavilydrawingfromlongdeadfoundingbishopsorsaintsinorder togainpublicreputationandimportanceindirectconfrontationwithneighboring cities(suchasAquileia). Inherstudy,Tracyillustratesthisphenomenonparticularlywithregardtolate fourteenthcenturyMiddleEnglishpoemSaintErkenwaldwherethediscoveryof the bones of the earlymedieval bishop saint underneath St. Paul’s provided significantimpetusforthecityinthefourteenthcenturytoregarditselfasdivinely blessed and as the capital of the entire country. More specifically, rulers of medievalcitiesdeliberatelyutilizedthecultofthedead,thememoryofthepast, andthereappearanceoftheremainsofsaintsandothervirtuouspeoplewhohad died in the very early history of those cities for the aggrandizement of the respectiveurbancommunity,powerfullyinterlacingthepastwiththepresentand thefuture,underscoringtherelevanceofthedeadforthesurvivalandprospering ofacityfarintothefuture. Sincelateantiquity,Jerusalemhasbeenalinchpinintheglobalrelationshipamong Christians, Jews, and Muslims. As a holy city, Jerusalem has been central and iconicforWesternandEasternculturesandreligions,soitdoesnotcomeasa surprisethatmanywarshavebeenfoughtoverit;butsadlymajorworldconflicts continuetofocusonthiscityformoreorlessthesamereasons.Eventhoughthe WesternChristianslostintheir‘bid’fortheHolyLandwiththefallofthelast fortress, Acre, in 1291, European fantasies and desires continued to focus on

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PeterDinzelbacher,EuropaimHochmittelalter1050–1250:EineKulturundMentalitätsgeschichte. KulturundMentalität(Darmstadt:Primus,2003),96–99;ibid.,“Eschatology,”HandbookofMedieval Studies, ed. Albrecht Classen (Berlin and New York: de Gruyter, forthcoming). See also the contributions on “Sterben/Tod” to Europäische Mentalitätsgeschichte: Hauptthemen in Einzeldarstellungen,ed.PeterDinzelbacher.KrönersTaschenausgabe,469(1993;Stuttgart:Kröner, 2008),265–313(antiquity:ChristianBöhme;MiddleAges:PeterDinzelbacher;earlymodernage: KarlVocelka).

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Jerusalem,aboveall,andforcenturiesbeyondthatspecificdate.Thisfindsan impressivereflectioninthecontinuousstreamofpilgrimsandtouristswhowent toPalestinethroughouttime,manyofwhomcomposedavarietyoftravelogues.290 ButwecanneverforgetthecrucialperiodoftheearlyCrusadesasacritical momentinhistorywhenthefuturedestinyofJerusalemwasdeeplyshapedbythe religiousmilitaryconflict,whichhaslasteduntiltoday,bothbecauseChristian knightsconquereditin1099,andthenbecausetheMuslims,undertheleadership ofSaladin,recaptureditin1187,andthis,ofcourse,tothegreatchagrinofthe EuropeanChristians. Although modern fantasies of medieval chivalry and knighthood convey a beautifulimageofanimpressiveagelonggone,thebrutalrealityofmedieval warfarewasquitedifferent,asAlanV.Murraydemonstratesinhisinsightful, detailoriented,andratherpainfulstudyonhowtherespectiveconqueringarmies dealtwiththecivilpopulation.291Everyarmyhastorely,ifitwantstobeeffective andsuccessfulinachievingitsgoals,onthebestpossiblelogisticsforsuppliesand people,andonsolidifyingitsconquestsandfortificationsasquicklyaspossible. Butthecrusaderswereonlyasmallandratheramorphousforcecomparedwith thefairlylargeMuslimandJewishpopulationinJerusalemandelsewhereinthe HolyLandin1099,nottomentionthelargehostilemilitaryforcesthreatening them. WhentheArabsunder‘UmarhadreconqueredJerusalemin638C.E.,they forcedmostofthesurvivingChristianintelligentsiatoleavethecity.Nevertheless, this was not at all comparable to what happened in 1099, when the crusaders foundthemselvesinadifficultsituationasasmallmilitaryentityfacingalarge nonChristianpopulation.Thereisnodoubtthatthecrusadersimmediatelybegan withmassiveslaughterwithinthecity,carryingoutwhatwewouldcalltoday ‘ethniccleansing.’ThesurvivingChristiansourcesclearlysignalthatthismassacre wasexplainedawaythroughreferencestorelevantpassagesintheBible,notably

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ChristianHalm,DeutscheReiseberichte.EuropäischeReiseberichtedesspätenMittelalters,1.Kieler Werkstücke.ReiheD:BeiträgezureuropäischenGeschichtedesspätenMittelalters,5(Frankfurt a. M., Berlin, et al.: Peter Lang, 2001); Suzanne M. Yeager, Jerusalem in Medieval Narrative. CambridgeStudiesinMedievalLiterature(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2008).For thecrusades,seeChristopherTyerman,God’sWar:ANewHistoryoftheCrusades(Cambridge,MA: BelknapPressofHarvardUniversityPress,2006);foramodernpoliticalhistoricalperspective, see Dore Gold, The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City (Washington,DC:RegneryPubl.,2007). Forageneralintroductionandcriticalanalysis,seeMauriceHughKeen,MedievalWarfare:A History (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1999); see also the contributions to Violence in Medieval Courtly Literature: A Casebook, ed. Albrecht Classen. Routledge Medieval Casebooks(NewYorkandLondon:Routledge,2004).Further,seeJonathanRileySmith,The Crusades:AHistory.2nded.(1987;LondonandNewYork:Continuum,2005);HelenJ.Nicholson, Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 1300–1500 (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire,andNewYork:PalgraveMacmillan,2004).

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theApocalypse.Nevertheless,insimpleterms,thecrusadersslaughteredhundreds and quite possibly thousands of people in order to get rid of a potentially dangerousnonChristianpopulation. Murray alerts us, however, to the complexity of the concrete situation in Jerusalemaftertheconquest,whichwasbynomeansstableandunequivocalfor thecrusaderswhochosetosettlethere.Havingconqueredamajorcitywitha solidlyhostilepopulationitdoesnotcomeasashockthatthefirstmajorsteps taken were directed at the dangerous Muslims, civil and military. To secure Jerusalemagainsthostileelementsbothwithinandoutsideofthecityrepresented amajorchallenge,whichhelpsustounderstand—thoughitcertainlydoesnot excusethesituation—themostviolenttreatmentofthecivilpopulation. IttookdecadesuntiltheChristianrulersdecidedtoletSyrianChristiansto settleinthecity,whichunderscorestheproblematicnatureofpopulationcontrol inthecaseofsuchadisputedcity.TheyalsoexpelledGreekOrthodoxclericsand establishednumerousCatholicchurchestomeettheirownreligiousdemands.But manyareasorquartersinthecitycontinuedtobeunoccupiedfordecades,asa directresultofthecrusaders’massacreimmediatelyaftertheirconquest. Bycontrast,whenSaladintookcontrolofJerusalemin1187,hepursuedarather different strategy, expelling instead of slaughtering the major portion of the WesternChristianpopulation.Therewasaconsiderableriskthatahugenumber ofMuslimprisonersheldcaptiveinsidethecitymightbeslaughteredinresponse toanattack,andSaladinobviouslybelievedthatitwouldbemoreeffectiveto allowtheFrankishpopulationtopayforitsfreedomthantoslaughterit.Notonly didthisprovidehimwithahugeprofitandfreethecityofenemypopulation,but it also swelled up the few remaining Christianheld cities with a civilian populationthatwouldmakethemmoredifficulttodefendagainsttheMuslims. Saladin encouraged Muslims to settle in Jerusalem, and allowed Jews and easternChristianstoreturnbecausethesepeoplehelpedhimtogaineconomic profit.ButtheentireFrankishpopulationwasremoved,transformingJerusalem fromanexclusivelyChristian,andlargelyWesterncity,intoatotallyEasterncity ofpluralfaiths.Allthisstronglysuggeststhatinthebattleforthisplacesacredto threereligions,theremovalor,inthethinkingofthecrusaders,theeliminationof anenemypopulationwasregardedasanecessity.TheMuslimapproachwas, however,muchmorecomplex,butwealsohavetokeepinmindthatSaladinand otherIslamicrulersenjoyedmuchbetterlogisticconditionsandcouldaffordto pursuemoreflexibleapproaches. Murray’sfocusonJerusalemdramaticallyilluminatesthemilitarysignificance ofcitiesintheMiddleAges,thedangersthecivilpopulationoftenfacedinwars, andalsohowrulersbelievedthatmanipulationofthedifferentsocialandreligious groupsthatinhabitedthemwereanessentialtoolintheestablishmentoftheir regimes.

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Wecangainagoodunderstandingofthebasiccharacterandessenceofacityand itssocialstructurewithinitshistoricalcontextwhenwepursuemanydifferent approaches,whichistheprimarypurposeofthisvolume.Oneofthemconcerns legal conditions and the work of notaries, the topic of Andreas Meyer’s contributiontothisvolume.Fromearlyonnotariesplayedasignificantrolein latemedieval Italian cities, because they were highly instrumental in helping peoplehandlinginheritancesissuesandpropertytransfer.Meyerunderscoresthe significantchangeofkeepingrecordsbythenotariessincethetwelfthcenturyin NorthernItalywhennotariesbegantokeepcentralizedregistersonthebasisof whichindividualdocumentscouldbecreatedforspecificlegalpurposes.This ultimatelyreducedthecostsforeveryoneinvolvedconsiderably.Basically,the notarybecameanarchivistforhisentireneighborhoodandthushelpedtheurban communitytohavemuchbetterandeasiercontrolovertherelevantdocuments pertainingtopropertyorlegalmatters.Atthesametime,theregistersthatthe notariesactuallyownedbecameagoodandlongtermsourceofincomeforhim and his family. Only by the fifteenth century did city administrators force the notariestohandovertheirregisterstopublicarchives,whichtrulycentralizedthe entirelegalprocessandrecordkeeping. Inthislongtermprocessnotaryregisterswereincreasinglycollectedbyfewer andfewernotarieswhomostlyinheritedthemfromdeceasedcolleagues.This oftenmeant,however,thatwhenoneofthesearchiveswasdestroyedordamaged the loss of documents was highly dramatic for an entire neighborhood. The contemporaries already realized the subsequent grave dangers for the entire communityandthelegalsystem,tryingtheirbesttocounteractnumerousrisk factors,butmostlytonoavail.Anotableexceptiontotherulewasthecaseof Genoa where the city organized from early on in the fourteenth century centralizedcommunaldepotsforthenotaryregisters.Nevertheless,therepeated attemptstoenforcethispolicytocollectallregistersthereandthepossibilityfor notariesrelatedtothosewhohaddeceasedtofetchtheregistersandtostorethem athomeagainsignalshowdifficultitwas,despitethebestefforts,toupkeepand maintain the centralization process. At the same time, the Genoese vaults containednumerousothertypesoflegaldocuments,oftenprivateinnature,soby theendofthefifteenthcenturytheywereprivatizedaltogether. Tragically for modern historians, since the fourteenth century many of the registers and documents of private nature from earlier periods were sold as wrappingmaterialorforotherpurposes,andlargecontingentsaresimplylostto us today for very mundane reasons. However, there were also major space problems, and since older registers had considerable less value for the contemporaries,itisnotsurprisingthatalargequantityofthemdisappearedand maderoomfornewonessincethelegalprocesscontinuedcontinuously. Although Meyer’s investigation focuses on a specialized textual genre, it powerfully illustrates the degree to which internal legal structures had a

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tremendous impact on the growth and development of towns and cities in northernItalysincethethirteenthcentury,and,byanalogy,probablyinother partsofEurope,whereRomanLawwastobeeffective,aswell.

Many of the major cities in antiquity and the Middle Ages were founded and settlednearwaterways,themostimportantmeansoftransportationoflargegoods andacrucialsourceofdrinkingwater.Whenmedievalpoetsreflectuponurban space, they commonly also discuss the rivers or the coast nearby as major characteristicmarkersfortheurbanidentityformation.292Largerbodiesofwater served at least three fundamental purposes in the relevant urban encomia or descriptionsofcitiesinmedievalliterature,asBrittC.L.Rothauseroutlinesinher contributiontothisvolume:1)asadefiningelement;2)aprotectivebarrier;and 3) as a cleansing agent. But water was also an important source of energy in industrialproductionorcraftsmanship,whichshetouchesononlyinpassing. Whereas the historical significance of water for urban development in the MiddleAgesandbeyondhasbeencommentedonalreadyinpreviousresearch focused on urban history, Rothauser investigates how various Middle English poetsperceivedthephysical,therealcityanditsenvironment,regularlyseparated from the countryside through water, beginning with Fitz Stephen’s twelfth centuryDescriptionobilissimæcivitatisLondoniæ.Forhim,thecountrysidewasofno particular relevance, mostly depopulated and serving only for providing the necessarynourishmentofthecity.Nevertheless,bywayofdiscussingtheThames, FitzStephensclearlyindicatesthedemarcationofthecity’sparameters,andalso signalsthecrucialvenuesfortheburgherstodocommerceinternationally,and alsotoenjoyfreetimeingardensoutsideofthecity. In remarkable contrast, the fourteenthcentury anonymous poet of the allegoricalPearlpoemidentifiestheriverasthedefiningboundarythatseparates theNewJerusalemfromtheearthlyrealm,therebygrantingwaterwaysamuch morepowerfulsignificanceinkeepingtheChristian,herethedreamer,outsideof theholycityuntiltheDayofJudgment—andthisinimportantparalleltotheriver Styxthatseparatesthenetherworldfromtheearthlyexistence,suchasinDante’s DivinaCommedia,andthen,ofcourse,alsoinclassicalantiqueliterature.Whereas inFitzStephan’sLatinencomiumthewateroftheriverThamesisalsousedfor keepingthecityclean,thePearlpoetspecifiesthefunctionoftheheavenlyriver asonetorepresentthedivinewill,orGod’scivilization,asreflectedbythepaving oftheriverbedandtheembankment,anarchitecturalachievementonlypossible, itseems,bytheLordHimself.Butitalsoindicateshowmuchlatemedievalpeople

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NowseethecontributionstoTheNatureandFunctionofWater,Baths,Bathing,andHygienefrom AntiquitythroughtheRenaissance,ed.CynthiaKossoandAnneScott,2009.

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desiredtoimprovethelivingconditionsintheircitiesandimaginedurbanspace whereeventheriverbedispavedwithgemsasareflectionoftheheavenly,ideal city.293 TurningtoJohnGower’sVoxClamantisandhisMirourdel’Omme,however, Rothauseridentifiesaverydifferentperspectiveonriversandotherwaterways becauseGowerprojectsthemaspotentiallyhighlydangerousandthreateningto the wellbeing of the city. For Gower, the river served as a metaphor of the relationship between city and country insofar as the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 brought much devastation and misery to the city. According to the poet, the swellingoftheriverandsubsequentfloodingofurbanspacerepresenttheunruly peasantclassthatrequirescontrolandchannelingatthehandoftheurban,hence alsoroyalgovernment.Aslongasthecountrysidefulfilleditsfunctiontoproduce foodforthecity,thesocialhierarchywasstableandharmonious,butthecitystill needed walls to protect itself against the dangerous riotous peasants or, metaphoricallyspeaking,therisingriver. Rothauserthenturnstothequestionhowmuchriverscouldreallyprotecta city, and whether they might not have constituted additional dangers to the defenders,asGoweralsoexpressesinhistexts,whereasforthePearlpoetthe situationwasradicallydifferentbecauseofthereligiousfunctionofthewaterway, which,togetherwiththecitywall,fullykeptallbesiegersoutoftheholyplace. ThisalsofindsconfirmationinthefourteenthcenturyalliterativeLegendofSaint Erkenwaldwherealakesubstitutesforariverbutachievesthesameconstructive goal. Finally, the author examines the cleansing function of the river Thames, as clearlyoutlined,forinstance,intheLetterBookAof1275,orinJohnLydgate’s descriptionofNewTroyinhisTroyBook,writtenin1420.Theabilitytoharnessthe natural flow of the river to sweep away all detritus and debris from the city represents,astheselatemedievalwritersemphasize,ahighlevelofcivilization andurbanarchitecture,otherwiserarelyseenordescribed.294Thecleanlinessofa citycouldbecomeasymbolofthecleanlinessofthehumansoulinhabitingsuch a divine city. Nevertheless, by outlining this aspect, Gower, for instance, also indicatestheconstantliabilityof losingthisdegreeofvirtuebecausevicewas powerfulenoughtoseepintoeverycornerorcrevice,andhencealsointothe fissuresofthesoul,tostayintheimage(VoxClamantis).AsRothauserremindsus, of course, the metaphors of water, its flow, of baptism, and cleansing of dirty streetsservedpowerfullyforallegoricalinterpretationsaswell.Asmuchasthe

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SeethecontributiontothisvolumebyAllisonP.Coudert.Afterall,seriouscomplaintsaboutdirty city streets and places and the lack of functioning sewer systems were continuously voiced throughoutthecenturies. A remarkable exception proves to be the anonymous twelfth and early thirteenthcentury goliardicMiddleHighGermanepicHerzogErnst,seeaboveintheearlypartofmyIntroduction.

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earthly city could reflect the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, so rivers, waterways,andwateratlargecouldsymbolizethetensionbetweenvirtuesand vicesinaChristian,butalsoverydangerousworldwherethesocialhierarchywas notanabsoluteguarantee. Urbanspacemeans,ofcourse,notonlybuildingandphysicalextensions,butvery muchalsolivingspace,hencepeopleandtheirinteractionwitheachother.One ofthemostburningquestionsconcerningthisaspectpertainstothecohabitation of Christians and Jews in the Middle Ages and beyond. Birgit Wiedl offers penetrating perspectives regarding this situation mostly in Austrian cities, investigatingconcretehistoricalandarthistoricaldocumentswhichoftensheda different light on the issue than what the specific laws and rules by both the Churchandthesecularauthoritiesstipulated.Infact,onthelevelofeverydaylife activities, there were numerous contacts, and in many cities both groups cooperatedinavarietyofways,whichWiedl’scarefulinvestigationdemonstrates convincingly.ParticularlycomplaintsbytheChurchonseveraloccasionsagainst the violation of its rules against such contacts indicate how much Jews and Christians actually lived together as neighbors, and not as religious enemies, despite much public polemic to the contrary. Interior house decorations (wall paintings)orbookillustrationscommissionedbyJewishownersindicatetheextent to which both groups shared the same cultural values and enjoyed the same aestheticideals. Nevertheless, Jews experienced a variety of legal conditions in medieval Austria,withtheregionalrulerscontinuingforalongtimetoholdpoweroverthe Jewishcommunities,eventhoughcitygovernmentsregularlytriedtowrestthat privilegefromthem.Therulerswereevensopowerfulthatonlytheycouldgrant the right to erect any public building for the Jewish community, such as a synagogue in the individual cities. For a long time Christians lived as much among,ornextto,theJewsasthelatterlivedamongChristians,andwehave plenty of evidence that both groups provided service to each other against payment,includingwomenactingaswetnurses.Undercertaincircumstancesthe synagoguecouldalsofunctionasthesiteforlegalproceedingsinvolvingJewsand (!)Christians.InthejudicialworldwealsoencountermanyJewswhoservedas witnessesandarbiters,andJewscouldturntoaChristianjudgeappointedfor theirownconcerns,bothsignalinganastonishingdegreeofmutualacceptance andcollaborationparticularlywithintheurbanspaceoflatemedievalcitiessmall andlarge. Themanyprotests,particularlyraisedbytheChurch,againstthesecommon practicesprovethepointofintenseexchangeinlatemedievalAustriancities,at leastuntilthethirteenthcentury.However,oncethecitygovernmentsgainednew independencefromregionalorterritorialrulers,theytriedhardtoutilizetheir legal rights to control the Jewish population, to impose new taxes, but also to

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integratethemmoreintheurbandefensesystem.Interestingly,Wiedlprovides evenevidencethatJewswereentitledtogetashareofthepublicmarkets,though theywerenotallowedtoassumepublicoffices. A real conflict emerged when Jews were also involved in the crafts and competedwiththeirChristianneighbors,suchasintheareaofbutcheringand sellingmeat.Soonenough,theyandtheirmeatweremalignedorexcludedfrom thepublicspaces,aconvenientstrategytocometotermswiththisproblemfrom the perspective of the majority. This, in turn, created the basis for religious argumentstoemerge,quicklyleadingtobloodlibelandaccusationsofalleged hostwaferdesecrations,thelatterofwhichmakeupthemajorityofaccusations raised against Austrian Jews. Despite the overwhelming evidence of intense exchanges and even cohabitation of both religious groups far into the early fourteenthcentury,bytheendofthenextcenturyexpulsionsandbanningofJews alsofromAustriancitiesbecamethenormforawidevarietyofreasons.Most significantly, however, as Wiedl concludes, we would badly misconstrue the medievalandlatemedievalhistoryofChristianJewishcontactsifweperceived them only through the lens of the crusade mentality with its subsequent persecution obsession directed against the Jewish population who, after all, contributedsignificantlytothecountry’shistory.Ofcourse,Austriawasnotasafe havenforJews,particularlynotinthelateMiddleAges,buttherewerestrong traditionsofremarkableformsofcohabitationandcooperationespeciallywithin urbancommunities. WhereasWiedldiscussestheissueofcohabitationofJewsandChristiansinlate medievalAustria,RosaAlvarezPerezinvestigatesthesametopicwithregardto contemporaryFrance.There,however,thesituationwasrathermoredangerous andultimatelycatastrophicbecausetheJewswererepeatedlyexpelled,forthelast and final time in 1394. Nevertheless, the focus on urban space invites a more carefulanddetailedinvestigationbecauseitwasherewhereactualcontactstook placeandwheretherepresentativesofthetworeligionsencounteredeachother. PerezconcentratesonnorthernFrenchJewishcommunitiesbecausethereconflicts gainedinintensityonlylater,andrelativelypeacefulcoexistenceseemstohave beenmorepronouncedinearliertimes(especiallyfromtheninthtotheeleventh century).Whereasotherscholarshavealreadydiscussedthelargerissuesatstake, here the role of Jewish women gains a new profile, particularly because they appeartohaveexercisedsomedegreeofagencywithintheircommunitiesand societyatlarge. DuringthehighMiddleAges,urbanizationinnorthernFrance,similarlyto manyotherareasnorthoftheAlps,experienceddramaticgrowthrates,whichalso ledtoasignificantincreaseoftheJewishpopulationinthecitieswheremany economic opportunities awaited them. We can measure this, for instance, by meansofthenumberofRabbinicschools.Ironically,royaldecreessoonenough

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forbadeJewstoliveinruralareasandsmalltowns,forcingtheminsteadtosettle inthelargerurbancenters,perhapsinordertocontrolthembetterandtogain morefinancialprofitsbecausetheywerethe‘king’sservants.’Similarlyasinother partsofEurope,however,soonenoughJewsfunctionedascatalystsforgeneral sentimentsoffearandinsecurity. AsPerezdiscovers,despitenumerousdecreestargetingJews,forcingthemto liveinspecificareasandwearingparticularbadges(especiallysincetheFourth LateranCouncilin1215),inmanycasesJewsstillenjoyedsomefreedomtosettle invariouspartsofacityandcouldeasilyinteractwiththeirChristianneighbors. Nevertheless,theghettoizingprocesstookplaceeverywhereaswell,forcingJews to live in cramped, often unhealthy spaces, whereas Christians had more of a chancetoexpand.OneofthedifficultiestheJewishpopulationsfacedwasthe constantly shifting political climate, with some rulers pursuing a very hostile policy,attimesculminatinginexpulsions,whileothersallowedthemtoreturnto theirpreviousurbansettlements,suchasinParis,thoughtheyhadthentocontent themselveswithnoncentrallocationsthere.Tobesure,economicandpolitical reasons often played a much bigger role in the expulsions than religious convictions. AlthoughJewsweregenerallybannedfromtraditionalcrafts,somestillcould pursuethatkindofworkforinternalneeds,assurvivingrecordswithspecific names indicate. But moneylending (and usury) was, as everywhere else in medievalEurope,aprivilegeforJews,andhereweevencomeacrossanumberof Jewish women who were also active in this field. In fact, as research has demonstrated,femalemoneylendersweremuchmorecommonthanpreviously assumed, but they focused on smaller amounts and relied on pledges as guarantees instead on costly notaries. But Perez also observes that the close proximity of these two religious and economic communities in latemedieval northernFrenchcitiestendedtoleadtoviolenceonasmallscale,eveninvolving asignificantnumberofwomen,aslegalcourtdocumentsinformus. As the many examples adduced by Perez indicate, despite these constant conflicts,JewsandChristianscollaboratedinmanyinstances,andtherearemore reportsoferoticrelationshipsamongthemthanexpected,astherepeatedlegal stipulationsandlawcasesconfirm.AlbeittheChurchexpressedabhorrenceatthe ideaofChristiansminglingsexuallywithJews,theveryfactthatsuchstatements existconfirmstheexistenceofsuchaffairs,andthisevenlongaftertheofficialand finalexpulsionofallJewsfromFrancein1394.Aswelearnfromvariousliterary andlegaldocuments,itappearsthatJewishwomenweremoreloathtoreligious conversion than Jewish men, but this issue still requires further investigation. Moreover,PerezshedslightonJewishrepresentationincontemporaryliterature through a close reading of Li Roumans de Berte aus Grans pies (late thirteenth century),wheremanyofthetraditionalstereotypesraisedagainstJewsarefully represented.

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Despite the severe problems and threats latemedieval French Jews had to sufferfrom,theirexistenceinthenorthernurbancenterswasofsignificancefor theentirepopulation,asPerezcansolidlyconfirm.Wemustbecarefulinour evaluationofthemanuscriptevidencebecauseittendstohighlightthecriminal, legal, and procedural aspects, and blinds us at times to the everydaylife experience of Jews and Christians living for a long time in surprisingly close proximitytoeachother. OneofthemostfamousimageofurbanspaceeverdevelopedintheentireMiddle Ages—atleastinallegoricalterms—(ifnotpriortoit)wasAugustine’s(354–430 C.E.)conceptoftheHeavenlycityinhisDecivitatedei(CityofGod).Onlythose ChristiansworthytoenterGod’sdivinerealmwereguaranteedthesalvationof theirsouls,whereasthosewhostayedbehindandcontentedthemselveswiththeir existence in the earthly city could not even think of hope. But not everyone subscribedtoAugustine’steachingregardingthevainnessanduselessnessofthe worldly city in its metaphorical dimension. The latemedieval English mystic JulianNorwich(1342/1343–ca.1416)pursued,asJeanetteZissellargues,quitea differentapproach,drawingmuchinspirationfromhermysticalinterpretationof thesymbolichazelnut.JulianperceivedGod’slovetobesoprofusethatitalso extendedtotheearthlycitybecauseitcouldnotbecontainedonlyintheheavenly city.Theformerprovestobenotmuchlargerthanahazelnut,andyetitisentirely embraced by God’s love. The heavenly city, however, the one Augustine had talkedabout,islocated,accordingtoJulian,withinherself,inherheart.Inspecific contradistinctiontothetheologicaltradition,then,themysticarguesthatGod’s salvificpowerextendstobothcitiesandoffersmuchmorehopethantheChurch hadassumedinthepast.Inotherwords,accordingtothisEnglishmystic,there isverygoodreasontobeoptimisticabouttheafterlifebecauseeventhematerial city,wherepeopleliveintheirhumanexistence,canberedeemed. Zissell suggests that Julian deliberately deviated from the Augustinian tradition,orrather,reinterpreteditinordertocometotermswiththeconceptof globalloveextendedbyGodtobothcitieswithincreation,theheavenlyandthe earthly. Whereas Augustine focused on how people love each other, which determines whether they can transition from the earthly to the heavenly dimension,JulianprimarilylooksatGod’sloveforpeople,whichimpliesthatboth dimensionsareembracedbyHimequally. Augustinedidnotforeseeuniversalsalvation,asOrigen(ca.185–254C.E.)had suggested, and instead projected a city for the select few. By contrast, Julian believedtheoppositeandarguedthatGod’sloveismuchlargerthantheChurch Fathercouldhaveimagined,allowingittoextendalsotothematerialexistence, theearthlycity.Salvation,forJulian,wasnotlimitedtothosewhohadbeenlucky enoughtoescapethedangersofthisworld,butitactuallyextendedtotheentire universe,orcreation,becauseofGod’sunlimitedlove,whichalsoincludesthe

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earthlycity,aslongastheindividualinhabitantofthiscityprovestobeabeliever. Inotherwords,God’slovecanalreadybeexperiencedinhumanlife,herewithin thisurbanspace. More specifically, the earthly city, the hazelnut, represents the human soul whereGodresides,infact,andtheheavenlycityisthesourceofalldivinelove. Inthissense,themetaphorofthecityservedJulianexceedinglywelltodescribe inpoetictermstheetherealunionofthehumansoulwiththeGodhead,which takesplacewithinthemystic’s,oranyotherperson’s,heart,amergingofboth urbanspacesbecauseoftheinfinitepowerofGod’slove.Asmuchasthebeliever’s spiritualcityisenclosedinhisheart,theearthlycityisenclosedinthebeliever’s hand,asrepresentedbythehazelnut.Althoughtheearthlycitydoesnotguarantee spiritualprotectionandrestfulness,butitclearlyindicates,asJulianformulatesit, theextenttowhichGod’sloveofmanandofthehumanworldispresentand assuredforeveryonewhoreturnsthislove. Zisselluncoversasignificantepistemologicaltheologicallevelofmeaningin Julian’suseofthehazelnutmetaphoranddemonstrateshowmuchurbanspace, evenwithinthemysticaldiscourse,wasofgreatmetaphoricalsignificationbecause it constituted the meeting space of the human soul with the Godhead. In this sense, as Zissell suggests, Julian could be identified as a follower of the ideas developedbyOrigen,inalmostexplicitoppositiontoAugustine.Inourcontext, however,wecandrawtheimportantconclusionthaturbanspace,herecastinthe imageofahazelnut,emergedasapowerfulmetaphorforprofoundtheological interpretationsconcerninghumanexistenceandthemeaningofsalvation. UrbanspaceintheMiddleAgeswasnotsimplylimitedbythecitywalls;instead thecity’sauthorityregularlyextendedfarbeyond,sometimeseventoothercities, orwholeregions.Towhatextent,however,couldacitygovernmentbringtotrial apersonwhohadcommissionedmentocommitacrimeinadifferentcity?What constituted urban and legal authority, and what made up urban space in this context, especially when it was contested from the outside? To explore these complexissues,PatriciaTurninginvestigatessuchacaseinfourteenthcentury Toulouseinvolvingtwomenwhosebusinessrelationshiphadgonesour,thenhad turnedtolegalmeans,thoughinvein.Finallytheoutsiderresortedtohiringa bandofassassinswhowerechargedwithdisfiguringtheopponentinhisface. Significantly,thisdangerousplothadbeenplannedformonths,anditwascarried outinthevicinityofthecityhall,deliberatelyprovokingthecitycouncilorsto pursue legal actions. Turning employs recent space theory (Bordieu et al.) to illuminatehowmuchurbanspacewasactuallyterritoryincompetitionandthe battle ground for various social groups both within and outside the city’s boundaries.TheattackonthelawyerinToulouse wasonlyoneindicatorofa much larger context concerning the true authority within a medieval city, as countlesspageants,tournaments,processions,etc.alsoservedtostakeoutareas

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of control exerted by individuals and special interest groups. Even public executions,withalltheirgorydetailsoftortureandslowdismemberment,also served,apartfromitsprosecutoryintentions,thepurposeofdemonstratingurban authorityandpowerwithinaclearlydemarcatedurbanspace.Nevertheless,there wereeverywherecompetingjurisdictions,andworldlyandecclesiasticauthorities jealouslyguardedtheirowndomainswithinthatlimitedspace. Significantly,throughouttheMiddleAges,andsoalsoinToulouse,thecity authoritieshadtonegotiateonaregularbasiswiththeducalorroyalpowersthe extenttowhichtheycouldexerttheirownjurisdiction,hencecouldclaimpolitical, legal,andmilitaryindependence.295ThephysicalattackontheToulouselawyer Bernardus de Bosto was motivated, of course, by his opponent’s desire for revenge, but it also expressed explicitly the defiance of an outsider who disregardedthehonoroftheurbancommunityrepresentedbythislawyer.His facialdisfigurementwas,metaphoricallyspeaking,aslapinthefaceoftheurban authorities.Hence,asTurningargues,thecityhadtoendeavormassivepublic courtproceedingsandtobringtheopponent,StephanusSaletas,totrial.However, theauthoritiesofhishomecity,Villamuro,balkedatthatidea,andtheentireaffair enteredintoapublicstrugglefordominanceamongthesecities,quicklyspilling intotheneighboringspaceoutsideoftherespectivecitywalls.Ultimately,Saletas was handed over and thrown into prison, questioned, and tortured, but the sourcesdonotrevealtheoutcomeofthetrial.Nevertheless,theentirecaseclearly indicates how much urban space and individual space could easily enter into competition,nottoforgetthemanyotherforcesinvolved,bothonasmallerand alargerscale,whichallindicatesthetrueextenttowhichamedievalcitywasat thecrossroadsofnumerouspolitical,social,religious,andculturalgroupsand organizations. AsJeanE.JostremindsusinherpenetratinganalysisofChaucer’sTheKnight’s Tale,spacewithinacityconstitutesmorethanjustaphysicalentity;instead,italso provides identity for the individual protagonists. Some spaces are protective, othersareperilous,andsomeareamixtureofbothfortheurbanenvironment,as ithaddevelopedbythelateMiddleAges,offered,asitstilldoestoday,aplethora ofdifferentpossibilitiesforindividualstopursuetheirinterestsandtoleadtheir ordinarylives.Chaucer,forinstance,includesbothThebesandAthenswherehe hashischaractersoperateondifferentstages,whichpowerfullyallowthefurther developmentofthenarrative,providingdepthanddistance,interiorandexterior

295

SeealsothecontributiontothisvolumebyLiaB.Ross.Thedifficultiesevenforthemostpowerful cities came most clearly to the fore in the case of sixteenthcentury Nuremberg, as the MastersingerandcobblerpoetHansSachsreflectsinhisurbanencomia.Seethecontributionto thisvolumebyAlbrechtClassen.

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sites.Butevenmoreinterestingprovestobetheliminalspaceofthecity’sedges where travelers arrive and depart, where major events take place, and where decisions are being made. After all, the Canterbury Tales are predicated on a pilgrimage,whichtraversesmanydifferentspaces,bothruralandurban,hence the significance of the border areas as the major transition points. As Jost illustrates,Chaucerstrategicallyoperateswithamultiplicityofspaceswithinthe cityandatitsedges,andforceshisprotagoniststoexplorethevariousoptionsin each one of them for their own purposes. Although the city is regularly surrounded by a wall, the interior space does not guarantee full protection, harmony,andhappiness,asisthecaseinAthensinChaucer’snarrative,especially whenDukeTheseusencountersthelamentingwidowsattheoutskirtsandgetsoff hishorse,whichblatantlyblursthesocialdifferencebetweenthem. Onanotherlevel,lovebloomsalsoatthecity’sedgesbecausethemalegazecan espy the lovely lady in the garden from a window in the prison tower. The orchard,whichcarriesmultiplesymbolicmeanings,specificallyservestopromote thelovestory,madeproblematicbythephysicalandsocialbarrierseparatingthe twoknightsandtheirlady—theyareprisoners,sheisaprincess.Architectural elementsandornamentaldesignsstronglycontributetothenarrativedevelopment of The Knight’s Tale, injecting a discourse on vices and virtues represented in images and buildings. Even Theseus’s palace proves to be a most important staginggroundfortheindividualcharacters,andthenarratorclearlysignalshow much space itself represents the critical framework for the key elements in Chaucer’stext.Infact,thereseemstobeacitywithinthecity,andtheindividual spacesbegintocommunicatewitheachother,nodoubt,inatypicallyChaucerian fashion. TheironyofTheKnight’sTaleprovestobe,asJostconvincinglyargues,thestory teller’sgreatinterestinlimitedspace,especiallyurban,althoughhehimselfhas traversedtheentireknownworldinsearchofchivalricadventures.Butthecritical pointmightwellbe,asJostconcludes,thatthenarrativereallyfocusesoninterior spaces for the development of emotions and desires. Those spaces, however, clearly reflect also the exterior spaces within an urban environment. In other words,theKnighttellsushisstorywithitsgreatemphasisontheurbanworld becausewithinthecityandatitsliminaledgesthefundamentalhumanconflicts findmostpowerfulexpressions.Inthissense,asChaucerperceivesit,thecity offered agonal space to live out interior tensions and feelings, and it was not necessarilyexclusivelyasiteofcommunityandharmoniouscollaboration. Curiously, the growing pains of latemedieval cities seem to have been quite similar to those that modern cities are going through under comparable circumstances.ThiswasthecaseofParisasmuchasLondon,thelatterofwhich findsgoodreflectioninanumberofliterarytexts,suchasGeoffreyChaucer’s CanterburyTales.Eveninsomeofhisshortesttales,thepoettookpainstoallude

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tourbanlifeandtoutilizethesocialframeworkofthecityinordertoaddress specific social problems and concerns characteristic of latemedieval London. DanielF.PigghereexaminesthewayhowChaucerreflectsuponurbansociety andthetensionswithinthecityasreflectedinTheCook’sTale,wherethecentral conflict concerns the relationship between a footloose apprentice, Perkyn Revelour,andtheclassofguildsmen.ThisyoungmanservedChaucerexceedingly welltoexplorethemeaningofmasculinitywithinlatemedievalurbansociety wheretraditionalpowerstructureseasilycollidedwiththeinterestsofmigrant workersfromthecountrysideandespeciallytheyounggeneration(apprentices) whochallengedtheauthorityofthecraftsmenandstruggledhardtoestablish their own masculinity. In this regard the story itself, despite its external fragmentarycharacter,provestobebasicallycompletebecausethefundamental message concerning the social conflicts predicated on the idea of masculinity, especiallyitsformationprocesswithintheurbansetting,isclearlyformulated. Pigg sets out with a global discussion of the rise of guilds as constitutive institutionsinlatemedievalcitiesthatheavilyreliedonastrongregulationsystem forallitsmembers,especiallyapprenticeswhowerecommonlykeptunderclose controlandhadtosubmitundertheirmaster,almostsubstitutingtheirownfather. The guildsmen were most concerned with preventing their apprentices from having sexual relations and from marrying. In other words, the relationship betweenapprenticeandmasterprovedtobethecentralintersectionwherethe male individual explored masculinity and tried to establish his own sexual identity. Thecook’spositioninlatemedievalurbansocietyprovedtoberatherunstable, easilysubjecttopublicridiculeandcontempt,whichmakestheentirenarrative framework even more problematical regarding the young man’s quest for masculinity.Butcheringandfoodpreparationcouldeasilycarrystrongpolitical, ideological,andeconomicimplications,asthestudybyBirgitWiedlinthisvolume regarding the position of Jews in latemedieval Austrian cities demonstrates, consideringtheirneedtopreparetheirownmeataccordingtospecificreligious rituals. Moreover, as Pigg now indicates, cooking also evoked strong sexual connotations,whichpowerfullyreflectsonthecookasnarrator,whofindshimself in a rather uncomfortable position visàvis the host who, as an innkeeper, naturallyregardedcooks,ifworkingindependently,asstrongcompetitors. Curiously, the apprentice Perkyn in the Cook’s Tale does not conform to the moralstandardsexpectedfromyoungmenlikehim,enjoyingthecity’snightlife tothefullest,butnotquiteinthetraditionalmalerole.Instead,asPiggobserves, thenarratorcastshimalmostinafeminizedrole,dancingandsinging,performing asanentertainerhimself,yetalsoasathieftakingmoneyfromhismaster.We might even identify Perkyn as a prostitute, or at least as a completely unproductivememberofhissociety,whichfinallyexpelshim,disgustedwithhis lackofmasculinityanddisregardfortraditionalmores.

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Since he proves to be unproductive, the urban society, based on crafts and guilds, disassociates itself from this young man, which then also allows the narratortobreakoffhistale,whetherthisleavesthetaleasafragmentornot. Insofarastheapprenticedoesnotembracemasculinityasexpectedfromhim,and insofarashedisregardsthetraditionalstricturesoflatemedievalurbansociety that heavily relied on production, service, and the crafts and guilds as the organizationalframework,thereisonlyonechoiceforthemasterbuttolethimgo. AsPiggsuggests,unproductivemasculinitywassimplynottoleratedinmedieval cities,whichshedsimportantlightonthedeepseatedtensionsandanxietiesin latefourteenthcenturyurbansociety,especiallyaftertheBlackDeath. Contrarytocommonassumptionsabouturbanwomen’srolesinthelateMiddle Agesandintheearlymodernperiod,theywerenot,asacollective,simplyforced tospendalltheirtimewithinthedomesticsphereofthehouseunderthecontrol of a husband, or a father, limited to their typical roles as daughters, mothers, wives, and widowers. We have already known for a long time that such generalizing concepts have more to do with ideological projections than with sociohistorical reality that differ remarkable from each other from period to period,andfromregiontoregion.Wecannotevenclaimanylongerthattheyear 1500wasaclearwatershedbetweenatimeinwhichurbanwomenstillenjoyed considerablefreedomtoparticipateinthecity’spubliceconomiclife,andthen, after1500,atimeinwhichtheeconomiccrisisforcefullyremovedthemfromthe publicsphereintototaldomesticworkandmarginal,lowpayingjobssincethe guildsblockedmostwomenfromworkingascraftspersons.Certainly,thereis strongevidencethatwomenincreasinglyloststatusandinfluenceintheearly modernmarketeconomy,suchasinCologneafter1550orso,andalsoinGhent, but this was not tantamount to the establishment of an absolutely patriarchal system.296Nordothedeterioratingconditionsforwomeninthesixteenthcentury

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MarthaC.Howell,Women,Production,andPatriarchyinLateMedievalCities.WomeninCultureand Society(ChicagoandLondon:TheUniversityofChicagoPress,1986);HeideWunder,“Eristdie Sonn’, sie ist der Mond”: Frauen in der Frühen Neuzeit (Munich: Beck, 1992); Albrecht Classen, “Frauen als Buchdruckerinnen im deutschen Sprachraum des 16. und 17. Jahrhunderts,” GutenbergJahrbuch75(2000):181–95;id.,“FrauenimBuchdruckergewerbedes17.Jahrhunderts. Fortsetzung einer spätmittelalterlichen Tradition und Widerlegung eines alten Mythos. Methodische Vorüberlegungen zur Erhellung der Rolle von Buchdruckerinnen,” Gutenberg Jahrbuch(2001):220–36;seealsothecontributionstoConnectingSpheres:EuropeanWomenina Globalizingworld,1500tothePresent,ed.MarilynJ.BoxerandJeanH.Quataert.2nded.(1987;New York:OxfordUniversityPress,2000);JanineMarieLanza,FromWivestoWidowsinEarlyModern Paris:Gender,Economy,andLaw.WomenandGenderintheEarlyModernWorld(Aldershot, England,andBurlington,VT:Ashgate,2007);RachelLeahGreenberg,“TransformingWomen’s LaborinEarlyModernLiterature:Sex,Gender,Class,Identity,”Ph.D.diss.StateUniversityof NewYorkatBuffalo,2008.

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simplyallowustodrawanalogiesregardingthesituationduringthefourteenth orfifteenthcenturies. Toprobethisissuefurther,ShennanHuttonhereinvestigatesthesituationfor womeninfourteenthcenturyGhentwheretheextensivewoolclothindustryhad broughtmanyprofitsforthecityandwheresomemarketsexistedwherewomen couldcarveoutarathersignificantnicheforthemselves.Thisdidnotmeanthe undermining of patriarchal rule, on the contrary, but all indicators point to a remarkablymixedsituation,allowingwomentradersandevenbankerstooperate fairlyfreelyandtotheirconsiderableadvantage. Focusing on Ghent, which was one of the most powerful, influential, and economicallymostprosperouscitiesinthenorthwesternpartofEurope,Hutton’s researchpromisestoshedlightonmoreglobalconditionsforwomenwithinthe widernetworkofwooltraderswhofocusedonhighendqualityproducts. Oneimportantobservationpresentedhereconcernsthedifferencesinrolesand spacesoccupiedbymenandwomenwithintheurbancommunity.Nevertheless, womenhadmiddlingpositionseveninsomethemostimportantmarketsand couldpursuetheirowntradingbusinessthere,thoughundoubtedlyonlyona smaller scale, and not in the wholesale business which was, by specific city regulations, dominated by male representatives of the wealthiest families. Nevertheless, as Hutton underscores, they had a good chance in the middle positionandenergeticallyandeffectivelypursuedtheirbusinessthere.Becauseof thesmallersizeoftradecarriedoutbythem,theydidnotreallycompetewiththe bigclothwholesellers,hencetheycouldoccupyafemalespace,significantby itself,butnotthreateningtothemalecounterparts. Thereisevenconcreteindicationthatmanyofthestallsheldbywomenwere passedontootherwomenovergenerations,supportingtheobservationthatthere werespecificfemalespacesintheurbanmarkets,whetherthesesupportedfemale status within the city or challenged male prerogatives. In other words, within urbansocietytherewereareasprivilegedforwomen,andothersformen.Or, womencouldholdontotheirown,eveniftheywerenotentitledtorisetothetop levelwithinthetradingbusinessofspecificproducts. Thesituationforwomenwithintheworldofbutchers,forinstance,wasvery differentbecausethemalebutchershadgainedsolidcontrolovertheirprofession andhadexcludedwomenfromenteringthatfieldaboveall.Inthecornmarket women fared even worse because there they were excluded entirely, both as merchants and as customers. If they dared to enter, they were regarded as prostitutesandfallenwomen,andtheycouldnoteventhinkofopeningtheirown stallsthere.Womenwerealsoexcludedfromthegroupofhostellerswhowere poisedtoearnthelargestprofitsfromtheinternationaltradebyofferingroomand board.Thisdoesnotmean,however,thatwomenwerenotemployedthere,at leastinthebackground,bothascleaningpersonnelandcooks,asprostitutesand laundresses.

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Hutton,however,alsoalertsustoalternativemarkets,suchastheFridayMarket, wherewomencouldcertainlybecomeactiveasmerchantsandplayasignificant roleinthespicetrade,forinstance,orasmercers,andthisbothascustomersand sellers.Italldependsonthespecificsituation,ontheproductsoldonthemarkets, andonthetraditionalgenderrolesintheparticulartrade.Ofcourse,therewere gender markers and gender lines, and of course patriarchy held on to its traditionalpowerbasewhereverpossible.ButasthesituationinGhentindicates, genderwasnottheonlyandallpervasivecriterionallowingordenyingwomen entrancetotheprofessionoftraders.Spacecouldbenegotiated,andsomewomen inthewealthycityofGhentknewratherwellhowtonavigatetheirpassageinthe complexweboftraderelations,intraditionallygenderprivilegedspacesinthe particularmarkets,andintheeconomicframeworkatlarge.Inotherwords,in Ghent,asinmanyotherlatemedievalcities,thegenderdiscoursefoundsomeof itsbestexpressioninthedistributionofspacesinthemarkets,someofwhichwere exclusively preserved for men, whereas others allowed women to occupy a specificvacuumandtoassumethepositionofmiddlelevelmerchants. Contrary to certain assumptions about latemedieval towns and cities as harmonious, lawabiding, and peaceful communities where craftsmen and merchants collaborated most productively, we have to recognize that urban communitiescouldbecomequiteeasilyhotbedsofsocialunrest,classconflicts, andviolencebyindividualsorthemob.Multipleinterestseasilycollidedwith eachother,whethereconomic,religious,political,orartistic,andoftenthevarious socialgroups,opposedtoeachotheralongthedividinglineofindividualcrafts, foughtforspecificpoliticalgoalsthatcouldbecomeintermingledwithconcerns relatedtotheking’spositionorthatofthemostpowerfulmembersoftheroyal family.297 Oneofthoseconflicts,thecabochienrevoltinParisin1413,isthetopicofLiaB. Ross’s contribution to this volume. Her interest is focused on the ambiguous natureofthisrevolt,partlyurbaninsurrectionandpartlycourtlycoup,andthe relationshipthatdevelopedbetweenthepopularandaristocraticparties.Drawing both from the abundant contemporary sources and from modern sociological insights, Ross suggests that this revolt might have been the result of external politicalmanipulationsandsecretstrategiesthatdidnotpursuegoalsspecificto

297

SeethevariouscontributionstoEmotionsintheHeartoftheCity(14th–16thCentury),ed.Elodie LecuppreDesjardinandAnneLaureVanBruaene,2005(loc.cit.);ErnstPiper,DerAufstandder Ciompi: über den Tumult, den die “Wollarbeiter” im Florenz der Frührenaissance anzettelten. WagenbachsTaschenbücherei,49(Berlin:Wagenbach,1978;withmanyreprints);Alessandro Stella,LaRévoltedesCiompi:lesHommes,leslieux,letravail(Paris:Editionsdel’Ecoledeshautes étudesensciencessociales,1993).

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urbanaffairs;insteadtheseweredevelopedbythemajorpowerplayersinFrance whousedtheParisianstreetsasthestaginggroundfortheirpoliticalinterests. Whilethewidermotivationbehindthisrevoltfindsitsexplanationinlarger “national” tensions among the ruling houses in France, their most poignant expressionisintheurbanconflictwithinParis,probablythemosteffectivestage forthestrugglefornationalsuperiority.In1407,forinstance,thiscitywitnessed themurderofLouisDukeofOrléansbyassassinsatthepayofhisopponent,Duke John the Fearless of Burgundy. John was brazen enough to defend himself immediatelyafterwardswithareferencetothedangertotheking’sliferesulting from Louis’s violent political maneuvers. The populace was rather willing to acceptthisexplanationbecausethevictimseemstohavebeenhatedfarandwide forhisassociationwithcourtlywasteandcorruption.Butthiswasonlyoneof manyviolenteventsinsideandoutsideofParisduringthoseyears,thedetailsof whichRossoutlinesinadmirableclarity. Oncethemobtooktothestreets,therewasnostoppingitsfury,verymuchas seen in more recent times whenever mass movements take control of a city. Nevertheless, as Ross argues, the mob was not acting entirely on its own, but somehow followed more or less subtle directives from the outside, and was manipulatedbyducalintereststhathadnothingtodowithurbanconcernsinthe narrowsenseoftheword.OneislefttowonderwhetherthebutchersofParis,the strongestforcebehindthecabochienrevolt,reallyunderstoodhowmuchtheywere usedforlargerpurposesonlyrelevantfortherivalducalhouses.Andincontrast to modern historical events where urban revolts have been known to spark regionalandnationalrevolutions,298thecabochienrevoltwasquicklydispatched bythemerethreatofprincelyarmies. Apart from lack of physical resources to stand up to the nobility, as Ross sensitively observes, the urban population seems also to have been rather handicappedbyanabstractidentificationwiththeroyalhouseandhencedidnot pursue any kind of reformist goals during its brief success. Rather, as Ross concludes, the insurgents explicitly strove for the maintenance of traditional privilegesandrules,andregardedthemselvesastheprotectorsoftheroyalhouse, muchtothedismayofthelatter,perhapsexceptforthemadkinghimself.This attitude might have been more typical of Paris than of other cities, such as in Flanders and Northern Italy, where urban revolts were directed much more specificallyagainstlocalpowerstructures,andwasshared(perhapstoalesser extent)bytheLondoners,whoalsorevealedastrongsenseofidentificationwith theroyalcourtandhencecouldnottrulysucceedinanykindofuprisingsduring thelateMiddleAges.

298

See,forexample,DennisE.Gale,UnderstandingUrbanUnrest(London:Sage,1996).

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Thecabochienrevoltpowerfullyillustratesthehighlycomplexnatureoflate medieval urban structures, the conflictual web of interests amongst various groups,thenewfoundpowerofthemob,andyetalsoitsopennesstopolitical manipulationsbyhigherforces,suchasthemightyFrenchbaronsanddukes.In fact,rapidlyswitchingtomoderntimes,wecanactuallyconfirmthatmanymajor revolutionsstartedwithincities,thatis,centersofgreatpopulationaggregates,so the analysis of latemedieval urban unrest can shed important light on contemporaryconcernsaswell.299 Latemedievalurbanlifeisintimatelyassociatedwiththemerchantclass.Infact, mercantileinterestsandactivitieshavealwayscharacterized,ifnotdominated, citiesthroughouttimeandinmostcultures,whichstillmightbetruetoday.Since thefifteenthcenturywealsoobserverepresentativesofthemerchantclassturning to the arts, writing poetry (such as the Meistersinger in Germany), composing music, collecting songs, books, and involving themselves in the arts as major patrons,eagerlycompetingwiththetraditionalaristocracy.300 Fabian Alfie here investigates the work of the Florentine poetbarber of the Calimala district, Domenico di Giovanni, nicknamed il Burchiello (b. ca. 1390–1400;d.ca.1448)whocreatedratherbizarrepoetry,butenjoyedconsiderable popularityathistime,althoughmodernscholarshiphasmostlydisregardedhim astrivialorirrelevant,yetprobablynotforreallyconvincingreasons.Significantly, manyotherpoetsfollowedBurchiello’smodel,andhemightactuallybeidentified astheinitiatorofawholemovementoffifteenthcenturyItaliancomicpoetry.His œuvrefocusesspecificallyontheordinarylifeinthecity,whichmakeshistexts sosignificantfortheexplorationofthelargertopicpursuedinthisvolume,urban spaceinitsculturalandmentalhistoricalframework. Inonesonnet,probablycomposedbyoneofBurchiello’smanyimitators,“E merchatantidellamiaFiorenza”(1457),whichAlfienowmakesfinallyavailable inacriticaledition,alltheambivalenceinlatemedievalurbansocietyinItaly towardthemerchantclassandtheconsiderableinfluenceofhugecapitalgains

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UlrichMeier,“Molterivoluzioni,moltenovità:GesellschaftlicherWandelimSpiegelderpolitischen PhilosophieundimUrteilvonstädtischenChronistendesspätenMittelalters,”SozialerWandelim Mittelalter:Wahrnehmungsformen,Erklärungsmuster,Regelungsmechanismen,ed.JürgenMiethkeand KlausSchreiner(Sigmaringen:Thorbecke,1994),119–76. HorstBrunner,DiealtenMeister:StudienzuÜberlieferungundRezeptiondermittelhochdeutschen Sangspruchdichter im Spätmittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit. Münchener Texte und Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literatur des Mittelalters, 54 (Munich: Beck, 1975); Fritz Langensiepen,TraditionundVermittlung:literaturgeschichtlicheunddidaktischeUntersuchungenzu HansFolz.PhilologischeStudienundQuellen,102(Berlin:Schmidt,1980);WinfriedFrey,“The IntimateOther:HansFolz’DialogueBetween‘ChristianandJew’,” MeetingtheForeigninthe MiddleAges,ed.AlbrechtClassen(NewYorkandLondon:Routledge,2002),249–67.

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newlyacquired,especiallyalsobythebankers,cometotheforeandformthebasis forthespecificpoetichumorandideologicalcriticismpursuedbyBurchiello. Althoughatfirstsightthesonnetseemstobelongtopoetrycomposedonthe streetforcoarseentertainment,Alfie’scarefulphilologicalandliteraryhistorical analysisindicatesthatthepoet,assumingthefirstpersonvoiceofawoolbeater, certainlyalludedtothenotoriousCiompiriotsof1387andunderscoredhowmuch powertheurbanmassesstillheldagainstthemerchantclass.Moreover,thereare sufficientsignalsandallusionsinthetexttoconfirmBurchiello’shighlevelof familiaritywiththehistoryofFlorentineliterature.Afterall,Dante,towhomhe refersexplicitly,hadalreadyrailedagainstthepotentiallyevilnatureofmerchants inhisInferno,andotherpoetshadalsodrawnfromthistopos, so Burchiello’s sonnetcontinuesalongstandingtraditionwithintheurbandiscourse.301 Itmightactuallybepossiblethatthetextwasintendedtoappealtothenobility becausetheywereparticularlythreatenedbytheeconomicriseofthemerchant class,andthenarrativevoiceconsistentlysuggeststhatthearistocraticworldwas indangerofbeingunderminedbythesenouveauxriches.302Also,therichwebof intertextualallusionstoolderandcontemporaryItalianpoetswhohadvoiced similarconcernsandhencehadalsoreliedonthetropeofinvectivesagainstthe uncannysurgeofcapitalisticpowerbymeansoftradewithgoods,confirmsthis impression. Alfie points out the significant parallel between the invectives against the merchantsinpseudoBurchiello’ssonnetontheonehand,andtherichtradition ofinvectivesagainstoldwomen(thevituperatiovetulaetopos),bothaggressively associatedwithpervasivesinfullifestyles.Themostcuriouselement,however,of thesonnetconsistsoftheambivalentsocialpositionthewoolbeaterassignsto himself.Althoughwoolbeatersbelongedtosomeofthelowestclassesinlate medieval Florence, the poet voice strongly suggests this association with the nobilityinhisstarkoppositionagainstthemerchants,perhapsusingthefigureof the woolbeater only as a mask for his true identity, thereby successfully pretendingtobeBurchiello.ThiswouldalsoexplainwhythepoeticIidealizesthe valueofthetraditionalclassstructure,eventothepracticaldisadvantageofthe

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TheremightwellbesignificantparallelstothepoetrybyOswaldvonWolkensteinwhopursued similarargumentsagainstthemercantileclass,seehispoem“Ainburgherundainhofman”(Kl. 25),citedabove. Thisphenomenonhasbeenstudiedalreadyforalongtime;seethebynowclassicalstudyby Erich Maschke, “La Mentalité des marchands européens au moyen âge,” Revue d’histoire économiqueetsociale42(1962):457–84;JacquesleGoff,Marchandsetbanquiersdumoyenâge.Que saisje!, 699 (1956; Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1962). See now also Kathryn L. Reyerson,“TheMerchantsoftheMediterranean:MerchantsasStrangers,”TheStrangerinMedieval Society, ed. F. R. P. Akehurst and Stephanie Cain Van D’Elden. Medieval Cultures, 12 (MinneapolisandLondon:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,1997),1–13;JenniferKermode,Medieval Merchants:York,Beverly,andHullintheLaterMiddleAges,1998.

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woolbeaterstowhichheallegedlybelonged.Atanyrate,thissonnetprovides excellent insight into the social discourse within earlyRenaissance poetic discoursewhichpoignantlytookaimatthechangesintheclassstructurebecause oftheunstoppableriseofthemerchantclassbasedontheirmonetarypower.303 Medievalandearlymoderncitiesprovetobehighlyfascinatingentities,certainly muchmorecomplexintheirconstitutivepolitical,social,economic,andreligious componentsthancommonlyassumed.Morespecifically,theydonotrepresent,as wearewonttothink,localitiesfortheburgherclassalone,almostlikebulwarks againsttheexternalruralworldstilldominatedbymedievalfeudalstructuresand forces.Instead,asJanHirschbiegelandGabrielZeilingerdemonstrate,wecanalso observe intricate and multilayered exchanges between the nobility and the burghers at large. Scholarship has, however, mostly focused on the clear separationofcourtlyandciviccultures,regularlystudyingeithertheoneorthe otheronly,althoughtheevidenceactuallypointstowardtheotherdirection.In fact,bythelateMiddleAgeswecanobserveasteadilygrowingmergingofthe twosocialspheres,embracedbytheurbanframeworkwherelifesimplyproved to be much more amenable, exciting, and enriching than in a castle or a rural residence,suchasamanorhouse.304Bythesametoken,richburghers,especially bankers,triedhardtoimitatethearistocraticlifestyle,attimesevenbuyingold castles and moving into those establishments,305 but this is not the topic of Hirschbiegel’s and Zeilinger’s investigation. Instead, they focus on events in smallertownswherebothsocialclassesseemtohavemetquiteregularlyand sharedmanyexperiences.Thetwoauthorscogentlyarguethatsmalltownswere distinctlycharacteristicoftheurbanstructuresoftheHolyRomanEmpireand wereconsequentlyquiteinfluentialwithregardtotheglobalpoliticsaswelleither becausetheyweretheverylocationoftheprince’sorbishop’sresidence,orwere situatedincloseproximitytohisresidence. The best expression of the shared culture can be found in public festivities, processions,andceremonies,whenrepresentativesofbothsocialgroupsclosely cooperated in the ritual processes, or public performances. One of these, the CouncilofConstance(1414–1418),provedtobeauniqueandhighlymeaningful

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PeterSufford,PowerandProfit:TheMerchantinMedievalEurope(NewYork:Thames&Hudson, 2003). Forearliereffortsinthisregard,seeHartmutBoockmann,DieStadtimspätenMittelalter.2nded. (1986; Munich: C. H. Beck, 1987); id., Fürsten, Bürger, Edelleute: Lebensbilder aus dem späten Mittelalter(Munich:C.H.Beck,1994). I have discussed this phenomenon already in a different context to illustrate the growing economic,political,andculturalexchangesbetweenGermanyandItalyinthelateMiddleAges, ZurRezeptionnorditalienischerKulturdesTrecentoimWerkOswaldsvonWolkenstein(1376/77–1445). GöppingerArbeitenzurGermanistik,471(Göppingen:Kümmerle,1987),3358.Oldersocial historicalresearchliteratureislistedthere.

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longterm event, as almost the entire medieval world seems to have gathered there,wheremajordecisionswerereachedregardingthemalaiseoftheChurchin local and also global terms, and where territorial and imperial policies were established and then enacted. Poets and artists met in Constance, public entertainment was of highest value, and diplomats and lawyers from many differentpartiesandgroupsmetanddebatedmajorissues.ThechroniclerUlrich Richentalprovidedanindepthreportaboutthemostimportanteventsatthe Council,whichwerealsoreflectedinnumerousotheraccounts,includingsome poemsbytheSouthTyroleanpoet,landedgentry,andstatesmaninspeOswald vonWolkenstein(1376/1377–1445). KingSigismund’sentryintothecityinDecember1414,thecelebratoryintroitus, requiredextensivepreparationsinvolvingtheentireurbancommunityandothers and led to most splendid ceremonies serving to display, on the one hand, the king’sesteemandpower,and,ontheother,theburghers’wealthandpolitical independence.Thelengthyprocessprovedtobeanidealoccasion,orchallenge, forburghersandaristocratsalike,voluntarilyorinvoluntarily,tosharethesame urban space, both metaphorically and literally, considering, for instance, the tremendousneedtofindhousingforthethrongsofpeopleattendingtheentryand thenthecouncilitself.Richental’schronicleprovestobetrulyremarkablebothfor itsdetailedaccountoftheeventsandfortherichillustrationprogram.Thissource, amongothers,allowsHirschbiegelandZeilingertoanalyzethespecificaspectsof this ceremonial entry into Constance and to focus on the individual media strategiesemployedtoenhancethepublictheatricalcharacterofthisprocession. Althoughthespectaculareventseemstohavebeenhighlyexceptional,bringing theeverydaylifeexperiencetoahalt,almosttheoppositecanbeobservedtosome extent,asthetwoauthorsconfirm.Ofcourse,theexceptionalsituationcannotbe doubted,butthevariouschroniclesoutlineveryspecificallytheenhancingand profilingeffectoftheintroitus,sheddingintensivelightonthenormalconditions inthecitywhere,asHirschbiegelandZeilingerconclude,thecourtlyandthecivic met much more commonly and shared a considerable degree of interests and values.306

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Thomas Zotz, “Adel in der Stadt des deutschen Spätmittelalters: Erscheinungsformen und Verhaltensweisen,”ZeitschriftfürdieGeschichtedesOberrheins141(1993):2250;PierreMonnet, “DoitonencoreparlerdepatriciatdanslesvillesallemandesdelafinduMoyenÂge?,”Bulletin delaMissionHistoriquefrançaiseenAllemagne32(1996):5466;MartinAurell,“WesternNobility intheLateMiddleAges,”NoblesandNobilityinMedievalEurope:Concepts,Origins,Transformations, ed.AnneJ.Duggan(Woodbridge,Suffolk,andRochester,NY:Boydell,2000),263–73;Edward Coleman,“CitiesandCommunes,”ItalyintheCentralMiddleAges1000–1300,ed.DavidAbulafia. TheShortOxfordHistoryofItaly(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,2004),27–57,255–57;Birgit Studt,“ErinnerungundIdentität:DieRepräsentationstädtischerEliteninspätmittelalterlichen Haus und Familienbüchern,” Haus und Familienbücher in der städtischen Gesellschaft des SpätmittelaltersundderFrühenNeuzeit,ed.eadem(Cologne,Weimar,andVienna:Böhlau,2007),

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Astownsandcitiesgrewovertimeandreachedunforeseendimensionsinthelate Middle Ages, urban space also became increasingly the site for public entertainment,primarilyintheformofplays,oftenreligiousinnature,butthen alsoShrovetideplaysandothersecularplays.KlausAmannandMaxSillerfocus ontheareaofTyrol(todaysplitbetweenAustriaandItaly)andexaminetherich traditionofplayscomposedandperformedintheTyroleanurbancenters.These plays came into being parallel to a veritable explosion of popular songs that circulatedfarand wideandsoonmadetheirwayintooftenvoluminoussong collections,mostlycommissionedbywealthyburghersorpatricians.307Oneofthe bestknownlovesongs,“Isbruck,ichmusdichlassen,”enjoyedgreatpopularity farintothemodernageandpowerfullyreflectsthestrongattractionofurban centersasthesitefornewtypesofanidentificationprocess.Othersongs,suchas the“Glurnssong,”referredtomilitaryandpoliticalconflictscloselyassociated with towns, and were probably produced by members of the respective community. Amann and Siller, however, focus especially on dramas, particularly those collectedandstagedbyBenediktDebsandVigilRaber.Theseshedimportantlight on sociological and ideological aspects within the city, such as the gender relationships, class structures, ethical and moral issues, then on political and economicconditions,andfinallytheyalsoillustrate,ofcourse,powerfulreligious themesandtopicspubliclydebatedandhereperformedonthestage.Asthetwo authors observe, the passion plays were regularly acted out by male representativesoftheuppersocialclasses,whereaswomenwereabsent,andso aristocratseventhoughtheyhadtheirrepresentativesintheBozencitycouncil, forinstance.Moreover,theclergyisentirelymissing,indicatingthattheplays servedprimarilyasamodeofselfidentificationfortheupperranklaypopulation. Notsurprisingly,someoftheplaysalsoincludesubtleandnotsosubtlecriticism ofchivalryandhenceofthearistocraticclass.Nevertheless,thisdoesnotmean thatnoneofthesecularplaysincludedtraditionalthemesormotifsborrowedfrom medievalheroicepics,forexample,whichallowedtheactorstodemonstratetheir fencingskills.Tournamentsandjoustsobviouslyappealedtourbanaudiencesas well,despitetheattemptsbythecitiestodistancethemselvesfromthetraditional

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1–31;here3–5,offersanexcellentoverviewoftherelevantresearchliterature.NowseealsoPaul Oldfield,CityandCommunityinNormanItaly(CambridgeStudiesinMedievalLifeandThought. FourthSeries(Cambridge,NewYork,etal.:CambridgeUniversityPress,2009),184–225.Heoffers plentyofevidencepertainingtothespecialregioninSouthernItaly,whichcanalsobeusedin supportoftheclaimmadeherewithregardtotheinterminglingofthesocialclassesinConstance andotherSouthernGermancities. AlbrechtClassen,DeutscheLiederbücherdes15.und16.Jahrhunderts.Volksliedstudien,1(Münster, NewYork,etal.:Waxmann,2001).

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nobility.308Overall,however,asAmannandSillerconclude,theratherpopular playsinlatemedievalandearlymodernTyroleancitiesreflectagrowingsense ofurbancultureandurbanidentity,irrespectiveofmanytraditionalelementsthat stilldominatedthestage. NotonlydidcitylifeconsiderablyexpandinthelateMiddleAges,bothartistsand writersalsodrewincreasinglyfromthedailyexperienceandlivingconditionsin cities,asIhaveobservedseveraltimesabove.JeanE.Jost,inhercontributionto this volume, demonstrated how much Chaucer utilized urban space, encompassingbothinteriorandexteriorlocations,centrallocationsandliminal areas, for the development of his narratives. Connie Scarborough extends this observationthroughhercarefulreadingoftheSpanishComediadeCalistoyMelibea byFernandoRoja,firstprintedin1499andpublishedca.threeyearslaterina considerablyexpandedversionasTragicomediadeCalistoyMelibea.Indeed,here allthemajormovesbytheindividualprotagoniststhroughoutthecityunderscore therelevanceofurbanspaceasthenewsettingwhereallcentralaspectsoflifeare carriedout.Butthecityalsoprovidedtheframeworkforcrimesandallkindsof violence;henceventuringoutofthehousecouldbehighlydangerous,especially forthoseseekingeroticadventures.309Althoughanightwatchorguardianspatrol the streets, the Tragicomedia indicates how much people actually feared the lawlessnessofthenightinthecity.310 Another major characteristic of latemedieval urban life proves to be a clear senseoftime,determinedbypublicclocks.Ofcourse,timemeasurementhadbeen practicedthroughouttheMiddleAges,especiallyinmonasteries,butinRoja’s earlymodern text we observe a new emphasis on time pressure and time sensitivity, structured by a mechanical device, the clock.311 Scarborough also identifies the significance of the plaza, the major central market place where criminalsarepunishedinthepresenceoftheentirepopulationaswitnessesand

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See, for instance, Waltraud Hörsch, “Adel im Bannkreis Österreichs: Strukturen der HerrschaftsnäheimRaumAargau–Luzern,”GuyP.Marchal,Sempach1386:VondenAnfängen des Territorialstaates Luzern. Beiträge zur Frühgeschichte des Kantons Luzern (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn,1986),353–403;ArendMindermann,AdelinderStadtdesSpätmittelalters:Göttingen undStade1300bis1600.VeröffentlichungendesInstitutsfürhistorischeLandesforschungder UniversitätGöttingen,35(Bielefeld:VerlagfürRegionalgeschichte,1996);DerHofunddieStadt: Konfrontation,KoexistenzundIntegrationinSpätmittelalterundFrüherNeuzeit.Hallea.d.Saale,25–28. September2004,ed.WernerParavicini.Residenzforschung,20(Ostfildern:Thorbecke,2006). SeealsothecontributiontothisvolumebyPatriciaTurning. JeanVerdon,NightintheMiddleAges,trans.GeorgeHoloch(1994;NotreDame:Universityof NotreDamePress,2002);TzotchoBoiadjiev,DieNachtimMittelalter,trans.fromtheBulgarianinto GermanbyBarbaraMüller(2000;Würzburg:Königshausen&Neumann,2003). ForacriticalsurveyoftimeandmeasurementintheMiddleAges,seeCamarinM.Porter,“Time MeasurementandChronologyinMedievalStudies,”HandbookofMedievalStudies,ed.Albrecht Classen(BerlinandNewYork:deGruyter,forthcoming).

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audience.Nevertheless,urbanspaceisalsodeterminedbyprivatespaces,suchas houseswiththeirlivingquartersandbedrooms,and,aboveall,gardens,where lovers meet, for instance (see also Jost’s observations in this regard). For the narrativedevelopmentoftheTragicomedia,andapparentlyindirectreflectionof latemedievalurbanlifeatleastinSpain,wallsanddoorsconstitutemajormarkers ordividers,indicatingthecomplexityofurban spacebothoutsideandinside. SimilarlyasinItaliancities,towersalsofigureprominentlyinthisurbanlandscape (seethefrescoesbyAmbrogioLorenzetti,asdiscussedabove). Nevertheless,despitealleffortsbytheupperclasstoseparateitselffromthe lower class by means of architecture (walls, towers, gardens, etc.), in the Tragicomedia urban space becomes the location where both meet and mingle, interact, and struggle to cope with each other in this dense living quarters. However, Celestina’s house, basically a brothel, is generally regarded with disrespect, as prostitution in general was viewed with very mixed feelings, although it played an important role in latemedieval cities and was certainly much more tolerated than in later centuries. But even Celestina was forced to moveherhousefromthecenterofthecitytoitsoutskirtsandtoliveatthatliminal spacewheretraditionalethicsandmoralswerenotsostrictlypursued. OthertypicalaspectsofurbanlifereflectedinRoja’sworkconcernlabor,therole of servants, money and payment, class distinctions based on one’s individual wealth,andhencealsotheconflictbetweenolderaristocraticcirclesandthenew urbanclassdrawingitsincomefromcapitalisticenterprises.Inotherwords,as Scarborough concludes, the Tragicomedia powerfully reflects the social transformationtakingplaceinthelatemedievalcitywhereoldandnewforces clashwitheachotherandyethavetolearnhowtodealwitheachother. AsAlbrechtClassenreconfirmsinhiscontribution,citiesinthelateMiddleAges andtheearlymoderntimeemergedasthecrucialcentersofeconomic,political, artistic, intellectual, cultural, and religious developments. One of the best representationsofthisglobalparadigmshiftcanbefoundintheworldchronicle by the Nuremberg medical doctor and humanist Hartmann Schedel, the Liber chronicarum (1495), to which major artists of his time, such as Albrecht Dürer, contributedsignificantandoutstandingwoodcutsdepictingindividualcities,such asNuremberg,placedrightinthecenterofthischronicle.Schedel’sworkstands out,aboveall,becauseofitslargenumberofhighlydetailedandmostimpressive cityscapes, or vedute, from all over Europe and even the Levant, including ConstantinopleandJerusalem.Thesescenesshowachangefromearlierviewsof medievalcities,limitedbytheircitywall,allowingtheviewerjusttoobservethe fortificationsystem,thecitygates,andperhapssomechurchtowersandacastle. Onthecontrary,theartistswhoseworksSchedelassembledmadegreateffortsto situatethecityalwaysinitscontext,openingmanyperspectivesontheenvirons,

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signalingtheimportanceofthehinterlandandthetravelroutesconnectingacity withtheentirecountry. But Classen’s focus rests not only on Schedel’s work. Instead he aims for a broadlyconceivedcomparativeperspective,takingintoviewalsotheelaborate and variegated city encomia composed by the Nuremberg cobbler poet, Hans Sachs(1494–1576).Thesemightnotrankamongthebestvernacularsixteenth centurypoetry,butinourcontexttheyserveexceedinglywelltoillustratethe considerableinterestinthecityasthecentrallocationforagrowingnumberof peoplewhocertainlypreferredlivingwithinanurbancommunityratherthanin thecountryside.SachsownedacopyofSchedel’schronicle,andinhisLobspruch derstattNürnbergfrom1530hedevelopedanintriguinglycomplexperspectiveon thiscitywhichenjoyedsomeofthehighestreputationasanurbancenterallover Germanyduetothecrafts,arts,humanisticendeavors,andpoliticspracticedthere, andalsoduetoitsoutstandingarchitectureandurbanspaces. Moreover, the Lobspruch also proves to be an important vehicle in Sachs’s political maneuvers to convince the city government to lift its ban on his publicationsthathadbecometoopoliticalforthewellbeingofNurembergina dangerousmilitaryclimate.Hence,Sachssingsasongofpraiseonthewholecity, and in this context also provides most detailed information about specific characteristicsofthisimperialcenter. Althoughthisencomiumexplicitlyservedtomeetapoliticalgoal,italsoreveals theextenttowhichthepoetdeeplyidentifiedwithNurembergandwantedto paintagloriouspictureofallthevarioussocialgroups,thegovernment,thecrafts, and the urban architecture. The operative word here is “vatterland” (198, 37; fatherland), but Sachs went one step further and described in his other city encomia additional locations situated along his own travel route through the Germanspeakinglandsduringhistimeasayoungjourneyman,whereasimilar civic pride could be observed. At times the poet even pursued historical perspectives, as if he had culled that information from Schedel’s chronicle, or comparableworks.Notcontentwithfocusingontheessentialelementsthatmake upacity,Sachsalsoincorporatedcommentsabouturbanspaces,suchasinhis encomiumonMunich(1565),andoneconomicevents,suchasmajormercantile fairsasinhisencomiumonFrankfurt(1568). AnotherintriguingfeatureinSachs’sencomiaprovestobethediscussionofthe roadsthatleadtoandfromthevariouscities,thenofbridges,ports,andmarkets, andthenalsoofspecificproductssoldbyindividualcitymerchants.Thatis,the emphasisnaturallyalsorestsontheeconomicimportanceoftherespectivecities. Ontheotherhand,therearealsoencomia,suchastheoneonHamburg(1569), thatlimitthemselvesalmostentirelytothehistoricalbackgroundanddimension. AndinthecaseofSalzburg(1549),Sachsevenmentionstheprofessionofbook printers—certainlyrepresentingoneofthemostimportantnewprofessionsin earlymoderncities.

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Even though often ridiculed by modern scholarship for certain perceived shortcomings,Sachsemerges,especiallybecauseofhisencomia,asaremarkable spokesperson of urban culture and urban identity, very much in the vein of HartmannSchedel’s worldchronicle.Whetherwecouldidentifyeitheroneof themwiththeRenaissanceinthenarrowsenseremainsquestionable,oratleast vague. Nevertheless, both provided most impressive documentation for the supremeimportanceofthecityforearlymodernculture,mentality,politics,and, aboveall,individualidentity.InacertainwaySachsfollowedthepictorialmodel developedinSchedel’schronicle,andwemightcertainlyarguethatthechronicle providedagoodframeworkforthepoettocreatehiscityencomia. Werarelyhearfromwomenwhattheythoughtaboutthecitywheretheylivedin andabouttheurbansocietyduringtheMiddleAgesandtheearlymoderntime at large. A remarkable exception proves to be Isabella Whitney’s “Wyll and Testament”from1573inwhichshereflectswithastoundingclarityandperception onLondonandthesocialillsthataffectitscommunity,deeplydeterminedby excessivemonetaryvaluesandalackofethicalideals.Infact,asMarilynSandidge illustratesinhercontributiontothisvolume,Whitneyemergesasaquitevocal critic of her world, exposing the extensive poverty and squalor in sixteenth centuryLondon.Butshewasnot,asearliercriticshaveassumed,amemberofthe lowestsocialclasses;insteadwemaysafelyarguethatWhitneybelongedtothe middleclassthatalsosufferedbadlyfromeconomicwoes,asautobiographical references in her text, but then especially the concrete criticism against the behavioroftheupperclassindicate.Consideringwhatshepublishedandwhom sheselectedasherprinters,wecanbecertainthatWhitneybelongedtoasmallbut dedicatedandactivegroupofearlymodernEnglishurbanliterati.Inthisregard wemightwellcompareherwithChristinedePizan(d.1432),asamoreorless independentandintellectualwriterofhertimewhoprosperedbecauseofher individualskillasawriterandbecauseofhertopics,focusing,especiallyinher “WyllandTestament,”onsocialproblemsinthecity. TheauthoraddressesLondoninpoetictermsasherownlover,butshelaments howmuchthecityhasabandonedher,andsothousandsofotherpeopleaswell who cannot survive in the city due to lack of money and jobs. In contrast to traditional city encomia, Whitney mostly ignores any church structures or institutions; instead she directs our attention to public spaces and streets populatedbycrowdsofordinarypeople.Althoughsheemphasizestherichness and complexity of the city as such, she also complains about pollution, noise, crammedlivingconditions,andso,altogether,viewsLondonrathernegatively. Inher“WyllandTestament”Whitneyalsooutlinesinremarkabledetailthe economicstructureofLondon,specifyingwherethevarioustypesoffoodare being sold, where the specific craftsmen have their workshops, and then also wherephysiciansandapothecariescanbefoundhelpingpeopleintheirmedical

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needs.Heretheauthorembarks,asSandidgeobserves,onanincreasinglycritical strategy,revealingthesocialwoesthatbadlybesetearlymodernLondon,andshe doesnotneglecttomentiontheprostitutesandbathhouses,clearlyprofilingthe strongcontrastsbetweenthepoorandthewealthy,betweensocialmiseryand aristocratic luxury, underscoring the injustice and inequality characteristic of sixteenthcenturyurbansociety.Thisfindsitsmostimpressiveexpressioninher discussionoftheprisonsthatwerefilledtoalargeextentwithpeoplewhosimply couldnotpaytheirdebtsanddidnotgeta‘bailout’asinmodernsocietyduring the current global economic crisis (2009). Poor relief came trickling in only sparingly,andtheeconomicandsocialsufferingwasgreat,asWhitneysawit. Thefinalcommentsin“WyllandTestament”concernthelegalsystemandthe Inns of Court situated far outside of the city center, safely protected from the squalor and poverty that dominated the heart of London. It might well be, as Sandidge speculates, that Whitney intended this last section of her text as an appealtotheyounglawstudentstopursuejusticeandtoprovidelegalhelpinthe futuretothosewholanguishawayinprisonsbecauseoftheirinabilitytopayback theirdebts.Tobesure,thistextaddressesthemiddleclassandtriestolaythe foundationforadiscourseamongtheliterarymindedintellectualsandreaderson thewellbeingoftheurbancommunityandonthedangersforLondonresulting from bad financial conditions, poverty, illness, and subsequent criminality. AlthoughWhitneydoesnotseemtohavepursuedanaggressiveagendainher socialcommentary,shecertainlyappealedtoheraudiencetoreachouttothosein need,bothfinanciallyandmedically,thusaimingforaglobalimprovementofthe lifeinthemetropolitancityinexplicitlysocialterms. Whereasmostofthecontributionstothisvolumeconcentrateonurbanspaceand citiesthatdevelopedincentral,southern,orwesternEuropeduringtheMiddle Agesandbeyond(butseePnarKayaalp’sarticle),MichaelE.Boninetakesusto theMiddleEastwhereurbanculturehadalreadyplayedasignificantrolesince thetimeoftheancientGreekandRomancivilizations.However,withthecoming of the Islamic religion, many aspects of urban culture changed considerably, deeplydeterminedbyshari’a(Islamiclaw)andthelocalcustomarylaw(urf).One ofthemostimportantcentralpointsintheMuslimcitywaswaqf,orreligiously endowedproperty,whichcanbediscoveredinmanydifferentcountrieswherever theIslamicreligiondominated.AsBonineillustrates,waqfemergedasthecrucial socialinstitutionofferingawiderangeofsocialservicesfortheurbanpopulation in the Islamic world. Contrary to traditional viewpoints regarding the usual structureofwaqf,existingwithinunchangingtraditionalpatterns,Bonineshows that waqf experienced tremendous organic changes throughout time and depending on the specific context. In other words, his essay offers important information about the economic and social structures, developments, and

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functionsofapivotalsocialinstitutionwithintheurbancontextoftheMiddleEast, extendingtomanydifferentcountrieswhereverIslamdominated. AsBonineemphasizes,waqfassumedbothsecular,economicandpolitical,and also spiritualritual functions, perhaps somewhat similar to the countless cathedralsinmedievalEurope,thoughthesocialobligationstotheunderclasses seemtohavebeenstrongerintheEastthanintheWestthroughouttimes.We mightevenwanttogosofarastocorrelatethewaqftothespaceoutsideofthe Christianchurchinmedievalcities,althoughthepracticalfunctionswererather different after all. In particular, waqf provided rental income for the religious institution within the city, even though it was also subject to rather specific requirements,laws,andrents.Butwaqfcouldalsoturnintoprivatepropertyand hence then be subject to rather fluid economic forces and stipulations. Most commonly,asBonineillustrates,waqfownedcommercialpropertyandprovided itwiththenecessarymeanstocarryoutitssocialfunctions,suchastosupporta mosque,tomaintainpublicfountains,ortoprovidewelfarefortheneedy.Because ofitspeculiarcharacter,waqfcouldbeflexibleunderspecificcircumstances,even circumventingIslamiclaw(shari’a).Insomecasesthisinstitutioncouldalsopursue goalsverydifferentfromthoseinitiallyassociatedwiththeendowment,which hadoftenbeenestablishedbymembersoftherulinghouses. Afterhavinglaiddowntheprinciplesofwaqf,Bonineturnstoawiderangeof individualcasestudies,includingConstantinople/Istanbul,OttomanAleppoand Cairo,Damascus,Jaffa,SafavidIsfahan,Balk(Afghanistan),QajarTabriz(Iran), andevenJerusalem.Whetherthewaqfcontributedtothegrowingdensityofcity buildings, or whether its establishment affected the opposite depends on the variouscontexts,sobothphenomenacanactuallybeobserved.Sometimesrural propertyservedforthefinancialsupportoftheurbanwaqf,sometimesurbanspace was cleared to erect new buildings for waqf, and sometimes waqf initiated the establishment of a cemetery. As Bonine concludes, in many cases waqf truly contributed to the growing density of the medina, but in other instances waqf propertyledtodilapidationandhenceadeclineintheurbandensity. Atanyrate,Bonine’sarticleallowsustounderstandingreatdetailtheessence ofurbanspacewithintheIslamicworldfromthelateMiddleAgestotheearly modern world from a socioreligious, economic, and political perspective, combinedwithinsightsintourbanplanningaccordingtoMuslimprinciplesand ideals. DespitethebittermilitaryandreligiousconflictsbetweenChristianEuropeand theOttomanEmpire,thereisnodoubtthatwemustequallyintegratetheIslamic worldintoourglobalinvestigationsforafullunderstandingofthecultureand history of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Urban development in architectural,economic,andculturaltermstookplacealso,andverymuchso,in theregionsoftheeasternMediterranean.Infact,inhercontributiontothisvolume

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Pnar Kayaalp urges us to keep in mind that Istanbul was one of the largest European cities by the middle of the sixteenth century. She focuses on a new constructionproject,theMihrümah’smosquecomplex(külliye)inthedistrictof Üsküdar, across the Bosphorus, in 1543, as an example of earlymodern city planning, involving public and private buildings, imperial constructions and religiousones,primarilymosques.WhereasbeforeÜsküdarhadonlybeenan army and trading post, it now transformed into a truly urban center of great significance, shedding important light on how city planning took place in the OttomanEmpireduringatimewewouldalreadyidentifyastheRenaissance.Both the members of the imperial house as well as rich merchants, not to forget representativesofthereligiouscommunities,recognizedthefoundationofthe Mihrümah’s mosquecomplexasamostconvenientandappealingnewurban avenuewheretheycouldwithdrawfromthebustlingcityacrosstheBosphorus andenjoytheserenecoastalshore.Manymosqueswereerectedthereaswell,so Kayaalp’sinvestigationallowsforexcellentinsightintotheprofoundimpactthat theestablishmentofmosquescouldhavefortheurbandevelopmentatlarge.The topographicchallengeswereregularlymetwithingeniousarchitecturaldesign, whichallowstheauthortoofferadetailedcasestudyofthewayhowstrategically pursuedurbangrowthwasrealizedandthencontinuedovercenturiestocome. ButÜsküdarwasnotonlyasitefortheconcentrationofmosquesandpalaces. Overtime,schools,stables,barracks,andotherpublicbuildingwereaddedon. Mostimportantly,however,Kayaalpcanconvincinglydemonstratehowmuch deliberate planning determined the growth of this new urban center in an aestheticallymostpleasingandalsopragmaticallyeffectiveway,actuallynotfar removed from latemedieval and Renaissance urban planning in the rest of Europe.Charitableinstitutionscomplementedthegrowthofneighborhoodsfor privateresidents,whointurnreliedontheavailabilityofstoresandshops,which altogethertrulyledtotheemergenceofamoderncity,centrallydesigned,almost as a forerunner of a Baroque city. Moreover, Üsküdar continued to serve as a centrallocationforcaravansaries,allowinglargecontingentsofforeignmerchants torest,toprepareforthenextjourneys,andalsotoselltheirwares. Overall,asKayaalpunderscores,thecarefulplanninganddesigningofthisnew city supported many different purposes, bringing together the administrative, religious,educational,mercantile,military,andcharitablefunctionsinonesite.By investigatinghowÜsküdarwasfoundedandthendevelopedovercenturies,she can outline in impressive detail how an Ottoman city emerged and was then organicallyconstructedinthecourseoftime,amostintriguingtestcaseforthe historyoftheearlymoderncity. We commonly read that earlymodern European women experienced a considerabledeclineinpublicstatusandwereincreasinglyforcedtoretirewithin their domestic sphere because of male, specifically patriarchal, pressure. For

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instance, the year 1500 is normally regarded as the crucial watershed for patriarchalpowerstructuresgaininginpreponderance,asreflectedbythegrowth ofcapitalisticproductionmodesthatwerelessandlessanchoredinthefamily, hence mostly excluding women. We have, however, already seen in Shennan Hutton’spaperinthisvolumehowmuchacarefulanalysisoflocalconditionsin Ghent,forinstance,canforceustomodifythisperceptionandtotreatthiswhole complexofissueswithmuchgreatercareandanopenmind. MarthaMoffittPeacocktakesthenextboldstepinexamininghowseventeenth centuryDutchartistsdepictedwomen,whichquicklyoffersastrongcontrastto theprescriptiveandmoralizinglanguageusedbycontemporarydidacticauthors, suchasJacobCats.Peacocksuggeststhatasensiblearthistoricalapproachmight actuallyundermineourrelianceonCatsandothersintheevaluationofearly modern women’s economic and political roles in Netherlandish cities. For example,guildswerenotparticularlyloathetoallowwomentojointheranksof the guilds, and we can find numerous confirmations of women’s active participationintheeconomicsphere,bothasproducersandsellers,andalsoas shoppers. In other words, the extensive corpus of seventeenthcentury Dutch paintingsfocusingonmarketscenes,providessolidevidencethatpubliclifewas notsimplydominatedbymen.Onthecontrary,asPeacockunderscores,inmany of these genre paintings the men stand or sit in the background, portrayed as passiveandevenhelpless,whereastheindividualwomenarepresentedasactive, energetic, selfreliant, and dominant, without attracting the painters’ scorn or derisionforthisseeminglytopsyturvydomingenderroles. The Netherlands might have been the exception to the rule with regard to women’sinfluenceintheirsocietyasnumeroustravelersreportwithastonishment thattheyobservedhowmuchtheDutchwomenexertedextensiveinfluenceon theirciviccommunities.Thisisbestreflectedintheirinvolvementinthemarket activities,wheretheyevenoperatedverysuccessfullyontheirownasshopkeepers andtraders,bothincloseandequalpartnershipwiththeirhusbands,oralone, either as widows or as unmarried women. This finds confirmation in various social factors and legal traditions that appear to have benefitted women’s independence and power in this culture. In addition, much of this unique developmentisrelatedtotheriseinurbanizationandtheenormouseconomic boomwhichtheNetherlandsenjoyedduringtheseventeenthcentury. Most of this circumstantial evidence points to the realistic character of the market scenes in seventeenthcentury Dutch paintings that highlight most dramatically women’s renewed or recently gained strength in all walks of life within the city. Not surprisingly, we also come across a number of paintings portraying women as regents who here emerge as powerful and independent individuals.Thisalsofindsexplicitexpressionintheartisticrepresentationofa plethoraofwomenasshoppers,orbuyers,henceasasocialgrouptheydominate the urban commerce most markedly, at least according to the arthistorical

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evidence.Afterall,hereweseewomenwhocontrolthemoney,handitout,collect it,ordistributeit,commandingtheeconomiclifelineofthecity’smarketinglobal terms. As Peacock emphasizes, the images not only show ordinary women as consumers;manytimestheartistsdepictelegantlydressedwomenshoppingthat therebyreflecttheoverallgrowthinwealthinseventeenthcenturyDutchurban society. Moreover, when inflation hit the markets, women knew how to exert their muscles,asrecordedinthevarioushistoriesregardingrevolts.Thus,itislikely that Dutch artists primarily created their works for female customers, who obviouslyfeltgreatprideintheirindependenceandeconomicandpoliticalpower. Thetriumphofthecitythusalsocreatedthegroundworkforwomentoovercome ancient patriarchal stereotypes and prejudices, and the disrespect and disadvantagesthataccompaniedthoseoldtraditions. WhendidurbandwellersinmedievalandearlymodernEuropebegintofindthe pollutionoftheircitiesandtheuncontrolleddepositingofwasteproductsand excrementinthestreetsandopenspacesnotonlyobnoxious,butalsodisgusting andintolerable?AboveinthisIntroduction,Ihavealreadydiscussedthestrategy employedbyastudentagainstpeasantswhoregularlyrelievethemselvesinthe backyard right under the student’s window, as described in a jest narrative (Schwank) by Hans Wilhelm Kirchhof (ca. 1560). For him, being constantly confrontedwiththeexcrementalsmell,thesituationsoonbecomesunbearable, whichforceshimtotakeenergeticstepstoscarethepeasantsandchasethem away.Inotherwords,therewasaclearsensealreadyatthattimethatdefilingthe city,whereveritmightbe,constitutedaninsulttohumansensesandwasnot reallyacceptable.AndBrittC.L.Rothauser,inhercontributiontothisvolume, focusingonfourteenthandearlyfifteenthcenturyEnglishtexts,findsplentyof evidence already pointing into that direction.312 But as Allison P. Coudert can

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InherreviewofSusanSigneMorrison’sExcrementintheLateMiddleAges(2008),ValerieAllen correctlypointsoutthatitmightbesomewhatmisleadingtosubscribetothegeneralizingnotion thatbythelateMiddleAgesurbanauthoritiesincreasinglydealtwithhumanexcrementasdirt andasdespicablematterthathadtoberemovedoutofsightandsmell.Certainly,excrementwas dirt,butthenegativeorpositive(!)connotationofdirtdependsverymuchonitspracticaluse (suchasfertilizer)oruselessness,andalsoonthelocationwhereitisdeposited.Inparticular,she referstoToftGreeninfifteenthandsixteenthcenturyYorkthat“wastheonlywideopenspace positionedinsidethecitywalls,inthesouthwest,besideMicklegateBar.Itwastherethatcattle markets and weekly horsemarkets were held (yielding plenty of manure), and the site also boastedalargemiddenforthedumpingofcityrefuseandoffal,providingfertilizerforsoiland crops” (The Medieval Review, online, 09.03.08). See also Angelo Raine, Mediaeval York: A TopographicalSurveyBasedonOriginalSources(London:JohnMurray,1955),244–45.Allenthen goesontopleadformuchmoreinterdisciplinaryresearchinthisregard:“Itisperhapstimefor literary studies of the scatological to merge their appreciation of the symbolic and cultural significanceofexcrementwiththescientificfindingsofarchaeology,chemicalsoilanalysis,and

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demonstrate,thefundamentalproblem,i.e.,thelackofappropriatetoiletsanda functioningsewersystem,didnotfindaneasysolution,andittookaveritable paradigm shift in the eighteenth century to make people react with real vehemence and radical protests to the soiling of urban space with human excrements.Whereasinearliertimesdirtwasregardedasamundaneproblem, which could easily be interpreted in a metaphorical fashion, in the eighteenth century a scientific revolution concerning olfactory sensation took place that subsequentlyledtothestrictcondemnationoffoulsmellsandallkindsofwaste productsasunacceptableforfinesociety.Thisevenwentsofarastoaffectthe purificationoftheFrenchlanguage,forinstance,whichwasdeliberatelycleaned ofanywordsassociatedwithexcrements. AsCoudertobserves,afterthegreatfireofLondonin1666,profoundchanges tookaffectconcerningpublichygiene,expressedinnewbuildingcodesespecially concerningthetreatmentofwasteproducts.WriterssuchasSwiftandDefoeand artistssuchasHogarthtookclearnoteofthedisgustingappearanceofDublinor Londonandsatirizedboththeurbanpopulationandthegovernmentintheirwitty criticismconcerningwidespreaddepositingofdirt.Butcontinentalwriterssuch asJohannWolfgangGoethealsoobservedwithdisgusttheextenttowhichcities were soiled everywhere. For Pierre Chauvet Paris was the “center of stench,” obviouslyechoingalargepublicsentiment. Mostsignificantly,Coudertattributesthischangingattitudetowarddirtand refuse to the development of a new hypersensitivity to foul odors especially among the upper classes, and explains this as a reaction to new scientific discoveriesregardingthehighlyheterogenouscompositionofairatlargewhich couldeasilycarrydangerousgerms(miasmatheory).Commonlypeoplevoiced greatconcernaboutallkindsoffissuresoutofwhichcouldemergeevilsmells, whichwasnolongernaivelyassociatedwithsuffumigationcomingfromHell,but insteadwithdangerousgasesexitingfromtheearth.Modernsciencehadentered theworldofhygiene,andsuddenlytheuppersocialclasses,especiallyincities, triedhardtodistinguishthemselvesfromthelowerclassesalsointermsofsmell. Bywayofthenosetherichandpowerfulknewhowtoseparatethemselvesfrom the poor and downtrodden, and so the smells in eighteenth and nineteenth century cities provided a critical instrument for the differentiation among the socialclasses. Thisdoesnotmean,however,asCoudertunderscores,thattheseelitescould simply eliminate all the dirt and bad smell around them, as efforts to install modern sewer systems were slow and not as effective as desired. But the derogatorycommentsandthegeneralridiculeofthosewhosehygienedidnot meetnewlydefinedsocialstandardsprovidedtheupperclassesastrategytoclose

environmentalstudies.”

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theireyestotherealityofhumanlife,henceoftheactualhygienicconditionsof theirtime.Nevertheless,forthembodyodor,orratherlackthereof,hadsuddenly becomeamajormarkerofsocialclassattribution.313 Asthecontributionstothisvolumedemonstrate,andascountlessnewresearch projects, book publications, and conference activities indicate, the world of medieval and earlymodern urban space proves to be a most fascinating and productivetopicthatinvitesevernewanalysis.Bystudyingurbancultureand urbanpopulations,byexaminingtheliteraryandarthistoricalevidencereflecting medievalcities,wearequicklyputintoamostpowerfulpositiontogainfurther insightsintoaplethoraofdiverseaspectsrelevantforeconomic,political,cultural, religious,andartistichistory.AsPaulOldfieldnowcommentsregardingcitiesin twelfthcenturyNorman,orSouth,Italy,“Thecitieswereactiveparticipantsin, not the supine victims of, wider, volatile events. . . . South Italian urban communitieswereconstantlyinapositiontomakechoices,andchoicesbrought avoiceandpower....Atthesametimethereisagreaterevidenceofthefluidity ofthesocialorderingofurbancommunities,whilethenotionofcitizenshipand civicidentityacquiredgreaterarticulation.”314Herightlywarnsusnottoequate modernnotionsof“apovertystrickenSouth”withtheactualurbanconditionsin theMiddleAgeswhenthecitizenswereconsiderablymorecapabletoexpress their political opinion and to establish a certain degree of freedom and independencethanwemightassumetoday.315Thecontributorstoavolumewith proceedingsresultingfromaninternationalconferenceonasimilartopicheldat Nájera, Spain, in 2006, mostly confirm these observations, but concentrate primarilyonthesituationontheIberianPeninsula.316

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Forasomewhatdifferentviewpoint,seeUlrichRosseaux,StädteinderFrühenNeuzeit.Geschichte kompakt(Darmstadt:WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,2006),whowarnsusfromprojecting tooquicklyfromgenerallamentsaboutpoorhygienicconditionsinnineteenthcenturycitiesto thoseintheMiddleAgesandtheearlymoderntime.SeealsoBeaLundt,EuropasAufbruchindie Neuzeit 1500–1800: Eine Kultur und Mentalitätsgeschichte. Kultur und Mentalität (Darmstadt: WissenschaftlicheBuchgesellschaft,2009),40–41.ButCoudert’sevidencestillholdsbecauseshe dealswiththeimpactofthemiasmatheoryonattitudestowardstenchandfilthatlarge,andon theattitudetowardwasteproductswithinearlymodernurbanlife. PaulOldfield,CityandCommunityinNormanItaly,264. Oldfield,CityandCommunity,265.SeealsoBeaLundt,EuropasAufbruchindieNeuzeit1500–1800), 39–52. Laciudadmedievalysuinfluenciaterritorial:Nájera.EncuentrosinternacionalesdelMedievo2006,ed. BeatrizArízagaBolomburuandJesúsÁngelSolórzanoTelechea(Logroño:InstitutodeEstudios Riojanos,2007).

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Inthisregard,thestudiesassembledherepromise,asIhope,toshedfurtherlight onfundamentalaspectsofmedievalandearlymodernculture,thehallmarkofour bookseries.Iwouldliketoexpressmygratitude,onceagain,toallcontributors fortheirmarvelousresearch,theirincrediblepatiencewithmeastheirnagging editor,andfortheircollaborationinrevisingallandeverypieceincludedhere manytimesuntiltheymetallexpectations.Mythanksalsogoouttothewonderful staffatWalterdeGruyterinBerlin,especiallytoMr.FlorianRuppenstein,and then,mostimportantly,Dr.HeikoHartmann,editorinchief,whohadinvitedme severalyearsagotolaunchthisbookseries.Awholesequenceoffuturevolumes is already in preparation. I owe also an expression of gratitude to my dear colleague Marilyn Sandidge for excellent assistance in reviewing and revising someofthecontributions.

C.DavidBenson (UniversityofConnecticut)

TheDeadandtheLiving:SomeMedievalDescriptions oftheRuinsandRelicsofRomeKnowntotheEnglish

Theformaldescriptionofcitiesispartofalongtraditionofepideicticrhetoric stretchingbacktoantiquitythatcontinuedintheMiddleAgesasarecognizable genre, in prose and poetry, of urban praise: the encomium civis or laus civis.1 Medievalexamplessurvivefromasearlyastheeighthcenturyandwereespecially prominentinItalywheretheyexpressedthegrowingsenseofcivicprideofsuch centersasMilanandVerona.Theseworkscelebratethematerialsplendorofcities (laudesurbium)—theirsitesandsucharchitecturalfeaturesaswalls,towers,and churches—andalsothevibrancyofciviclife(laudescivitatum)—theircultivation oftheartsandsciencesaswellasthewealthandcharityoftheircitizens.2Inthis, asinsomanyotherthings,Romewasdifferent.MedievaldescriptionsofRomedo notsomuchlaudthecurrentcityanditscitizens,butinsteadtaketheformof another, more backwardlooking kind of praise (elegiae urbium), an elegiac meditationontheancientremainsofthecity,itspaganmonumentsandbodiesof Christiansaints:thephysicaltracesofwhathadbeen.3

See,especially,ErnstRobertCurtius,EuropeanLiteratureandtheLatinMiddleAges,trans.Willard R.Trask(1948;1953;Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,1973),155–57;J.K.Hyde,“Medieval Descriptions of Cities,” Bulletin of the John Rylands Library 48 (1965–1966): 308–340; John Scattergood,“MisrepresentingtheCity:Genre,IntertextualityandFitzStephen’sDescriptionof London(c.1173),”ReadingthePast:EssaysonMedievalandRenaissanceLiterature(Dublin:Four CourtsPress,1996),15–36;andPaoloZanna,“‘Descriptionesurbium’andElegyinLatinand Vernaculars,intheEarlyMiddleAges,”StudiMedievali,3rdseries(1991):523–96. For this distinction and the idea of the elegiae urbium that follows, see Zanna,“Descriptiones urbium”;cf.alsoCurtius,EuropeanLiterature;morerecently,ClaireE.Honess,FromFlorencetothe HeavenlyCity:ThePoetryofCitizenshipinDante.ItalianPerspectives,13(London:Legenda,2006). Ishall,however,refertoallofthesemedievaldepictionsofancientRome,despitetheirelegiac

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ThemedievaldescriptionsofRomeportrayacitythatappearslargelyemptyof livingpeopleandisinsteadpopulatedbyinertfragmentsfromthedistantpast—a worldfamous ghost town. The eternal city, Golden Rome, once the arena of empire,marvels,andgloriousmartyrdoms,isnowadepositoryofrelicsandruins, thedebrisofdeath.TherearesignsoflifeinthemedievaldescriptionsofRome, buttheytendnottobefoundinthepresentcityorinthecivic,religious,and commercial activities of its citizens, but rather in the responses of individual writers,oftenvisitors,astheytrytointerprettheinanimateobjectstheyobserve. In addition to editions of the primary texts in Latin and English and bibliographicalmanuals,previousscholarlyworkonthemedievaldescriptionsof Rome,fromwhichIhavegreatlyprofited,tendtoconcentrateonsingletextsor onaparticularsubgroupoftexts,suchasthosethatdiscussthepaganremainsin thecityorthosethatdiscusstheancientchurchesandtheirholyrelics.Muchof thisworkhasbeenbroadlyhistoricalorantiquarianandattemptstoassessthe accuracy of these descriptions, which are often found wanting, as well as identifyingpossiblesources.Someofthebeststudiesarecommentariestoeditions andEnglishtranslations,whichwillbecitedwhentheyarediscussedbelow.My aiminthisessayislesstoestablishthetruthcontentortheoriginsofindividual textsthantotraceaparticular,paradoxicaltheme(therelationshipofdeathand life) across the spectrum of these rich materials. Perhaps the most ambitious previousattempttoconsiderseveralofthesedescriptions(includingthemore obviouslyliteraryworkofChaucer)istheessaybyJenniferSummit,thoughher primaryinterestisthewaysthesetextshandlethetransformationfrompaganism toChristianity,whichisonlyonepartofmyowninterestinthevarietiesoflife found in the inert remains of the ancient city. I concentrate on the English knowledgeoftheseaccountsofRome,andespeciallyontextsinthevernacular, andIpayparticularattentiontotwoneglectedworks:averseaccountofRome insertedintheMetricalVersionofMandeville’sTravelsandJohnCapgrave’svast SolaceofPilgrims. Thereweretwodifferent,ifoverlapping,classesofmedievaldescriptionsof Rome.Thefirst,whichincludestheMirabiliaanditssubsequentversions,Master Gregorius’sNarracio,andthebeginningofCapgrave’sSolace,focusesprimarilyon theclassicalremainsofthecity,thoughtheindividualwritersalsomentionthe ancientChristiancatacombs,commentontheChristiandestructionorrededication ofancientmonuments,or,inpassing,notethepresentnameofastructure.Byfar themostpopularexampleofthiskindofdescriptionisgenerallyknownafterthe

tone,bythemoreneutralterm“descriptions.”Thesedescriptionsaresometimescalledguidesto Rome,eventhough(despiteageneralresemblancetosomeaspectsofmodernguidesandthe probabilitytheyweresometimesusedthisway)thisisanincompletedesignationofworksoften moreaccuratelyidentifiedascatalogues,memoirs,orreportstofriendsandpatrons.

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title of its twelfthcentury Latin original, Mirabilia Urbis Romae (The Marvels of Rome),whichwasprobablyfirstputintheshapeknowntousabout1143.4The Mirabiliacontainsthreedifferentkindsofdescription:firsttheauthororcompiler provides a catalogue, little more than a list of names, of the different types of ancientstructuresinRome,suchasitswalls,gates,baths,arches,andcolumns; secondly,hetellsstoriesassociatedwithsomeprominentmonuments,suchasthe bronzeequestrianriderweknowasMarcusAurelius,theoversizedstatuesoftwo nakedmenandtheirhorsesweknowastheDioscuri(CastorandPollux),andthe Pantheon; finally, he traces an itinerary through the streets of Rome with its varietyofancientsitesbeginningattheVatican,crossingtheTiber,traversingthe centerofthecity,andendingbackacrosstheriverinTrastevere. I shall refer to the general tradition of the Mirabilia under that title, unless otherwisenoted, but nosingletitleorformadequatelyrepresentstheprotean variety of this extraordinarily plastic work, which is a prime example of a medieval“multitext,”touseatermcoinedforMandeville’sTravels.”5Theoriginal versionoftheMirabilia—itselfacompilationofoldertexts,informationcurrentin Rome,andpersonalobservation—wastransformed,withpassagesbothadded andsubtracted,asitwasadaptedintomultipleformsandlanguagesthroughout Europewellintothefifteenthcentury.6VersionsoftheLatinMirabiliawouldhave beenavailabletoEnglishvisitorstoRome,whereitwasabestsellerintotheage of print; examples were also copied into manuscripts produced for English readers.7ButthemostpopularformoftheMirabiliainEnglandseemstohavebeen theslightlylatertwelfthcenturyLatinversionknownastheGraphiaAureaeUrbis (ca.1155),oneofwhosemostcommonroutesofdisseminationwasasareduced version near the beginning of the influential thirteenthcentury Chronicon

ForrecentdiscussionsoftheMirabilia,see,especially,NineRobijntjeMiedema,Die‘Mirabilia Romae’:UntersuchungenzuihrerÜberlieferungmitEditionderdeutschenundniederländischenTexte. MünchenerTexteundUntersuchungenzurdeutschenLiteraturdesMittelalters,108(Tübingen: Niemeyer,1996);I‘MirabiliaUrbisRomae,’ed.MariaAccameandEmyDell’Oro(Rome:Tored, 2004);andDaleKinney,“FactandFictionintheMirabiliaurbisRomae,”RomaFelix—Formationand ReflectionsofMedievalRome,ed.ÉamonnÓCarragáinandCarolNeumandeVegvar.Church,Faith andCultureintheMedievalWest(AldershotandBurlington,VT:Ashgate,2007),235–52. Iain Higgins, Writing East: The ‘Travels’ of Sir John Mandeville. The Middle Ages Series (Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,1997),viii. ForeditionsofsomeofthelaterversionsoftheMirabilia,seeCodexUrbisRomaeTopographicus,ed. CarlLudwigUrlichs(Würzburg:Stachelianis,1871),113–69.Forarecentdiscussionandeditions ofsomeofthesetexts,seeCesareD’Onofrio,VisitiamoRomaMilleAnniFa:LaCittàdeiMirabilia. StudietestiperlastoriadellacittàdiRoma,8(Rome:RomanaSocietàEditrice,1988). SeethelistofmanuscriptsofvariousformsoftheMirabilia(andoftheStationesandIndulgentiae ofRometobediscussedbelow),classifiedbylanguage,inMiedema,Die‘MirabiliaRomae’In additiontomanuscriptswhoseprovenancearedefinitelyidentifiedasEnglish,otherssuggestthat theytoowereproducedforanEnglishaudiencebytheirinclusionofworksofEnglishhistory.

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PontificumetImperatorumbyMartinusPolonus(MartinofTroppau).8Inaddition tothevariousLatintextsoftheMirabiliatraditionaccessibletoEnglishreaders,at leasttwo,muchabbreviatedversionsofitsmaterialwereproducedinMiddle English. The most significant of these is a 400line addition in lively rhymed coupletsinsertednearthebeginningofthefifteenthcenturyMetricalVersionof Mandeville’sTravels.9ThelinesarebasedonMartinusPolonus’sredactionofthe GraphiasupplementedbydetailsfromlocalBritishhistory,suchasanaccountof how Julius Caesar defeated the British king “Cassiblian” (Cassivelaunus in GeoffreyofMonmouth)andbuilttheTowerofLondon(371–80). Theendofthetwelfthcenturyorbeginningofthethirteenthsawanother,more idiosyncraticLatindescriptionoftheRomanantiquities,theNarraciodeMirabilibus Urbis Romae by a certain Master Gregorius. The Narracio does not attempt to provide a comprehensive catalogue of the city’s ancient structures like the Mirabilia, but instead reports, ostensibly to some of his fellow clerks studying Scripture,themarvelsthatmostimpressedanddelightedGregoriusonhisfirst trip to Rome.10 Gregorius was most attracted to the artistic remains of Rome, broadlyconsidered,notonlytothesplendorofsomanystructuresbutalsoto images of all kinds, such as the narrative reliefs on triumphal arches and, in particular, the numerous bronze and marble statues whose skill he constantly

TheGraphiabothaddssomematerialtotheoriginalMirabilia(especiallyapreliminaryhistoryof RomethatemphasizesitsTrojanorigin,whichwouldhavebeenofspecialinteresttoEnglish readerswhoalsoclaimedTrojanancestors)andomitsothermaterial.Theseadditionsareoften markedintheoriginaleditionofFrancisMorganNichols’stranslationoftheMirabilia(Mirabilia Romae:TheMarvelsofRomeoraPictureoftheGoldenCity[London:EllisandElvey,1889]).These additionsarenotindicatedinthesecondeditionofNicholsusedandcitedbelow.Referencesto theLatinGraphiaaretotheeditionofRobertoValentiniandGiuseppeZucchettiintheirCodice TopograficodellaCittàdiRoma,vol.3.Fontiperlastoriad’Italia,pub.dalR.Istitutostoricoitaliano perilmedioevo.Scrittori.SecoliI–XV,90(Roma:TipografiadelSenato,1946),67–110.Forthe influenceofMartinPolonus,seeWolfgangValentinIkas,“MartinusPolonus’Chronicleofthe PopesandEmperors:aMedievalBestSellerandItsNeglectedInfluenceonMedievalEnglish Chroniclers,”EnglishHistoricalReview116(2001):327–41.ThemostrecenteditionofMartin’swork isMartiniOppaviensisChronicon,ed.LudwigWeiland.MonumentaGermaniaeHistoria,Scriptorum 22(1872;NewYork:Kraus,1963),37–482. AllquotationsofthistextarefromTheMetricalVersionofMandeville’sTravels,ed.M.C.Seymour. EarlyEnglishSociety,OS269(London:OxfordUniversityPress,1973);theyarecitedbyline numberandthespellingisslightlymodernized.Thereisalsoaseventylineversefragmentthat containsMirabiliamaterialeditedbyJohnScattergood,“AnUnpublishedMiddleEnglishPoem,” ArchivfürdasStudiumderneuerenSprachenundLiteraturen203(1967):277–82. QuotationsofGregorius’sNarracioarefromtheLatineditionofMagisterGregorius:Narraciode MirabilibusUrbisRomae,ed.R.B.C.Huygens.Textusminors,44(Leiden:E.J.Brill,1970)andthe Englishtranslations,slightlymodified,fromJohnOsborne,MasterGregorius:TheMarvelsofRome (Toronto:PontificalInstituteofMedievalStudies,1987).Allfurthercitationswillbeincludedin thetextandwillreferfirsttothepageandlinenumberoftheLatinoriginalandthentothepage numberoftheOsbornetranslation.

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praisesandwhosedestruction,alongwiththatofothermonuments,heblameson Churchmen,particularlySaintGregory,theavariceoftheRomanpeople,andthe simpleravagesoftime.NothingisdefinitelyknownaboutMagisterGregoriusto whomtheNarracioisattributedinitsprefatoryincipit,butheisgenerallyassumed withsomereasontohavebeenanEnglishcleric.11ThetextoftheNarracio,ina copythatisnottheoriginalandapparentlyissomewhattruncated,survivesina singlemanuscriptnowinCambridge,anditreachedawideEnglishaudience, learnedandvernacular,becauseofitsusebyRalphHigdeninhispopularearly fourteenthcentury Latin Polychronicon, still extant in some 135 complete manuscripts, which itself was twice translated into Middle English, most significantlybyJohnTrevisainthelatefourteenthcentury;fourteenmanuscripts ofTrevisa’stranslationalsosurvive.12 ThesecondclassofmedievaldescriptionsofRomeknowntotheEnglishwas addressedtodevoutpilgrims,notantiquarians,thoughitssubjectislikewisethe Romanpast.MorelikeaguidethantheMirabiliaandalsoextantinmanyforms, itenumeratestheremainsofearlymartyrsandotherrelicscontainedinthecity’s manychurchesaswellasthepardonfromsintheseobjectsoffertothedevout visitor.13ManyLatinmanuscriptcopiesofthisbriefguidearestillextantinEnglish libraries,anditsmaterialappearedinMiddle Englishinthefifteenth century, usuallyinundistinguishedverseofunderathousandlineswithmanyvariants fromtexttotext(thereisalsooneproseversion).14Theworkiscollectivelyknown inEnglishasTheStationsofRome,thoughthisisasomewhatmisleadingtitle.In fact,StationesproperlyweremedievalLatincalendarsthatidentifiedtheparticular churchinRomeatwhich,onanyday,butespeciallyduringLent,theprincipal massofthecitywascelebratedbythepopeorhisrepresentative.15TheMiddle

11 12

SeeOsborne,MasterGregorius,12–15. See,forexample,JohnTaylor,The“UniversalChronicle”ofRanulfHigden(Oxford:ClarendonPress, 1966);DavidC.Fowler,JohnTrevisa.AuthorsoftheMiddleAges,2(Aldershot:Variorum,1993); A.S.G.Edwards,“JohnTrevisa,”ACompaniontoMiddleEnglishProse,ed.id.(Cambridge:Brewer, 2004),117–26. Foranaccountofthesedescriptions,basedprimarilyonLatinexamplesintheBritishLibrary,see JamesHulbert,“SomeMedievalAdvertisementsofRome,”ModernPhililogy20(1923):403–24.For abriefaccountofthehistoryofindulgences(pardons),seeRobertW.Shaffern,“TheMedieval TheologyofIndulgences,”PromisaryNotesontheTreasuryofMerits:IndulgencesinLateMedieval Europe,ed.R.N.Swanson(Leiden:Brill,2006),11–36,and,now,RobertW.Shaffern,ThePenitents’ Treasury:IndulgencesinLatinChristianity,1175–1375(ScantonandLondon:UniversityofScanton Press,2007). Hulbert,“SomeMedievalAdvertisements,”notesthattherearevariationsintheLatintextshe studiedintheBritishMuseum.FortheextantMiddleEnglishversionsoftheStationsofRome, see,ANewIndexofMiddleEnglishVerse,ed.JuliaBoffeyandA.S.G.Edwards(London:British Library,2005),item1172. Thisusuallyinvolvedaprocessiontothestationalchurchandamassthere.SeeJohnF.Baldovin, S.J.,TheUrbanCharacterofChristianWorship:TheOrigins,Development,andMeaningofStational

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EnglishStations,despitetheirname,areactuallyversionsofarelatedtypeofLatin work,knownasIndulgentiae,whichcataloguestherelicsandpardonsinRoman churches. Stationes and Indulgentiae, as complimentary guides to what Roman churches had to offer pilgrims, are sometimes found together in medieval manuscripts.16 Material from both the Stationes and Indulgentiae, prefaced by a versionoftheMirabilia,isincludedinthemostambitiousdescriptionofRomein MiddleEnglish,TheSolaceofPilgrimesbytheAugustinianfriarJohnCapgrave, whichwaswrittenafterhisjourneytoRomeinabout1450andsurvivesinasingle incompletemanuscript.17Afteranopeningaccountoftheancientmonuments,the Solacedeclaresthatitwill,initssecondpart(whichultimatelyisexpandedtoa thirdpart),“tretithofthecherchisinRomeandofthespiritualetresourconteined inhem”(60).ThistheSolacedoesbyfirstdescribingthesevenprincipalRoman basilicasbeforecontinuingwiththestationalchurchesforeachdayinLentand concludingwithaccountsofothersignificantchurches. ThesemedievaldescriptionsofRome,whethertheirprimaryattentionisonthe ancientpaganorChristiancity,arealikeinfindingitsgloriouspastaccessibleonly bymeansofitsfewremainingphysicalfragments.Thecapitaloftheoncegreat RomanEmpirehasshrunktosomeravagedmonuments.Likewise,theholiness andheroismofthemartyrswhoconqueredthatempiresurviveinthetokensof their broken bodies. These accounts of the past show little curiosity about the residents or activities of presentday Rome. Master Gregorius occasionally mentionsthecardinalsasareliablesourceofinformationaboutthecity’spast,but neithertheNarracionoranyofourotherdescriptionshasanythingtosayaboutthe arcaneworkingsofthemodernpapalcourt,thereasonforsomanyEnglishtrips to Rome on ecclesiastic business. Similarly, we are not shown the elaborate religiousprocessionsthatoftenwoundthroughthecity’sstreets,suchastheone thatannuallyparadedamiraculousportraitofChristfromtheLaterantoS.Maria MaggioretoreunitetheimageoftheSonwithanequallywonderworkingportrait ofhisMother.18

16 17

Liturgy. Orientalia Christiana Analecta, 228 (Rome: Pont. Institutum Studiorum Orientalium, 1987).TheoriginalpurposeoftheRomanstationsmayhavebeenapapalattempttounitethe variousparishesandregionsofRome,butitalsoofferedaprogram(andperhapsanopportunity torest)forpilgrimstouringthecity’schurches. SeeMiedema,MirabiliaRomae. JohnCapgrave,TheSolaceofPilgrimes,ed.C.A.Mills(London:OxfordUniversityPress,1911).All quotations,withthespellingsomewhatmodernized,willbefromthiseditionandcitedbypage numberinthetext. HerbertL.KesslerandJohannaZacharias,Rome1300:OnthePathofthePilgrim(NewHavenand London: Yale University Press, 2000), chapter 3. Capgrave does mention the “solempne procession”heldattheLateranonPsalmSunday,buttheninsteadofgivingafullaccountofthis procession,hediscussesthehistoryofPsalmSundaycommemorationsthroughouttheChurch fromthetimeoftheApostlestoCharlemagne(146–47).InreferringtoRomansaintsandtheir

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CapgravesaysthemostaboutcontemporaryRome,thoughevenheprovides littlemorethanbriefglimpses,suchasnotinginpassingthatapassionplayisheld before S. Croce on Good Friday (79) or his speculation that women were not allowedintothechapelofrelicsatthesamechurcheitherbecausethewellknown tendency of female pilgrims “to touch and kisse every holy relik” might slow thingsdownorbecausethepressofthecrowdwouldhavebeendangerousforthe health of sick or pregnant women (77). Although the Solace lists the stational churchesatwhichpapalmassesweresaidduringLent,itsaysalmostnothing about these special liturgies, though Capgrave does, in his account of the last station,reportaslightdifferenceinthesayingoftheagnusdeifromtheEnglish custom (“as we do”), which he heard at “divers masses” (155). This unusual momentintheSolaceemphasizeshowlittleweareotherwisetoldabouttheactual religiouslifeofmedievalRomeinthesedescriptions.Amidaccountsofbothpagan and Christian remains, the contemporary city is not shown as an active, functioningcommunity,butinsteaditresemblesanabandonedfilmsetwhose actorsandtechnicianshavelongsincedeparted,leavingonlytheresidueoftheir stale dramas—a few scattered props and sagging backdrops—for the solitary visitortocontemplate. Contrast these accounts of the ruins and relics of ancient Rome with a civic descriptionwritteninthesamecenturyastheMirabiliaandGraphia(andperhaps thesamecenturyasMasterGregorius’sNarracio)portrayingacitymuchcloserto homefortheEnglishreader:theLatinencomiumofLondonwithwhichWilliam FitzstephenprefaceshislifeofSaintThomasàBecket,theDescriptioNobilissimae Civitatis Londonaiae (1173–1175).19 Like the Mirabilia and Graphia, Fitzstephen’s DescriptiomentionssomeofthenotabletopographicfeaturesofLondon,butits primaryattentionisonthecommunallifeofthepresentcityratherthanonitspast monuments.Fitzstephenannouncesattheendofhisprologuethathisaccountof Londonwillconsidertwoaspectsofthecity:itsphysicalsituation(situm)andits

churches, I have used the modern Italian forms of their names except for the most common examples,suchasPeterandLawrence,which,forclarity,IgiveasEnglishnames. QuotationsfromtheLatinDescriptioarefromMaterialsfortheHistoryofThomasBecket,Archbishop ofCanterbury:(CanonizedbyPopeAlexanderIII.,A.D.1173,ed.JamesCraigieRobertson.Rolls Series.RerumBritannicarumMediiAeviScriptores,67(London:HerMajesty’sStationeryOffice, 1877;rpt.[Nendeln,Liechtenstein:]Kraus1965),3.2–13.IalsousethetranslationbyH.E.Butler, withsomemodifications,inNormanLondon(NewYork:ItalicaPress,1990).Allfurthercitations willbeincludedinthetextandwillreferfirsttothepagenumberoftheLatinoriginalandthen tothepagenumbersoftheButlertranslation.Seethediscussionofthe workinScattergood, “Misrepresenting.”Fitzstephen’sworkhelpedtoshapetheEnglishconceptionofLondonthrough theseventeenthcentury.ItsurvivesinseveralLatinmanuscripts,wasincludedintheimportant fourteenthcentury register of London documents, the Liber Custumarum, and parts of it also appearedinanothermunicipalcollection,theLiberAlbus.Attheveryendofthesixteenthcentury itbothinspiredandwasfirstprintedasanappendixtoJohnStow’sSurveyofLondon.

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publiclife(rempublicam)(2,trans.48),buthisemphasisisverymuchonthelatter. TheDescriptiocelebratesthecitizensandsocialactivitiesofLondon,insteadofits architecturalmonumentsorholyshrines,makingitalauscivitatisratherthanalaus urbis. The city’s walls and gates, which begin the Mirabilia, are noted by Fitzstephen(3,trans.49),butthelengthoftheformerisnotmeasurednorarethe latternamed;insteadthesestructuresareshowninuse,notasdefensiveramparts but as recreational passages through which crowds of Londoners (especially youngLondoners)eagerlypasstoreachthepleasuresofthecountrysidebeyond, whethertakingtheairatsuburbanwellsinthesummer(3–4,trans.50)or,more ambitiously,skatingontheMoorfieldstothenorthofthecityinthewinter(11–12, trans.58–59).WithinthewallsofLondon,thebuildinggiventhemostattention is not a great church or palace (St. Paul’s is mentioned only briefly and not describedinanydetail),butamodest“publiccookshop”(publicacoquina)bythe Thames(5,trans.52).ThisseeminglyhumblecanteenispraisedbyFitzstephen becauseitisusefultomuchofthecityand“pertainingtotheartofciviclife”(Haec equidempublicacoquinaestetcivitatipluriumumexpediensetadcivilitatempertinens), beingopendayandnighttoservefoodtoalllevelsofsociety—therichandthe poor—andespeciallyconvenienttoresidentsifunexpectedguestsshouldarrive (6,trans.52).20Fitzstephenpresentsacurrentsocialpracticeratherthananaccount of the past. His London, in contrast to Rome in the medieval descriptions, is dynamicwiththeeverydayurbanactivitiesofcontemporarylife:tradesmenand laborersgoingeachmorningtotheirspecialdistrictsinthecity,publicdisplaysof schoolboywitandlearning;horsefairsinSmithfield.21 My comparison of London to Rome is not gratuitous, for Fitzstephen throughoutbothexplicitlyandimplicitlycontraststhetwocities,andalthoughthe EnglishboroughconspicuouslylacksboththepaganmonumentsandChristian saintsofitsancientrival,theDescriptioisinsistentthatitisthemorevitalofthe two, as seen especially in the extended emphasis given to the boisterous, competitivegamesthatareplayedindifferentpartsofLondonthroughoutthe yearbyyouths(maleyouths,Fitzstephen’sinclusivenesshasitlimits).Thevigor ofthesegamesanimatestheentirecity,asFitzstephenmakesclearinadetailed account of the ball games at Carnival played by both students and young tradesmen.Thegamesareobservedbytheeldersofthetown,andbecauseofthem theyfeelrejuvenated.Theirnaturalspiritsarerekindledbytheviolentactionthey see before them, and “by their partaking in the joys of untrammeled youth”

Despitethesingular,thereferenceheremaybetoarowofcookshopsratherthantoasingle establishmentbytheThames,whosedignityisenhancedbyFitzstephen’scitationofPlatoonthe artofcookingthatimmediatelyfollows. Ofcoursethisisaselectiveportraitofthecity,withnomentionofthepoororhospitals,for example,asScattergoodrecognized(“Misrepresenting,”19).

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(participatione gaudiorum adolescentiae liberioris) they feel young again (9, trans. 56–57).LondonisascommunalandconvivialasanyBakhtiniancouldwish. ThebustlingpublicactivityofFitzstephen’sLondonisabsentfromthemedieval descriptionsofRome.TheMirabiliaandtheNarracioofMasterGregoriusandtheir vernacular redactions do not mention the commercial life of Rome or the recreationsofitscitizensbecausetheirattentionisonthephysicalremainsofthe classicalcity.Andyeteventhesematerialobjectsarenotfullypresent—muchhas disappearedorisonlyinfragments.TheMirabiliabeginsconfidentlybylisting whatRome“has”(habet),suchasitswall,andthestructuresthat“are”(sunt)there, suchasitsgatesandarches(17.1and5,trans.4,5),butthenarrativesinthemiddle section are set in the remote past, “in the times of the senators and consuls” (temporibusconsulumetsenatorum),whenRomewasstillgolden(34.1,trans.21).22 Theperambulationthroughthecityinthefinalsectionagainandagainrecords whatwastherebutisnolonger,suchasthemanytemplesthat“asfarasIcan remember”(quaeadmemoriamducerepossum)hadoncebeenontheCapitol(51.7, trans.38). Many of the most active and ingenious of the marvels of Rome had now vanished.TheMirabiliaandatgreaterlengthGregorius’sNarraciotellofamagical systemofstatueswithbellsaroundtheirnecksrepresentingeachprovinceunder Rome’ssway(Mirabilia34.3–9,trans.21; Narracio18.214–19.239,trans.24).Ifa provincebecamerebellious,thebellontheappropriateimagewouldinstantlyring andthustheauthoritieswerealertedtoathreatthatneededattention.Butthese statuesandbellshavevanishedliketheempiretheyweremeanttoprotect.All thatisleft,accordingtoMasterGregorius,areportionsofthewallsofthebuilding inwhichthestatueswereanda“starkandinaccessible”(horrideetinaccessibiles) crypt (18.222, trans. 24). Even those ancient marvels that have not completely disappearedfrommedievalRomeareoftenbroken,uselessexcepttogazeupon. AlthoughMasterGregoriusbeginshisNarraciowiththestirringpanoramaofhis firstsightofRome,thetowersandpalacehesawlookingdownfromthehills,a closer examination of the city reveals, in a verse he quotes from Hildebert of Lavardin, a Rome that is “almost a total ruin” (prope tota ruina) and shattered (12.40,trans.18).AlthoughGregoriuspromptlydrawstheconsolingmoralthat Rome’sdeclineteachesustheimpermanenceofalltemporalthings,hisNarracio isarecordofhisgrowingindignationaboutthisdestruction.

QuotationsfromtheoriginalMirabiliaarefromtheeditionbyRobertoValentiniandGiuseppe ZucchettiintheirCodiceTopograficodellaCittàdiRoma,vol.3(Roma:TipografiadelSenato,1946), 3–65.Ialsouse,withsomemodifications,thetranslationoftheMirabilia(conflatedwithlater versions)byFrancisMorganNichols,TheMarvelsofRome,2nded.(1sted.,1889;NewYork:Italica Press,1986).Allcitationswillbeincludedinthetextandreferfirsttothepageandlinenumber oftheLatinoriginalandthentothepagenumberoftheNicholstranslation.

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IfthestructuresofancientRomearedecayedorvanishedinthesemedieval descriptions, its present inhabitants are largely invisible: the conclusion of the Mirabilialistsasoneofitssourcesthestorieshewastoldbyoldtimers(65.4,trans. 46),andMasterGregoriusoccasionallyreferstocardinalsandclerks,butnoneof thesefiguresmakesanactualappearanceineithernarrative.ClassicalRomansare even less on the scene, of course, because they are long dead, and funeral monumentsaregivenparticularattentionintheMirabilia,asinthebeginningof its perambulation, which describes the supposed sepulcher (sepulchrum) of Romulus (45.6, trans. 35), the elaborate temple of the Emperor Hadrian (now CastelSant’Angelo)containinghissarcophagus(46.5–47.3,trans.35–36)[Figure no.1]andthecastlebuiltbyAugustustoentombRome’semperors(47.8,trans. 36).Perhapsthemostrevealingexampleofasupposedmonumenttothedead, however,is that containingtheremainsofoneoftheempire’sgreatestrulers: JuliusCaesar.TheMirabilia,MasterGregorius,andCapgraveeachrecountthe legend that Caesar’s ashes were in a small round container at the top of the EgyptianobeliskthatistodayinthecenterofSt.Peter’sSquareandwasnearby intheMiddleAges(Mirabilia,43.7–44.8,trans.33–34;Narracio,28.513–29.548,trans. 34–35;Solace22–24)[Figureno.2].TheseaccountsofCaesar’spillar(or“needle” [agulia])commentonitsremarkableconstructionfromasinglestoneandsome discusstheemperor’slife(includinghisbloodyassassination)andaccomplish ments.TheMirabiliaandCapgravedrawspecialattentiontothesuitabilityand ironyofhisrestingplace,forjustashewasruleroverallmen,nowallstillremain belowhisfinalperch,butthecontrastbetweenCaesarlivingandCaesardeadis starkandpoignant: Caesar,youwereonceasgreatasistheworld, Butnowyouareenclosedinasmallcave. Caesar,tantuserasquantusetorbis, Sednuncinmodicoclauderisantro. [Mirabilia,44.5–6,trans.33]

Caesar,likeRome,isamuchdiminishedthing,thereareonlyfragmentsofashes, enclosedina“litilden”accordingtoCapgrave(24),totestifytowhatoncewas alive. In addition to actual tombs, some of the most prominent classical statues describedintheseworksaresaidtohavebeendesignedasmemorials,intended to preserve the fame if not the bodies of their subjects after death. The gilded bronzestatueofthemountedequestrian(nowrecognizedasMarcuseAurelius) wasespeciallyadmiredbythewriteroftheMirabiliaandbyMasterGregorius,as it has been ever since by so many others (Mirabilia, 32.3–33.22, trans. 19–21;

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Narracio13.56–16.163,trans.19–22).23IntheMiddleAgesthestatuewasplaced beforetheLaterancomplex,asdepictedinafifteenthcenturyfrescobyFilippino LippiinthechurchofS.MariasopraMinerva,perhapsinthemistakenbeliefthat it represented the first Christian Emperor Constantine [Figure no. 3]. In the sixteenthcenturythefigurewasmovedtotheplazaontopoftheCapitolineHill, whereacopystandstoday,withtheoriginalindoorsnearby,protectedfromthe elements[Figureno.4].Ourauthorsgivesomewhatdifferentstoriesaboutthe identityofthehorseman(Gregoriusoffersachoiceoftwo),but,aswithanother monumentalimageoftwomenandtheirhorses,nowknownastheDioscuri,the equestrianstatuteissaidtohavebeenspecificallyintendedasaremembrance:“a memoriallinmindeforevermore”asTrevisa’stranslationofthePolychronicon’s puts it (231).24 Even before telling of the deed that earns the horseman this monument,heisalreadyimaginedasdeadandgone.Analternativeexplanation ofthestatuebyMasterGregoriusevenmoreexplicitlyassociatesthehorseman withdeath:whennooneelseiswillingtosacrificehimselfbyridingintoachasm thathadbroughtafatalplaguetoRome,theleaderoftherepublicdoessohimself andtherebysavesthecitybyhisowndestruction. Inadditiontomanythatcontainorrepresentthedead(andothersthatwere adaptedtootherpurposes),theclassicalstructuresandstatuesinthemedieval descriptionsofRomewereoftensubjectedtodeliberateactsofannihilation.These monumentsbecameruinsnotonlybecauseoftheinevitabledecayoftime,but also,liketheEnglishmonasteriesunderHenryVIII,their“dissolution”isshown tobetheresultofapolicyofexterminationbythenewreligion.Alaterversionof theMirabiliaaddsadetailedaccountoftheColosseum,thenasnowanexample ofbothRome’sgloryanditsdecline,whichisonlymentionedinpassinginthe original version [Figure no. 5]. Not understanding the true function of this immensestructure,thefourteenthorfifteenthcenturywritercallsitatempleand declarestherewasagiganticstatueofthesuninahallcontainingamodelofthe firmament with functioning sun and moon that produced actual thunder and rain.25Anespeciallydramaticaccountofthistempleanditsstatue(andtheirfate)

Forabriefaccountofthehistoryofthisstatue,seethecommentarybyOsbornetohistranslation ofMasterGregoriuscitedabove,43–48. QuotationsfromJohnTrevisa’sEnglishtranslationofRalphHigden’sPolychroniconarefromthe firstvolumeoftheRollsedition,ed.ChurchillBabington(London:Longman,1865),andwillbe citedinthetextbypagenumber. TheaccountoftheColosseuminthislaterversionoftheMirabiliaiseditedbyUrlichs,Codex, “QuartaClassis,”136,cf.also160;itistranslatedinNichols’sMarvels,28–29.Thispassageisfull ofinformationrejectedbymodernscholarsbutreflectingmedievalviews:thegreatstatuereferred towasprobablyerectedbyNeroandwaslaterplacedoutsidetheColosseum,which,ofcourse, wasnotatemple.Theheadandhandsaidtobefromthisstatueareprobablyfromanotherstatue ofanemperorandarenowdisplayedintheCapitolineMuseum.SeethenotestoSeymour’s editionoftheMetricalVersionofMandeville,91,andOsborne’scommentarytoMasterGregorius,

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isgiveninthedescriptionofRomeinsertedintotheMetricalVersionofMandeville’s Travels (385–412). The poet begins by praising the Colosseum as the “moost mervailoustempleofalle”withhighwalls,towers,and“peintedallewithriche coloures”(386–92),andhedescribesitssimilacrumoftheheavenswithawe: Therooffwasmadeverament Evenlicheuntothefirmament, Withsonneandmooneandsterrisbrighte Thatshinedbothedayeandnighte. Thundirandlightenenge,hayleandrain, Whenevertheywoldeincertain, Thaisheweditindedeapertly. [393–299]

Butadmirationforsuchingenuityistemperedbydamninglyattributingittothe “crafftofsorcery”(400),perhapsbecausewhatwasproducedseemedtoomuch likeanimitationofGod’screation.Thegiantbejeweledstatueinthecenterofthe templewithasphereinitshandisdescribedascorrespondinglypresumptuous initsclaimofearthlypredominance:“Andinhishondeagoldenballe/Intokene that Rome was chieff cite / Of alle this worlde” (410–12) [Figure no. 6]. This assertionofpaganRome’scontroloftheheavensandtheearthcannotstandifthe cityistobecomeChristian.AndsowearetoldthatPopeSylvester,thefirstpontiff given temporal power over Rome according to the legend of the Donation of Constantine, demolished (“fordid”) the idol (“that riche mamette”) despite its magnificence(415).Hefurther“distroyedthattempleoflimandstone/Andother templis ful many oone” (417–18) and in their place builds churches that offer eternal,Christianriches:“fulgretepardoun”(421). ThelatermedievalversionoftheLatinMirabiliaalreadycited,whichseemsto bethesourceofthismaterial,makesitclearthatsuchtemplesastheColosseum must cease to exist precisely because they are so marvelous: Pope Sylvester eradicatedthepagantemplessothatvisitorstoRomewouldnotbeabletovisit such“profanebuildings”(edificiaprofana),butinsteadgodevoutlytoChristian churches.26TheMetricalMandeville,inapassageimmediatelyfollowingitsaccount of the Colosseum, is explicit that some structures of pagan Rome had to be destroyednotbecausetheyweredilapidatedbutratherbecausetheywerealltoo aliveandfascinating.Thepoetsaysthat“holyemen”destroyedtheseplacesof worshipbecausepilgrimstothecityhadmore“devocioun/Toseenthemervailis inthatstage[place]/Thantofulfillenthairepilgrimage”(431–34).Thewonders ofRome’spagantemplesprovedmoreattractivetoChristiansthanallthepromise

48–53. Urlichs,Codex,“QuartaClassis,”136,Nichols’stranslationofMiraclesofRome,29.

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offuturepardonandsotheyareterminated(withextremeprejudice).Thelater versionoftheMirabiliadescribesthetreatmentofthecolossalstatueoftheSun almostasiftherewereanexecution:Sylvesterorderstheheadandhandofthe idol (caput vero et manus praedicti ydoli) to be placed in front of his palace.27 Dismemberedlikeacapturedenemyorcondemnedcriminal,thebronzeremains aredisplayedbeforethepope’spalaceattheLateranasiftheywereatrophyof Christianconquestandtriumph. In many medieval descriptions of Rome, in English and in Latin, pagan monumentsareshowntohaveto‘die’inorderthatthenewreligionmaylive.The mostfamousdissenterfromthatpositionamongourwritersisMasterGregorius. EnrapturedbyRome’spastarchitecturalgloryfromhisfirstsightofitfromthe hillsabovethecity,herepeatedlycriticizesthelossofsucharichclassicalheritage, which must have appeared especially remarkable and precious to one whose nativeexperienceseemstohavebeenofBritishartandarchitecture. Gregorius deplores anything that diminishes the original splendor of those monuments.Forallhisadmirationofthebronzeequestrianstatue,henotesitwas onceevenmoremagnificent,blamingRomanavarice(Romana...avaricia)for having stripped the gold that once had lavishly gilded it and beatus Gregorius (Pope Gregory the Great) for having taken down the statue from its original locationontheCapitolinordertoremovethefourcolumnsonwhichitstoodto useinthepapalchurchofSt.JohnLateran(13.63–68,trans.19).Despoilingand reusearebadenoughinMasterGregorius’sview,butheprefaceshisaccountof themostbeautifulstatueheencounteredinRome,theVenusdiscussedbelow,by suggestingthathisnamesake(andelsewhereaspecialherototheEnglishbecause of his role in the conversion of the island, the same “blessed Gregory”) was somethinglikeamassmurdereragainstthemarblestatuaryofRome:“almostall ofwhichweredestroyedortoppledbyblessedGregory”(quepeneomnesabeato Gregorioautdeleteautdeturpatesunt)(20.277–78,trans.26).28 ThatancientChristianRomeaswellasancientpaganRomeisacityofdeathin themedievaldescriptionsiseveneasiertodemonstrate.IftheMirabiliatradition and especially Master Gregorius are haunted by the ruin that time has wrought—Rome’sancientempirevanished,itsheroesconfinedtomausoleumsor statues, its religion exterminated, its marvelous creations stilled and broken—deathisattheverycenterofChristianaccountsofthecityandshownto

27 28

Ibid. InalaterEnglishguidetoRome(c.1470),WilliamBrewynjudgeshackingofftheheadsandlimbs ofthepaganimagesbySt.Gregoryasatriumphof“ecclesiasticaltruth”(AXVthCenturyGuide BooktothePrincipalChurchesofRome,trans.C.EveleighWoodruff[London:MarshallPress,1933], 14).Infact,theseaccusationsoficonoclasmagainstSt.Gregory,thoughwidespreadintheMiddle Ages,seemtohavebeenunfounded:seeTilmannBuddensieg,“GregorytheGreat,theDestroyer ofPaganIdols,”JournaloftheWarburgandCourtlaudInstitutes28(1965):44–65.

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bethesourceofitspreeminence.WorkssuchastheMiddleEnglishStationsof RomeandthesecondandthirdpartsofJohnCapgrave’sSolaceofPilgrimesextolthe martyrdomsthatbaptizedthecityandmadeitholy,andtheformerisprincipally acatalogueofthebodiesofsaintsinRomanchurches.Deathdidnotoverthrow or diminish Christian Rome; it created it. The city’s special spiritual authority comes directly from the famous martyrs who were executed there—Peter and Paul,mostimportantofall,who,accordingtotheStations,redeemedthecitywith “heorefleschandwithheoreblode”(14),butalsomanyothersfromtheheroicfirst ageoftheChurch,suchasAgnes,Lawrence,Cecilia,andSebastian,aswellas thousandsofanonymousvictims29[Figureno.7].Intheprologuetothesecond part of his Solace, Capgrave considers why the Church at Rome should have “swechgreteprivilege”asthe“principalmoderandnorchererofourefeith”(60); thelastofthereasonshegivesisthatof“themultitudeofmartireswhechspilther bloodinconfirmaciounofourfeithinthatsameplace”(61).EventheMirabilia, primarilyconcernedwithclassicalmonuments,hasachapteronthelocationsof Roman martyrdoms (chapter 8 in the Latin) and another on its Christian catacombs(chapter10). Thelifelessness of theseremainsisemphasizednotonlybyreferencetothe saints’ violent deaths but also by calling attention to their broken bodies. The StationsofRomeisaguidetowherethese“holybones”(afrequentlyrepeated phrase)aretobefoundinRome,suchasatthechurchofSt.Sebastian,wheresuch bones“layundergrounde/Anhundredyerertheyweorefounde”(161–64).The numbersoftheancientsacreddeadaresometimesstaggering.Wearetoldthat “monyisthatholybone”underthealtarofthechapelofScalaCoeli(nolessthan theremainsof10,000martyrs)attheabbeynowknownasTreFontane(123–25), whileatthechurchofS.Pudenzianathebodiesof40,000martyrsrestaccording totheVernontext(542),thoughotherversionsputthenumberatamoremodest, butstillimpressive,3,000(Cotton,666).Notonlyaretheserelicsregularlyreferred toaslittlemorethanbones,buteventhebestpreservedexamplesareoftenin pieces.ThechurchofSt.Julianissaidtocontainthatsaint’s“chinwithhisteth” (450),and,ofspecialinteresttoEnglishreaders,St.ThomasàBecket’sarmand“a partiofthebrayn”isinSantaMariaMaggiore(497–99).ThebodiesofPeterand

MyquotationsfromtheStationsofRomearetakenfromtwofifteenthcenturyverseformsofthe work,theCottonversion,aseditedbyFrederickJ.FurnivallinPolitical,Religious,andLovePoems. EarlyEnglishTextSociety,OS15,secondedition(London:KeganPaul,1903),143–73,andthe Vernonversion,editedbyFurnivallinTheStacionsofRome.EarlyEnglishTextSociety,OS25 (London:N.Trübner,1867),1–33,withtheVernonProloguesubsequentlyeditedbyFurnivallin TheMinorPoemsoftheVernonMS.EarlyEnglishTextSociety,OS117(London:KeganPaul,1901), 2.609–11.Allcitationsarebylinenumberandwillbegiveninmytext;theyarefromVernon unlessotherwiseindicated.

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Paullieintheirrespectivebasilicas,buttheirheads,keptoverthehighaltarofthe Lateran,weredisplayedduringtheweekbeforeEaster,andCapgravereportsthe sightintheSolaceofPilgrimes:“ThehedofPetirisabroodfacewithmechheron hisberdandthatisofgreycolourbetwixwhitandblak.ThehedofPauleisalong faceballedwithredher,bothberdandhed”(73).Thenonhumanrelicswhich weresofamousandabundantinRomearealsooftenassociatedwithdeathand mutilation, not surprisingly for a faith whose primary sign is the cross. These includethepillaronwhichChristwasscourgedbyPilateatS.Prassedeandthe woodandnailsfromthecrossitselfatS.Croce. Onceagain,aswiththemedievaldescriptionsthatemphasizetheremainsof classicalRome,theChristianStationsofRomeandeventhesecondandthirdparts ofCapgrave’sSolacesaylittleaboutcontemporaryRomeanditssocialactivities, residents,orvisitors.Capgraveoffersthemostinformationofthiskind,butonly inbrief,unsystematicglimpses,aspreviouslynoted,thoughhedoesreport,with strongdisapproval,alocalSpringcontestinvolvingattackingpigsastheyrun downMt.Testaccio,resultingindeathandinjurytomenandanimalsalike:“aful onliklygamemethoutgh[sic]”(50–51).WhenCapgravementionstheexhibition oftheheadsofPeterandPaulattheLateran,hesaysnothingaboutanyceremony associatedwiththisdisplaynorabouttheresponseofothers;insteadheoffersonly hisownpersonalobservation.Thecityappearsevenmoredesertedandinanimate in the Stations of Rome. The generous pardon that these texts announce was availableinmanyRomanchurchesandobviouslyattractedlargecrowds,butwe almostneverseethem,certainlynotinanydetail.Ararementionofpilgrimsin general notes that Pope Silvester offered pardon “to pilgrimes / That thider cometh”(103–04);yetevenhereitisthepastnotthepresentthatisevokedby citingsuchanearlypope,andtheword“pilgrimes”maybeusedasmuchforits rhymeasanythingelse.CurrentliturgicalservicesinRomealsogounmentioned intheStations,thoughreferenceisoccasionallymadetothoseoflongago.For example,St.GregoryistoldbyanangeloftheholybonesburiedatSt.Sebastian “ashesongmasse”atthehighaltarthere(149–52).30 TheunderlyingargumentoftheStations(thereadershouldvisitRomerather thanotherholysitesforpardon)isimplicitlymadetoallChristians,butitisoften, thoughnotalways,expressedinthesecondpersonsingular:“Thoushalthaveas muchepardoun/AsthoutoSeintJame[Compostella]wentandcom”(91–92,my emphasis).Indeed,theStationsoftenseemstobeconductingaprivatetourforthe reader.Thenotationofspecificdistancesbetweenchurches,suchas“twomyleis holdebetwene”(95),andeven,asinoneespeciallyvividmomentatthetombof LawrenceandStephen,itsinstructionabouthowtoact,“Putteinthyheedorthy

TheVernonalsonotesthe“greatsolempnite”(167),alsointhedistantpast,whentheburied boneswererecoveredatS.Sebastian’s.

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honde,/Andthoushaltfeleaswetegronde/Aswetesmelleofbodyesthatther be”(Cotton528–30),mayhavebeenintendedlessasapracticalguideforanactual travelertoRomethanasapromptforamentalpilgrimagebythesolitaryreader backinEngland. But if medieval Rome in these various descriptions known to the English is permeatedbydeath,therearealsosomesignsoflifeamongtheancientruinsand relics.NotpresentdaycommunallifeasinFitzstephen’sDescriptio,butpastor future life accessible to the individual observer (and reader) who can imaginativelyordevoutlyrespondtotheremainsofRome.Justasdeathiseven moreobviousintheStationsofRomethanintheMirabiliatradition,soislife,and botharearesultofthemostprominentfeatureofthesetexts:thebodiesofmartyrs andotherrelicsinRome’schurches.Thelifetheseobjectspromiseis,ofcourse, beyondthispresentworld,andyetthesaints’bodiesandrelicshavenotbeen whollyimmobileevenonearth.Althoughinaccordancewithancientcustom, mostoftheoriginalRomanmartyrswerekilledandthenburiedoutsidethecity walls,notallremainedintheircatacombs.WhereasearlyChristiansjourneyed beyondthecitylimitstoworshipattheextramuralcemeteriesthatcontainedthe mostfamousburialsites(suchasthoseofSaintsPeterandLawrence,whichwere eventually enclosed by basilicas), later popes, once they were free to do so, broughtthebonesofthesemartyrsintotheheartofRome,astheirnumbersat suchcentralchurchesasS.PrassedeandSantaPudenziana,alreadymentioned, testify.OtherbodiesweremovedtoRomefromfartheraway,suchasthatofSt. Jerome:“FromtheciteofDamas[Damascus]/Hewasbroughtintothatplas” (481–82).NonhumanrelicswerebroughtallthewayfromtheHolyLand,such asthetableusedfortheLastSupper(305–08)andAaron’srod(321),amongmany othersattheLateran,nottomention“afotofMarieMagdaleyn”(664)atS.Cecilia. More important than the illusion of animation implied by their urban or internationalmovement,thebodiesofthesaintsinRomanchurches,fardifferent fromthecoldashesofCaesaronhispillar,werestillactiveandcapableofgiving thegiftoffuturelifetoothers:theabundant,blissfullifeofheavenratherthanthe torments of hell.31 The unique Prologue to the Vernon version of the Stations promisestoteachthereaderwhofinds“hissouleinsinnebounde”(Prologue,9) andfearsthathewillsuffer“thefuirofhelle,/Wherofthepeynesnomoncon telle” (Prologue, 15–16) how he may obtain the medicine of pardon at “grete Rome”(Prologue,17),therebyinsuringthat“Nedestohevenemostehewende/

See R. N. Swanson, Indulgences in Late Medieval England: Passports to Paradise? (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress,2007),andRobertW.Shaffern,ThePenitents’Treasury.

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Withoutenpeynelasseormore”(Prologue,26–27).32TheStationsprovidesalistof the many Roman churches that offer this medicine and in what amount, for without such pardon from deadly sin, “may thy soule not live” (179). Present existenceislessimportantthanwhattheRomanSt.CeciliainChaucer’sSecond Nun’sTalecalls“bettrelifinootherplace,”33andthuswearetoldofmartyrswho “suffrededethalleinRome/Heoresoulesinhevenefortocome”(127–28;cf. 199–200). TheStationsdoesnotrequiresuchultimatesacrificefromthepilgrim(orreader), butinsteadexplainshowhemayavoidthefuturetorturesofHellandevenobtain release from the pains of Purgatory. In addition to securing one’s own life in heaven,Romepermitsonetoprocureitforothers,evenaftertheirdeaths:“Ther men may helpe quike and dede / As the clerkes in bokes rede” (129–30). Attendance at the church of St. Lawrence every Wednesday for a year, for example,allowsyoutofreesomeonealreadyinPurgatory:“Asouletodrawe fromPurgatoryfer”(412).Moregenerously,theCottonversionsaysthatatthe churchofS.GiovanniaPortaLatina,inadditiontotheeverydaypersonalpardon offivehundredyears(Cotton,272–73),ifyouareinattendanceonthefestivalday ofthesaint,“asowlefroPugratoryewinnethoumay”(Cotton,271).Atleastone Romansiteseemstoguaranteeaplaceinheaven,withnomentionofreform, simplyforbeinginterredthere.NeartheendoftheCottonversionoftheStations, wearetoldthatSt.Gregory“purchasedsychegrace”atthechurchofSt.Andrew thatwhoeverisburiedthere(“manorwoman”)willbesavedfromhellaslongas thepersonhasfaithinGodandtheChurchregardlessofpastbehavior:“Ifhe beleveinGod&HolyChyrchealso,/Heshallnotbedampnedfornoughtthathe hathedoo”(Cotton,898–901,myemphasis).Thenarratorinsiststhatthisblanket pardon,forallitsapparentunorthodoxy,is“thesothethatIthetell,”thoughhe acknowledgesthatsomereadersmaynotbelievehimandoffersasproofthatitis explicitlywrittendownthere:“onthechyrchedorethoumaysthitsee”(Cotton, 903–05).Suchfaithinthewrittenword. Incontrasttothenarrowspanofhumanexistence,theStationsrepeatedlyspeaks of the vast expanse of years to come when the reader will be free from the penaltiesofPurgatorytoenjoytheblissfullifeofheaven.Likeaseriesofspiritual ATMmachinesthatrewardallwhousethemregardlessoffundsondeposit,the churches of Rome pay off in multiples of years. Originally indulgences were grantedbythepopesonly toCrusaders,andwhen,apparentlyinresponseto

TheProloguestressesthatanyonedesiringpardonmustbe“inloveandcharite”withothersand keep himself “clene to his ende” (23–25), though in the body ofStations pardons seem more automaticallyavailablewithoutthereminderofthereceiver’sresponsibility. TheRiversideChaucer,ed.LarryD.Bensonetal.,thirdedition(Boston:HoughtonMifflin,1987), VIII,323.

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publicdemand,theywerelatermademoregenerallyavailabletopilgrims,an effortwasmadetorestricttheyearsofthepardon,fortyyearsbeingthelimitthat individualbishopscouldgrant,forexample.34 ButthehopefulexpectationsofvisitorstoRomesooninflatedthiscurrencyas surelyasthatofWeimarGermany.Forexample,thechurchofSt.Clementgranted “twothousendyer”(704)ofpardonandthatofSt.Julian“eightethousendyere” (452).Inthetheologyofindulgences,itwasnevermadeclearjusthowtheseyears weredetermined,whowaskeepingtheaccounts,orexactlyhowmuchtimethe sinnermightactuallyneed.Attimestheamountslistedinpopulartextslikethe Stations, whether or not officially approved, are thrown around like so much Monopolymoney,withmultiplesofathousandthemostcommondenomination, thoughsometimesthefiguresarefussilyprecise:thusonechurchpromised1030 years(662)andanother4384(720–24).Thetimeofyearcanincreasethenumbers dramatically:atthehighaltarofSt.Peter’stheusualpardonis28years,butfrom HolyThursdaytoLammasitshootsupto14,000(48–54).Thedifficultyofthe journeyalsoaffectstheamount:whentheVernicleofSt.Veronica(theclothwith the imprint of Christ’s face) is displayed at St. Peter’ there are 3,000 years of pardonforaresident(4,000inCotton,83),9,000foranonresident,and12,000for apilgrimwhohasmadeaseajourney(indicating,despitethelackofattentionto them,implicitrecognitionofthemanynativesandvisitorsinRome),plusthe forgivenessofathirdofone’ssins—andallthesenumbersaredoubledduring Lent(59–70).35ThebonesandrelicsofRomearenotonlymaterialwitnessesof ancientdeathandsufferinginthecity,buttheyarealsothemeansbywhichthe pilgrimcanachievetheheavenlylifetocome.36 WhereasitisthefuturelifethatconcernstheStationsofRome,intheMirabilia tradition,MasterGregorius,andevenCapgrave,itisthepastthatisbroughtto life.Perhapsthemostmemorableexamplesofasympatheticobserverfindinglife intheinertruinsofRomeareMasterGregorius’sencounterswithancientstatues. Thefirststatuehementions,abronzebullliketheonethatJupiterusedtodeceive Europa,isnotdescribedinanyrealdetailbutwearetoldthatitwassoskillfully madethatitappearstoviewersasifitwereaboutto“bellowandmove”(mugituro etmoturo)likealivingcreature(13.54,trans.19).Gregoriusoftenmakesclearthat theanimationoftheseimagesresultsnotonlyfromtheskillofthecreatorbutalso fromthecarefulattentionoftheobserver:thustoonelookingintently(attencius inspexerit),thebronzeheadoftheColossusappearstobe“movingandspeaking”

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SeeShaffern,“TheMedievalTheologyofIndulgences.” OftentheStationsgoesbeyondprecisenumbersandsimplymentionsthataparticularsiteoffers aplenaryindulgenceforallsins. GiventheindulgencesavailableatRome,theStationstellsus,thereisnoneedtotravelasfaras theHolyLand,foratRome“pardountheriswithoutenende”(285–93).

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(moturo et locuturo) because of the care and expense with which it was made (17.204–18.205, trans. 23). These responses have been seen as protoHumanist, thoughGregoriusisattractedmorebytheingenuityandevenemotionalappeal oftheseworksthanbypurelyaestheticappreciation,asisclearestinGregorius’s mostdramaticaccountofsuchanexperience,hisrepeatedvisitstoviewamarble statueofVenusthatsomehaveidentifiedwiththe“CapitolineVenus”37[Figure no.8].AswillbetrueformanysubsequenttravelerstoRome,Gregoriusfindsa presenceinthecoldmarblethataffectshimviscerally,perhapsevenerotically.As withthebronzebull,GregoriusfirstassociatestheVenuswithanancientlegend, theJudgmentofParis,beforeabruptlymovingfrommythtotheobjectbeforehim. ThisVenus,heinsists,wasmadewithsuchwonderful,eveninexplicableart(miro et inexplicabili perfecta est artificio) that it seems more like a living person (viva creatura)thanastatue;heevenimagineshecanseeitblushanddeclaresthatthose wholookclosely(comminusaspicientibus)canseethebloodflowinhersnowy complexion(inniveooreymaginissanguinemnatare),whichcausedhim(perhapsas theresultofamagicspell)tobedrawntorevisititthreetimeeventhoughitwas distantfromhislodgings(20.286–293,trans.26). Higden’sPolychroniconanditsMiddleEnglishtranslationsmakeGregorius’s accountsofthesestatueslesspersonaltoaccordwiththeirmoreobjectivestyleof history,buttheydoretainhisclaimsforthelifelikeappearanceoftheimages. ThusTrevisasaysthebull“semedlowingeandstartlinge”(225),themouthofthe Colossus“asthey[though]itwerespekinge”(235),and,mostvividly,theVenus “socraftlichemadethatinthemoutheandlippes,thatwereaswhiteasenysnow, semedefreschebloodandnewe”(225).TheextraordinaryeffectoftheVenuson GregoriussuggeststhetaleofPygmalion,butweshouldnotethatinhistelling, nottomentioninthelessferventEnglishversions,thereisasignificantdifference. AlthoughGregoriusdoessuggestsupernaturalforcesbehindthestatue’sappeal tohim,hisladydoesnotstepoffherpedestalandgooffwithheradmirer.Venus

GordonRushforth,“MagisterGregoriusDeMirabilibusUrbisRomae:ANewDescriptionofRome intheTwelfthCentury,”JournalofRomanStudies9(1919):14–58;here25,madetheidentification ofGregorius’sVenuswiththefamousonenowintheCapitolineMuseum,andthiswasaccepted byOsborne,MasterGregorius,59,butDaleKinney,“MirabiliaUrbisRomae,”TheClassicsinthe MiddleAges,ed.AldoS.BernardoandSaulLevin(Binghamton:MedievalandRenaissanceTexts and Studies, 1990), calls this identification “neither likely . . . nor necessary” (214). It may, however,wellhavebeenastatuesimilartotheCapitolineVenus. ForGregoriusasaprotohumanist,see,forexample,JamesBruceRoss,“AStudyofTwelfth CenturyInterestintheAntiquitiesofRome,”MedievalandHistoriographicalEssaysinHonorofJames WestfallThompson,ed.JamesL.CateandEugeneN.Anderson(Chicago:UniversityofChicago Press,1938),302–31;here320,andCristinaNardella,“LaRomadeivisitatoricolti:dallamentalità umanisticadiMaestroGregorio(XII–XIIISecolo)aquellamedioevalediJohn Capgrave(XV Secolo),”ArchiviodellaSocietàRomanadiStoriaPatria119(1996):49–64;here,52.CompareKinney’s moreskepticalviewofthenatureofGregorius’sappreciation(“Mirabilia,”214–19).

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remainsanancientmarble.Buteveniftheobserverisnotabletofindactuallife inthemarble,hecanrecapturetheillusionofitfirstcreatedbytheanonymous artist long ago. Gregorius’s intense scrutiny has made a connection across the centuriestoaoncethrivingworld. The writers of the medieval descriptions of Rome know, as Odysseus and Aeneasdiscoverintheunderworld,thatitisimpossibletophysicallyembracethe dead,buttheirshadescanbeevokedandrecognized.Gregoriusdoesthismost dramaticallyduringhisencounterwiththestatueofVenus,butthemostcommon method these texts use to make the past come alive is by means of stories. In additiontothesenseofanimalandhumanpresencethatGregoriusexperiences from some Roman statues, he more often uses the ancient images he finds as prompts to recreate the true narratives of the past he assumes (almost always incorrectly)theytell.Thusinhisratherlengthyaccountofthetriumphalarchnear thePantheonsaidtohonorAugustus’svictoryatActium,Gregoriusfirstmentions whatheclaimsareitsstatuesofthebattle’smilitarycommanders,especiallya skillful portrait of Augustus himself, before turning to the reliefs on the arch, which,hesays,whenlookedatclosely(cumintenciusaspicias),makesyouimagine thatyouareseeingtheverystruggleofActiumitself(verabellavidereexistimes),as Augustus pursues Cleopatra (24.406–07, trans. 30).38 Gregorius’s characteristic attentiontothereliefsinspireshimtoportraythebattleasifitwerehappening beforehiseyes(whilealsoallowingthereadertovisualizeit),asinthisbreathless accountofthemarble’srepresentationofCleopatrabeingcaptured,applyingthe asps to her breasts, and going pale in death: “Cleopatra subducitur et appositis aspidibusmammissuisinPariomarmoresuperbamuliermoriturapallescit”(24.410–12, trans.30).39 AnumberofespeciallyprominentancientstatuessavedfromtheruinsofRome inspireourwriterstogobeyondcataloguingandobjectivedescriptionandattempt tobringtolifetherealhumanbeingsbehindthemonumentsbygivingthemback theirvoicesandactions.Ofcoursethesestoriesarelargelylegends,thoughthey wereundoubtedlywidelybelievedinmedievalRome.Themiddlesectionofthe Mirabilia includes several such narratives. Thus the bronze equestrian rider, already mentioned, whom we know to be Marcus Aurelius, is given a long narrativecompletewiththecharacter’sthought,intentions,speech,anddramatic action(32.3–33.22,trans.19–21)[Figureno.9].Attherequestofthedaringsquire

NoneofthearchesknowntohavebeenbuiltforAugustusfitthedescriptionhere;asinglearch, notamultipleone,commemoratingthebattleofActiumwasbuiltintheForum(notnearthe Pantheonashere)andappearstohavebeendemolishedin19BC,seeOsborne’scommentaryto hisMasterGregorius,79–89. ThePolychroniconbrieflynotesAugustus’sarchwith,inTrevisa’swords,“hisdedesdescryved” (215),butdoesnot,infact,identifyActiumasoneofthosedeedsordescribeitsevents.

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whoisourhero,thesenatepromisesbothmoneyandamemorialstatueifhecan ridthemofaking’sarmybesiegingRome.Thesquirehadnoticedthattheking was in the habit of relieving himself at a certain tree every night. Therefore, disguisedasagroom,heapproachesthetree,andthoughwarnedawaybyroyal attendants,boldlyseizesthekingandcarrieshimbackintothecity,tellingthe Romanstoattackthenowleaderlessarmy,whichtheydosuccessfully.Neitherthe statuenorthestoryappearsintheMetricalMandeville’sTravels,butCapgravetells aversionintheopeningsectionoftheSolacethatisevenlivelierthanthatinthe Mirabilia.Hechangesthelatter’sindirectstatementthattheattendantstoldthe disguisedsquiretogetawayfromtheking,coeperuntclamare,utipseauferretsede viaanteregem(33.8–9,trans.20),intoconvincinglyblusteringspeech:“Bewar,carl, whatthoudo.Comenotsonythekyng.Thouschalbehangidandthoutouch him”(32). MasterGregoriusprovidesnotonebuttwodifferentlongnarrativesaboutthe reallifeactionsthatinspiredthisequestrianmonument(chapters4and5).The firstisaversionoftheMirabilia’sstorywithsomechangesindetail(thekingless comically goes out at night to practice magic, not to relieve himself), and the secondtellsofQuintusQuirinus,aruleroftherepublicwhogavehislifeforthe commongoodbyridingintoafierychasmbecauseonlybythissacrificewould thatearthlyfault,whosefumeswerecausingaterribleplagueinRome,beclosed.40 TheLatinPolychronicon,whichoftenshortensGregorius,givesbothstoriesinsome detailandbothalsoappearinitstwoMiddleEnglishtranslations(228–33).The figuresrepresentedbythestatueareallowedtoexistagain,atleasttextually,as active,speakinghumans. JohnCapgrave,perhapsinspiredbytheclassicalstoriesfromtheMirabiliathat heretellsinthefirstpartofhisSolaceofPilgrimes,recreatesthereligiousaswellas secularpastofRomewithnarrativesthatarefarmoreextensivethanthebrief biographicalnoticesfoundoccasionallyintheMiddleEnglishStationsofRome.41 Heismoreinterestedinthelivesofthesaintsthantheirphysicalremains,andhe repeatedlymovesfromperfunctorydescriptionsofachurchanditsrelics,with onlyoccasionalnotationofavailablepardons,toextendedaccountsofwhatthe saints did while alive, at the same time reporting their martyrdoms and their miraclesforbelieversafterdeath.Forexample,thechurchofSS.Giovanniand Paoloitselfisidentifiedinafewsentences:CapgravetellsthedateduringLentof

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ThereisamuchshorterversionofthissecondstoryintheMirabilia(56.1–5,trans.41). MostsaintsintheStationsaresimplymentionedbyname;itisafterallthepoweroftheirsacred bonesthatthepilgrimseeksforpardon.Afewepisodes,notfullbiographies,fromthelivesof someimportantsaintsarebrieflytold,especiallythecuringofConstantine’sleprosybyPope Sylvesterandtheemperor’sconversion(241–76),andSt.Peter’sencounterwithChristoutside Romethatsendshimbackintothecityandtohismartyrdom(201–10).

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itsstationmass,itslocation“fastbythemonasteryofSeyntAndrew,”the“certein thingis whech thei selle there” on the day of the station, the “fair place” that belongstoacardinalononeside,andtheruinedpalaceontheother(89–90).Then, after noting the “ful grete indulgens that day” for visitors to the church, but without specifying exactly its extent or giving any account of the relics there, Capgravedevotesthevastmajorityofhischapter(perhaps75percent)nottothe physicalchurchanditscontents,buttostoriesofthetwosaintsforwhomitis named.Asaprefacetothis,Capgraveexplainshisgeneralmethodtothereader: afterreferencetothepardonasaresultoftheholybonesofGiovanniandPaolo, hedeclares,“butwethinkbestatthistimetotellesumwhatofthelifofthese seyntes and why they wer dede,” an emphasis on narrative fullness and particularlythehuman“lif”ofthesaintsthathesayshewillfollowthroughout: “aswecastusfortodoofalleothir”(90). Humanstoriessuchasthesedoindeeddominatethesecondandthirdpartsof theSolaceofPilgrimes,incontrasttotherepetitivelistsofobjectsandpardonsthat makeupsomuchoftheStationsofRome.Capgrave’sholylegends,inthemanner oftheexemplainclericalhomilies,seemmoreinterestedinprovidinghisreaders with inspirational models for living on earth than in simply promising future rewardsinheaven.SpecificrelicsofRomeinspireCapgravetotellstoriesfromthe medievalperiodaswellasfromtheancientpast.Forexample,hesaysthathesaw a “memoriale” in the church of S. Sabina on the Aventine concerning Saint Dominicandhowwhenhewasprayingatthatchurchfortheconfirmationofhis order,hesoangeredtheDevilthatthefiend“threwagretestonasmechormore thanamanneshed”tryingtokillthesaint,butbya“gretemiracle”itmissedand only broke a piece of marble (87). Capgrave even quotes the Latin inscription abouttheincidentandgivesits“sentens”inEnglish,bothofwhicharesomewhat lessdetailedanddramaticthantheversionhehasjusttold.Whatgivesthisstory immediacyisnotonlytheenergyofitsnarrationbutalsothephysicalproofthat Capgrave notes remains in the church: both the chipped marble and, “a grete evidensofthetruth”(87),theverystonethatwasthrownbytheDevil(whichis stilldisplayedinS.Sabinatoday)[Figureno.10].Thisishardlyastoryofdeath andsuffering,butoneaboutthetriumphofanexemplaryChristian,anditsstill availablematerialsign(thestone)promisesthevisitornotpardonbutinspiration forhis/herownearthlytrials. OtherstoriesinCapgrave’sSolaceshowthepowerofChristianfaithasalivein the present as it was in the heroic past. His initial chapter on the ancient and magnificent church of S. Maria in Trastevere does not describe the structure’s appearanceatall,butinsteadtellshow,atatimewhenthelocationwasarefuge forthesoldiersoftheRomanEmpire,twowellsofoil(fonsolei)suddenlysprang forthonthedayChristwasborn(111)[Figureno.11].Thispopularstoryevokes the preChristian history of the site, but Capgrave makes the ancient miracle

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relevanttocontemporaryChristiansbyarguing,withmanyBiblicalexamples,that clerks say that the wells ran with oil rather than another liquid because oil “signifiethmercy”andChrist’scomingmeanttheestablishmentof“alawefulof mercy”(111).Incontrasttothespecificyearsofindulgencepromisedtovisitors atspecificchurchesintheStations,thisisageneral(andmoretheologicallysound) “pardon”availableatalltimesandeverywhere:“ThenameofJhesusisoilelargely spredabroodinhevene,spredinerde,spredinhelle”(112). As this manifestation at ancient Rome of the birth of Christ suggests, the medievalcityisoftenpresentedinthesedescriptionsnotasanabsolutebreakfrom thepaganpastbutasacontinuation.42Someofthesetexts,aswehaveseen,do report with satisfaction the destruction of false idols, but others show Rome’s greatestleadersendorsingthecomingofthenewway,thenewtruth,andthenew life. This is clearly noticeable in the story of the vision of Emperor Octavian (Augustus)atS.MariainAracoeli,whichappearsinboththeMirabilia(butnotin the Metrical Mandeville) and in Capgrave, though it is absent from Master Gregorius,whoincludesananalogousstoryconcerningRomulusthatisalsointhe MirabiliaandMetricalMandeville.IshallretellCapgrave’sexpandedversionof Octavian’svision,thoughwithoutmostofhisaddedlearningandlessons[Figure no. 12]. Because of Octavian’s great beauty and many accomplishments, the RomanSenatewantstodeifyhim:“weallewithonassentarethusacordidto worchip thy persone as a god” (39). But Octavian, knowing that he is mortal, hesitatesandseekstheadviceoftheSybil,proving,accordingtoCapgrave,that therewere“fulgoodeandholycreatures”amongtheRomanheathensasamong theearlyJews(40).TheSybil,afterfastingandpraying,bringspropheticversesto theemperorthatsay,amongotherthings(inEnglishtranslation),“JesusCrist,the son of God, our saviour” (40). Once these verses are expounded, Octavian is grantedavision(apparentlybecauseofhisgoodnessandholiness)ofanaltarin theskyonwhichwas“afairmaidestandingandinhirarmeachild”(40),while aheavenlyvoicedeclares,“ThisistheauterofGod;tothis,lokethoudoworchep” (40),inresponsetowhichOctavianfallsdowninreverence.Hethenreturnstothe senatorsandrelatesthe“gretmerveiliswhichhehadseyn,”and,refusingtheir devotion,“seidehewoldbeservauntontothischildevyrwhilehemaylive”(41). PaganRomehasbecomeapartofprovidentialhistoryandshowntobealready preparingitselftobetheholycitybecauseitsgreatestemperorisabletoglimpse

Onthispoint,seeOsborne’ssuggestionintheintroductiontoMasterGregoriusthattheMirabilia attempts“toconstructaseriesofbridgesbetweenthepaganpastandtheChristianpresent”(10). JenniferSummit,“TopologyasHistoriography:Petrarch,Chaucer,andtheMakingofMedieval Rome,”JournalofMedievalandEarlyModernStudies30(2000):211–46;225arguesthattheMirabilia “overarchingproject”istoreconciletwoancientpastsandfromitsruinsfind“thesignificanceof Rome’shistoricaltransformationfrompagantoChristiancity.”

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and accept the Christian future. The vision certainly heralds the death of old Rome,but,likethefallofTroy,thispermitsthebirthandfuturelifeofthenew Rome. ThemedievaldescriptionsofRomediscussedhereareoflimitedhelptomodern topographers, even though, amid the fantastic legends, there is genuine informationabouttheoldcity.ButtheseworkstelluslessaboutancientRome thantheydoaboutthemedievalperceptionofit.Assuchtheyareirreplaceable testimony to the fascination that the remains of Rome, pagan and Christian, exertedontheMiddleAges.MedievalRomewasacitywhosegrandimperial monuments were now in decay or adapted for modern uses and whose holy martyrssurvivedasbones.ThedescriptionsofRomediscussedhereare,inone sense,acatalogueofdeathandloss:boththeempireandtheearlychurchthat replaceditwerenomore,andthegreatestleadersofboth,includingJuliusCaesar andPeterandPaul,wereintheirtombs.Butifnolongergolden,Romeremains eternalforthesewriters,whofindlifeofallkindsintheseinertremains.Themost triumphant and certain life, to be sure, is that promised by God through the intercessionofthesaints;theabundantpardonsofRomeofferthepilgrimaplace intheheavenlyJerusalem.ButCapgrave,forone,alsofindsamorequotidian story in these holy martyrs: in addition to their deaths, he chronicles the exemplaryfaith,hope,andcharitytheydisplayedwhileresidentsoftheearthly Rome.HealsorecordsChristianmanifestationsinthecitythroughoutitshistory, whetherinavisiontothepaganOctavianortheprotectionofSt.Dominicfrom stoningbythedevil.Furthermore,Rome,thenasnow,isshowntocontainthe memory of other kinds of life, as least for those willing to respond to it. The ingenious, even magical devices that once operated in the city fascinate these writers, even if some finally reject their energy as diabolical. And Master Gregoriusevenrealizestheultimateantiquarian’sdreamofmakingthepastcome alive,ifonlyforamomentandonlyinhisimagination,whenheconnectswiththe sparkofanimationfirstcreatedbytheoriginalsculptoroftheVenus.Thesubjects ofthesemedievaldescriptionsofRomearedeadruinsandrelics,buttheirwriters attempttomakethemliveagain.

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Figure1:CastelS.Angelo(Hadrian’sSepulchre)

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Figure2:ObeliskatSt.Peter’s(Caesar’sPillarorNeedle)

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Figure3:FrescoofEquestrianStatuebeforeLateran(byFilippinoLippiat S.MariasopraMinerva)

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Figure4:CopyofEquestrianStatue(MarcusAurelius)onCapitolineHill

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Figure5:Colosseum

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Figure6:Head,Hand,andSphereofEmperor(IdolofSun)

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Figure7:TombofSaintsLawrenceandStephen(underhighaltarof SaintLawrence)

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Figure8:CapitolineVenus

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Figure9:OriginalEquestrianStatue(MarcusAurelius)

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Figure10:StoneThrownatSt.DominicbyDevil(S.Sabina)

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Figure11:SiteofWellofOilatChrist’sBirth(S.MariaTrastevere)

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Figure12:AltarinOctavian’sVision(S.MariainAracoeli)

KishaG.Tracy (UniversityofConnecticut)

DefiningtheMedievalCitythroughDeath: ACaseStudy

Giventhewords“city”and“death,”thosefamiliarwithmedievalimagerywould, morethanlikely,particularlyasaresultoftheworkofSt.Augustine,immediately think of the heavenly city populated by the souls who once lived devout or virtuous lives. Texts such as the Middle English Gawainpoet’s Pearl, Dante’s DivineComedy,andavarietyofmedievalsermonsvividlyillustratethenatureof thisurbanafterlifeandtherequirementsforbecomingoneofitscitizens.1While thepresenceofdeathis,giventhepathasoulmusttakeinordertogothroughthe gates,understoodtobeanessentialfeatureindiscussionsofthisetherealcity,the significance of death’s role in perceptions of the earthly city is not as well recognized,yetexaminationsofhistoricaldocuments,art,andliterarytextsreveal

SeeEnvisagingHeavenintheMiddleAges,ed.CarolynMuessigandAdPutter.RoutledgeStudies in Medieval Religion and Culture 6 (London: Routledge, 2007); Heavenly Realms and Earthly RealitiesinLateAntiqueReligions,ed.Ra’ananS.BoustanandAnnetteYoshikoReed(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004); John Howe, Creating Symbolic Landscapes: Medieval DevelopmentofSacredSpace,”InventingMedievalLandscapes:SensesofPlaceinWesternEurope,ed. JohnHoweandMichaelWolfe(Gainesville:UniversityPressofFlorida,2002),208–23;Imagining HeavenintheMiddleAges:ABookofEssays,ed.JanSwangoEmersonandHughFeiss,Garland MedievalCasebooks27(NewYork:Garland,2000);E.RuthHarvey,“ConstructingBliss:Heaven in the Pearl,” The Middle Ages in the NorthWest: Papers presented at an International Conference sponsoredbytheCentresofMedievalStudiesoftheUniversitiesofLiverpoolandToronto,ed.TomScott andPatStarkey(Oxford:Leopard’sHeadPress,1995),203–19;andSarahStanbury,“TheBody andtheCityinPearl,”Representations47(1994):271–85.Fordiscussionofheaveninart,seeThe IconographyofHeaven,ed.CliffordDavidson.EarlyDrama,Art,andMusicMonographSeries,21 (Kalamazoo,MI:MedievalInstitutePublications,1994);JoanE.BarclayLloyd,“HeavenandHell inMedievalItalianArt,”Spuntiericerche:Rivistad’italianistica11(1995),18–34;NicolaColdstream, “TheKingdomofHeaven:ItsArchitecturalSetting,”AgeofChivalry:ArtinPlantagenetEngland 1200–1400, ed. Jonathan Alexander and Paul Binski (London: Royal Academy of Arts in associationwithWeidenfeldandNicolson,1987),92–97;andHomo,MementoFinis:TheIconography ofJustJudgmentinMedievalArtandDrama,ed.DavidBevington.EarlyDrama,ArtandMusic MonographSeries,6(Kalamazoo,MI:MedievalInstitutePublications,1985).

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thatimagesofthemedievalcityarefrequentlyjuxtaposedwithimagesofdeath. Deathanddeadbodiesareoftennecessaryindefiningtheidentityofthecity.This definition sometimes includes emphasizing a city’s unique individuality, validating accounts of foundation or power structures, or establishing a new, emerging urban character. Historical texts disclose instances of public performancesinwhichdeathplaysaprominentrole;theyalsoemphasizethe value of cemeteries and tombs as memorial devices in city settings.2 Simultaneously,literarytextsfromwidegeographic,chronologic,andstylistic ranges—includingsuchexamplesastheOldEnglishpoemTheRuin;theMiddle EnglishSt.ErkenwaldandPiersPlowmanaswellastheworksofHoccleveand Lydgate;theOldFrenchRomandeThèbesandtheRomand’Enéas;Heinrichvon Veldeke’sMiddleHighGermanEneit;theSpanishCantardelmioCid;Giovanni Boccaccio’sDecameron;andthechroniclesofGeoffreyofMonmouth,Wace,and Layamonusethemetaphorofdeathordepictimagesofdeathinconjunction withtheirparticularneedsregardingthenarrativeconstructionoftheirrespective cities. Considered together, historical and literary analysis paints a dramatic pictureofhowdeath,farfrombeingasimplystaticidea,isindeedadynamicpart of medieval urban space, confirming—not denying—the vigorous energy and historicalsignificanceofthecity. ConsistentlythroughouttheMiddleAges,thedeadwereanimportantaspect of everyday life, a common physical presence as well as a common topic for thought.3AsPatrickGearyremarksinLivingwiththeDeadintheMiddleAges: 2

OnevaluablereferenceconcerningthisconceptisDeathinTowns:UrbanResponsestotheDyingand theDead,100–1600,ed.StevenBassett(London,NewYork:LeicesterUniversityPress,1995).This collectionofessaysismostlybasedinarchaeologicalandanthropologicalstudiesofburialsites andmortalitypatterns.AlsoseeColinPlatt,KingDeath:TheBlackDeathandItsAftermathinLate MedievalEngland(Toronto:UniversityofTorontoPress,1996);DerToddesMächtigen:Kultund Kultur des Todes spätmittelalterlicher Herrscher, ed. Lothar Kolmer (Paderborn, Munich, et al.: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1997); Tod im Mittelalter, ed. Arno Borst, Konstanzer Bibliothek, 20 (Constance: Universitätsverlag Konstanz, 1993); Edward L. Bell, Vestiges of Mortality & Remembrance:ABibliographyontheHistoricalArchaeologyofCemeteries(Metuchen,NJ:Scarecrow Press,1994);andMortalityandImmortality:TheArchaeologyandAnthropologyofDeath,ed.S.C. HumphreysandHelenKing(London:AcademicPress,1981). Forvaluablestudiesonmedievaldeath,seePaulBinski,MedievalDeath:RitualandRepresentation (Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress,1996);HowardWilliams,DeathandMemoryinEarlyMedieval Britain(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2006);PatrickJ.Geary,LivingwiththeDeadin theMiddleAges(Ithaca:CornellUniversityPress,1994);LastThings:DeathandtheApocalypseinthe MiddleAges,ed.CarolineWalkerBynumandPaulFreedman.MiddleAgesSeries(Philadelphia: UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2000);ChristopherDaniell,DeathandBurialinMedievalEngland, 1066–1550(London:Routledge,1997);VictoriaThompson,DyingandDeathinLaterAngloSaxon England(Woodbridge:BoydellPress,2004);ThePlaceoftheDead:DeathandRemembranceinLate MedievalandEarlyModernEurope,ed.BruceGordonandPeterMarshall(Cambridge:Cambridge UniversityPress,2000);CraigKoslofsky,TheReformationoftheDead:DeathandRitualinEarly ModernGermany,1450–1700(NewYork:St.Martin’sPress,2000);DeathandDyingintheMiddle

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Death marked a transition, a change in status, but not an end . . . The dead were presentamongthelivingthroughliturgicalcommemoration,indreamsandvisions, and in their physical remains, especially the tombs and relics of the saints. Omnipresent,theyweredrawnintoeveryaspectoflife.Theyplayedvitalrolesin social,economic,political,andculturalspheres.4

Gearycharacterizesdeathasinfiltratingtheculturalandsocialpracticesofthe living,emphasizinghowfundamentaltherelationshipwas.Thisinteractionwith thedeadspeakstoaconnectionwiththepast,totheindividualswholeftamark ontheirsocietieseitherinthememoriesofthosewhocameafterthemorthrough physical and material legacies. The people of the Middle Ages envisioned an energeticandsignificantpositionforthedeceased,broughton,atleastpartially, bytheinsistenceoftheChristianChurchthatitsfollowerscontemplateondeath inordertoavoidsininlife.5Giventhispervasivenessofthedead,itis,then,not surprisingthattheyshouldhaveaplaceintheenvironmentofthecity,bothinits historical and fictional manifestations. It remains, however, to see how this conceptualbondrevealsitselfandwhatitcantellusabouttheemploymentofthe deadincitycontexts.Inmyresearch,Ihavefoundseveraldifferentavenuesof evidencesupportingtheconceptofjuxtaposingthecityanddeath—forinstance, thelocationandgeographyofcemeterieswithincitiesortheanthropologicalstudy ofhowrelocationtocitieschangedhowoneapproacheddeathinthefaceofnew “relationshipframeworks,”inthephraseemployedbyJeanClaudeSchmitt.6In thisarticle,throughaseriesofrepresentativecasestudiesfrombothwellknown andmoreobscureliteraryandhistoricalexamples,Iwillattempttoexplicateafew oftheseconceptualrelationshipsincluding:thespacefordeathincities,especially physicalandsocialspaces,andhowthedeadplayedintourbanpolitics.

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Ages,eds.EdelgardE.DuBruckandBarbaraI.Gusick(NewYork:PeterLang,1999);Frederick S.Paxton,ChristianizingDeath:TheCreationofaRitualProcessinEarlyMedievalEurope(Ithaca: CornellUniversityPress,1990);DiesIlla.DeathintheMiddleAges:Proceedingsofthe1983Manchester Colloquium,ed.byJaneH.M.Taylor.VinaverStudiesinFrench,1(Liverpool:FrancisCairns, 1984); Death in the Middle Ages, ed. Herman Braet and Werner Verbeke (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1983); and T. S. R. Boase, Death in the Middle Age: Mortality, Judgment, and Remembrance(NewYork:McGrawHill,1972). Geary,LivingwiththeDeadintheMiddleAges,2. SeeDaniell,DeathandBurialinMedievalEngland,1–2:“Thetimeonearthwastransitoryand infinitesimaltothelifeofthesoulafterdeath,buttheeternalfateofthesoulwasdeterminedby itsactionswhilstinthemortalbody.TosavethesoulfromsintheChurchconsistentlyreminded peopleaboutsin,deathandtheeternalafterlifebyencouragingmedicationupondeath.”D.L. DAvray, Death and the Prince (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), remarks that “liturgy created real communitiesinwhichthelivingandthedeadweredrawntogether(1)andthat“memorial preachingintheperiodisaboutlifeaswellasdeath”(68). JeanClaudeSchmitt,GhostsintheMiddleAges:TheLivingandtheDeadinMedievalSociety(Chicago: UniversityofChicagoPress,1998),126.

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Whereaspreviousstudiestendtofocusononeaspectofmedievalcultureoron one geographical area, this discussion will synthesize various representations, revealing how the architects behind different types of documents and artistic endeavorsmanipulatedandappliedtheinfluentialconceptofdeathwithinurban environmentsandmadetheconceptofdeathbothareal,physicalpresenceaswell as a device for community interaction. This study explores the intersection of historicalreality,literaryconstruction,andartisticexpression.

TheSpaceforDeath:PhysicalandSocial Thepervadingpresenceofthedeadincitiesmanifestsitselfindifferentways, occupyingspacesbothphysicalandintangible.Literarytextsarearichsourceof materialforconsideringhowauthorsareabletousethedeadindepictingthe parametersofthevariouscitiesimportanttotheirtextsandhowtheyfurthertheir ownparticularagendas.Here,Iwillexaminetheuseofdeadkingstomarkurban foundations, particularly that of London, in Layamon’s chronicle, the early thirteenthcentury Brut, and the dead as urban protectors in the midtwelfth centuryOldFrenchRomand’Enéas.Theseliteraryinstancesofhowthedeadare integratedintocityspacesareparalleledbyartisticandhistoricalrepresentations of the dead in urban settings, particularly through monuments, such as the Eleanor of Castile crosses.7 While these images speak to how death has a significantphysicalspaceincities,others,includingthefourteenthcenturyMiddle EnglishPiersPlowmanbyWilliamLangland,revealtheroleofdeathininfluencing how and why people relocated to cities and how this migration changed communitynetworks.Anthropologicalandsociologicalevidencehasdocumented thewayinwhichurbandevelopmentalteredsocialframeworks.Literaryauthors frequentlyexploretheconsequencesofthisevolvingsociallandscape.Passagesin PiersPlowman,forinstance,demonstrateshowdeathincitiessignificantlyaffected thereligiouslifeofmoreruralareas.

Anotherarticleinthisvolume,C.DavidBenson’s“TheDeadandtheLiving:SomeMedieval DescriptionsoftheRuinsandRelicsofRomeKnowntotheEnglish,”arguesthatthemedieval textswhichexplorethefadedgloriesofRome,particularlyitsruinsandrelics,aremorethan simplydescriptionsofadeadcity,butare,rather,anattempttobringthemetropolisbacktolife throughcomposition..Thisstudydemonstratesbothhowprominentmonumentstothedeadwere inRomeandhowauthorsattemptedtoreinvigorateancienturbanspaces.

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TheDeadasUrbanFoundation:Layamon’sBrut Tobeginadiscussionofthephysicalspaceofthedead,Iwouldfirstliketoturn totheconceptofurbanfoundationalmythsthroughalookatLayamon’sBrut,a chronicleoftheBritons.8AsLesleyJohnsonhasnoted: TheBrut,accordingtoitsownintroduction,isthefulfilment[sic]ofLa3amon’sdesire to tell of the noble men who were first in the land ‘of Engle’ (7—the name which supersedesthatofBritainaccordingtoLa3amon’stext)andtellsofthefoundationof humansocietyontheisland,oftheancestorsoftheinhabitantsoftheisland,andofthe keypoliticaleventsinthereignsofsubsequentrulers.9

OneoftheaspectsofBritishsocietythatLayamonandhissources,Geoffreyof MonmouthandWace,areinterestedinexploringistheconstructionofcities,from the ones that Brutus either encounters or founds as he journeys to his new kingdomtotheonesthatspringupinBritain.Withrespecttothisstudy,however, whatisparticularlyinterestingisthatthesestoriesareoftenaccompaniedbyan imageofburial.Indeed,often,itisadeathwhichleadstothenamingofacityor whichidentifiesoneofitsdefiningfeatures,and,furthermore,thebodiesofthe deadarefrequentlyburiedwithinthesecities.Forexample,oneofthefirstto exhibitthisrelationshipisToursinFrance.WhenoneofBrutus’smostdevoted followers and kinsman, Turnus, is killed in battle, his body is returned to the fortresstheTrojansrecentlybuiltandburiedthere.Thisactisresponsibleforthe namingofthecityitwouldonedaybecome: Brutushinefundedeadandintoþanecastledude andþerinnebiburi3edebianestanwalle. ÞuruþanilkaTurnusTurswesihaten, TuruinealþatlondþurhTurnusdeaðe.

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[Brutusfoundhimdeadandtookhimintothefortress,andburiedhimwithinit besideastonewall.BecauseofthatTurnusitwascalledTours;thewholeregion wascalledTourainebecauseofthedeathofTurnus.]

ThepassagesthatIwillpointoutherearealmostexactlythesameastheparallelpassagesin Layamon’stwelfthcenturysource,Wace’sRomandeBrut. LesleyJohnson,“ReadingthePastinLa3amon’sBrut,”TheTextandTraditionofLa amon’sBrut,ed. FrançoiseLeSaux(Woodbridge,Suffolk:D.S.Brewer,1994),141–60;here142.Forabroaderstudy of chronicle writing in England, see Chris GivenWilson, Chronicles: The Writing of History in MedievalEngland(LondonandNewYork:HambledonandLondon,2004). AllquotationsfromandtranslationsofLayamontakenfromLa3amon’sBrutorHystoriaBrutonum, ed.andtrans.W.R.J.BarronandC.S.Weinberg(NewYork:Longman,1995).

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Theveryfoundationofthisurbancenterisbuiltaroundthewarrior’sdeadbody. HeisphysicallyconnectedtoToursinthatheisinterredwithinitswalls,andhe isalsoinsertedintothelegendaryspaceofthecity.11 AsLayamon’stextisconcernedmostlywiththehistoryofBritain,thecityof Londoniscentraltoitsstory,includingitsfoundingandtheevolutionofhowits namechangedfromNewTroy,designatedbyBrutus,toLondon.Throughoutthis retelling, it is clear that it is not just the kings who lived in this city who are significant,butalsothosekingswhodiedandwereburiedthere.Indeed,their burialsindicateboththeloveoftheirpeopleaswellasthesignificanceofthecity itself.Threefigures,inparticular,illustratetheseconcepts:Brutus,Belin,andLud. Brutus,thenamesakeofthetextandLondon’sfounder,isinterredwithinthecity byhissons: Þaheorafaderwesdeadalleheonomenenneread andhinebiburieninNewTroyeþereburh3e þatheorafaderhefdeimakedmidmuchelereblisse. (1049–51) [WhentheirfatherwasdeadtheyagreedunanimouslytoburyhiminthecityofNew Troywhichtheirfatherhadfoundedwithgreatjoy.]

MuchlikeTurnusisburiedwithinTours,Brutusisplacedinthecityhefounded, once again connecting his dead body with the urban myth and giving him a ubiquitouspresencewithinLondon’swalls.Theexactlocationofhisburialisnot noted,creatingasensethatBrutusisattheheartofthecity,almostasifLondon isbuiltaroundhim. Ontheotherhand,thetombsofthetwootherkingsIwishtopointout,Belin andLud,aregivenspecificlocations.Belin,asabelovedruler,isplacedatthetop ofatoweraboveagate,calledBillingsgate,whichhehimselfhadorderedtobe constructed: Þekingleouedelongeþathitcomtouwardhisende, þatiLundenehewesdæd—sariweshisdu3eðe; wawesheomonliueforþæskingesdæðe. Heoferdentohishordeandnomeþermuchedealgoldes; heomakedenanetunneofgoldeandof3imme; þenekingheodudenþerinne,þatwesherelouerdBelin, vpheohinedudenhe3eanufenmesteþanturre þatmemihtehinebihaldenwide3eonþeonlonde. (3027–34)

ForadiscussionofotherpropernamesbesidesthoseofcitiesinLayamon’stext,seeJ.D.Bruce, “SomeProperNamesinLayamon’sBrutNotRepresentedinWaceorGeoffreyofMonmouth,” ModernLanguageNotes26.3(1911):65–9.

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[Thekingliveslonguntilhisendcame,andhelaydeadinLondon—hissubjectswere sad;becauseoftheking’sdeaththeyweresorrytobealive.Theywenttohistreasury andtookfromitagreatquantityofgold;theymadeavesselofgoldandofgems,put theking,whowastheirlordBelin,init,placedhimhighupinthetopmostpartofthe towersothathecouldbeseenfarandwideacrosstheland.Theydidthatoutoftheir greatlove,becausehewastheirbelovedlord.]

One of the most important aspects of this scene, beyond the fact of the king’s burialwithinthecity,isthedescriptionofhisinterment.Situatedinthetower,“so thathecouldbeseenfarandwideacrosstheland,”Belin’sbodyalmostbecomes asymbolofthecity,bothvisibleandomnipresent.Lud,alaterking,issimilarly buriednexttoagatethathehadconstructed,namedPortLud: Þagonþislondwendenþatcomþiskingesende. Ludkingiwarðdæd—inLundenemehineleide. Þerweoreneorlesswiðewhæte,andleidenþenekingbiane3ate þat3etmecleopeðfuliwisPortLudaBruttisce. (3555–59) [Andsothislandfaredwelluntiltheking’slifecametoanend.KingLuddied—he wasburiedinLondon.Thebravestnobleswerepresent,andtheyburiedtheking besideagatewhichis,indeed,stillcalledPortLudintheBritishlanguage.]

WhereasBrutusisthefounderofthecity,Ludisthekingwhobuiltawallaround LondonandchangedthenametoKaerLudtoreflecthisown.Thisrenaming establisheshimasasortofsecondaryfounder.Buryinghimnexttothegate,which waspartofthefortifiedwallheconstructed,equatestheking’sbodywiththe stabilityofthecity.12 MarieFrançoise Alamichel remarks that, in Layamon’s work, “[c]ities, for example, protect themselves behind stockades or ramparts. However, any protectionisnothingbutanillusion.Justlikerivers,townsbecomesymbolsof death. Besieged cities are usually totally destroyed—except for those that surrender.” While Alamichel’s assertion may work for those cities which are depictedasbeingbesieged,Iwouldarguethat,inthecaseofLudandhisburial beside its protective wall, death is not a form of destruction, but rather a reinforcementofpermanence.Inthesethreeinstances,thebodiesofdeadkings become, respectively, synonymous with the foundation of London, with its prominence,andwithitsboundaries,definingbothmythicalandphysicalurban space.

MarieFrançoise Alamichel, “Space in the Brut,” The Text and Tradition of La3amon’s Brut, ed. FrançoiseLeSaux(Woodbridge,Suffolk:D.S.Brewer,1994),183–92;here188.

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Camille:UrbanProtectorintheRomand’Enéas ThemidtwelfthcenturyRomand’Enéas,aromanceretellingofVirgil’sAeneid, providesaninterestingparalleltotheimagesweseeinLayamon’swork.Unlike its primary source, this Roman does not depict the famous scene of Aeneas descendingintotheunderworld,therealmofthedead,whereheistoldthathe andhislineagearedestinedtofoundthegreatcityofRome.Indeed,thisworkhas verylittleconcernforthefoundationofRome;rather,ittransformsVirgil’sinterest inthevenerationofthehistoryofhiscityintoaninterestinmakingEnéasintoa chivalricknight,successfulbothinloveandwar.13Giventhisrenovationofthe story,itseemslogicaltosupposethattheauthorwouldhavenorealneedforthe deadwithrespecttoanyurbanconsiderations.However,thisisnotthecase.One particularfigureisworthyofexaminationinthiscontextthatofCamille,queen ofVulcane.Awarriorwomandescribedasbothqueenandking,Camillearrives toaidTurnusinhiswaragainstEnéasforthehandofLavineand,thus,theright togovernLaurente,thecityofLatinus.Ratherthanthefewlinesaccordedherby Virgil,theRomanauthorspendsquiteabitoftimedescribingherappearance,her dedicationtochivalry,andeven,atonepoint,herhorse,anditisclearinthetext thatsheisaccordedtheesteemofanequalcombatantbyherallies,ifnotalways by her enemies. Her relationship with Turnus, in particular, is one of mutual respect as it is to her he turns for help when he decides to set up an ambush againstEnéas. ItisafterCamillehasdiedinbattlethatweseehowdeathplaysintotheimage of the city and how the dead function as guardians in this romance context. Followingtheaccountoftheentirearmy,especiallyofTurnus,andthecitizensof Laurentegrieving,thereisadescriptionofhowherbodyistransportedinagreat processionthroughthestreetsandthenhowitistakentoherowncity.Oncethere, sheisinterredinamagnificentshrine.Theinterestingaspectofthissceneliesin thefactthatalargemirrorisplacedatthetopofthisunusualtomb,amirrorthat servestoprotectthecity.Thetextreads: dedesoreot.I.miroior: illuecpooitbienl’enveoir quantl’ens’ivendroitasseoir, oufustparmeroufustparterre,

SeeHelenC.Laurie,“EneasandtheDoctrineofCourtlyLove,”ModernLanguageReview64(1969): 283–94andHowardR.Bloch,“EnéasbeforetheWallsofCarthage:TheBeginningsoftheCityand Romance in the Suburbs,” Beginnings in French Literature, ed. Freeman G. Henry (New York: Rodopi,2002),1–27.Forabroaderstudyofchansonsdegesteanddeath,seeSarahKay,“TheLife oftheDeadBody:DeathandtheSacredintheChansonsdegeste,”YaleFrenchStudies86(1994): 94–108.

DefiningtheMedievalCitythroughDeath jamaisnefustconquisparguerre. Bienverroientaumiroior quiertassizensonlator loranemisverseuzvenire, dontsepovoientbiengarnir, appareillieraeuzdeffendre; n’erentpaslegierasorprendre.

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[Overthatwasamirror,inwhichtheycouldseeverywellwhensomeonewascoming toattackthem,whetherbyseaorbyland.Theywouldneverbeconqueredinwar; whoeverwasseatedatthefootofthetowercouldseeinthemirrortheirenemies comingtowardthem.Thustheycouldsupplythemselveswellandpreparethemselves fordefense;theywouldnotbeeasytosurprise.]15

Camille continues to fulfill her duty as defender of Vulcane; even though she herselfwaskilledinwar,herbodyandthetombthatveneratesitavertsthesame fateforherpeople.Furthermore,herdemisepreventsthepotentialdestructionof Laurenteitself.Whenthetextturnsawayfromthedigressionconcerninghertomb backtothewar,Turnusimmediatelygivesthespeechinwhichhedecidestoface Enéasinhandtohandcombatratherthancontinuingthedevastationofopen battle.InVirgil’sversion,Turnus’sdecisionisrenderedinasuccinct,angerdriven monologue.IntheRoman,thetoneofhisspeechissadandresigned,andone cannothelpbutfeelthathisgriefatthedeathofCamillehasbroughtabouthis resolution.Asaresult,Laurenteavoidspotentialdestruction,suchasthatfound inthenearcontemporaneoustext,theRomandeThèbes,inwhichthetitlecityis razedtothegroundintheaftermathofabloodycivilwar.Thus,byplacingsuch emphasisupontheprotectivepowerofthedeceasedCamille,bothforherown cityandforLaurente,theauthoroftheEnéasisabletoexploreanemotionalaspect ofTurnusthatisunnecessaryintheepicoriginal.

TheArtofDeath:Monuments,Tombs,andtheEleanorCrosses Therepresentationofthephysicalityofdeadbodieswithinurbansettingsinthe Brut and the Enéas is not only a fictional device. Historical and archaeological evidence reveals that the dead were present everywhere, especially through monuments,tombs,andgraveyards.Familymemberswouldoftencommission artwork, such as gravestones, stained glass windows, plaques, or columns, to

14 15

QuotationtakenfromRomand’Enéas,LivredePoche(Paris:LettresGothiques,1997). TranslationofRomand’EnéastakenfromEneas:ATwelfthCenturyFrenchRomance,trans.JohnA. Yunck.RecordsofCivilization:SourcesandStudies,93(NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress, 1974),204–05.

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commemorate their relatives, thereby hoping to ensure that they would be remembered;wealthierurbanfamilies,especially,chosetoorderworksofthis nature.16Thoseattendingchurchwouldbesurroundedbymemorialsofthosewho hadpassedon,creatingareasinwhichthedeadwerevisuallyandsymbolically presenttotheliving.Royalfigures,particularlyincapitalcities,werefrequently memorializedandidealizedwitheffigiesandpublicburialspaces.17Inaddition, mostcitiessupportedalargenumberofgraveyards,whichisnotsurprisinggiven the amount of people within these environments and urban mortality rates. VanessaHardinghasnoted,forinstance,thattherewere107churchesplusSt. Paul’sandmanyreligioushouseswithinLondonpriortotheReformation,allof which were responsible for interring the London dead.18 Monuments and cemeteries,withinandoutsideofcities,wereameansofcreatingabridgebetween the living and the deceased. With respect to cemeteries, JeanClaude Schmitt remarks:

AliteraryexampleofthiscommemorationcanbefoundintheApolloniusofTyretexts,inwhich asignificantmonumentisraised,effectingthedevelopmentofboththestoryandthecharacters. For basic discussions of the transmission of the Apollonius story, see Elizabeth Archibald, ApolloniusofTyre:MedievalandRenaissanceThemesandVariations,IncludingtheTextoftheHistoria ApolloniRegisTyriwithanEnglishTranslation(Cambridge:D.S.Brewer,1991).AlsoseeAlbrecht Classen, “Reading and Deciphering in Apollonius of Tyre and the ‘Historia’ von den sieben weisenMeitern:MedievalEpistemologywithinaLiteraryContext,”StudiMedievali49.1(2008): 161–89. Fordiscussionspertainingtothe“artofdeath,”seeMarkDuffy,RoyalTombsofMedievalEngland (Gloucestershire,UK:TempusPublishing,2003);AnnMarieYasin,“FuneraryMonumentsand CollectiveIdentity:FromRomanFamilytoChristianCommunity,”ArtBulletin87.3(2005):433–57; KarlS.Guthke,TheGenderofDeath:ACulturalHistoryinArtandLiterature(CambridgeandNew York:CambridgeUniversityPress,1999);HowardColvin,ArchitectureandtheAfterlife(New Haven:YaleUniversityPress,1991);NigelLlewellyn,TheArtofDeath:VisualCultureintheEnglish DeathRitual,c.1500–c.1800(London:ReaktionBooks,1991);andJamesClark,TheDanceofDeath intheMiddleAgesandtheRenaissance,reprintedinDeathandtheVisualArts(NewYork:ArnoPress, l977).TheDanceofDeathisaparticularlyinterestingsubjectinthatitcrossesvisualandliterary cultureasrepresentationsappearedinchurches,suchasinParis,andintheworksofsuchauthors asJohnLydgate,mainlyinthefifteenthcenturyaftertheravagesoftheplague.Theseimages depictedtheuniversalityofdeath. VanessaHarding,“BurialChoiceandBurialLocationinLaterMedievalLondon,”DeathinTowns: UrbanResponsestotheDyingandtheDead,100–1600,ed.StevenBassett(LondonandNewYork: LeicesterUniversityPress,1995),119–35;here120.AlsoseeVanessaHarding,TheDeadandthe LivinginParisandLondon,1500–1670(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2002).Foran overalldiscussionofthehistoryofcemeteriesinEngland,seeDaniell,DeathandBurialinMedieval England,145–74.ForasimilardiscussionofburialsinFlandersandTuscanyaroundthetimeof the Black Death, see Samuel K. Cohn, Jr., “The Place of the Dead in Flanders and Tuscany: TowardsaComparativeHistoryoftheBlackDeath,”ThePlaceoftheDead:DeathandRemembrance inLateMedievalandEarlyModernEurope,eds.BruceGordonandPeterMarshall(Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress,2000),17–43.

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In the center [of many European villages] is found the parish church, and then crowdedarounditarethetombsofthecemetery...Thecemeterywasenclosedbya wall . . . Between the church and the village, the cemetery was therefore an intermediaryplace,anditplayedamediatingrole:thelivinghadtogothroughit constantly,notonlywhentheywenttochurchorreturnedfromchurchbutalsowhen theywentfromoneendofthevillagetotheotheror,intown,fromonequarterto another.19

Monumentstooplayedasimilarroleinthattheywereintendedtokeepthedead inthemindsandmemoryoftheliving.20 Therearemanyexamplesofmonumentsandtombsinmedievalurbansettings, particularly in city cathedrals and churches. However, the Eleanor crosses are interestingspecificallybecausetheymarkoneofthemostelaboratecollectionsof royalmonumentsinthehistoryofEngland.Erectedalongthefuneraryprocession routetoLondonofEleanorofCastile,queenofEdwardI,whodiedin1290,21the series of twelve crosses were constructed by the order of Edward and were finished in the years following the procession to commemorate each stop that Eleanor’s body made as it was taken from Harby, where she died, back to WestminsterAbbey.22TherehavebeenmanytheoriesastoEdward’sreasonfor

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Schmitt,GhostsintheMiddleAges,183. SeeElizabethValdezdelAlamoandCarolStamatisPendergast,“Introduction,”Memoryandthe Medieval Tomb, eds. Elizabeth Valdez del Alamo and Carol Stamatis Pendergast (Aldershot, UnitedKingdomandBrookfield,VT:Ashgate,2000),1–15;here1:“Monumentsdesignedforthe purposeofcommemorationutilizemanydevicestotriggermemory:vividimagesthatareboth marvelousandactive;strategicallyplacedfigurationsorinscriptionwhichcontextualizethesite; andakineticrelationshipbetweenthefunerarymonumentanditsvisitors,oftenmanifestedin ritual acts involving movement around or in the monument. These memorial strategies establishedadialoguebetweenthelivingandthedeadandarticulatedmutualbenefitsforboth parties.” ForstudiesonEleanorofCastileorherdeath,seeJohnCarmiParsons,EleanorofCastile:Queenand SocietyinThirteenthCenturyEngland(NewYork:St.Martin’s,1995);JohnCarmiParsons,TheCourt andHouseholdofEleanorofCastilein1290(Toronto:PontificalInstituteofMediaevalStudies,1977); AnneCrawford,“TheQueen’sCouncilintheMiddleAges,”EnglishHistoricalReview116.469 (2001):1193–211;andDavidCrook,“TheLastDaysofEleanorofCastile:TheDeathofaQueen inNottinghamshire,November1290,AtHouseofRicharddeWestoninHarby,”Transactionsof the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire 94 (1990): 17–28. For a discussion of her burial in relationshiptootherqueensofthetimeperiod,seeJohnCarmiParsons,“‘Neverwasabody buried in England with such solemnity and honour’: The Burials and Posthumous Commemorations of English Queens to 1500,” Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe: Proceedings of a Conference Held at Kings College London, April 1995, ed. Anne J. Duggan (Woodbridge,Suffolk:Boydell&Brewer,1997),317–37. Forabriefhistoryofthecrosses,seeDoreenShakesby,“TheCrossesofQueenEleanor,”Medieval History 3 (1993): 26–29, and Eleanor of Castile 1290–1990: Essays to Commemorate the 700th AnniversaryofHerDeath:28November1290,ed.DavidParsons(Stamford:PaulWatkins,1991). MostofthesemonumentsweredestroyedduringtheEnglishCivilWar.Inadditiontothecrosses, therewerealsothreetombsbuiltforEleanorinLincolnCathedral,theDominicanBlackfriars

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commissioning these memorials, but most seem to agree that it was out of devotion to his wife. Doreen Shakesby states that Edward “certainly went to extraordinarylengthstomarktheroutetakentohisqueen’sfinalrestingplace, presumablyinthemistakenbeliefthatthememorialsheerectedwouldstandas aperpetualvisibletestimonytohismelancholyjourneybacktoWestminster.”23 There have been some scholars, such as Nicola Coldstream, who suggest that Edwardintendedthecrossestoencourageaviewofroyalsplendorandpower.24 Notonlyarethesecrossesexceptionalasexamplesofmonumentsintendedto commemorateroyaldeath,theyarealsodistinctlyurbanintheircharacter,both inlocationandinthecircumstancesoftheirconstruction.Thecrosseswerebuilt in the following places: Lincoln, Grantham, Stamford, Geddington, North hampton,StonyStratford,Woburn,Dunstable,St.Albans,Waltham,WestCheap, andCharing.Thesesiteswere,byandlarge,townsatthetimethecrosseswere constructed,whileWestCheapandCharingwerelocatedwithintheboundaries ofLondon.Mostofthesemonumentswerebuiltinthesquaresoratthecrossroads inthetowncenters,prominentlydisplayedforalltravelerstosee,includingthose followingthesamepaththattheprocessiontookintoLondon.Furthermore,the two within the metropolitan area, West Cheap and Charing, were the most elaborateandthemostfamous,costing£226and£700respectivelyasopposedto theaverageof£100atwhichtheothershavebeenestimated.Indeed,theworkfor all of the crosses originated in London and was overseen by one of the city’s mastermasons,RichardofCrundale.25Thesemonumentsmarkedtherouteofa royalfuneralprocessionbackintoanurbancenter,andtheybecamethedefining symbols of the other smaller towns and cities along the way, illustrating the ubiquitouspresenceofsuchdeathmarkers.

DeathandSocialSpaceinUrbanSettings:MassesfortheDead It is welldocumented that, with the rise of cities, the geographic location of populationsshiftedaspeoplemigratedintotheseareas.Thesechangesaffected howindividualsrespondedtotheirowndeathsandtothatofothers.SamuelK. Cohnremarks,basedontheresearchofJacquesChiffoleau,that“urbanisation, commercialisationandmigrationuprootedtheindividualfromfamilies,neighbors andlineages,particularlyincities,asearlyasthethirteenthcentury”;this“lossof

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church,andWestminsterAbbey. Shakesby,“TheCrossesofQueenEleanor,”29. NicolaColdstream,“TheCommissioningandDesignoftheEleanorCrosses,”EleanorofCastile 1290–1990,ed.DavidParsons(Stamford:PaulWatkins,1991),55–67;here65. Coldstream,“TheCommissioningandDesignoftheEleanorCrosses,”59.

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familyandtiestotheancestorsledtonewlevelsoffearfeedingthegrowthinthe territoryofPurgatoryandwithittheneedforeverincreasingnumbersofmasses andintercessorsforthesoul.”26Insteadofdependinguponone’sfamilytoperform thenecessaryritesafterdeath,thisseparationfromancestrallinesforcedpeople inurbanenvironmentstodevelopothermeansofensuringthecontinuedprayers fortheirsoulsaftertheydied.Asaresult,thebusinessofperformingmassesfor thedeadflourishedincitiesasindividualsbegangivingmoneytoreligioushouses toensuretheirplaceintheafterlifethroughposthumousprayer.27Theexamples ofthispracticearenumerous.Forinstance,urbanguilds,whichwerewealthier thantheirmoreruralcounterparts,wereabletopayprieststoperformmassesfor their dead members.28 In literature, this custom generally elicited scorn. For example,intheBtextofWilliamLangland’sPiersPlowman,thereisaconcernthat priestswereabandoningtheirvillagesinfavorofLondoninordertoenjoythe easeandwealthwhichresultedfromthisoccupation: Personsandparisshepreestespleynedhemtothebisshop Thathireparissheswerenpoveresiththepestilencetyme, TohavealicenceandleveatLondontodwelle, Andsyngentherforsymonie,forsilverisswete. (B.Prologue.83–86)29

Thismigrationofpriestsleftparishionerswithoutanyonetoseetotheirspiritual needs, which is, of course, a problem that they, and Langland, criticize. The performance of the masses for the dead, while not unique to cities, became a popular trade within them, influencing religious practices and the shape of communitiesasinhabitantswereforcedtoseekoutnetworksbeyondtheirfamilies andaffectingrelocationofprieststourbanareas.

26 27 28 29

SamuelK.Cohn,Jr.,“ThePlaceoftheDeadinFlandersandTuscany,”19,20. Forastudyoftheearlydevelopmentoftheritesofdeath,seePaxton,ChristianizingDeath. Daniell,DeathandBurialinMedievalEngland,19–20. QuotationfromtheBtextofPiersPlowmantakenfromTheVisionofPiersPlowman,ed.A.V.C. Schmidt (New York: Everyman, 1995). Simony does, of course, include other acts besides acceptingpaymentforperformingmassesforthedead;however,itisgenerallyconsideredby scholarsofthepoemthatthispassageisreferringtothisactspecifically.Forstudiesonsimony inPiersingeneral,seeRussellA.Peck,SocialConscienceandthePoets,SocialUnrestintheLate MiddleAges:PapersoftheFifteenthAnnualConferenceoftheCenterforMedievalandEarlyRenaissance Studies,ed.FrancisX.Newman(Binghamton,NY:MedievalandRenaissanceTextsandStudies, 1986),113–48;M.TeresaTavormina,PiersPlowmanandtheLiturgyofSt.Lawrence:Composition andRevisioninLanglandsPoetry,StudiesinPhilology84(1987):245–71;AlanJ.Fletcher,A SimoniacalMomentinPiersPlowman,YearbookofLanglandStudies4(1990):135–38;andJoseph H.Lynch,SimoniacalEntryintoReligiousLifefrom1000to1260:ASocial,Economic,andLegal Study(Columbus:OhioStateUniversityPress,1976).Also,fortheWycliffiteviewonthesubject, seeJohnWyclif,OnSimony,trans.TerrenceA.McVeigh(NewYork:FordhamUniversityPress, 1992).

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PoliticalRolesoftheUrbanDead KatherineVerdery,inastudyonthedeadinpostsocialistcultures,remarksthat “[d]eadbodieshaveenjoyedpoliticallifetheworldoverandsincefarbackin time.”30Thisassessmentisappropriateforthedeadinmedievalcitiesforthey wereverymuchapartofthepoliticalatmosphere.Dependingonhowtheywere manipulated, they could either solidify authority already in place or escalate contention,serveasacity’ssymboloritsprotector.Thebodiesofthosewhohad alreadypassedon,particularlythosewhohadsomesortofpowerorpositionin life,wereasmuchapartofpoliticalnegotiationsandoperationsasweretheliving. Toillustratethepossibilitiesofthisconcept,Iwillbrieflyexaminetwohistorical cases;thefirst,fromeleventhcenturyCambrai,demonstrateshowthedeadare employedwithinacity’sinternalaffairsandthesecond,concerningtheninth centuryriseofVenice,associatesdeathwiththedevelopmentofexternalpolitical affiliationsandidentity.Whiletheseareonlytwoillustrations,theydorevealhow thephysicalpresenceofbodies,whetherofsaints,holyfigures,ormembersofthe community,issignificant,evennecessary,indefiningpoliticalurbancharacter. Thedeadcanbeemployed,asinthecaseofthecelebrationatCambrai,tocreate theappearanceofcivicunity,or,aswithSt.MarkandVenice,toprovideameans foramplifyingthepowerbaseofacity.Furthermore,thishistoricalevidencefor theprevalenceofthepoliticalramificationsofdeathimageryincitiesismatched in its literary counterparts. As with historical references, the sheer amount of usefulmaterialinthiscontextiswidespreadandalmostlimitless;here,however, IwillexplorethelatefourteenthcenturyMiddleEnglishpoemSaintErkenwaldas itisatextwithbothoverturbanconcernsandclearimagesofdeath.

Cambrai,BishopGerard,andSt.Géry InreadingarelativelyrecentarticlebyRobertSteinentitled“SacredAuthorityand SecularPower:TheHistoricalArgumentoftheGestaEpiscoporumCameracensis,”31 I was introduced to a text called “The Deeds of the Bishops of Cambrai,” the compositionofwhichwascommissionedaround1024byBishopGerardI;itisa threevolumeworkthatdetailsthesuccessionofthecity’sbishops,recountingthe foundation of Cambrai, and its affiliations with neighboring monasteries and

KatherineVerdery,ThePoliticalLivesofDeadBodies:ReburialandPostsocialistChange(NewYork: ColumbiaUniversityPress,1999),1. RobertM.Stein,“SacredAuthorityandSecularPower:TheHistoricalArgumentoftheGesta EpiscoporumCameracensis,”SacredandSecularinMedievalandEarlyModernCultures:NewEssays, ed.LawrenceBesserman(NewYork:Palgrave,2006),149–65.

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religioushouses.32ThefinalsectionisconcernedwithGerard’sownlifeandthe restoration of the Cathedral of Notre Dame. The scene in the Gesta that is of particular interest for this study is one that Stein also refers to in his article, although for a different purpose. In November of 1030, Bishop Gerard, at the completionoftheworkontheCathedral,organizedaspecialceremonytodedicate thechurch,anoccasionthatbroughttogetherallthepeopleofthecityandthe surroundingarea.Thetext’sauthordescribeshowthebodyofSt.Géry,orSt. GaugericusintheLatin,isbroughtintotheCathedral.Géryisconsideredtobethe foundingbishopofCambrai,livingfromthelatterhalfofthesixthcenturytothe beginningoftheseventh.Gerardhasthesaintsetonthe“cathedrapontificali” (“thepontificalseat”);notably,thetextthensaysthathewasseatedthere“sicut antefuerat”(III.49.30;justashehadbeenbefore).Theimagehereisthatofthe reveredbodyofadeadholymanaccordedthesamecourtesyandthesamerespect thathewouldhavebeengivenduringhislifetime.Furthermore,SaintGéryisnot the only deceased figure in attendance. The bodies of other Cambraian bishopsAubertandVindicienoftheseventhcenturyandHadulfoftheeighth century—areallowedspaceattheevent.Theyareevenplacedsoastoappearas iftheyarehelpingintheritualsatthealtarastheydidduringtheirtimeinoffice; as the text states, “ipsi eiusdem altaris comministri fuerant” (III.49.30; they themselves had ministered to the same altars). Arranged with these holy individualsofthepastarealsoothersfromthebishopric,thecityofCambrai;the bodiesof“martiresconfessoresacvirgines”(III.49.30;martyrs,confessors,and virgins),areallarrangedaccordingtotheirsocialstations. Allinall,inthissceneoftheGesta,asRobertSteinobserves,thedeadseem“to jointhelivingmembersofthecongregationintheholyceremony.”33Indeed,itis characterizedinjustsuchafashionastheauthorremarks,“sanctorumcorpora nostrae dioceseos cum plebe et clero in unum congregata . . . commixtos” (III.49.42–43;thebodiesofthesaintsweremixedtogetherwiththepeopleand clericsofourdioceseinasinglecongregation).TheimagepromotedbytheGesta, whetherornotitwastrueinreality,isofagatheringofthecitizensofCambrai, bothpastandpresent,inaunifiedcelebration.InastudyofGerardofCambrai, DianeReillyrecognizestheBishop’sawarenessofhispositionasapoliticalentity: “Asadefenderoftheecclesiasticalstatusquo,GerardofCambraisoughtnotjust to preserve the ancient rights of bishops, but also with them the divinely

AllquotationsfromtheGestaEpiscoporumCameracensistakenfromGestapontificumCameracensium, http://mdz10.bibbvb.de/~db/bsb00001080/images/index.html?seite=403),MonumentaGermaniae Historia,Scriptores7,ed.LudwigBethmann(1846;NewYork:Kraus,1963).Anonlineversionof this text can be found at the digital Monumenta Germaniae Historia (http://www.dmgh.de/). Translationsaretheauthor’s(bothwebsiteslastaccessedonFeb.7,2009). Stein,“SacredAuthorityandSecularPower,”150.

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sanctionedrightsofkings....Astheproductoftheimperialpatronagesystemfor bishops,hewasintimatelyfamiliarwiththeworkingsofcourtpoliticsandhis potentialtoactasareligiouspowerbroker.”34Bydisplayingthebodiesofthecity’s ecclesiasticalpastandmergingthemsoseamlesslywiththelivingmembersofthe diocese,Gerard’spurposeseemstohavebeentoemphasizethehistoricpowerof thebishopricandthenewlycompletedcathedralandtobringthecitytogether underthisauthority.35

St.MarkandtheRiseofVenice Next,IwouldliketoturntoanexampledrawnfromthehistoryofVenice;this particularlyfamouscaseillustratesthepoliticalandculturalvalueofsaints’tombs and monuments, particularly those found in urban areas. To give some quick historical background, the city of Venice itself was founded in the early fifth century, with various stories and myths surrounding its origin. It remained a somewhatminorareaforthefirstthreecenturiesofitsexistence.Then,in775,the easternislandofOlivoloreceivedabishopric,andacathedralwasbuilt.By805, after a series of political and martial upheavals and despite internal, divided loyalties between proByzantium factions and proFrankish ones, Venice paid homagetoCharlemagne;however,in810,inadisplayofunity,theVenetians repelledaFrankisharmyledbyPepinofItaly.WhentheFrankishandByzantine Empiresreachedatreatyin811,theeffectonVenicewastofreethecityfrom Charlemagne’scontroland,whilestillretainingstatusasaByzantineprovince,to allowittobecome,forallintentsandpurposes,autonomous.36

DianeJ.Reilly,TheArtofReforminEleventhCenturyFlanders:GerardofCambrai,RichardofSaint VanneandtheSaintVaastBible(Leiden:Brill,2006),141.Besidesservingthegeneralintentionof providing vivid, physical evidence of authority, theceremony also was aimed at reinforcing Gerard’scontroloverthenearbyabbeyofSaintVaast,asheenterstheprocessionwithRichard, themonastery’sabbot.SeeReilly,TheArtofReform,111–14. Anotherexcellentexampleofthedeadreinforcingurbanepiscopalauthorityisthethirteenth century episcopal pantheon in Léon Cathedral. For a study, see Rocío Sánchez Ameijeiras, “Monumentaetmemoriae:TheThirteenthCenturyEpiscopalPantheonofLéonCathedral,”Memory andtheMedievalTomb,ed.ElizabethValdezdelAlamoandCarolStamatisPendergast(Aldershot, England,andBrookfield,VT:Ashgate,2000),269–86.Also,themanipulationofthelifeanddeath ofSt.HelenofAthyrainthepoliticalstrugglesbetweenthecathedralandthecityofTroyesinthe thirteenthcenturyisusefulaswell.SeeGeary,LivingwiththeDeadintheMiddleAges,221–40,as wellasElizabethChapin,LesVillesdefoiresdeChampagnedesoriginesaudébutduXIVesiècle(Paris: Champion,1937),32–4. ForathoroughhistoryofVenice,seeJohnJuliusNorwich,AHistoryofVenice(NewYork:Alfred A.Knopf,1982).

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It is into this environment that St. Mark is brought in 828. Stolen from Alexandria by Venetian merchants in a dramatic, covert maneuver, the Evangelist’sbodywasinstalledinthedoge’sprivatepalacechapel.Priortohis appearanceinVenice,theacknowledgedecclesiasticalpowerintheprovincewas Aquileia,anoldercitythatallegedlyclaimedMarkhadordaineditsfirstpatriarch. TheyearbeforeMark’sremainsweretranslated,in827,Aquileia’sofficialrights were affirmed at the Synod of Mantua. When the saint’s body was secured, however,anewlegendwascirculated,statingthatMarkhadbeenforced,bya storm,toputintoportinwhatwouldbecomepartoftheVenetianlagoon;during hisstay,hereportedlyhadadreaminwhichhewastoldto“beatrest,”avision thatwassubsequentlyinterpreted,asawayofrationalizingthetheft,tomeanthat hisbodywasdestinedtobelonginVenice.ThephysicalpresenceoftheEvangelist achievedanumberofobjectivesforthecity.Religiousauthorityshiftedawayfrom theneighboringAquileiasincepossessingthebodyofthesainttrumpedsimple myth.AsGaryWillsremarks,“Venice...managedwhatOttoDemuscallsa‘coup d’état,’wrenchingfromAquileiatheoriginalbasisofitsauthority,theconnection withMark.”37Furthermore,itallowedVenicetoseparateitselfevenfurtherfrom bothByzantiumandRome.InSt.Markbecomingthecity’spatron,Byzantinesaint Theodore,thepreviouspatron,wasreplaced,distancingVenicefromtheEmpire. Also, by claiming an Apostolic heritage, Venice could assert a “spiritual level second only to Rome itself, with a claim to ecclesiastical autonomy . . . unparalleledinLatinChristendom.”38 AsImentionedpreviously,thebodyoftheEvangelistwasplaced,notinthe cathedralatOlivolo,asmightbeexpected,butinDogeGiustiniano’spalace,a movethatallowedhim,asecularfigure,controloverMark’sremains,including therighttoappointchaplainschargedwiththecareoftherelics.Thisdecision deposedtheauthorityofthebishops,whowereliterallypushedtotheedgesof sacralimportanceinthattheywerehousedattheoutlyingcathedral.Thepresence ofMarkinthepalacechapelincorporatedthesaintintoeveryaspectofVenetian politicallife.Inthefollowingcenturies,thesymbolofMark,thelion,wouldspread throughoutthecity,andVenice’smartialsuccesses,aswellastheirprogressin

GarryWills,Venice:LionCity—TheReligionofEmpire(NewYork:Simon&Schuster,2001),29.Also seeElisabethCrouzetPavan,VeniceTriumphant:TheHorizonsofaMyth,trans.LydiaG.Cochrane (Baltimore:TheJohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,2002),53:“Venicethusplaceditselfunderthe protectionofapatronsaintandprivilegedintercessorwhopermittedittoproclaimitsoriginality andthegrowingstrengthoftheworldofthelagooninthefaceofAquileiaandthemainlandbut alsotostateitswillforindependencefromByzantium.” Norwich,AHistoryofVenice,29.

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maritimeventures,wouldbeattributedtotheEvangelist’sprotection.39Thomas Dale has observed that “[t]he saint’s tomb was a nexus of political and ecclesiasticalpowerinthemedievalcity.Beyondperpetuatinghispraesentiaor physicalpresenceasafocusofcommunalintercession,thetombcouldevokea sacredpasttolegitimizecurrentcivicinstitutions.”40Hecontinuesbycommenting thatMark’stranslationwas“tangibleevidenceforanewlyinventedsacredpast.”41 Thisinvention,predicatedonthebodyofthesaint,wasanimportantfactorthat allowedVenicetosolidifyitsindependentidentityandtoachievearisetocivic andecclesiasticalpower.

EstablishingLondonas“maystertoun”inSaintErkenwald Next,letusturntotheMiddleEnglishSaintErkenwald,thetaleofapaganjudge’s body found beneath St. Paul’s cathedral as it was being rebuilt in the seventh centurybythetitularbishop.Thisworkhaslongbeenacknowledgedasatext intimatelytiedtothecityinwhichitisset.RuthNisse,forinstance,callsit“awork manifestlyaboutLondonanditscitizens.”42Thepoem’sopeningprologuesetsthe text firmly within the English city, describing it as the “metropol” and the “maystertoun,”“thechiefcity”(26).43Itisclearfromthebeginningthattheauthor isconcernedwiththeconversionofEnglandtoChristianity,specificallyasitis manifestedinthewaypagannameswerechangedandappropriatedtoreflectthe introductionofthenewreligionandevenmorespecificallyonhowthetemples

41 42

SeeCrouzetPavan,VeniceTriumphant,54:“[I]ttellsushowVenetianmaritimeenterprisesfound aprivilegedprotector.AstheshipsmadetheirwaytoVenicewiththeirpreciouscargo,theywere savedfromshipwreckbythepersonalinterventionofthesaint.Inthedecadesthatfollowed,the holyrelicwasseenascommittedtotheprotectionofacitythatwasstillfarfrombeingamajor power and had many enemies in the Adriatic. At the end of the tenth century the situation graduallychangedandVenicewentontheoffensive.Venetianforceswontheirfirstvictories,and thenameoftheEvangelistwasconnectedwiththem.”Also,Wills,Venice:LionCity,33,remarks that“Mark’sbodyorderedthewholeofsocietyarounditself.” ThomasE.A.Dale,“StolenProperty:StMarksFirstVenetianTombandthePoliticsofCommunal Memory,”MemoryandtheMedievalTomb,eds.ElizabethValdezdelAlamoandCarolStamatis Pendergast(Aldershot,England,andBrookfield,VT:Ashgate,2000),205–15;here205. Dale,“StolenProperty,”205. RuthNisse,“‘ACorounFulRiche’:TheRuleofHistoryinStErkenwald,”EnglishLiteraryHistory 65(1998):277–95;here278. Quotations taken from Saint Erkenwald, ed. Clifford Peterson (Philadelphia: University of PennsylvaniaPress,1977).Forstudiesofthelegendofthesaint,seeGordonWhatley,TheSaint ofLondon:TheLifeandMiraclesofSt.Erkenwald(Binghamton,NY:Medieval&RenaissanceTexts &Studies,1989)and“HeathensandSaints:St.ErkenwaldinItsLegendaryContext,”Speculum61.2 (1986):330–63aswellasT.McAlindon,“HagiographyintoArt:AStudyofSt.Erkenwald,”Studies inPhilology67(1970):472–94.

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andpeopleofpreChristianLondonwereconverted.44Indeed,thepseudohistory ofLondonisrecountedthroughoutthecourseofthetext—howBrutusfounded thecityandsoforth—allofwhichissituatedinchronologicalrelationshipwiththe life of Christ, the effect of which is to create a parallel timeline for the city. Furthermore,themoreimmediatesettingofSt.Paul’sCathedralemphasizes,as LynnStaleyremarkswithreferencetoSaintErkenwald,thework’sparticularly urbannaturefor“[t]hecathedralisatoncethepointofintercessionforthelost,a signofLondon’snewidentity,anexemplarforproperworship,arepositoryof learning,asitewhereclassescometogetherindifferentlabors,andtheintersection of past and present.”45 In addition, D. Vance Smith has classified Saint Paul’s Cathedral,mainlybycitingtheevidenceofapublictabletcraftedin1346that identified key dates in London history, as responsible for the “symbolic management of London time” and the “repository of memory and an historiographybeyondhumanexperience.”46 Beyondthelocationofthe story,thefocusofthepoemonthebishop,Saint Erkenwald,identifiesitwiththeaffairsofbothLondonandSt.Paul’s.Patronsaint ofmedievalLondon,Erkenwaldhimselfisworthyofexaminationinastudyofthe juxtapositionofthedeadandthecity.Thebodyofthebishop,theinspirationfor awidespreadcult,wasinterredforalongtimeinaprominentpositionbehindthe altarofthecathedraluntilitwasmovedin1326toashrineinthechapelofSt. Mary.47Althoughobservanceofritualstothesaintwanedinthemidfourteenth century,itwasrenewedafteraninfluential1386decreebyBishopBraybroke.The historyofErkenwald’scultaswellasofhisascensiontopopularityinLondon ritualsprovidesmuchdetailforconsideration.48However,moretothepointfor thisstudy,theimportanceofhisrelicsinthelatefourteenthcentury,duringthe timeofthecompositionoftheSaintErkenwaldpoem,isevident.Forexample,in Richard Maidstone’s Concordia, composed in 1392 in response to Richard II’s return to London after an estrangement with the metropolis, he explicitly

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RaymondP.Tripp,Jr.,“St.Erkenwald:ATaleofTwoSouls,”InGeardagum14(1993):89–110;here 94,statesthat“thepoet’ssynopsisislessahistorythanajudgementofhowAustynwentabout hisreforms,whichhepresentsashastyandshallow,littlemorethanchangingthesignsonthe door.”AlsoseePatriciaPrice,“IntegratingTimeandSpace:TheLiteraryGeographyofPatience, Cleanness,TheSiegeofJerusalem,andSt.Erkenwald,”MedievalPerspectives11(1996):234–50. LynnStaley,“TheManinFoulClothesandaLateFourteenthCenturyConversationaboutSin,” StudiesintheAgeofChaucer24(2002):1–47;here23–24. D.VanceSmith,“CryptandDecryption:ErkenwaldTerminableandInterminable,”NewMedieval Literatures5(2002):59–85;here63. SeeWhatley,TheSaintofLondon,especially57–70. For instance, Whatley, The Saint of London, 58, references an AngloNorman hagiographer, HermannofBury,fromtheeleventhcenturywhotalksaboutthefactthatLondonersaresaintless, even though the cult of Erkenwald was strong; Hermann’s intention seems to have been to supplantthesaintwithhisownchoiceofpatron,St.Edmund.

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mentionsthattheking’ssymbolicprocessionthroughthecityincludedavisitto Erkenwald’stomb: Rexreginaquemoxposthecpeditesadierunt, Sacramonasteriituncvisitareloca. O[c]curruntpariterprimasetepiscopusurbis; Obviatetclerusilliusecclesie. Concomitantureos,incultupontificali, AdErkenwaldisanctasepulcrasimul. Quippe,deoprecibussanctoquedatisvenerato; Concitoscanditequm,quifuitantepedes.

(343–50)49

[Soonafterthisthekingandqueenwentforthonfoot Topayavisittotheabbey’sholysite. Theprimateandthecity’sbishopmetthemthere; Aclericofthatchurchcameouttogreetthemtoo Thesethree,inbishopsrobes,escortthekingandqueen Together,totheholytombofErkenwaldTheypraytoGodandtothe sainttheyallrevere; Heswiftlymountsthehorsethatstandsbeforehisfeet.]

The fact Maidstone considers it necessary to include this representation in his workemphasizestheconnectionbetweenthebodyoftheholybishopandthecivic workingsofthecity.50 The Saint Erkenwald poem presents a nexus of these images—historical and contemporaryLondon,St.Paul’sCathedral,andasaintwithstrongurbanties. Then,intothisconceptualsituationis broughttheothermaincharacterofthe text—thedeadbodyofavirtuouspaganjudgefoundinthefoundationsofthe cathedral.51Miraculously,oncediscovered,the“dedebody,”theonlynamegiven tothisfigureandonethatisfrequentlyrestated,isallowedtospeak,butonlyto Erkenwald;inthisdialogue,thejudge’svirtuesinlifeaswellasthecurrentstate of his corpse and soul are recounted in the hearing of the townspeople.52 Eventually,whenErkenwald’stearsfallonthejudge,hissoulisreleasedandhis bodyshows,forthefirsttime,theravagesofdecomposition.Giventhatthetext depictsthebishopintheprocessofrebuildingSt.Paul’s,anexploitdesignedto

50 51

Quotationfrom“DeConcordia”takenfromRichardMaidstone:Concordia(TheReconciliationof RichardIIwithLondon),ed.DavidR.Carlson,trans.A.G.Rigg(Kalamazoo,MI:MedievalInstitute Publications,2003). SeeNisse,“‘ACorounFulRiche’,”279–80. For discussions of the body itself, see Siegfried Wenzel, “St. Erkenwald and the Uncorrupted Body,”NotesandQueries28.1(1981):13–14;AllenJ.Frantzen,“St.ErkenwaldandtheRaisingof Lazarus,”Mediaevalia7(1981):157–71; Foradiscussionof“thespeakingdead,”seePatriciaHarkins,“St.ErkenwaldandtheSpeaking Dead,”PublicationsoftheMississippiPhilologicalAssociation(1987):96–105.

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reinforceandcontinuetheChristianizationofEngland’scapital,53thedeadbody seemstorepresentLondon’sreligiousandlegendarypast,claimingashedoeshis relationshiptotheoldcityanditspreviousnameof“NewTroie.”Despitethefact thatitisapagantimeheisreferringto,byestablishinghisownrighteousness,he createsa“fundamentallyvirtuoushistory”forLondon.54Yet,atthesametime, sinceherequirestheinterventionofSaintErkenwaldinordertoachievecomplete salvation, the bishop’s work in advancing the Christian conversion Augustine beganbeforehimthroughtherenovationofSt.Paul’sisvalidatedandmadeeven moresacred.AsMonikaOtterstates,“Oncecommunicationwiththedeadman isestablished,themysteriousdiscoverycanbemadetoworkforErkenwald’s people,offeringmoralinstruction,highlightingandreinforcingthechangesthat havetakenplacesincethejudge’sdeath,andthatarecurrentlytakingplaceunder Erkenwald’sleadership.”55WhileLondon’spastmaybevirtuous,itspresentis undeniablyChristian,providingtwofoldsupport,throughthepresenceofthe dead body, for the perception of London in the beginning of the text as the “maystertoun.”

Conclusion IntheexamplesI’veprovidedhere,Ihavedemonstratedtheimportanceandthe wideranging prevalence, across time, space, and genre, of the medieval relationship between death and the image of the city. It is a rich topic for discussion in medieval urban studies, as it takes into account a variety of perceptionsanddemandsexplorationofhistory,politics,literature,hagiography, andanthropology,amongotherfields.TheparticularcasesthatIhavediscussed hererevealhowthedeadandtheirbodiesweremanipulatedinavarietyofways, bothphysicallyandfictionally,withinrepresentations ofthecity.JeanClaude Schmitthassaidthatthe“deadhavenoexistenceotherthanthatwhichtheliving imagineforthem.”56Indeed,thepeopleofmedievalcitiesorthoseauthorswho

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MonikaOtter,“‘NewWerke’:StErkenwald,StAlbans,andtheMedievalSenseofthePast,”Journal ofMedievalandRenaissanceStudies24(1994):387–414;here407:“[T]hepoetstressesthatLondon (thencalledNewTroy)wasthecapitalofpaganEngland,andthatitsnewreligiousandcivic prominenceunderChristianleadershipis,again,bothacompletechangeandalogical,organic continuation.ErkenwaldisthenintroducedasAustyn’ssuccessor...andhis‘NewWerke,’the rebuildingandrededicationofthechiefpagantempleasSt.Paul’scathedral,isseenindirect continuitywithAustyn’sChristianizationofEngland.Itisinthecourseofthisworkthatthetomb isfoundandtheeventsofthepoemunfold.” Nisse,“‘ACorounFulRiche’,”291. Otter,“‘NewWerke’,”412. Schmitt,GhostsintheMiddleAges,1.

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createdliterarycitiesimaginedavitalexistencefortheirdead,but,evenbeyond that,thedeadwerereal.Theywereactiveinurbanpolitics,claimedtheirown spaces in city landscapes, and were energetic parts of literary narratives, establishingandemphasizingthecomplexitiesofurbanconcerns.Thedeadmore thanmatchedthephysicalityoftheirlivingcounterparts.

AlanV.Murray (UniversityofLeeds)

TheDemographicsofUrbanSpaceinCrusadePeriod Jerusalem(1099–1187)

Introduction On15July1099,afterasiegelastingjustoverfiveweeks,thearmiesoftheFirst CrusadestormedthewallsofthecityofJerusalem.TheseizureoftheHolyCity fromtheMuslimFtimidcaliphatefulfilledthegoalofanexpeditionthathadbeen proclaimed three and a half years before by Pope Urban II at the council of Clermont,andlaidthefoundationsforaChristianstate,thekingdomofJerusalem, inPalestine.On2October1187,JerusalemsurrenderedtoSaladin,rulerofEgypt andMuslimSyria,whoseforceshaddefeatedthearmyofthekingdominbattle attheHornsofHattinon5Julyofthatsameyear.Thetimebetweenthesetwo eventsconstitutedthelongestperiodofChristianruleoftheHolyCityfromthe timeofitscapturefromtheByzantineempirebythecaliph‘Umarin638rightup tothepresentday. These eightyeight years were a period in which the Franks, as the Western settlersinPalestinecametobeknowntothemselvesandtheirMuslimenemies, engineeredmajorchangesinthecharacterofthecityanditspopulation.Themost visibleandenduringdevelopmentwasthetransformationofsacredarchitecture, occurringinthreerelatedphenomena:therebuildinganddecorationofexisting Christian structures; the construction of new Latin churches and monastic institutionsinaWesternstyle;and,perhapsmoststrikingly,theidentificationof existingIslamicstructuresasOldTestamentsites.Thesecondmaindevelopment wasthealterationofthecity’sdemographiccompositionbytheFranks.Control oftheHolyPlaceswasthemaindeterminantofthepoliciesofbothChristianand MuslimpowersthatsoughttooccupyJerusalemduringtheperiodofthecrusades. Thedemographiccompositionofthecitywasanessentialfactorinthiscontrol;for thecitytobeundersecureChristianrule,itwasnecessarythatitspopulation should be made up of Franks or other nationalities who were supportive or

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sympathetictothem.Thefirstofthesetwodevelopmentshasleftstructuresand stylisticfeatureswhicharestillnoticeableintheurbanlandscape,andhasbeen extensively studied by religious and art historians.1 The effects of the second developmentwerelargelyreversedinthecourseofSaladin’sconquestin1187and almostcompletelyobliteratedwhenFrankishruleinthecity,reestablishedby treatyin1229,wasfinallyextinguishedin1244.Thisessaywillnotaimtoaddto the extensive literature on the physical appearance of Jerusalem, but rather to studythehumanoccupationofurbanspace,examininghowtheconquerorsofthe cityin1099and1187manipulateditsdemographiccomposition,bybothviolent andpeacefulmeans,intheinterestsofreligiousidentityandmilitarysecurity.

ThePopulationofJerusalemin1099 ThesiegeofJerusalembytheArabsunder‘Umar,thesecondcaliph,in638cost the lives of many of its Byzantine—at that time almost exclusively Christian—population, and on the city’s surrender many of its surviving administrators, soldiers and clerics fled to Byzantine territory. These fugitives were replaced by Muslim immigrants from Arabia, as well as Jews (including membersoftheSamaritanandKaraitesects),since‘Umarappearstohaverevoked theByzantineperiodprohibitiononJewsresidingwithinthecity.2Yetwhilethe languageofthecityseemstohavechangedfromGreekinfavorofArabicinthe courseofthenextfivecenturies,theMuslimandJewishimmigrantsandtheir descendantsremainedaminoritywithinapopulationthatwaslargelyChristian; themajorityoftheChristiansbelongedtotheGreekOrthodoxchurch,butthere werealsonumbersofthesocalledEasternornonChalcedonianchurches:Syrian Orthodox (Jacobites), Armenians, and Copts. The eleventhcentury Arab geographeralMuqaddas,himselfaJerusalemitebyorigin,sangthepraisesof “themostsublimeofcities”,butlamentedthatitspopulationwasstilllargely Christian,complainingthat“theChristiansandJewsarepredominanthere,and

OnthesacredtopographyofJerusalemintheFrankishperiod,seeespecially:T.S.R.Boase, “EcclesiasticalArtintheCrusaderStatesinPalestineandSyria,”AHistoryoftheCrusades,gen.ed. KennethM.Setton,6vols(Madison:UniversityofWisconsinPress,1969–89),4:69–139;Bernard Hamilton,“RebuildingZion:TheHolyPlacesofJerusalemintheTwelfthCentury,”Studiesin ChurchHistory14(1977):105–16;Hamilton,“IdealsofHoliness:Crusaders,Contemplativesand Mendicants,”InternationalHistoryReview17(1995),693–712;AdrianJ.Boas,JerusalemintheTime oftheCrusades:Society,LandscapeandArtintheHolyCityunderFrankishRule(London:Routledge, 2001).AlldatescitedinthisessayrefertotheChristianEra(C.E./A.D.). Dan Bahat and Chaim T. Rubinstein, The Illustrated Atlas of Jerusalem (New York: Simon & Schuster,1990),68–89.

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themosquedevoidofcongregationsandassemblies.”3Thedemographicmakeup ofJerusalemwasnotsubstantiallyalteredaftertheFtimidcaliphalHkimbi AmrAllhstartedtopersecutenonMuslimcommunitiesin1009,althoughseveral of the Christian churches, notably the Holy Sepulchre, were demolished and eventuallyrestoredinratherinadequatefashionafteralHkimabandonedhis persecutionsin1020. The Jerusalem that was conquered by the crusaders in the summer of 1099 essentially corresponded to the area of the presentday Old City. Its area was definedinaperiodofreconstructionfollowinganearthquakeoccurringin1033 or1034,whichdestroyedmanyofthecity’sByzantineperiodfortifications.While thewestern,northern,andmostoftheeasternwallswererebuilt,itdidnotprove practicaltorestorethesouthernandsoutheasternsectionswhichhadenclosedthe spurcontainingthereligioussitesofMountZionaswellasmuchoftheterrain thatslopeddowntotheeasttowardtheKidronvalleyasfarasthespringsof Siloam(mod.‘AinSilwan).Anew,shortersouthernwallwasconstructed,leaving thecity’sdefencesinaroughlytrapezoidformcorrespondingtotheOttoman periodwallsthatsurvivetoday.4 TheprocessthatleduptotherebuildingofJerusalem’sfortificationsafterthe earthquakegivesusthefirstreasonablydetailedinformationonthecontemporary compositionofthecity’spopulation,whichremainedsubstantiallyunchanged until the arrival of the crusaders. The Ftimid caliph, Ab Tamm Ma‘add al Mustansr billh, ordered each religious community to defray the costs of reconstruction.TheChristiansfoundthemselvesunabletopay,andappealedto the Byzantine emperor for assistance. He diverted funds from the imperial revenues from Cyprus, but made the condition that only Christians would be allowedtolivewithinthesectionofthecityenclosedbythewallsthathehadpaid for.ThelatetwelfthcenturyhistorianWilliamofTyre,whocarriedoutextensive researchonthehistoryofthenorthwesternsectionofthecitythatformedthe Patriarch’sQuarterunderFrankishrule,recordedthat“untilthatdaytheSaracens hadlivedtogetherwiththefaithfulindiscriminately,butfromthattime,byorder oftheprince[i.e.,thecaliph]theywereobligedtowithdrawtootherpartsofthe city, so that this quarter was now left to the faithful without dispute.”5 The

3 4

AlMuqaddasi,TheBestDivisionsforKnowledgeoftheRegions:ATranslationofAhsanalTaqasimfi Ma‘rifatalAqalim,trans.BasilAnthonyCollins(Reading:Garnet,1994),151–52. BahatandRubinstein,TheIllustratedAtlasofJerusalem,87–88.Thenewcourseofthesouthernand southeasternwallsleftseveralimportantreligioussitesoutsidethefortifiedsites,includingthe churchesofStMaryonMountZionandStPeterinGallicantuandthePoolofSiloam. Guillaume de Tyr, Chronique, ed. Robert B. C. Huygens, Corpus Christianorum, Continuatio Mediaevalis63–63A,2vols.(Turnhout:Brepols,1986),IX.16–18,442–45;here444:“Habitaverant saneusqueadillumdiempromiscuecumfidelibusSarraceni,sedabeahora,auditaiussione principali,adaliascivitatispartesdenecessitatesecontulerunt,quartapredictafidelibussine

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completionofthewalls,whichWilliamdatesto1063,mayhavegivenagreater impetus to members of different religious communities to live together in proximity,asseemstohavehappenedinthecaseofthenorthwesternsection.6 However, it would be wrong to assume that this tendency brought about the formationofexclusiveresidentialquarters;rather,therewasaclusteringaround certain neighbourhoods. Since Christians still formed the majority of the population,asindicatedbyalMuqaddas,itwouldbeunrealisticforallofthem tobeconfinedwithinwhatlaterbecamethePatriarch’sQuarter.TheByzantine emperorregardedhimselfasprotectorofGreekOrthodoxchurch,anditislikely thatthosewhoresidedinthesectionwhosefortificationshehadfinancedwere membersofthatconfession,whowereknownasMelkites,literally‘imperialist’ Christians.7AftertheMuslimconquesttheJewshadmostlylivedsouthofthe AqsMosque,butthisareawasleftoutsidethecity’slimitaftertheconstruction ofthenew,shortersouthernwall.Theyseemtohaverelocatedtothenortheastern section,sincethisarea,oratleastpartofit,wasstillsometimesreferredtoasthe Juiverie(orLat.Juderia)bytheFranks.8 ThebasicdemographiccompositionofJerusalemcanhavebeenlittlealteredby theseizureofthecity,alongwithmostoftheinteriorofPalestine,bytheSaljq Turksin1077.FtimidrulewasrestoredwhenanEgyptianarmybesiegedand recapturedthecityinthesummerof1098.WhenthearmiesoftheFirstCrusade enterednorthernSyria,theFtimidshadmadediplomaticoverturestowardthem, hopingforanallianceagainsttheTurks.YetoncethecrusadersenteredPalestine, lessthanayearafterFtimidrulehadbeenrestored,itwasclearthattheHolyCity

contradictionerelicta.”TranslationsfromthechronicleofWilliamofTyregiveninthisessayare, unlessindicatedotherwise,bytheauthor. The precise chronology of the reconstruction is problematic. William of Tyre identifies the ByzantineemperorwhoprovidedfundingasConstantine(IX)Monomachos(1042–55).However, healsodatesthecompletionoftheChristiansectionofwallsverypreciselytotheyear1063,and tothirtysixyearsbeforethecrusaderliberation.Therearetwopossibilitiesofreconcilingthis conflictinginformation.OneisthatConstantineIXprovidedfunds,butthattheworkwasnot completeduntilatleastadecadeafterhisreign;theotheristhatWilliamconfusedthenameand reignofthisemperorwiththatofConstantineXDoukas(1059–67),whowasactuallyreigningat thetimethewallswerefinished. ThetermderivedfromtheArabicmalik,“king,ruler,”relatingtotheByzantinebasileos.Sidney H.Griffith,“TheChurchofJerusalemandthe‘Melkites’:TheMakingofan‘ArabOrthodox’ IdentityintheWorldofIslam(750–1050CE),”ChristiansandChristianityintheHolyLand:Fromthe OriginstotheLatinKingdoms,ed.OraLimorandGuyG.Stroumsa,CulturalEncountersinLate AntiquityandtheMiddleAges,5(Turnhout:Brepols,2006),175–204. ChartesdeTerreSainteprovenantdel’abbayedeN.D.deJosaphat,ed.HenriFrançoisDelaborde (Paris:EcolesFrançaisesd’AthènesetdeRome,1880),43–45;CartulaireduchapitreduSaintSépulcre deSépulcredeJérusalem,ed.GenevièveBrescBautier(Paris:AcadémiedesInscriptionsetBelles Lettres,1984),no.169;JoshuaPrawer,TheHistoryoftheJewsintheLatinKingdomofJerusalem (Oxford:Clarendon,1988),17–18,22.

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wastheirintendedtarget.Thecityhadonlyasmallgarrison,andsotheFtimid governor, Iftikhr alDawlah, would need to withstand the expected crusader siegeuntilarelievingarmyarrivedfromEgypt.Inthemeantime,heattemptedto improve the city’s chances of resistance by restorting to some fairly drastic measures. He expelled the Christian inhabitants, fearing that they might collaborate with the crusaders.9 Their place was taken by Muslims and Jews broughtinfromthesurroundingvillages;they,alongwiththeircoreligionists amongthecity’spopulation,wereexpectedtotakeanactivepartinitsdefence againstthecrusaderonslaught.

TheCrusaderConquest There is a broad agreement among Western, Armenian, Arabic and Hebrew sourcesthatassoonastheyhadfoughttheirwayintoJerusalemon15July,the crusadersbeganamassacreofthecity’sMuslimandJewishinhabitants,which wasresumedthenextday.Modernhistorianshavebeengreatlyaffectedbythe descriptionsofthecontemporaryWesternsourceswhichdescribethekillingin lurid and sometimes extensive terms.10 Thus the southern French chronicler RaymondofAguilers,himselfaneyewitness,relates:“Someofthepaganswere mercifully beheaded, others pierced by arrows plunged from towers, and yet others,torturedforalongtime,wereburnedtodeathinsearingflames.Pilesof heads, hands, and feet lay in the houses and streets, and indeed there was a runningtoandfroofmenandknightsoverthecorpses.”11Itisnoticeablethat muchoftheimageryusedtodescribetheseeventsisBiblical incharacter;the booksofIsaiahandZechariahandtheRevelationoftheNewTestamentwere employedtojustifytheliberationofJerusalemandtheslaughteroftheGentiles ashavingbeendivinelyordained.12RaymondgoesontostatethatontheTemple

9 10 11

GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,VII.23,374–75. For a detailed analysis, see Benjamin Z. Kedar, “The Jerusalem Massacre of July 1099 in the WesternHistoriographyoftheCrusades,”Crusades3(2004),15–75,here65. “RaimundideAguilerscanoniciPodiensishistoriaFrancorumquiceperuntIherusalem,”inRHC Hist.Occ.3:231–309,here300:“Aliinamque,quodleviuserat,obtruncabanturcapitibus;alii autem sagittati de turribus saltare cogebantur; alii vero diutissime torti et ignibus adusti flammeriebantur.Videbanturpervicosetplateascivitatisaggerescapitumetmanuumatque pedum.Percadaveraveropublice,hominumetequitumdiscursuserat;”RaymondofAguilers, HistoriaFrancorumquiceperuntIherusalem,trans.JohnH.HillandLauritaL.Hill.Memoirsofthe AmericanPhilosophicalSociety,71(Philadelphia:AmericanPhilosophicalSociety,1968),127. Guibert of Nogent, “Historia quae dicitur Gesta Dei per Francos,” Recueil des Historiens des Croisades:HistoriensOccidentaux[henceforthcitedasRHCHist.Occ.],5vols(Paris:Académiedes InscriptionsetBellesLettres,1844–95),4:113–263;here227–29,237–38;RobertofRheims,“Roberti MonachihistoriaIherosolimitana,”RHCHist.Occ.3:717–882;here868–82.

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Mountthecrusaders“rodeinblood[up]tothekneesandbridlesoftheirhorses.”13 ThisphrasecanbeidentifiedasareferencetoRevelation14.20,whichdescribes thevisionofthewinepressofthewrathofGod,fromwhichbloodwillflowupto thebridlesofhorses.14FulcherofChartresandBaldricofDoldescribehowthe HolySepulchreandtheTemplehadbeencleansedofacontagioncausedbypagan superstitions.15AproblemofinterpretationhasbeenpointedoutbyBenjamin Kedar,whohasundertakenthemostexhaustiveandnuancedinvestigationofthe massacres: the adoption of such imagery does not in itself invalidate the descriptions given by Raymond and other chroniclers; slaughter remains slaughter,evenifitisdescribedinapocalypticterms.Kedar’sdetaileddiachronic studyofthemedievalandmodernhistoriographyconcludesthatthemajorityof thecity’sinhabitantswereindeedkilled,althoughnumbersofbothMuslimsand Jewswereabletoescapeorwereransomed.16 AnotherproblematicissueintheinterpretationoftheWesternaccountsisthat theirextensiveuseofBiblicalimageryseemsmorelikearetrospectivejustification of the slaughter, and does not by itself necessarily explain why the crusaders embarkeduponthemassacre.Inrecentyearssomehistorianshavearguedthatthe massacreofbothcombatantsandcivilianpopulationalikewasthenormalfateof any city taken by storm according to the conventions of warfare at the time, pointing to similar events where the defenders had refused to surrender.17 Certainlytheslaughterontheactualdayofthecapture,15July,canbeexplained astheeffectofabloodthirstydesireforrevengeonthepartofenragedcrusaders; 13

16 17

“RaimundideAguilers...historiaFrancorum,”300:“Sedtantumsufficiat,quodintemploetin porticuSalomonisequitabaturinsanguineusqueadgenua,etusqueadfrenosequorum.Justo nimirumjudicio,utlocusidemeorumsanguinemexciperet,quorumblasphemiasinDeumtam longotemporepertulerat.”;RaymondofAguilers,Liber,ed.JohnH.HillandLauritaL.Hill. Documentsrelatifsàl’histoiredescroisades,9(Paris:PaulGeuthner,1969),150n.2;Raymondof Aguilers,HistoriaFrancorumquiceperuntIherusalem,128n.22. Biblia Sacra iuxta Vulgatam versionem, ed. Robert Weber et al., 3rd edn (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft,1969),1896:“etcalcatusestlacusextracivitatemetexivitsanguisdelacuusque adfrenosequorumperstadiamillesescenta.”ItisalsonoticeablethatRaymond,unliketheother contemporaryWesternauthors,seemstoheightenthetheologicalapocalypticdimensionsofthe slaughter by omitting any references to baser concerns such as the seizure of plunder and captives. FulcheriCarnotensisHistoriaHierosolymitana(1095–1127),ed.HeinrichHagenmeyer(Heidelberg: Winter,1913),I.xxxiii,305–06;BaldricofDol,“BaldriciepiscopiDolensisHistoriaJerosolimitana,” RHCHist.Occ4:102–03. Kedar,“TheJerusalemMassacreofJuly1099intheWesternHistoriographyoftheCrusades,”65. JohnFrance,VictoryintheEast:AMilitaryHistoryoftheFirstCrusade(Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1994), 355–56; Kaspar Elm, “Die Eroberung Jerusalems im Jahre 1099: Ihre Darstellung,BeurteilungundDeutungindenQuellenzurGeschichtedesErstenKreuzzugs,” Jerusalem im Hoch und Spätmittelalter: Konflikte und Konfliktbewältigung—Vorstellungen und Vergegenwärtigungen,ed.DieterBauer,KlausHerbers,andNikolasJaspert.CampusHistorische Studien,29(FrankfurtamMain:Campus,2001),31–54.

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as they climbed over the walls and fought their way through the unfamiliar narrowstreets,itmusthavebeendifficulttodistinguishbetweenenemysoldiers and unarmed civilians, and in the heat of battle, as we know from numerous subsequentconflicts,soldiershaveoftenbeenknowntoshowatendencytokill anypotentialopponents,whetherarmedornot.Yettheseexplanationsareharder to sustain when we acknowledge that most sources agree that the slaughter continuedthenextday,16July,whileoncesource,theRhinelandchroniclerAlbert ofAachen,statesthatthecrusaderskilledofftheremainingSaracensonthethird day,thatis17July.18 Onecanbelievethatthedesiretocleansetheholysitesofthegentilecult,which figuredasoneofthemainthemesoftheWesternchroniclers,mayhavemotivated theclericalleadershipofthecrusadesandpossiblysomeofthemoredevoutlaity, butthedescriptionsofthesourcesarelessconvincinginexplainingtheactionsof themajorityoftherankandfilecrusaders.Forweekstheyhadbeenshortoffood andwater,andbythistimetheymusthavebeen physicallyexhaustedbythe exertionsofthesiegeandthefightingthatfolloweditwithinthecity.Theirmost immediateconcernsmusthavebeentheirphysicalsecurityandwellbeing,and food and water; beyond that, the desire to worship at the holy sites they had longed to see for so long, and conceivably, the wish to secure plunder and ransoms. Theslaughterofthefirstdaymayhavebeentheresultoftherevengedriven crazeofbattle,butwemustassumethatthemajorityofcrusaderssleptoratleast restedonthefollowingnight.Whatwasthesituationthatconfrontedtheweary andbloodstainedcrusadersasthesunroseontheseconddayafterthecapture? Bythetimeoftheconquestcrusadernumbershadbeenreducedtoabout10,000 fightersandnoncombatants.19AsmallgarrisonhadbeenleftbehindatLydda, nearthecoast,butessentiallythecrusadershadnosecurecommunicationseither withtheWestorwiththepocketsofFrankishheldterritoryfartothenorthat Antioch(modernAntakya,Turkey)andEdessa(anlurfa,Turkey).Theonlyships thathadjoinedthecrusadersinPalestinehadbeendismantledandtransported overlandbytheirGenoesecrewstoprovidewoodforbuildingsiegeenginesat

AlbertofAachen,HistoriaIerosolimitana:HistoryoftheJourneytoJerusalem,ed.andtrans.SusanB. Edgington,2vols.OxfordMedievalTexts(Oxford:Clarendon,2007),439–45.Ontheimportance andaccuracyofAlbert’stestimony,seeespecially:PeterKnoch,StudienzuAlbertvonAachen:Der erste Kreuzzug in der deutschen Chronistik. Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Geschichte und Politik, 1 (Stuttgart:Klett,1966);SusanB.Edgington,“TheFirstCrusade:ReviewingtheEvidence,”The FirstCrusade:OriginsandImpact,ed.JonathanPhillips(Manchester:ManchesterUniversityPress, 1997),57–77. France,VictoryintheEast,131,givesthisestimateforthecrusaderforcesatthebattleofAscalon, foughtbythecrusadersagainsttheFtimidrelievingarmyinAugust1099;itthusprovidesan approximationfornumberswhichallowsforcrusadercasualtiesatthesiegeofJerusalem.

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Jerusalem.TheFtimidscontrolledtheportofAscalon(mod.TelAshqelon,Israel), where relieving forces from Egypt were already concentrating. The only conceivable strategy for the crusaders was to secure Jerusalem as quickly as possible,anduseitasabasetoconfronttheFtimidarmyinthecoastalplain;in theeventofadefeattheycouldretreatbackintothefortifiedcityandattemptto holdoutthereinthehopethatsomereliefwouldarrivefromtheWestintheform oflaterwavesofthecrusade. Securing Jerusalem in these circumstances was by no means a foregone conclusion.20EvenallowingforthepreviousexpulsionoftheChristianpopulation andthecasualtiesof15July,therewerestillalargenumberofMuslimsandJews leftwithinthecity.Notallofthemwerecaptives.Somehadtakenrefugeonthe Templeplatform;otherswerehidinginhousesorcellars;andfinally,theFtimid garrisonandsomecivilianswerestillholdingoutintheTowerofDavid,themain fortificationofthecity,underthecommandofthegovernor.Thecrusadershadto manthecity’swallsandkeeptheFtimidtroopsinthetowerisolated,whilealso attemptingtolocatefoodsuppliesforthecomingweeks;inthefaceofthesetasks, theyneededtocontrolthesurvivinginhabitantsinsidethecity,whosenumbers mayhavebeenequalorpossiblyevengreaterthantheirown.Theymusthave fearedthatthesepeoplemightriseupagainstthecrusadersassoonastheFtimid relievingarmyapproachedthecity. Thenativeinhabitantscouldhavebeenransomedorsimplyexpelledenmasse, buttheywouldstillpresentamajorproblem.AllowinglargenumbersofMuslims andJewstoleavewouldhavesimplyincreasedthenumberofpeoplecompeting for scarce resources of food and water in the environs of Jerusalem.21 More dangerously,theycouldhaveprovidedalaborforcethatcouldbeemployedby theFtimidsinmountingasiegeofthecity.Thechancesofasuccessfulassault would have been greatly improved by large numbers that could be used to constructandmovesiegeengines,fillinditches,andhaulsuppliesoffoodand water.Thethinkingofthecrusadeleadershipcanbediscernedinapassagegiven by Albert of Aachen, who derived his information from returning crusaders. Albert reports a speech which he attributes to the “greater and wiser men”, a formulationthatmustmeantheleadersofthecrusadearmies:

ThepopulationofJerusalembeforethesiegehasbeenestimatedataround20,000–30,000,see JoshuaPrawer,TheLatinKingdomofJerusalem:EuropeanColonialismintheMiddleAges(London: WeidenfeldandNicolson,1972),82.Ithasrecentlybeenshownthatatthetimeoftheconquest, theTowerofDaviddidnotyethaveanassociatedcitadel;thecitadelthatsurvivestodayprobably originated in the early thirteenth century. See Ronnie Ellenblum, “Frankish Castles, Muslim Castles,andtheMedievalCitadelofJerusalem,”In Laudem Hierosolymitani: Studies in Crusades and Medieval Culture in Honour of Benjamin Z. Kedar,ed.IrisShagrir,RonnieEllenblum,andJonathan RileySmith(Aldershot:Ashgate,2007),93–110. Ontheproblemsofsupply,especiallythescarcityofwater,seeFrance,VictoryintheEast,334–35.

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Jerusalem, city of God on high, has been recovered, as you all know, with great difficultyandnotwithoutharmtoourmen,andtodayshehasbeenrestoredtoher ownsonsanddeliveredfromthehandsofthekingofEgyptandtheyokeoftheTurks. Butnowwemustbecarefullestweloseitthroughavariceorslothorthepitywehave forourenemies,sparingprisonersandgentilesstillleftinthecity.Forifwewereto beattackedingreatstrengthbythekingofEgyptweshouldbesuddenlyovercome frominsideandoutsidethecity,andinthiswaycarriedawayintoeternalexile.And sothemostimportantandtrustworthyadviceseemstousthatalltheSaracensand gentiles who are held prisoner for ransoming with money, or already redeemed, shouldbeputtotheswordwithoutdelay,sothatweshallnotmeetwithanyproblem fromtheirtrickeryormachinations.22

Fromthesedescriptionsitwouldseemthatconsiderabledeliberationhadalready takenplace.Mostofthecity’sinhabitantswerebeingheldascaptivesforransom, andarrangementsmayevenhavebeeninplaceforthereleaseofmanyofthem. Yetthecrusaderleaderswereacutelyawareofthetwindangersposedbyinternal and external enemies. The massacres of 16 and 17 July can be most plausibly understoodasacalculatedactioncarriedoutwiththeaimofremovingthisthreat. The Ftimid garrison was still capable of offering serious resistance; it was thereforeremovedbybeinggrantedfreepassagetoAscalon.23Thecrusadersthen turnedtotheremainderoftheMuslimandJewishinhabitantswhowereexecuted inthecourseofthenexttwodays.Thefactthatsomanycrusaderspostponedtheir plundering and did without ransoms in order to carry out executions is an indicationofaslaughterthatwasassystematicasitwasmerciless.Thecaptive inhabitantsweresplitupintogroupsandsystematicallyexecuted,whilefugitives werehunteddownsothat,inthewordsofAlbertofAachen,“notonlyinthe streets,housesandpalaces,buteveninplacesofdesertsolitudenumbersofslain weretobefound.”24Someofthecaptivesweresparedtocarryoutthetasksof cleansing the city and dragging the bodies of the dead outside the walls for disposal, until they too, were slaughtered in their turn.25 When the chronicler

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AlbertofAachen,HistoriaIerosolimitana,440–41:“Ierusalem,ciuitasDeiexcelsi,utuniuersinostis, magnadifficultate,etnonsinedampnonostrorumrecuperata,propriisfiliishodierestitutaest, etliberatademanuregisBabylonieetiugoTurcorum.Sednunccauendumestneauariciaaut pigriciauelmisericordiahabitaergainimicoshancamittamus,captiuisetadhucresiduisinurbe gentilibusparcentes.NamsifortearegeBabylonieinfortitudinegrauioccupatifuerimus,subito abintusetextraexpugnabimur,etsicinperpetuumexiliumtransportabimur.Vndeprimumet fideleconsiliumnobisuideturquatenusuniversiSarracenietgentilesquicaptiuitenenturpecunia redimendiautredemptisinedilationeingladiocorruant,nefraudeautingeniisillorumnobis aliquaaduersaoccurrant.” FulcheriCarnotensisHistoriaHierosolymitana,I.30,308–09.AsKedarargues,itislikelythatsome ofthecivilianswhohadtakenrefugeintheTowerofDavidwereabletoleavewiththegarrison. AlbertofAachen,HistoriaIerosolimitana,442–43. ‘HistoriaquaediciturGestaDeiperFrancos,’228.

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FulcherofChartresvisitedthecityayearlater,hewasstruckbythehugestench thatarosefromtherottingbodiesofthedefendersthatstilllayaroundthecity walls.26

JerusalemandItsPopulationunderFrankishRule Themassacresof1099canbeunderstoodasahorrific,shorttermsolutiontothe strategicsituation,whichfounditsretrospectivejustificationinreligiousidealism. Itisevenconceivablethatsomeoftheleaderswerethinkingofthelongerterm securityofthecity.Atanyrate,thenewdemographicfactsonthegroundthat werecreatedbytheslaughterwereperpetuatedforideologicalreasons.Afterthe immediate threat was averted, the Franks permanently enshrined the consequencesofthemassacrebyenactingalawthatnoMuslimsorJewswould beallowedtoresideinthecity.AsitwasexpressedbytheFrankishhistorian WilliamofTyre,“toallowanyonenotbelongingtotheChristianfaithtoliveinso veneratedaplaceseemedlikesacrilegetotheleadersintheirdevotiontoGod.”27 NonChristianmerchantsandpilgrimswereallowedin,butonlyastemporary visitors;theruleseventuallyseemtohavebeenrelaxedtopermitresidencefora handfulluckyenoughtosecureexemptionsbecausetheyhadnecessaryskillsthat could not be supplied by the Christian population, such as the Jewish dyers mentionedbyBenjaminofTudelain1170.28However,thenewcapitaldidnot attractlargenumbersofFranks.NeitherdiditattractItaliancolonists,forunlike thekingdom’smainportssuchasAcre(mod.‘Akko,Israel)andTyre(mod.Soûr, Lebanon),ithadnosignificanceintermsoflongdistancetrade.Jerusaleminthe Frankish period had two principal functions: it was the seat of the royal and ecclesiasticaladministrations,anditservicedanincreasingpilgrimtrafficwhich took off as a result of the establishment of Western access to the holy sites. It contained a relatively high proportion proportion of clerics, both secular and regular, because of the large number of holy sites now operated by the Latin church which catered to pilgrims from the West as well as to the Frankish population. TheFrankstookoverthechurchoftheHolySepulchre,theprincipalreligious site of the city, expelling its Greek clergy, and carried out a major renovation programmethatwasstillgoingonwhenitwasreconsecratedin1149.TheFranks establishedseveralcompletelynewreligiousfoundations,suchastheabbeyofSt MaryintheValleyofJehosaphat,builtontheruinsofaByzantinechurchoutside theeasternwalls,andtheconventofSt.Anne,sitedjustinsidetheJehosaphatGate

26 27 28

FulcheriCarnotensisHistoriaHierosolymitana,I.33,332–33. GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,XI.27,535–36. Boas,JerusalemintheTimeoftheCrusades,40.

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betweentheSheepPools.Thesevariousbuildingswereeasilyoutshonebythe toweringmagnificenceoftheIslamicstructuresontheHaramalSharif(“thenoble sanctuary”), as the Temple Mount in the southeast of the city was known to Muslims.TheIslamicsitestherewerereclaimedfortheChristianfaithbyaprocess ofwhatmightbecalledcreativereidentificationbytheLatinChurch.TheDome oftheRock, situatedatthecentreoftheTempleMount,wasidentifiedasthe ancientJewishTemple(Lat.TemplumDomini),andprovidedwithAugustinian canonsin1112.TheAqsMosquesituatedtoitssouthwasidentifiedasthePalace of Solomon (Latin Templum Salomonis) and in 1119 it was given to the newly foundedmilitaryreligiousorderoftheTemple,whichtookitsnamefromthe building.29ThesetwobuildingsweremosquesconstructedinatypicalIslamic style,andsotheyweregivenanew,Christianappearancebytheconstructionof new conventual and ancillary buildings and the addition of unambiguously Christiansymbolsanddecorations,suchasalargegoldencrossthatwaserected ontopoftheDomeoftheRock.TheTempleMountwasfarmoreprominentand splendidthanthesiteofChrist’sburialattheHolySepulchre,andcouldnotbe ignored,andsoitwasredefinedasagroupofOldTestamentsites,whichcould thusbeintegratedintothe liturgicallifeofthecityalongwiththemanyNew Testamentsites. The Temple Mount with its architectural grandeur and large open spaces contrastedwiththecrowdednarrowstreetsthatcharacterizedtherestofthecity. ItsmainfunctionunderFrankishrule wasworship—asithadbeenunderthe Muslims—anduntilthenumberofpilgrimsbegantoincreaseitmusthaveoften beenfairlydeserted.Ithadonlyasmallresidentpopulation,consistingmainlyof theTemplarsandtheirancillarystaffwhowerestationedalongitssouthernside from1119.30Duringthefirsttwodecadesofthekingdommuchoftheremainder ofthecity’sspacewasevidentlyunoccupied.Themajorityofcrusadersreturned towesternEuropeinthesummerof1099;WilliamofTyrelaterestimatedthat GodfreyofBouillon,thefirstrulerofthekingdom,wasleftwithonly300knights and2000footsoldiers.31Tothisnumberweshouldadddependents,togetherwith clericsandothernoncombatants,butevenallowingforthem,aswellasnative

30 31

JohnWilkinson,JerusalemPilgrimage1099–1185.HakluytSocietySecondSeries,167(London:The Hakluyt Society, 1988), 28, points out that Greek naos and Latin templum both had the dual meaningsof“temple”and“palace.”SincetheDomeoftheRockwasseenastheJewishTemple, theAqsmosque,despitebeingknownasatemplum,hadtobeidentifiedasabuildingwitha quitedifferentcharacter. TemplarhousesinthisareaarementionedbythepilgrimTheodericwhovisitedthecityaround 1170,seeWilkinson,JerusalemPilgrimage1099–1185,295. Guillaume de Tyr, Chronique, IX.19, 445. For the relatively small numbers of fighting forces avaialbleduringthereignofBaldwinI,seeAlanV.Murray,“TheOriginsoftheFrankishNobility oftheKingdomofJerusalem,1100–1118,”MediterraneanHistoricalReview4(1989),281–300.

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ChristianswhoreturnedtothecityandotherFrankswhoarrivedinlate1100with Godfrey’s successor, King Baldwin I, the total population must have been substantiallysmallerthanbeforetheconquest.Theproblemofdepopulationcan beseenfromthe“LawofaYearandaDay”,presumablyenactedunderGodfrey orBaldwinI,whichrecognizedtherightsofanyonewhooccupiedanyurban property if its owners were absent for this length of time. In effect, it was a measuretoexpropriatethepropertyofnonresidents.32 Thesmallsizeofthepopulationduringthefirsttwodecadesofthekingdom’s existencemeantthatthesecurityofthecitywasamajorconcern.Thecapitalwas less than 50 miles distant from the Ftimid forward base at Ascalon, and the caliphateprovedcapableofmountinginvasionsofthekingdomupuntil1123. WilliamofTyreclaimsthat“therewasnotsufficientpopulationinthecityto carry out the necessary business of the kingdom, or even to defend its gates, towersandrampartsagainstsuddenenemyattacks.”33Hegoesontoexplainthat atthistimetheFrankishpopulationwasscarcelynumerousenoughtofillasingle vicus(i.e.quarterordistrict).34PrawerconcludedthattheFranks“doubtlesssettled inthenorthwesternquarterofthecity.”35Inmanywaysthiswouldhavebeena logicaldevelopment.ThisareawascentredonthechurchoftheHolySepulchre, which was the most important shrine of the city, and it enjoyed additional protectionintheformoftheTowerofDavid,situatedclosetothecentralpointof thewesternwall;thetwomainexitsofthenorthwesternsegment,theJaffaGate andStStephen’sGate,gaveaccesstothetwomainroutestoFrankishsettlements onthecoastandtothenorthinSamariaandGaliliee.Yetonewonderswhetherthe settlementpatternwasquitesodrasticasPrawerassumes.Themaingatesonall foursideswouldbeinregularusetobringinsuppliesoffoodstuffs,livestockand firewood.PilgrimsreturningfromtheMountofOlives,BethlehemortheJordan andwouldpresumablyusethegatesintheeasternandsouthernwalls.Allofthese gateswouldneedtobeguarded,andsoitwouldbereasonabletoassumethat

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GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,IX.19,446. GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,XI.27,535:“…itauteoadceteraregninegociadenecessitatevocato nonessetincivitatepopulus,quisaltemadprotegendoscivitatisintroitusetturresetmenia contrarepentinashostiumirruptionesmuniendasifficeret….” GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,IX.19,536:“Nostratesveroadeopaucierantetinopes,utvixunum devicispossentincolere,Surianiautem,quiabinitiourbiscivesextiterant,temporehostilitatis per multas tribulationes et infinitas molestias adeo rari erant, ut quasi nullus eorum esset numerus.”ThetranslationbyEmilyAtwaterBabcockandAugustC.Krey,AHistoryofDeedsDone BeyondtheSeabyWilliamArchbishopofTyre,2vols.RecordsofCivilization:SourcesandStudies, 35(NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1941),1:507issurelymistakenintranslatingtheword vicusinthiscontextas“street,”whichwouldindicateatinynumberofFranks,evenallowingfor somerhetoricalexaggeration. JoshuaPrawer,“TheSettlementoftheLatinsinJerusalem,”Speculum27(1952),490–503;here493.

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membersofthegarrisonandpossiblytheirfamiliesmayhavebeenbilletedclose totheirstations,outsidethenorthwesternquadrant. Around the year 1116, King Baldwin I took measures to increase the city’s populationbyresettlingSyriansfromtheTransjordanregionsoutheastofthe DeadSea,whohadbeen“livinginvillagesunderhardconditionsofservitudeand forcedtribute.”36Thecircumstancethatthekingresortedtoimportingcomplete familiestogetherwiththeirherdsandflocksfromsmallvillagesintoanunfamiliar, urbanenvironment,isanindicationofacertaindesperationontheking’spart. SyriorSurianiwasthetermusedbytheFranksforArabicorSyriacspeaking Christians;itcouldrefereithertotheGreekOrthodox(Melkites),whousedGreek astheirliturgicallanguage,ortotheSyrianOrthodox(Jacobites),whoseliturgy wasinSyriac.ModernhistorianshaveoftenassumedthattheSyriansweresettled inthenortheasternsectionofthecitywherethepreConquestJuiveriehadbeen situated,andhavethususedthedesignation“SyrianQuarter”fortheentirearea correspondingtothepresentdayMuslimQuarter.37IntheOttomanperiodthe OldCityoutsidetheHaramalSharifwasdividedintofourconfessionalquarters: Christian(northwest),Muslim(northeast),Armenian(southwest)andJewish (southcentral). However, we need to be careful not to exprapolate these conditionsbackhundredsofyearstothetimeofthecrusades. ThisapparentagreementontheexistenceofaSyrianQuartergoesbacktothe work of Prawer, who in his study of Latin settlement in Jerusalem sought to connecttheimmigrationoftheSyriansaround1116withevidenceprovidedbya laterOldFrenchguidetothecityofJerusalem.Thistext,knownbyitsmodern editorsaseitherEstatdelacitédeIherusalemorsimplyCitezdeIherusalem,survives inseveraldifferentmanuscriptsofanearlythirteenthcenturycompilationnow knownastheChronicleofErnoulandBernardleTresorier.38Thewholetransmission historyofthiscompilationiscomplex,anditisdifficulttodatetheOldFrench guide precisely. It may have been written between 1187 and 1229, since some phrasingseemstoimplythatthecityhadbeencapturedbytheMuslimswhenit

36 37

GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,XI.27,535–36. Prawer,“TheSettlementoftheLatinsinJerusalem,”496;Prawer,TheLatinKingdomofJerusalem, 40;Boas,JerusalemintheTimeoftheCrusades,88;BahatandRubinstein,TheIllustratedAtlasof Jerusalem,97.The“SyrianQuarter”isacommonplaceinmapsaccompanyingbooksonJerusalem inthetimeofthecrusades. Ernoul,“L’EstatdelacitédeIherusalem,”ItinérairesàJérusalemetdescriptionsdelaTerreSainte rédigés en français aux XIe, XIIe et XIIIe siècles, ed. Henri Michelant and Gaston Raynaud, PublicationsdelaSociétédel’Orientlatin,Sériegéographique,3(Genève:Fick,1882),29–52;here 49.Confusingly,whilethisistheformofthetitlegiveninthecontentsofthiscollectionandthe firstpageoftheedition,therunningheadsgivethevariantLaCitezdeIherusalem.Thelatteristhe formofthetitleusedbyBoas,JerusalemintheTimeoftheCrusades.Tofurthercomplicatematters, MichelandandRaynaudalsousedthetitleEstatdelaCitédeIherusalemtodenoteashortertext transmittedintheworkknownasEstoiresd’OutremeretdelanaissanceSalahedin.

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waswrittendowninitssurvivingform;however,itseemstohavedrawnonan earliertextortextsofasimilargenreandthusgivesdetailedinformationonthe topographyofthecityshortlybeforetheconquestof1187. The Citez de Iherusalem describes the area situated between the Street of Jehosaphatandthecitywalls:anumberofstreetsherewereknownastheJuiverie, andthiswaswherethegreatestnumberofSyrianslived.39However,thewording atthispointoftextdoesnotimplythattheSyrianslivedexclusivelyinthisdistrict, andindeed,itwouldseemthattheareabeingdiscussedwasaneighbourhood consistingofseveralstreetsaroundtheSyrianOrthodoxmonasteryofStMary Magdalene,ratherthantheentirenortheasternquadrant.Inanycase,itwouldbe unwisetoassumethatlivingpatternsinthelatetwelfthcenturyhadremained unchangedsincearound1116;allthatitmeansisthatbythelaterdate,Syrians weretobefoundpredominantlyinthenortheast.InfactWilliamofTyre,whois ourprincipalsourceofinformationontheimmigrantSyriansinthetimeofKing BaldwinI,doesnotmentionaspecificlocationwheretheysettled.Hesaysonly thattheking“conferreduponthemthosepartsofthecitywhichmostseemedto requiresuchrelief,andfilledthehouseswiththem.”40Thisphrasingsuggeststhat the immigrants were not confined to a single area, but settled in different neighbourhoods which were depopulated or needed economic regeneration. Considerationsofsecuritywouldalsoargueinfavourofdistributingpopulation aroundthecity,ratherthanimposingablocksettlementinasingleareawhich would leave other areas empty. Throughout history immigrants of distinct ethnicityorreligiousaffiliationshaveoftentendedtocongregatewithinurban environments,andsoitisquitepossiblethatCitezdeIherusalemsimplyreflectsthe resultofgradualpopulationmovementoverthecourseofthetwelfthcentury ratherthanasituationwhichhadremainedunchangedsincethesettlementinthe timeofBaldwinI. ThereisnoreasontodoubtthatovertimetherewasahighproportionofSyrian settlement in the northeastern section of the city, but it would be wrong to imaginethisasanexclusiveethnicorconfessionalarea.ItcontainedtheLatin conventofSt.Anne,andthisinstitutionpresumablyhadservantslivingnearby aswellaspossiblyFrankishtenantsinthehousesthatitowned,whiletheCitezde IherusalemitselfindicatesthatSyriansalsoweretobefoundoutsidetheJuiverie. TherewasaSyrianmoneyexchangesituatedinthecoveredstreetsjustsoutheast 39

Ernoul,“L’EstatdelacitédeIherusalem,”49:“OrreviengàleRuedeIosaffas.EntreleRuede Iosaffas&lesmursdelacité,àmainsenestre,dusqueàlePortedeIosaffas,aruesausicomune ville.LàmanoientliplusdesSuriiensdeIherusalem.EtcesruesapeloitonleIuerie.Encellerue deIuerieavoit.j.MoustierdeSainteMarieMadeleine.Etprèsdecelmostieravoituneposterne don’tonnepooitmieissirhorsascans,maisentre.ij.mursaloiton.” GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,XI.27,536:“Quibusrexeascivitatispartes,quemagishocsolatio videbanturindigere,conferens,eisdomiciliareplevit.”

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ofthechurchoftheHolySepulchre(aLatin,i.e.,Frankish,moneyexchangewas situated further south).41 In this same central area there were also Syrian goldsmiths,whileSyrianshopkeepersweretobefoundinthestreetknownasthe coveredmarket,sellingproductsasdiverseasclothandcandles.Assumingthat artisansandshopkeepersnormallylivedabovetheirbusinesspremises,aswas commoninmedievalurbansociety,there musthavebeen a significantSyrian presenceinthecentralcommercialdistrict.42Similarly,Armeniansseemtohave lived around around the nucleus of their cathedral of St James in the south westernsectionthatformsthemodernArmenianQuarter;yetFranksmusthave heretooafteranewroyalpalacewasconstructedhereinthesecondhalfofthe twelfthcentury.43 Itwouldthereforeseemthatfromevidencefromthetimeofthecrusadesthe citywasnotdividedintoexclusiveresidentialquarters.44Amoreaccurateuseof the term “quarter” in this period would be to denote ownership rather than residence,asinthecaseofthePatriarch’sQuarter,thatisthenorthwesternsection which was owed by the patriarch of Jerusalem and the canons of the Holy Sepulchre,45andtheneighbouring(butmuchsmaller)Hospitallers’Quarter,which includedchurches,storehousesandthegreathospitalwhichprovidedlodgingand medicalcareforpilgrims.46 Even after the settlement of Syrians there was evidently still considerable unoccupied space, since the city was regularly able to house and service a populationofnonpermanentresidents,thatisthepilgrimswhoarrivedinthe springofeveryyearanddepartedattheendofthesummer;insomecases,they

41 42

43 44

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Ernoul,“L’EstatdelacitédeIherusalem,”42:“Ançoisc’onviegnealCangedesSuriiens,aune rueàmaindiestre,c’onapieleleRuedelSepulcre.LàestliPortedemaisondelSepulcre.” Ernoul,“L’EstatdelacitédeIherusalem,”34:“Amaindiestredecelmarciésontlesescopesdes orfevresSuriiens;”42–43:“QuantonvientdevantchelCange,sitreuveon,àmaindiestre,unerue couverteàvolte,parouonvaalmoustierdelSepulcre.EnceleruevendentliSuriienlordraperie, &s’ifaitonlescandellesdecire.” Boas,JerusalemintheTimeoftheCrusades,80. OnewonderswhetherPrawer’spostulationofaSyrianQuarterwasnotinfluencedbyhisbeliefs aboutwiderrelationshipsbetweentheFranksandthenativepeoples.Inhishighlyinfluential work,TheLatinKingdomofJerusalem,Prawerdescribesthisrelationshipasbeingcharacterizedby exploitationofthenativepopulationaswellas“politicalandsocialnonintegration”(512)and evenapartheid(524),inwhich“nativeChristiansweretreatednobetterthanMoslems,Jewsor Samaritans”(510).Ifthisweretrue,thenonecouldwellimaginethatnonintegrationwouldhave beenbuttressedbyphysicalseparation.However,recentresearchbyEllenblumhasshownthat the Franks lived together with native Christians and had close relations with them in the countrysideofPalestine.Thereisnoreasontobelievethatsuchrelationswerenotreplicatedin the city of Jerusalem. See Ronnie Ellenblum, Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1998),esp.119–44. GuillaumedeTyr,Chronique,IX.17–18,442–45. Boas,JerusalemintheTimeoftheCrusades,85–88.

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prolongedtheirstaysintosecondorfurtheryearssothattheymightbeconsidered aspermanentresidents.Muchofthecentralandsouthcentralsectionsofthecity weredevotedtosupportofpilgrims:alargenumberofcommunalinstitutions, such as hospices, were essential to coping with the large numbers, as were moneychangers,andevencateringarrangements.Mostoftheshopsinthecity weresituatedcentrallyonthestreetsrunningnorthtosouthalongthecourseof theancientRomanthoroughfareknownastheCardo.Becauseoftheshortageof woodaroundthecityitwasnotpossibleforeveryhouseholdtokeepitsown oven,andsomuchofthecookingandbakingwasdoneinlargecommunalovens. Pilgrims were especially reliant on the services provided by the Vicus Coquinatorum; this was the burger strip of twelfthcentury Jerusalem, which providedalargeassortmentofreadycookedfood;itwasbetterknownironically inFrenchasMalquisinat,thatisthe“StreetofBadCooking.”47Itisalsointeresting toconsiderwheremuchofthisfoodcamefrom.Therewasacattlemarketand abbatoirsituatedjustinsidethesouthernwalltothewestoftheTempleMount andapigmarket(thePorchariapatriarchalis)inthesouthwestofthePatriarch’s Quarter.48 The latter facility is noteworthy because many of the nonFrankish ChristiansofPalestine,whetherMelkite,SyrianOrthodoxorArmenian,tended nottokeeppigsoreatpork,asaresultofcenturiesofIslamicinfluence.Sothe existenceofthepigmarketisaclearindicationoftheheavyproportionofWestern population,thatisbothFrankishresidentsandpilgrims.

TheConquestbySaladin(1187) On 20 September 1187, having overrun most of Palestine in the wake of his devastatingvictoryoverthearmyofthekingdomofJerusaleminJuly,Saladin’s army began to besiege the Holy City. Frankish refugees had flooded into Jerusalemfromitsenvirons,whileothershadfledfromplacesfurtherafieldthat hadsurrenderedtoSaladin.However,thecitycontainedrelativelyfewfighting men.Almostallofthekingdom’savailableforceshadbeenputintothefield,and themajorityhadbeenkilledorcapturedatHattin,althoughafewhadmanaged tomaketheirwaybacktoJerusalem.49Thedemographicsituationofthecityatthis

47 48 49

Ernoul,“L’EstatdelacitédeIherusalem,”37–38:“DevantleCange,venantàlaRuedesHerbes, auneruec’onapeleMalquisinat.Encelleruecuisoitonleviandec’onvendoitaspelerins.” Boas,JerusalemintheTimeoftheCrusades,142–43. TheChronicleoftheThirdCrusade:TheItinerariumPeregrinorumetGestaRegisRicardi,trans.Helen J. Nicholson (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1997), 38; Ibn alAthr, The Chronicle of Ibn alAthr for the CrusadingPeriodfromalKmilfi’lta’rkh,Part2:TheYears541–589/1146–1193.TheYearsofNural DinandSaladin,trans.D.S.Richards(Aldershot:Ashgate,2007),330–31.

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moment,involvinganalmostexclusivelyChristianurbanpopulation,swollenby largenumbersofrefugeesfromthesurroundingcountryside,butcontaininga relativelysmallproportionoftrainedsoldiers,wasthusalmostamirrorimageof MuslimheldJerusalemontheeveofthecrusaderconquesteightyeightyears before. IntermsofitseffectsonthebesiegedpopulaceSaladin’sconquestwasradically different.AtthebeginningofthesiegeSaladinofferedterms,whichwererejected bythedefenders.However,oncehissappershadunderminedasectionofthe northernwalls,theFrankishcommander,BalianofIbelin,openednegotiationsfor surrender.Prevalentmilitarycustomdictatedthatsincethedefendershadrejected surrender terms when they had first been offered, and Saladin was under no furtherobligationtoshowanymercy;indeed,theMuslimclericswithhisarmy hadremindedhimofthemassacrecarriedoutbytheChristiansin1099,andwere nowurginghimtoavengeitbytakingthecitybystorm.However,suchanaction wouldbringitsownrisks.AccordingtothechroniclerIbnalAthr,BalianofIbelin threatened to destroy the Dome of the Rock and the Aqs Mosque and to kill severalthousandMuslimprisonerswhowerebeingheldwithinthecity.50 Thepotentiallydamagingcostsoftakingthecitybyassaultevidentlypersuaded Saladintoagreethattheinhabitantsshouldbeallowedtopurchasetheirfreedom, andthecitysurrenderedon2October.Thereisafairlycloseagreementbetween Arabic and Western sources on the rates of ransom that were eventually concluded.Saladinhadstartedoffwithrelativelyhighdemands,buteventually agreedtotendinars(or“Saracenbezants”totheFranks)foraman,fivefora womanandoneforachild.AlargenumberofindigentChristianscouldnotraise theirownransoms,andsoSaladinagreedtoacceptalumpsuminexchangefor atleast7,000ofthem.Sincethedefendershadnowexhaustedallavailablefunds, includingalargesumofmoneylodgedwiththeOrderoftheHospitalbyKing HenryIIofEngland,theremainderwereenslaved,althoughSaladinandsomeof hisofficersfreedmanyoftheseasanactofcharity.51 The circumstances of the surrender of Jerusalem to Saladin have often been contrastedfavourablywiththemassacrescarriedoutafterthecaptureofthecity bythecrusadersin1099.BythetimethatthedefendersofJerusalemaskedfor terms,SaladinwasincontrolofallofPalestine,saveforthewellfortifiedcoastal

50 51

“TheOldFrenchContinuationofWilliamofTyre,1184–97,”TheConquestofJerusalemandtheThird Crusade:SourcesinTranslation,trans.PeterW.Edbury(Aldershot:Ashgate,1998),58. “TheOldFrenchContinuationofWilliamofTyre,”60–63;Bah’alDnIbnShaddd,TheRareand Excellent History of Saladin, or alNawdir alSultniyya wa’lMahsin alYsufiyya, trans. D. S. Richards(Aldershot:Ashgate,2002),78;‘ImâdadDînalIsfahânî,ConquêtedelaSyrieetdela PalestineparSaladin,trans.HenriMassé,Documentsrelatifsàl’histoiredescroisades,10(Paris: PaulGeuthner,1972),49.IbnalAthr,TheChronicle,332,divergesfromthepricesofransomgiven bytheContinuationandIbnShddadonlyinspecifyingtwodinarsastheransomforachild.

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cityofTyreandsomeinlandfortresses.Hehadcampaigningstilltodo,buthewas inaratherdifferentsituationfromthecrusadersof1099,who,aswehaveseen, hadbeenengagedinaraceagainsttimetoseizethecitybeforethearrivalofa Ftimid army. A fight to the finish would have cost the lives of many of the soldiers(whetherwithhisarmyorincaptivity)whowouldbeneededtobesiege Tyre;ifwearetobelievethethreatsattributedtoBalianofIbelin,hewouldalso beriskingthedestructionofthetwogreatreligioussitesontheHaramalSharif andtheadverseeffectonMuslimpublicopinionthatthiswouldentail. The surrender terms granted by Saladin were an effective means of gaining controlofJerusalem.Hissubsequentactionsshowthathisimmediateaimwasto emptythecityofitsFrankishpopulation,buttheybroughtotheradvantagesinhis wider struggle to recover all of Palestine and Syria for Islam. There is a great divergenceamongthesourcesconcerningthenumbersofpoorFrankswhowere released and those who were kept as prisoners, but it is clear that the entire Frankishpopulationwasremovedfromthecity.Theyweresentunderescortto Christianterritory;mostofthemwenttoTyre,whileotherswenttothecountyof Tripoli,theFrankishprincipalitytothenorthofthekingdom.52Yetonlyaminority ofthefugitiveswerefightingmen;thegreaterpartwerenoncombatants,women and children. By having these people peaceably removed to Tyre and Tripoli, Saladin was adding to the number of mouths to be fed in these already overcrowdedplacesthathewouldsoonbeattacking,thusplacinganadditional strainontheirlogisticresourceswithoutincreasingtheircapacityfordefenseto any significant extent. Individual Franks were obliged to collect their own ransoms, often by selling valuables to Saladin’s troops or native Christians at knockdownprices.Thiswasamuchmoreefficientmeansofsecuringthewealth of the city than would have been possible after a general assault, in which valuables would have been concealed by their owners or seized by Saladin’s plunderingsoldiers,anditgavehimtheopportunitytosystematicallyrewardhis followersandmakebenefactionstoreligiousandcharitablecauses.53 ThenewidentityofJerusalemasaMuslimcitywasrapidlysymbolizedbya transformationofreligioussitesorderedbySaladin.Thegreatgoldencrossontop oftheDomeoftheRockwascastdown,andtheancillarybuildingsbuilttoservice theTemplarheadquartersweredemolished.54Otherchurchbuildingsbelonging totheLatinChurchwereconfiscatedtoserveasIslamicreligiousfoundationsand charitableinstitutions.ThechurchofStAnnewasturnedintoamadrasa(religious

52 53 54

“TheOldFrenchContinuationofWilliamofTyre,”64–65;Bah’alDnIbnShaddd,TheRareand ExcellentHistoryofSaladin,78. ‘ImâdadDînalIsfahânî,ConquêtedelaSyrieetdelaPalestineparSaladin,61–62. Bah’alDnIbnShaddd,TheRareandExcellentHistoryofSaladin,78;‘ImâdadDînalIsfahânî, ConquêtedelaSyrieetdelaPalestineparSaladin,51–59.

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school),whileaSfconventwasestablishedinthepatriarchalpalace.These,and otherfoundationssuchashospitals,werealsogivenpropertiestakenfromthe LatinChurchtoprovideendowments.55 Saladin’snewinstitutionswerenotonlyasignofJerusalem’snewstatusasan Islamiccity,butwereintendedtoserveasfocalpointsforMuslimimmigrants.For themanipulationofthe city’spopulationwasjustasimportantindefiningits identity,andevenmoresoinguaranteeingitssecurity.Jerusalemdidnotbecome anexclusivelyMuslimcity,anditisdoubtfulwhetherSaladincouldhavemade itso.However,hemadesignificantchanges.HerevokedtheFrankishprohibition onJewishsettlement,andtheJewsretainedaparticularlypositivememoryofthe sulatnbecauseofhisperceivedbenevolentpoliciestowardthem.56Armeniansand SyrianOrthodoxChristianswerepermittedtoremain,andthrived.Theirreligious authoritiesresidedatlocationsbeyondFrankishcontrolandSaladinevidently supposedthattheyhadnoparticularreasontowishareversaloftheconquest.He was less generous to the Melkites, probably because of their allegiance to the Byzantine emperor. They retained their rights of residence, but with a less privilegedstatusthanthenonChalcedonianchurches:theywerenotpermitted to replace the Latin patriarch with a Greek Orthodox one, as the Byzantine emperorhadhoped.57ThemostsignificanteffectofSaladin’sconquestwasthatthe entireFrankishpopulationwasremoved.Intermsofurbandemography,Saladin’s apparentlymercifulbutpragmatictreatmentofJerusalem’spopulationin1187 broughtaboutasimilarconsequenceastheslaughtercarriedoutasaresultofa systematicpolicyofexecutionin1099:theemptyingoftheHolyCityofenemy inhabitantsasdefinedbytheirreligiousaffiliation.

Conclusions TheslaughterthatfollowedthecrusaderconquestofJerusalemin1099wasnot primarilytheresultofthefrenzyofbattle,butthecoldbloodedimplementation ofaphenomenonwhichhas,inappropriately,becomeknownas‘ethniccleansing’ inthemodernworld.Itwasanactionwhichwasbynomeansuniqueinitstime, andinthecourseofthefollowingdecadetheWesternChristianswhosettledin

56 57

JohannesPahlitzsch,“TheTransformationofLatinReligiousInstitutionsintoIslamicEndowments by Saladin in Jerusalem,” Governing the Holy City: The Interaction of Social Groups in Medieval Jerusalem,ed.LorenzKornandJohannesPahlitzsch(Wiesbaden:Reichert,2004),47–69. Prawer,TheHistoryoftheJewsintheLatinKingdomofJerusalem,64–75. RichardB.Rose,“TheNativeChristiansofJerusalem,1187–1260,”TheHornsofHattn:Proceedings oftheSecondConferenceoftheSocietyfortheStudyoftheCrusadesandtheLatinEast,Jerusalemand Haifa,2–6July1987,ed.BenjaminZ.Kedar(Jerusalem:YadIzhakBenZvi,1992),239–49.

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Palestinecarriedoutsimilarmassacresinthecoastalcitiestheycapturedfrom their Muslim rulers. In the strategic thinking of the Frankish Christians, the securityoftheirnewkingdomrequiredthattheMuslimpopulationofitsmain citiesbedestroyed,expelled,orreducedtoasmallminority.However,thestrict demographic policies pursued by the Franks with regard to Jerusalem in the followingyearsshowthattheHolyCityhadauniquestatuswithinthestatesof Outremer,andperhapsevenwithinthewholeofChristendom,andthatthese policieshadasmuchtodowithreligiousidentityaswithsecurity.After1099the citycouldbe—andwas—markedoutasChristianthroughtheconstructionofnew religiousbuildingsor,asinthecaseoftheTemple,theappropriationofthecultic sitesofotherfaiths,butitwasequallyimportanttothenewrulersthatthecity’s Christian identity was embodied in the makeup of its population. This demographicmanipulationrepresentedachallengetothepowersofIslamthat meant that in 1187, the victorious Saladin had little choice but to reverse its consequences,eventhoughhisactionsweretoprovemarkedlylessbloodyintheir realization.

AndreasMeyer (PhilippsUniversitätMarburg,Germany)

HereditaryLawsandCityTopography:Onthe DevelopmentoftheItalianNotarialArchivesintheLate MiddleAges

At the beginning of the twelfth century, the rise of the notarial register, or cartulary,revolutionizedtheexistingsystemofdocumentation,becausewithit endedtheageofcharters,andtheageofadministrativerecordsbegan. Intheageofcharters,twopartieshadreachedasettlementbeforeanotary,who thendrewupapublicinstrumentandhandedittotheparties.Thenotary’ssole functioninthisprocesswastoexecutetheparchment.Thedocumentenjoyed generalcredibilityaslongasitmetcertainformalcriteria.Thefabricationofsuch adocumentwascumbersomeandlaborintensive,sincethenotaryhadtowritea faircopybeforetheissuerandthewitnessesoftheproceedingscouldsignthe document.Thisprocedureoriginatedinlateantiquity,whenchartersintheform ofsealedwaxtabletswerecommon.Thetermtabellioforanotaryisareminiscence ofthattime.Whenparchmentchartersbegantoreplacewaxtablets,theprocedure didnotchangeimmediately,buttheautographicsignaturesoftheissuerandthe witnessessoondisappearedbecauseoftheseinconveniences.1 Thenotarialregisterdevelopedfromthenotesthatwereoriginallytakenbythe notaryinthepresenceofthecontractingparties.Fromthesenotes,thecharter couldlaterbedrawnup.Suchprovisionalnotes,whichhadnolegalbearing,can befounduntilthemiddleofthetwelfthcentury.Butalreadyatthebeginningof thatcenturynotariesstoppedtakingnotesonthebackoffuturecharters.Instead,

Thefollowingabbreviationswillbeused:AAL=ArchivioArcivescovilediLucca,ACL=Archivio Capitolare di Lucca, ASL = Archivio di Stato di Lucca, Dipl. = Diplomatico. Andreas Meyer, “Notar,”DerNeuePauly:EnzyklopädiederAntike,vol.15/1:La–Ot(StuttgartandWeimar:Verlag J. B. Metzler, 2001), col. 1088–101. I would like to express my gratitude to Rebekka Götting, Marburg,forthetranslationofmyarticleintoEnglish.

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theybegantoinscribethemmoreorlesschronologicallyonspecialparchmentsor sheetsofpaper,whichwerethenstoredatthenotary’shouse. Thischangeintheprocedurebroughtacoupleofadvantages.Firstofall,the contracting parties could now abstain from having a charter dressed up on parchment,whichwasespeciallyprofitablefortheshorttermtransactionsoftrade andindustry.Inthethirteenthcentury,thepercentageofengrossmentsonthe basis of notarial registers has probably not risen above 15 to 20 percent.2 This means that since the emergence of the notarial register, 80 per cent of the proceedingsrecordedbyanotaryhaveneverexistedoutsidehisregister.And because the number of registers surviving from the thirteenth century is very small,3thoseproceedingsthathavebeendresseduponparchmentrepresentafirst selectionofoursourcematerial. Notonlydidthisnewwayofproceedingrationalizetheprocess,italsoeffected areductionofcosts.Entriesintothenotarialregistersweremuchcheaperthana parchmentchartersincetheyrequiredlesstimeandmaterial.Atthesamecosts, onecouldnowemployanotaryfarmoreoften.Thethirdimprovementwasthe factthatacharter’sauthenticitycouldnowbeverifiedbycomparingitwiththe registerofthenotaryconcerned.Inshort:Thekeepingofaregisterturnedthe notaryintoanarchivistonbehalfofhisclients.Sincetherewerealwaysseveral notariesineveryquarterofatown,theypracticallylivednextdoortotheirclients, andthearchiveswerealwayswithinreach. Registerswerethepropertyofthenotary.Theyrepresentedanadditionalsource ofincomeforhimandhisheirssinceaparchmentchartercouldalsobedressed upalongtimeaftertheoriginalentryoftheproceedingsintotheregister.The commissiontoprepareanengrossment(commissio)couldeitherbeincludedinto thenotary’slastwill,orelsethecompetentjudgeofthemunicipalitygavethe respectiveorder. *** However, the aforementioned advantages did not come for free. Since the cartularyservedasanarchivefortheclientsofthenotary,itsaccessibilityhadto bewarrantedduringtheabsencesofthenotary,andalsoafterhisdeath.Ihave nowreachedthecenterofmyargument.Inthefollowing,Iwishtodemonstrate howtheemergenceofpublicnotarialarchivescametopass.Closelyconnectedto this is a question that historians are keenly interested in: Why have so few

Andreas Meyer, Felix et inclitus notarius. Studien zum italienischen Notariat vom 7. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert.BibliothekdesDeutschenHistorischenInstitutsinRom,92(Tübingen:MaxNiemeyer Verlag,2000,)294–95. Cf.Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,179–222.

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cartulariesfromthetimebefore1300survived?Isthisanaccidentoftradition,or arethoselossesduetostructuralcircumstances? Itissurprisingtousthatthethirteenthcenturycommissionesseldommentionthe exactpositionofthenotarialregisterconcerned.4Thisinformationwasprobably omittedbecausecontemporariesknewwheretofindtherespectiveregisters,5and

InthirteenthcenturyLuccasuchmemorandacanparadoxicallyalmostonlybefoundifthenotary HenricusGuercii(Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.188)hadstoredtheregisterinquestion, cf.AALArchiviodeiBeneficiatiperg.M136:theengrossingnotaryVelterquondamAlbertini Veltri (no. 911) noted: “hec omnia fideliter sumens de rogito quondam Ingherrami Raggiosi notarii(no.192)parabolaetmandatoHenrigiGuerciinotarii,apudquemipsiusrogitainveni,ut ineoinveni,hicbonafidescripsietmeumsingnumetnomenapposui”ASLDipl.Archiviodi Stato1219.09.14:Aldebrandusqd.DactiMaghenthie(no.531)signedwith“suprascriptaomnia delibroqd.Rolandinotarii(no.674)rogitorumfidelitersumpmensparabolaetmandatoHenrigi Guerciinotarii,apudquempredictumliberrogitoruminveni,scripsietmeosignoetnomine publicavi,”AALDipl.††G5:BullionePaganiCantonis(no.601)noted:derogitoLucteriinotarii(no. 240) “. . . parabola et mandato Henrigi Guercii notarii, apud quem predicta rogita inveni, ... scripsi”etc.;AALDipl.†C55:AldibrandinusJacobiTadiccionis(no.12)subscribedwith“hec omniaderogitoBonaventureGuerciinotarii(no.71)fidelitersumpmensparabolaetmandato HenrigiGuerciieiusfilii,apudquempredictainveni,scripsietmemoriecausameumsignumet nomen apposui,” ASL Dipl. S. Ponziano 1250.09.08, is an exception: Ricciardus Bonaventure Vecchii(no.305)noted:“proutinrogitorumlibroJacobiLeccamolininotarii(no.211)contineri invenilicentiaetmandatoGerardiniMalusinotariigermanis(sic)sui,cuipredictilibrisintet lic[entiam] habetcartasfaciendiperseetperalium,itahicscripsi.”Theremainingpiecesof evidencestemfromthefourteenthcentury.NicolausCeciiBonaiunctevonLucca(no.567)wrote: “de quodam libro rogitorum Guidi Caldovillani notarii (no. 166) ... de licentia et voluntate PercivallisRicchomiPaganideLucanotarii,quidictoslibroshabet...,”ASLDipl.OperadiS. Croce1280.10.08;Ursusqd.OrlandinidictusdeVicocivislucanuswrote:“predictaomniaprout contineri inveni in libris rogitorum qd. ser Bonacursi Johannis de Valgiano notarii (no. 784) fidelitersumensexlicentiamihiconcessaaqd.dominovicarioqd.dominilucanipotestatishic exemplaviscripsietpublicavietmeisingnumetnomenapposuietquiliberremansitsubcustodia Johannis filii qd. suprascripti Bonacursi,” ASL Dipl. Ghivizzani 1296.11.19; the cartularies of Bellone (no. 43) in 1378 were situated “in custodia Dettori Lanfredi de Luca,” ASL Dipl. Andreuccetti1269.03.22.AcharterfromTortonafrom1255bearsthefollowingsignature:“Ego GuillelmusdeBagnolonotariuspalatinusfiliusqd.dominiPetrihanccartam,quaeimbreviavi perRufinumdeCagnanonotariumiussuAribertiSuavisnotarii,inquemipsiusimbreviature pervenerunt,auctoritatepredictascripsi,”cf.Documentidegliarchivitortonesirelativiallastoriadi Voghera aggiuntevi le carte dell’Archivio della cattedrale di Voghera, ed. by V. Legé e F. Gabotto. BibliotecadellaSocietàstoricasubalpina,39(Pinerolo:ChiantoreMascarelli,1908),no.108. TheBergomascstatutesof1264compelnotariestohandback“ownerlessnotarialscripts”totheir ownerswithinthreedays,StatutinotarilidiBergamo(secoloXIII),ed.GiuseppeScarazzini.Fonti estrumentiperlastoriadelnotariatoitaliano,2(Rome:Consiglionazionaledelnotariato,1977), 80§11and119§146.InPaviaeachnotaryhadtoswearthathewouldnothidebreviariaofother notaries, be they alive or dead, Renato Sóriga, “Statuta, decreta et ordinamenta societatis et collegiinotariorumPapiereformata(1255–1274),”Carteestatutidell’Agroticinese.Bibliotecadella Societàstoricasubalpina,129(Torino:M.Gabetta1933),135–261;here178,§175.Accordingtothe statutesofAlbenga(1288),thePodestàandhisjudgewerecompelledtofindthenotarialregisters ofdeceasednotaries:“Etsiipsacartulariavelaliquodcartularium,quodfueritquondamalicuius notariipublici,inventavelinventumfueritpenesaliquem,quinonfueritnotarius,potestaset

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notarieswhoworkedinthesametownkneweachotherwellbecausetheywere joined in a college. The overview over the depositories of the cartularies of deceasednotarieswasalsomaintainedbyspeciallocationdirectorieskeptbythe communes, respectively by the notary colleges. If I am not mistaken, this circumstanceisfirstmentionedinastatuteof1264fromBergamo: EtperconsulesilliuscollegiieliganturduonotariiproqualibetportacivitatisPergami, quiteneanturinquirerenotariosdefunctosadecemannisinfraetquisuntilli,qui habent et habere debent illorum imbreviaturas . . . . Et predicta scribantur in uno quaternoremansuropenesconsulesipsiuscollegii.6 [Theconsulsofthenotarycollegeshouldchoosetwonotariesforeveryquarterofthe townBergamothathadtofindoutwhostorestheregistersofthenotariesthatdied lessthantenyearsago.Andtheyshouldkeepanindexaboutitwhichisdeposited withtheconsulsofthiscollege].

AnalogousarrangementscanbedocumentedformanyupperItalianandTuscan cities since the thirteenth century. For example, the statutes of the Lucchese commune of 1308 compelled notaries to create an index (memoriale) of their contracts(contractus)after1240,amarginalnoteinthestatuteof1331specifiesthey mustbeperalfabetum.Furthermore,everynewPodestàwasobligedtoconveneall notariesduringthefirsttwomonthsofhistenure,compellingthemonoathto createalistofalltheregistersintheircustody,includingboththeirownregisters andthoseofothernotaries.Bothlistsservedtohelpcitizenslocatetheircontracts.7

iudex teneantur ea dari facere seu poni in potestatem alicuius seu aliquorum notariorum electorumperheredesdefunctinotarii,dummodovideanturbonietdiscreti”(Andwhenregisters which had belonged to a deceased notary are found with someone who is not a notary, the podestàorthejudgemustensurethattheyaredepositedwithanotarywhowaschosenforthis purpose by the successors, provided that he has a good reputation), quotation from Giorgio Costamagna,“Laconservazionedelladocumentazionenotarile,”Archiviperlastoria3(1990):7–20; here 8. Corrado Pecorella, Studi sul notariato a Piacenza nel secolo XIII. Università di Parma. Pubblicazionidellafacoltàdigiurisprudenza,26(Milan:A.Giuffrè1968),140,arguesthatthe numberofnotariesintheDuecentohadstillbeenmanageable,andthatnotarieshadfurthermore beenboundtoeachotherbyfriendlyandfamilyrelations. StatutinotarilidiBergamo,118§141–42.Thelegislationwasrepeatedandamendedin1281,ibid. 138–43§199–212.InPaviacontroloverthewritingsofdeceasednotarieslaywiththenotarial college,cf.Sóriga,Statuta153§39–41,159§56,andtheindex158nos.58–60. ArnaldoD’Addario,“LaconservazionedegliattinotarilinegliordinamentidellaRepubblica lucchese,”Archiviostoricoitaliano109(1951)193–226;here195and220(Statuteof1331).Statutum lucanicomunis108–09:“Etquislibetnotariuslucanecivitatis,burgorumetsuburgorumetlucani districtusteneaturfacerememorialedeomnibuscontractibus,quoshabetetfecitabannodomini M.CC.XLcitraetquosfacturusestinantea.Etpotestaslucanusinfraduosmensessuiintroytus teneaturpersevelsuumiudicemconvocarevelconvocarifacerecoramseomnessuprascriptos notarioseteisetcuiqueeorumimponerepernovumiuramentumabeisprestandumetpercipere, quoddeomnibussuprascriptisrogitis,tamdesuis,quamdealteris,dequibushabetlicentiam faciendicartas,memorialefaciant;itaquodcitiusetleviuscontractusinveniripossint”(Each

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Furthermorenotarieswereobligedtoreportforeigncartularies,whichweregiven intotheirhands,tothemunicipalchamberwithintheperiodofamonth.From these lists, two delegated notaries compiled indexes that were issued in book form.8 Thisregulationremainedunaltereduntil1448whentheLuccheseauthorities issuedneworders.Fromthenon,heirswerecompelledtodeliverthedocuments ofadeceasednotaryintothecustodyofthepublicarchivewithintendays.After theyhadbeeninventoried,thedocumentsshouldthenbeplacedinacapsaatthe charge of the community.9 This marked the creation of a communal notarial archiveinLucca.Tosumup:Notarialarchivesdevelopedinthreephases.Inthe early days, from the middle of the twelfth until the middle of the thirteenth century, registers were stored exclusively by notaries and their heirs, which accordedwiththeirveryowninterests. But the number of notaries simultaneously working in the same place was rapidly increasing since 1250, which in turn necessitated a higher degree of regulation, since the accustomed way of proceeding threatened to become unmanageable.Ownersofnotarialregisterswerefromthenonobligedtocreate anindexofallthevolumestheystored,whichwouldbepubliclyaccessible,a

notaryofLuccashouldproduceanindexofallcontractssince1240whichhestores.Thepodestà orhisjudgeshouldconveneallnotarieswithinthefirsttwomonthsofhistermofofficeand obligethemonoathtoproduceanindexofallthoseregistersoutofwhichtheyareallowedto drawupcharterssothatthecontractscanbefoundeasierandfaster). Statutumlucanicomunisan.MCCCVIII(Lucca:MariaPaciniFazzieditore,1991)(isaReprintof StatutodelcomunediLuccadell’annoMCCCVIII.Memorieedocumentiperservireallastoriadi Lucca, 3/3 [Lucca: Tipografia Giusti, 1867]) 109–10: “Et quod omnes notarii lucane civitatis, districtus et sex miliariorum presentes et fucturi habentes libros aliquorum notariorum vel alicuiusnotariiteneanturetdebeantdenunptiareincameralucanicomunis,cuiusetquorum notariorumhabeantlibros interunummensempostdenuntiationempublicefactamexparte maiorislucaniregiminis;quamdenuntiationemlucanumregimeninfraunummensemadiesui introytusfacereteneatur.EtConteClavarii(Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.103)etTedaldinus Lazarii Gay (no. 327) notarii et custodes librorum lucani comunis, et qui loco eorum fuerint subrogativelpositi,teneanturetdebeantexindeunumlibrumfacere,inquopredictadescribant” (AllnotariesofLuccawhostorecartulariesofdeceasednotariesshoulddeclare,withinonemonth aftertheywereorderedtodosobythegovernment,registersoifothernotariestheyown.The governmentshouldaskthemtodothisduringthefirstmonthoftheirtermofoffice;thenotaries andthekeepersofthemunicipalbooks,ConteClavariiandTedaldinusLazariiGay,ortheir substitutesshouldproduceanindexoutoftheinformationsobtained).Whoeverdisobeyedthis directivehadtopaytheextraordinaryhighfeeofahundredpounds.Butthiswasnotanovelty of1331,asD’Addario,“Laconservazione,”196,claimed. D’Addario, “La conservazione,” 207 and 222 (Statute of 1448). In 1540 all owners of notarial registerswerefinallyobligedtodeliverthemtothepublicrecordoffice,ibid.211.Thesame wording of the statute of 1448 again in Vito Tirelli, “Il notariato a Lucca in epoca basso medioevale,”Ilnotariatonellaciviltàtoscana.Studistoricisulnotariatoitaliano,8(Rome:Consiglio nazionaledelnotariato,1985),239–309;here300–01,note97.

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compromisethatbothguaranteedthereservationofproprietaryrightsofnotaries, and facilitated the locating of contracts. It was only around the middle of the fifteenthcenturythattheobligationtodeliverprivateregistersintothecareofan archive—controlled by the commune or the notary college—finally prevailed. From the creation of the first registers to the establishment of public notary archives,300yearshadpassed. *** However,thislongdurationdoesnotfullyexplainwhysofewregistersfromthe earlydayshavesurvived.Inordertoanswerthisquestion,Inowwanttopresent a source that has not been analyzed before. Not only does this source give us valuableinformationabouttheafterlifeoftheearlyregisters,italsoexemplarily showswhyonlyafewregisterswereabletosurviveinthismanner. TheoldestsurvivingcatalogueofthelocationsofnotaryregistersinLuccaopens intheyear1344.10Inthefollowing,letushaveacloserlookatthedenuntiationes (declarations)oftwonotaries.Onthe26thofJanuary1367,Johannesquondam PieriBenettideLuca,11whohadbeenworkingasanotarysince1350,declaredthat hewasinpossessionofseveralvolumesbySerAldibrandinusGhiandonis,12by SerGhiandoneGregorii13andbySerFavaBeccafave,14“dequibushabetlicentiam sumendi”(forwhichhehaspermissiontodrawthemup)sinceJuly30,1361;by SerPaganellusGhiove,bySerRustichellusGhiove15andbySerAndreasParenti,16 “dequibushabetlicentiam”(forwhichhehasapermission)sinceMay7,1354;by SerJohannesRegabenis,17bySerTediciusMorlani,18bySerBonaventuraVecchii andbySerRiccardusVecchii,dequibushabetlicentiamsinceDecember1362;19by

10 11 12

14 15

16 17 18 19

ASLArchivipubblici13. ASLArchivipubblici13fol.5rs. PossiblyidenticalwithAldebrandinusquondamGhiandolfiHomodei,cf.Meyer,Felixetinclitus notarius,no.11. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.153.ProbablyworkingintheContradadiSanMatteo,cf.AAL Dipl.*C70:[Luce]indictadomo[quondamVenturequondamAdvenantisincontradasanctiMathei]. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.119. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,nos.1303and646;theGhiovaprobablyworkedintheContrada diSantaMariainVia.SomevolumesoftheGhiovawerestoredinthehouseofVannellafilia quondamSerPaganelliGhiovedeLucain1382,engrossingnotarywasJacobusquondamSer NicolaDomaschi,cf.ASLArchivipubblici30fol.133r. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.20. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.223. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.329. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,nos.721and305.TheVecchiiworkedinthequarter(porta)ofSan Donato,theyalsocalledthemselvesdeposterulafluminis,whichwassituatedatthechurchS. Tommaso,cf.ACLLL17fol.66v,LL21fol.76v:“BartholomeusdecontratasanctiThomeide posterulafluminisquondamAngiori.”Thisgatehasbeendocumentedsincethetenthcentury,

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SerTomasusLeonisandbySerLandusLeonis,“dequibushabetlicentiam”since the6thofMarch1365;20bySerJacobusquondamGuilielmiVecchiiandbySer GhirardinusRicciardiVecchii,“dequibusnonhabetlicentiam.”21Hiscollection ofoldcartularies,aboutthesizeofwhichJohannes’scommentaryisunfortunately verysparse(quosdamlibros),washenceacquiredwithintheperiodofelevenyears, providedweonlyconsiderthosenameswhichareknowntousbysignaturesfrom

cf.IsaBelliBarsali,“LatopografiadiLuccaneisecoliVIII–XI,”AttidelVcongressointernazionale di studi sull’alto medioevo, Lucca 3–7 ottobre 1971 (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 1973), 461–555; here 476 and 547 (San Tommaso). The localistation of Giulio Ciampoltrini, “Archeologia lucchese d’età comunale: Le mura urbiche e le terre nuove,” Archeologiamedievale29(1997):445–70;here445–60,copiedunseenbyGuidoTigler,“DerFall Lucca,” La bellezza della città: Stadtrecht und Stadtgestaltung im Italien des Mittelalters und der Renaissance,ed.MichaelStolleisandRuthWolff(Tübingen:MaxNiemeyerVerlag,2004),134–203; here150–51,isincorrect.TheevidenceproducedbyCiampoltrini(460,note53)correctlyreads: “ultraLucamapudposterulamfluminisindomosuprascriptiLanberteschinotarii[quondam Guinithellinotarii]”(Meyerno.228),whiletheareasituatedclosetoFrattaoutsidethecitywalls is described as extra murum civitatis lucane iuxta pontem Fracte,” ACL LL 31 fol. 37v. It belongedtotheContradadiSanPietroSomaldi:“LuceextramurosnovoscivitatisapudFractam contratesanctiPetriSomaldiindomo,quamdictaJacobinainhabitat,queestJohannisquondam AntelminelliCornadoris,”AALDipl.*M76,respectivly“indictadomo[propemuroslucane civitatisextrapontemdeFractaincontratasanctiPetriSomaldi],”ASLArchivigentiliziDeNobili perg.n.2B.FlumenofcoursestandsfortheSerchio,whosecoursewascontinuallyforcedback fromthecityduringtheMiddleAges.Tigler’ssource(150)thusrefersnottothepartofthecity wallthatstartsattheHospitalofSanGiovanniincapiteburgiandrunssouth,paralleltothe modernViadiSantaGemmaGalgani,buttothepartwhichrunsfromtheformerHospitalesancti Fridianitothewest.Partsofitcanstillbedetectedinthepresentdaycitywall,cf.PaoloMencacci, Lucca:.Lemuraromane.Accademialucchesediscienze,lettereedarti.Studietesti,67(Lucca: EdizioniS.MarcoLitotipo,2001),TablesXXVII–XXVIII.Thepassagecorrectlyreads:Etacapite muri, quem prior sancti Fridiani fieri fecit novum pro muro civitatis ex parte septentrionis hospitalis usque ad turrem de posterula, ubi est modo platea fluminis ex parte civitatis, per amplumconservaboinvaliditatemcivitatisetutilitatemlucanipopulietcomunisbrachia25iuxta ipsummurumetdeforisnovosmurosbrachia36,sitantaplagiaetterrenumibiest,sinautem usqueadid,quodmodoibiest,usqueadpredictammensuram,etipsumterrenumsiveplagias faciamterminatumpermanereinfranovumetveteremmurumet,sialiquapersonaipsumaldium [sic,insteadofalvium]imbrigaveritetc.,disgomberarifaciametc.ettollamimbrigamentumet nullamfoveamessepermittaminterortosetipsumaldium,nisisepesest(?)expartevieseualdii, itaquodfoveanonseparereturdeipsoaldio(andfromthewallwhichthepriorofSanFrediano hadrecentlybuiltastownwallnorthofthehospitaluptothetowngate(posterula),wherethe platform(plateafluminis)issituatedforsomelittletimenow,Ikeepopenastrip25armswide towardstown,andoutsideofthewallonestrip36armswideforthebenefitofthetown,provided thatthereissomuchspace,orasmuchspaceasthereisopen;andIhavethisterraininsideand outsideofthetownwallsecuredwithboundarystones,andwhensomebodygrabsit,Ihaveit cleared;furthermore,Idonotallowaditchtobedugthere),ASLRaccoltespecialiG.B.Orsucci 40fol.38v. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,nos.330and270:TheLeoniownedaBottegaatthechurchofSan PietroinCortina,onthepresentdayPiazzaNapoleone. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,nos.1107,1016.

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theDuecento.Thebundlesofdocumentsthatfoundtheirwayintothehandsof Johannesoftencontainedthepapersofrelatednotaries,as,forexample,thoseof theGhiova,theVecchii,ortheLeonis.Inmostcases,Johanneswasallowedto executefromtheregistersstoredinhiscare.Itisnoticeablethatnotasingleone ofallthesecartulariesmentionedintheabovesourcehassurvived.Hiscomplete collectionwaslostatalaterpointintime. ThemanyregistersthatthenotaryBernardusfiliusquondamSerBonacurside LanfredisfromthecontradaS.PetriCigolistoredathisplaceonthe27thofJanuary 1367sufferedthesamefate.22Inhiscollectionwecanfindnotonlythecartularies oftheGlandolfini,23whoworkedinthesamequarterofthetownintheduecento, but also those of Gualtroctus de Quarto,24 of Bellone,25 of Nicolaus Jacobi Gualistaffi,26 of Perus Peri, and of several others.27 The only registers that Bernardus’ssonDectorusexplicitlydeclaredin1378arethoseoflateSerBellone, andthoseofthreemembersoftheGlandolfinifamily.28Theothervolumeshave probablybeenlostinthemeantime. During the fourteenth century, one can perceive a slow, but constant concentrationofolderregistersinthehandsofonlyafewnotaries,whooften worked in the same quarter. Due to this development, a single catastrophe, a single carelessness was often sufficient to delete irrevocably the complete collectionofregistersofawholegroupofnotaries,simultaneouslyshaping,or ratherdistorting,ourhistoricalknowledge.

24 25

26 27 28

ASLArchivipubblici13fol.12r–13r;cf.Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,375.FortheLanfredicf. AndreasMeyer,“DieältestenLuccheserImbreviaturen(1204)–einebislangunbeachteteQuelle zurHandelsgeschichte,”ItaliaetGermania:LiberamicorumArnoldEsch,ed.HagenKeller,Werner Paravicini,andWolfgangSchieder(Tübingen:MaxNiemeyerVerlag,2001),563–82;here570–71. Tothisfamilycf.Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,371–77andMeyer,LuccheserImbreviaturen, 564–65. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotariusno.161;hehadworkedatSanMicheledeBurghicciolo. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.43;hisBottegawasprobablysituatedintheContradeofSan PietroSomaldi. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.569. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.801. ASLArchivipubblici30fol.121v.ThisdepositoryisalsoconfirmedbythesignatureofJohannes quondamSerUrsiConsiliiolimdeDecimocivislucanus,cf.ASLDipl.Andreuccetti1269.03.22: “predicta omnia fideliter summens de libro rogitorum quondam Bellonis notarii existenti in custodiaDettoriLanfredideLucahicscripssi(!)etpublicavi,proutineointeraliudcontineri inveni,exlicentiamihiconcessaamaiorilucanoregiminepercartampublicamscriptammanu serFederigiquondamserNicolaiPantassedeLucanotariietcustodislibrorumcammerelucani comunisfactam,annonativitatisdominimillesimotrecentesimoseptuagesimooctavo,indictione prima,diedecimaoctavamensismaii”(Ihavefaithfullytakentheaforesaidfromthenotarial register of the deceased Bellone which is stored with Dettorus Lanfredi of Lucca and I have publisheditherethewayIfounditinsideitamongotherthings,accordingtothepermissionof the government of Lucca which the notary and keeper of the municipal books, Federigus quondamSerNicolaiPantasseofLucca,gavemeonMay18,1378).

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*** Notaries were not always so brief when reporting the registers they stored. Detailedinformationinthesedeclarationsallowforanidentificationofseveral survivingvolumes,eventheirlocationintheTrecentocanbereconstructed.Onthe 22ndofJanuary1367,thenotaryFilippusGangiowned,amongstothers,“libros multosquorumprimusestannidominiMCCLXXetprimuscontractusestquarto kalendasianuarii”(manyvolumesofwhichtheoldestgoesbacktotheyear1270 andinwhichthefirstcontractdatesfromDecember29,1269)JohannesBerald29 “librostresquorumprimusestannidominiMCCLXXIIetLXXIII”(threevolumes of which the first dates from the years 1272 and 1273) by Paganellus de Fiandrada,30“librumunumpaciumannidominiMCCCetCCCI”(onevolume withpeacetreatiesfromtheyears1300and1301)byLambertusSornachi,31and “librostres,quorumprimusestannidominiMCCLXXXIIII”(threevolumesof whichthefirst datesfromtheyear1284)byNicolausChiavarii.32Butofthose manyvolumes,onlyfourhavesurvived.33 These stocklists also inform us about the fate of communal volumes of documents.TheregisterofLambertusSornachimentionedabovecontainedonly peacesettlements(pax),itwashencewrittenoncommunalorder,andnevertheless founditswayintothepersonalarchiveofthenotary.Aperusalofthementioned inventoriesofthefourteenthcenturyshowsthatthedocumentsoftheLucchese lawcourtsfrequentlyremainedwiththerespectivenotaries.Althoughthestatutes of1308onlycompelledthecancellariicomunisLucanitodelivertheirregisterstothe communalchamberonceayear,itseemsthatthisregulationquicklyextended itselfontonotariesworkingatcourt,ascanbeseenfromtheearliestinventoryof thechamberin1344.34Nevertheless,thedeclarationofpossessionbyGregorius

30 31 32 33

Meyer, Felix et inclitus notarius, no. 215; he lived in the Contrada di San Giusto, ASL Dipl. Miscellaneeanno1287.IntheMiddleAgesthenewyearbeganinLuccaatChristmas. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.280;heworkedintheContradadiSanAnastasio. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.466. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.468. ASL Archivi pubblici 13 fol. 45rs; ASL Archivio dei notari parte prima filza 37 registro 1 (Johannes,from1300),filza12registro1(Paganellus,from1272–1273),filza41(Lambertus),filza 14registro2A(Nicolaus,from1284).IntheindexthathissonJohannesquondamSerFilippi GanghideLucasubmittedin1383,theaformentionedvolumescannolongerbefound,withthe exceptionoftheonebyJohannes,cf.ASLArchivipubblici30fol.136r. Statutumlucanicomunis108:“Itemquodomneslibriconsiliorumetlicterarumlucanicomunis debeantdeponiapudcameramlucanicomunispercancellarioseoshabentessinguloannoinfra octo dies cuiusque mensis Ianuarii iuramento preciso” (The chancellors should deposit all volumesofthecouncilsandofthelettersofthecommuneofLuccawhichtheystoreattheir housesinthechamberofthecommuneofLuccaeveryyearinthefirstweekofJanuary).The

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filiusolimAndreucciArnaldioftheyear1389containsasumtotaloftenvolumes “rogita Ser Jacobi Dardagnini de Luca,” among them “unus liber testium examinatorum, unus liber insolutorum anni MCCCXLIIII cartarum duodecim, unus liber insolutorum curie domini potestatis manu dicti Ser Jacobi anni MCCCLI”[onevolumewithtestimonies,onevolumewithassignmentsfrom1344 containing24pages,onevolumewithassignmentsofthepodestà’slawcourtby thehandofthementionednotaryJacobusfrom1351]. ThefourcommunalregistersthatGregoriuskeptinhiscarerepresentedonlya smallpartofhistotalstoreofvolumes,whichconsistedof66registersfrom14 differentnotaries.Theoldestcartularieswerefivevolumes“manuSerJohannis notarii,nonestprenomen,”from1245to1260. *** Thefactthatvolumeswrittenbymanydifferentnotariesaccumulatedinaprivate archiveisnotinitselfextraordinary.In1381,thehouseofPina,headedbythe widow of Ser Paulus quondam Ser Jacobini de Corelia olim notarius, held the productionofnolessthansixtynotaries.Elevenofthesenotariescanbeevidenced alreadyintheDuecento,whichprovesthatthecollectionhadaconsiderableage.35 The Lucchese merchant and son of a notary Andreas quondam Ser Andree Domaschi36storedfifteenvolumesofAlluminatusJacobiandanothernotaryin 1389,someofwhichhavesurviveddespitetheconspicuousannotation“suntad pondus librarum LII” (weighing 52 pounds).37 Maybe Andreas considered to

35 36 37

oldestsurvivinginventoryoftheLuccheseChamberstemsfrom1344.Itlistsmanyvolumesof theLuccheselawcourts,cf.AntonioRomiti,“ArchivalinventoryinginfourteenthcenturyLucca: Methodologies,theories,andpractises,”TheotherTuscany.EssaysintheHhistoryofLucca,Pisa, andSienaDduringtheTthirteenth,Ffourteenth,andFfifteenthcCenturies,ed.ThomasW.Blomquist and Maureen M. Mazzaoui. Studies in Medieval culture, 34 (Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications,1994),83–109;here85–86,withnotes9–13.Atthelatestfrom1286,deliverywas compulsoryforchancellors,cf.ASLArchiviodeinotariprimapartefilza5p.64/1,bythehand of Lambertus Rape notarius et cancellarius (Meyer no. 232): “Gerardectus de Chiatri notarius consignavitetdeditdompnisNicolaoetFilippocamerariislucanicomunisunumlibrumliterarum conpositumetfactumtemporedominiJohannisCenciiMalabrancheolimpotestatislucensisin annodominiMCCLXXXproVIultimismensibusdictianni”(ThenotaryGerardectusdeChiatri handedovertothecammerariiofLucca,NicolausandFilippus,avolumeoflettersthathavebeen writtenduringthelastsixmonthsoftheyear1280undertheruleofthepodestàatthattime, JohannisCenciiMalabranche). ASLArchivipubblici30fol.133r. Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.486. NamelyASLArchiviodeiNotariparteprimafilza17registri1–2,filza18registro2,filza19 registro1.

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recyclethevolumesaswastepaperwhenhehadthemweighed,sincetheregister hedescribedas“valdecorruptumetdistructum”todayismissing.38 Storingtheregistersoftheirdeceasedcolleagueswasapparentlyinterestingto notariesofthefourteenthcentury,especiallyiftherehadbeenafamilyrelation, or else if they had worked in the same quarter of a town.39 Since the older generationhadthemselvesalreadycollecteddocumentsfromtheirpredecessors, huge private archives were quickly accumulated through inheritance. The expensesofthesearchiveswereprobablyenormous,becausetheytookupalotof space.Whenthestorageroomsbecametoonarrowtoholdtheentirecollection, verylikelytheoldestvolumesofthestockweresuccessivelystoredawayinunfit adjoiningrooms.Theretheymoulderedawayuntiltheywerediscardedsecretly, against the rules, at the next change of ownership. But this procedure often eliminated not only the production of a single notary or of a single family of notaries. – In the worst case, it also destroyed the production of a complete generationorofagroupofnotariesthathadbeenworkinginthesamequarter, withsevereconsequencestoourhistoricalknowledge. *** Contemporarieswereabletolocatetheregistersofdeceasednotariesbythehelp oftheaforementionedcommunalindexvolumes.Theapplicationofthissolution

38 39

ASLArchivipubblici15fol.253r. AftertheearlydeathofPhilippusquondamSpecte,whohadhisofficeclosetoSantaMariain Via,hiscousinUrsusquondamLambertiArmanni,whowasanotaryinfaraway“capiteBurgi sanctiFridiani,”drewup81proceedings,Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,292–94.

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canbefoundinPiacenza,40Treviso,41Pisa,42Florence,43Pistoia,44andSiena45since thelatterpartofthethirteenthcentury.Butthisprocedure,asmentionedabove, didnotfullysecurethestorageofthevolumesthroughthecenturies.Accordingly, in1389itwasadvisedinSienatostorethecartulariesofdeceasednotariesinthe roomsofthenotarycollege.46Butitseemsthatthisadvicewasnotheededinthe following centuries because the two oldest surviving cartularies from Siena, stemmingfromtheearlythirteenthcentury,reachedtheRecordOfficeofSiena

40 41

Pecorella,Studisulnotariato,140. BiancaBetto,Icollegideinotai,deigiudici,deimediciedeinobiliinTreviso(secc.XIII–XVI).Storiae documenti.Miscellaneadistudiememorie,19(Venice:Deputazioneeditrice,1981),120:“quando aliquisdeconfratribusdicticollegiidecesserit,scribaturpeneseiusnomenmillesimumindictio etdiessubquibusdecesseritetetiamcuifuerintsueabreviationesconces‹s›e”(whenamember ofthiscollegedies,thedateofhisdeath,strictlyspeakingtheyear,indictionandday,andthe nameoftheonewhomhisregisterswerehandedoverto,shouldbewrittendownnexttothe name). StatutiineditidellacittàdiPisadalXIIalXIVsecolo,ed.byFrancescoBonaini,3vols.(Florence:G. P.Viesseux,1854–1870),vol.1:229:“Etherescuiusquenotariiteneaturpostmortemnotariiipsa actarecomendareapudaliquemnotariumcumconscientiaiudicisdecancellaria”(Theheirofa notaryisorderedtodeposittherecordsofthedeceasedwithanothernotarywiththeapproval ofthejudgeofthechancellery),andvol.3794–95. Since 1420, cf. Antonio Panella, “Le origini dell’archivio notarile di Firenze,” Archivio storico italiano92(1934)57–92;here66.G.Biscione,“LaconservazionedellescritturenotariliaFirenze dalXIIsecoloall’istituzionedelpubblicogeneralearchiviodeicontratti,”Dagliarchiviall’archivio. Appuntidistoriadegliarchivifiorentini,ed.byC.Vivoli(Florence:EDIFIR,1991),27–52,isoflittle valuesinceitlacksreferences. Ezelinda Altieri Magliozzi, “Protocolli notarili conservati nell’Archivio di Stato di Pistoia,” Bullettinostoricopistoiese80(1978):121–33;here121–23(1332).ThecorrelatingPistoieseregister from1466accordingtoprescriptionsshouldcontain:“achuisonostatecommessequellescripture ...equantilibrisonoetquandocominciaronolesoprascrittescriptureequandofinironoequanti quadernièillibroetquantecharte:exemplo,“etcetera,lescritturediserTaiuolodiPierosono appressoameserGiovannisuofigliuoloesonolibrinove,elprimolibrocominciòadì12di gennaio1450,finìadì6dottobre1457etèquaderniXIecarte160”“echosìseguitiglaltrilibri” (atwhosehousetherecordsaredeposited...,howmanyvolumesthereare,whentheystartand whentheyend,whichextenttheyhave,forexample:“therecordsofSerTaiuolodiPieroare storedatmyson’shouse,thenotaryJohannes,thereareninevolumes,thefirststartingonJanuary 12,1450,andendingonOctober6,1457,thereareninebooksand160leaves”andsoonforallthe othervolumes). In 1351, Siena contented itself with the drawing up of a list of all those notarial registers of deceasednotaries(andtheirlocation)thatwerestillpresentinthecity.Cartulariesthathadbeen handedovertothecollegewereredistributedtotrustworthynotaries.Nobodycontemplateda centraldepository,cf.GiulioPrunai,“InotaisenesidelXIIIeXIVsecoloel’attualeriordinamento delloroarchivio,”Bullettinosenesedistoriapatria60(1953):78–109;here103–09. ArchiviodiStatodiSiena.L’archivionotarile(1221–1862).Inventario,ed.byGiulianoCatoniand SoniaFineschi.PubblicazionidegliarchividiStato,87(Rome:FratelliPalombi,1975),15–16

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onlythroughapurchasein1908.47Asarule,publicnotaryarchivescameinto existenceonlyinthefifteenthandsixteenthcentury.48 Butthereisanexceptiontothatrule:Genoaapparentlystartedbuildingcentral depotsfornotarialscriptsasearlyasthebeginningofthefourteenthcentury.The Genuesecommunepaidtherentfortwovaultsin1304,inwhichtheregistersof deceasednotariesdeversusBurgumrespectivelydeversusCastrumwerestored.49 Theplaceofactivityofanotaryhencedeterminedtowhichdepothislegacywas brought. Thetwovaults,towhichathirdonewastobeaddedin1453duetoalackof space,wereinuseuntil1466,whentheyhadtobecleanedoutbecausetheCasadi SanGiorgio,whowasthenresponsiblefortherent,refusedtopayanylonger.50

Dina Bizzarri, Imbreviature notarili I, Liber imbreviaturarum Appulliesis notarii comunis Senarum MCCXXI–MCCXXIII.Documentiestudiperlastoriadelcommercioedeldirittocommerciale italiano,4(Torino:S.LatteseCie.,1934),IX.Withoutthesetwovolumes,Siena’ssituationwould benobetterthanthatofBologna,whosenotarialarchivewasfirstestablishedbyNapoleon,cf. GiorgioTamba,“Unarchivionotarile?No,tuttavia,”Archiviperlastoria.Rivistadell’Associazione nazionalearchivisticaitaliana3(1990):41–96;here41–42 Cf.therelevantpassagesinGuidageneraledegliArchividiStatoitaliani,vol.I:A–E(Rome:Ministero peribeniculturalieambientali.Ufficiocentraleperibeniarchivistici,1981),vol.II:F–M(Rome: Ministero per . . ., 1983), vol. III: N–R (Rome: Ministero per . . . , 1986), vol. IV: S–Z (Rome: Ministeroper...,1994).ThatofVeronawasfoundedin1500,unfortunately,itburneddown completelyonthenightofthe31stAugust1723,cf.GiulioSancassani,“Ilcollegiodeinotaia Verona,” Il notariato veronese attraverso i secoli, ed. Giulio Sancassani et al. (Verona: Collegio notarile,1966),1–24;here18.SixtusV.promptedthefoundingofnotaryarchivesinthePapal States(withtheexceptionofRomeandBologna)in1588,cf.GiorgioTamba,“Laformazionedel fondonotariledell’ArchiviodiStatodiBolognaelafiguradiGiovanniMasini,”Attiememorie dellaDeputazionedistoriapatriaperleprovincediRomagnaN.S.37–41(1987–1990),41–66;here47. LegesGenuenses,ed.C.Desimonietal.HistoriaePatriaeMonumenta,18(Torino,apudfratres Bocca bibliopolas regis, 1901), col. 171: “Pro pensione volte, in qua reponuntur cartularia notariorumdefunctorumdeversusBurgumlib.VI.Propensionevoltenotariorumdefunctorum versusCastrumlib.VIII.”GiorgioCostamagna,IlnotaioaGenovatraprestigioepotere.Studistorici sulnotariatoitaliano,1(Roma:Consiglionazionaledelnotariato,1970)219–220pointsoutthat thissolutioncannotstemfromatimeearlierthanthesecondpartofthethirteethcentury.This is probably due to a printing error in Giorgio Costamagna, “La conservazione della documentazionenotarile,”Archiviperlastoria3(1990):7–20;here7:“Propriodaundocumento sihanotiziachegiànelsecoloXII[!]dovevaesistereunluogodovevenivanoraccoltieconservati documentiredattidanotai,inquantovisiaccennaallaconservazionecartulariorumposse,” sincenofurterreferencesaregiven. TheCasadiSanGiorgio(foundedin1407)inGenuagovernedthemunicipalrevenuesofGabelle, duesandcustomduties.Elsewherethiswasthetaskofthecommunalchamber,cf.A.Sciumé, “CasadiSanGiorgio,”LexikondesMittelaltersvol.2(MunichandZürich:ArtemisVerlag,1983), col. 1537–39. A petition of the notarial college to the doge of Venice, dated 6 October 1492 maintainsthatthecommunehaddecidedtorenttwovaultsforthestorageoftheregistersatits ownexpensealmost400yearsago;afterthefoundationoftheOfficiumSanctiGeorgiithisagency becameresponsibleforthepayments,butsoonrefusedtopaytherent.“Exquosecutumest,quod domini dictarum voltarum, non valentes solucionem suam consequi et habere de dictis

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Around1470,attheverylatest,thecartulariesofthelatenotariesweredeposited in other buildings at the costs of the notary college. Until they were finally transferredtosomevacantroomsinthearchiepiscopalPalais,whichthenotary collegehadboughtforthisspecialpurpose,51thevolumeshadbeenonaveritable odyssey.Unfortunatelythisverybuildingwasbombedonthe17thofMay1684, whentheFrenchlaidsiegeonGenoa,whichresultedinmassiveanddeplorable lossesofpapersanddocuments.52 Now,whathadbeenstoredinthetwoGenoesevaults?A l l thecartulariesof thedeceasednotaries?Theanswerisno.In1358,theVicarofthePodestàpublicly announcedthateverybodywassupposedtohandoverthecartulariestheystored contraformamcapituli,tothetwonotariesthatwerechargedwiththecustodia.In 1384,thecommandwasrepeated.53Accordingtothenotarialstatutesof1462,the obligation to deliver notarial scripts, and the prohibition to trade with them, shouldbemadepubliconceayear.54Buttheemendationstotheaforementioned

pensionibus,scripturasipsassicrepositasindictisvoltispartimvendiderunt,partimautempro aliqualieorumsatisfactionedictarumpensionumretinuerunt,partimautemscriptureipseex dictisvoltissubtracteetdispersefuere”(Thisprovesthattheownersofthisvault,becauseoftheir incapacitytopaytherent,soldpartsoftherecordsdepositedinthesevaults,withheldotherparts ofthemfortherentals,ortherecordswereevenremovedfromthevaultsandgotlost),cf.Tra SivigliaeGenova.Notaio,documentoecommercionell’etàcolombiana:.AttidelConvegnointernazionale distudistoriciperlecelebrazionicolombiane(Genova12–14marzo1992),ed.VitoPiergiovanni.Per unastoriadelnotariatonellaciviltàeuropea,2(Milan:Dott.A.Giuffrèeditore,1994),565–67. AlfonsoAssini,“L’Archiviodelcollegionotarilegenoveseelaconservazionedegliattitraquattro ecinquecento,”TraSivigliaeGenova,213–28;here223–25. MarcoBologna,“1684maggio17.Leperditedell’archiviodelCollegiodeinotai,”AttidellaSocietà liguredistoriapatriaN.S.24(1984),267–90;here273,byacomparisonoftheinventoriesof1644, 1681,1734and1984arrivesattheconclusionthatnoregistersofnotariesfromthetwelfthand thirteenthcenturyweredestroyed. Assini,“Archiviodelcollegionotarile,”217:“contraformamcapitulipositisubrubricadeduobus notariiseligendisetcontraformamemendationisfactepercapitulatorescommunisIanuesupra dictumcapitulum”(againstthewordingofthearticleof“thetwonotariestobeelected”and againstthewordingoftheaddendumwhichtheresponsiblepersonsofthecommuneofGenua enactedinadditiontoit).Heassumesthatthismightrefertothecodexofstatutesinusesincethe endoftheDuecento;theemendationesmightstemfromthetimeofSimoneBoccanegra. Puncuh,Glistatutidelcollegiodeinotai,298§17:“Nondebeataliquisnotarius,uxor,filiusvel defamiliasuavendere,lacerarevelaliterdestruerealiquemlibrum,prothocollumvelfoliacium publicumnecaliquamscripturampublicamnisideconsensurectorumdicticollegiisubpena soldorumcentumianuinorum....Nemoetiampossitemere,receptarenecdestruerelibrum aliquem, prothocollum vel foliacium publicum nec aliquam scripturam publicam sub pena premissa:etsiadmanusalicuiuspersonadictapervenerintactapublicavelipsorumaliquod,cito debeat id significare premissis rectoribus sub pena applicanda ut supra eorundem rectorum arbitrio. De quibus omnibus sindicatores civitatis Ianue per ipsam civitatem semel in anno preconiummittantcumperipsosrectoresfactafueritrequisitiodepredictis”(Nonotary,norhis wife,hissonoranothermemberofthefamilyshouldsell,mutilateordestroyaregisterorapublic documentwithoutthepermissionoftherectorsofthementionedcollege,onapenaltyofone hundredshillings(...).Nooneisallowedtobuy,receiveordestroyanotarialregisteroranother

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statutes,whichbecamevalidin1470,revealthatthecloserelativesofanotary werenotonlyallowedtostorethescriptsofthedeceasedathome,theycouldeven fetchthembackfromthearchive,providedtheythemselveswerenotaries.Butthis regulation did not create a new law, it only confirmed an entrenched habit explicitly.55 Nexttotheprivatecartulariesoflatenotaries,volumesofdocumentswrittenin thecommunalservicewerealsostoredinthevaultsbecausetheGenoesenotaries, accordingtothestatutesof1462,wereobligedtotakethesevolumeshomeandto store them properly no later than a year after the expiration of their term of office.56Aftertheirdeath,theregistersthathadbeenwrittenincommunalservice

public volume of records on the mentioned penalty; however, if someone gets hold of such records,heshouldnotifytherectorsofitassoonaspossible,onapenaltymeasuredbytherectors. Theleadersofthecommuneshouldhavetheseregulationsproclaimedbythebarkeronceayear, assoonastheywereaskedtodosobytherectors). LegesGenuenses,col.35(anotarialsubscriptionof1364:“EgoConradusMazzurrussacriImperii notariusetcancellariuscomunisIanue,predictuminstrumentumbaylieetpotestatisdictidomini ducisetdictorumsapientiumaddictumsacramentumextraxietinhancformampublicamredegi acartularioinstrumentorumcompositorummanucondamObertiMazzurrinotariietcancellarii comunisIanue,nihiladditoveldiminuto,quodmutetsensumvelvarietintellectum,nisiforte sillabaseupunctoabreviacioniscausa.Habensadhec,tamquamconstitutussupercustodiam cartulariorumdefunctorumnotariorumIanuedequatuorcompagnisdeversusBurgum,quam tamquamfiliusdictiquondamOberti,generalemandatum”(I,ConradusMazzurrus,notaryand chancellorofGenua,havecopiedthementionedinstrumentfromtherecordsofthedeceased notaryandchancellorofGenua,ObertusMazzurri,becauseofthepermissionoftheDogeandthe wisemen.Ihavechangednothingaboutitthatwouldalterthemeaning,except,perhaps,an abbreviated syllable or a punctuation mark. I had a general permission to do this as the responsiblekeeperoftheregistersofthedeceasednotariesforthefourcompaniestowardsthe castleandalsoasthesonofthedeceasedObertus).Thesourceprovidesnoinformationaboutthe locationofthisregister;itwasprobablysituatedinthehouseoftheexecutingnotary.Astatute of1402allowsforexceptionsfromthegeneralobligationtodeliverregisters,cf.Legesgenuenses, col.641(from1402):“Statuimusetordinamus,quodomnispersona,cuiuscumqueconditionissit, penes quam fuisset reperta aliqua cartularia, protocola, manualia, sentencie vel processus aliquorumvelalicuiusnotariidecollegiodefonctorumveldefoncti,teneanturetdebeantipsa consignareetponereinvirtutenotariorumadeorumcustodiamdeputatorumsecundumformam alicuiuscapituli.Nisiessetpersonacui,performamalicuiuscapituliveldecreti,permissumesset retinereipsacartulariavelscripturas”(Weprescribethatallwhostoretheregistersofdeceased notarieswiththemare,accordingtothecorrespondingrule,orderedtohandoverthesevolumes tothenotariesresponsibleforthekeeping,exceptforwhenitisexceptionallyallowedtokeep themoneself).Cf.alsoGiorgioCostamagna,IlnotaioaGenovatraprestigioepotere.Studistoricisul notariatoitaliano,1(Rome:Consiglionazionaledelnotariato,1970),223–24. DinoPuncuh,“GlistatutidelcollegiodeinotaigenovesinelsecoloXV,”Miscellaneadistorialigure inmemoriadiGiorgioFalco(Genova:Tip.Ferrari,OccellaeCie.,1965),267–310;here298§17: “QuoniametiamlibriveterescumaliisactibuspublicisofficiorumcommunisIanuequandoque exmalacustodiavidenturdestructietdeipsisprocapiendopapirocartevidenturablate,non debeantnotarii,perquosipsilibriscriptifuerintinofficiispredictis,librosipsosdimitterenecalia ipsorum acta publica, nisi solum per annum unum postquam exiverint ab ipsis officiis; quo quidemannofinito,dictoslibrosetactapublicaeorumdomosapportent...”(Asoldvolumes

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were supposed to be transported to the two public vaults, together with their privatecartularies.57 ThestoryoftheGenoesevaultsrevealsthatitwasnotthe‘PublicArchiveof Cartularies,’ but rather a depository in which all the documents written by Genoesenotaries,includingcommunaldocumentsandcourtpapers,werestored. Especiallythelatterwereprobablythereasonwhythecommunehadinitiallypaid therentforthevaults,sinceasaruletheItaliancommuneswerequicktoarchive theirowndocuments.58Butwheninthefifteenthcenturypeoplestartedtorealize thattheamountofprivatescriptssurpassedtheamountofpublicscriptsbyfar, thedepositoryofnotarialbookswasprivatized,andtherentwaspassedontothe notarycollege.59 Itwashencethepublicinterestinthemunicipaldocumentsthatinducedthe Genoese commune to rent two vaults, maybe as early as the late thirteenth century, but certainly since 1304, in order to store the registers of deceased notaries.OtherItaliancitiesthatdifferentiatedveryaccuratelybetweenpublicand privatenotarialregisterswerequicktointroduceageneralobligationtodeliver

57 58

withpublicdocumentsofGenua’sofficeswerealreadydestroyedorpaperwasremovedfrom withinthem,nonotarywhohassetupsuchavolumeinthementionedofficesshouldpartwith thisvolume,exceptduringthefirstyearafterheretiredfromhisoffice;whenthisyearhaspassed, heshouldtaketheserecordshome...)Thenfollowarrangementsincaseofatemporaryabsence fromGenoa.“Nechabeattamenlocumpresenscapituluminactiscuriedominorumconsulum rationisnecetiaminactiscuriemaleficiorumIanue,sedeademactaserventuretservaridebeant moresolitopenesnotariumadipsorumcustodiamdeputatumseupertemporadeputandum” (This rule should neither apply to the records of the audit division of the consuls nor to the records of the criminal court, because these should be deposited, as usual, with the notaries assigned for this). The documents of the municipal chamber and those of the tribunal were apparently stored centrally by the Genoese commune. In Lucca all courtpapers had to be deliveredtothemunicipalchamberaftertheexpirationofthetenureofoffice. Assini,“Archiviodelcollegionotarile,”22122;cf.alsothesource36inTraSivigliaeGenova,564. Cf.alsoPietroTorelli,Studiericerchedidiplomaticacomunale.Studistoricisulnotariatoitaliano,5 (Rome:Consiglionazionaledelnotariato,1980)(thisisaReprintoftheAttiememoriedellaR. AccademiaVirgilianadiMantovaN.S.4[1911],5–99andofPubblicazionidellaR.AccademiaVirgiliana diMantovavol.1,Mantova1915),375–80;cf.forBologna:DianaTura,“Lacameradegliatti,” Cameraactorum.L’ArchiviodelComunediBolognadalXIIIalXVIIIsecolo,ed.MassimoGiansante, GiorgioTamba,DianaTura.DeputazionediStoriapatriaperleprovincediRomagna.Documenti e studi, 36 (Bologna: Deputazione di storia patria, 2006), 3–36; Antonio Romiti, L’Armarium comunisdellacamaraactorumdiBologna:.L’inventariazionearchivisticanelsecoloXIII.Pubblicazioni degliArchividiStato.Fonti,19(Roma:Ministeroperibeniculturalieambientali.Ufficiocentrale peribeniarchivistici,1994),andforPisa:PaolaVignoli,“LaquestionedeiLibriiuriumaPisa:a propositodell’interpretazionedeltermine‚Pandette’usatoinalcunefontideisecoliXIII–XIV,” Bollettinostoricopisano76(2007):57–72. Assini,“Archiviodelcollegionotarile,”221:“Possiamoperciòconcluderesituandoneidue decennitrailCinquantaeilSessantadel‘400lasvoltacheconducealla‘privatizzazione’degli archivi”(Wecanthereforearrangethechangewhichledtotheprivatizationofthearchives chronologicallytothe50sand60softhefifteenthcentury).

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communal registers, a decision which in the long run went at the expense of privatecartularies.ButGenoainthiswaywasabletosavesomevolumeseven fromthetwelfthcenturybecausethetwovaultscontainedalsothosescriptsthat werethecoreofthecommunalarchiveinothercities,namelyfiscalandfinancial papersaswellascourtpapers.

*** Becauseofthelateestablishmentofpublicnotarialarchives,itisnotsurprising thatagreatnumberofthecartulariessurvivingfromthetimebefore1300cannot befoundinthePublicRecordOffices,butinchurcharchives.60However,evenif cartulariesquicklyfoundtheirwayintoclericalarchives,thiswasnotaguarantee fortheirsurvival.Ofthe53volumesoftheLucchesenotaryCiabattusthatare listedintheinventoryoftheLucchesechapterofthecathedralof1315,only30 havesurvived.61 Agewasdangeroustotheregisters:theoldertheywere,thelesslikelyitwas thatanengrossmentwouldbemadefromtheirpages.Withtheaccrualofyears, the chances of earning money with a register waned; instead, old cartularies becameaburdentotheirownersbyoccupyingpreciousspace.62Inatimedevoid

60 61

TothesituationoftheHistoricaltraditioncf.Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,179–222. ThecartulariesweresituatedinthesacristyofSanMartino:“QuaternidecartismontaninisXLV, extractidelibrisrogitorumBartholomeinotariideBoçano/LibriLICiabattinotariicontractuum etcausarum/LibriVIIcausarumscriptimanuquondamLeonardinotariideMassagrosa/Liber unuscausarumeiusdemLunardinotarii/Liberaliuscausarumeiusdemnotarii/Librialiiduo causarum eiusdem notarii / Libri causarum Orselli notarii A.D. MCCLXXI / Liber causarum scriptusmanuOrlandiUgolininotariideCardoso/LibercausarumetcontractuumBenedicti notarii/LiberAnselminotariideterrisetredditibusextractusdeextimationibussexMiliariorum etfactusperLuc(anum)Comune/LibercausarumscriptusmanuFrancischiBonsostegnenotarii suba.D.MCCLXXXI/LiberArmanninotariidecausisetaliis/Libersexcausarumscriptimanu Viviani notarii de Luciano / Liber unus testium inter Capitulum ex una parte et nobiles et populares de Boçano ex alia / Libri duo causarum Bartholomei notarii de tempore domini MacaciorietdominiAldebrandiniTallialmelirectorumterrarumLucaniCapituliproCapitulo /QuaterniduocontractuumscriptorummanuCiabattinotarii,”cf.Inventaridelvescovato,della cattedrale e di altre chiese di Lucca, ed. Pietro Guidi e E. Pellegrinetti. Studi e testi, 34 (Rome: BibliotecaApostolicaVaticana,1921),205–06. References to the usage of old cartularies are naturally sparse. Martin Bertram, “Bologneser Testamente,ersterTeil:DieurkundlicheÜberlieferung,”QuellenundForschungenausitalienischen ArchivenundBibliotheken70(1990):151–233;here202–03,publishedonethatmightberecord breaking:1368thenotaryGuilielmusPetrobonideBançisexecutedanactstemmingfrom1257 “exrogationibusquondamdominiYsnardiBonzohanniniRubeidePicholpilonotarii.”Anactof PaganellusMaconis(Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.278)from1247wasexecutedinLuccain 1308,ASLDipl.Certosa1247.02.16;in1378aproceedingfrom1269wasexecuted,ASLDipl. Andreuccetti1269.03.22.TwogenerationsliebetweentheentryofASLDipl.Fregionaia1223.01.26

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of antiquarian tendencies, these volumes were regarded as useless ballast. Especiallyinthefourteenthcentury,hintsatacarelesshandlingofcartularies accumulate.InSiena,peoplecomplainedthatcartulariesmadeofpaperweresold to“salumieriedaltribottegai.”63Florencerepeatedlyprohibitedthedestruction andsaleofregisters.64AndyetwelearnfromtheLibridiricordiofOrsanmichele that two cartularies from the early Duecento were on sale in 1357: “un libro d’inbreviaturedicartepecora,cominciatonel1213,unlibrod’inbreviaturedicarte pecora,cominciatonel1229”(onenotarialregistermadeofparchmentthatstarts in1213,onenotarialregistermadeofparchmentthatstartsin1229).65Onthe9th ofFebruary1389theLuccheseguardianodeilibridelacameradelcomunecomplained tohissuperiorsaboutthegreatnumberofcartulariesthathadlatelybeensoldto traders. He furthermore reported that of the registers of fifty notaries, which accordingtocommunalrecordsshouldhavebeeninthepossessionofacertain person,notasingleonecouldbefound.66Ontheotherhand,in1413itwasstill allowed in Milan to sell the cartularies of deceased notaries to merchants as wrappingpaper,providedonehadtheconsentoftheheadofthenotarycollege.67

63 64 65

intoanditsdrawingupfromthecartulary.In1264thecommuneofSavonaaskedtheVicarof Albatodressupanactfrom1192fromthe“abreviationibusRaymundicivisAlbensisdictiJudicis notariiquondam,”cf.DocumentiintornoallerelazionifraAlbaeGenova(1141–1270),ed.Arturo Ferretto,2vols.,BibliotecadellaSocietàstoricasubalpina,vols.23and50/1(Pinerolo:Chiantore Mascarelli,1906–1910);herevol.1:259–61no.309.AFlorentinecharterof1184wascopiedto parchment only in 1259, cf. Robert Davidsohn, Geschichte von Florenz, 4 vols. (Berlin: Ernst SiegfriedMittlerundSohn,1896–1927),vol.1:662–63.AGenoesecharterof1189wasengrossed in1268,LeCartedelmonasterodiSanVeneriodelTinovol.1,ed.byGiorgioFalco.Bibliotecadella Societàstoricasubalpina,91(Torino:Tip.SanGiuseppe,1920),no.71. ArchiviodiStatodiSiena.L’archivionotarile15. Panella,Leoriginidell’archivionotarile,58and63. FrancescoCarabellese,“LaCompagniadiOrsanmicheleeilmercatodeilibriinFirenzenelsecolo XIV,”Archiviostoricoitaliano5taserie16(1895):267–73;here268–69. D’Addario,Conservazione,201–02;Tirelli,“IlnotariatoaLucca,”298–99withnote96:“...chedi nuovomoltilibridirogitietcontractidinotarimortiassaifrescamentesonostativendutiaspetiali quaaLucaedifuori,etmaximamenteaunospetialechenecompròaun’oralibrecento,liquali perchénefuripresoàconservatoetconservaindelabotegasuasenzastraciarli.(...)Sabeneche aquestigiornialcunoessendoitopercercareacasad’unapersonadiquestaterra,laqualeavea libridicinquantanotari,opiùcomesitrovaperscriptoinlaCameradelcomunepredictoper manodinotaiopublico,nonsitrovòneunediqueilibri”(thatrecentlyhere,inLuccaandits environs,registersofdeceasednotarieshadagainbeensoldtospicemerchants,especiallytoone single, who had bought 100 pounds of it at once, but had stored them untorn in his bottega becausehewascaughtdoingthis.[...]Itwasalsoknownthat,inthepastdays,somebodyhad beenvisitingacertainperson,atwhosehousetheregistersof50notariesshouldhavebeenstored accordingtothemunicipalindexes,butwherenosinglevolumehadbeenfound). AlbertoLiva,NotariatoedocumentonotarileaMilanodall’altomedioevoallafinedelsettecento.Studi storicisulnotariatoitaliano,4(Rome:Consiglionazionaledelnotariato,1979),116quotesfrom a letter of Filippo Maria Visconti: “ut non sit aliquis spiziarius, formagiarius, luganegarius, venditor pissium, salsorum, carnium nec aliarum rerum qui emat nec recipiat aliquas

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*** Althoughmanythingsthatwewouldholddeartodayhavebeendestroyedinthat time,weshouldnot be tooharshonthepast.Ifanotary,greatgrandsonofa dynastyofnotaries,hadreallybeenaskedtostorethecompletefamilyproduction ofcartularies,andalltheregistersofthenotarieswhohadworkedinthesame quarter,whichthecommunehadtransferredtohimforpracticalreasons,inhis ownhouse,andtokeepthisimmenseamountofvolumessafefrommice,water andfire,itiseasytoimaginethathewouldencounteraseverespaceproblem.68

imbreviaturasnotariidefunctisinelicentiaAbbatumcollegiiMediolani”(sothatnospice,cheese orsausagemerchant,noselleroffish,sauces,meatorotherthingsmightbuyanyregistersof deceasednotarieswithoutthepermissionoftheheadofthenotarialcollegeofMilan).InMilan, theregistriesofadeceasednotarywerestilldepositedwithothernotariesin1498,ibid.112–13. TheLuchesenotaryThomasusfiliusOrlandiLeonis(Meyer,Felixetinclitusnotarius,no.330),who workedinthesecondhalfoftheDuecento,storedtherogitaofhisgreatgrandfatheroftheyear 1173athishouse,cf.RegestodelcapitolodiLucca,ed.byPietroGuidieOresteParenti,4vols. RegestachartarumItaliae,6,9,18and18bis(Rome:E.Loescher,1910–1939);herevol.2no.1310, note.

BrittC.L.Rothauser (UniversityofConnecticut)

“Areuer...brighterþenboþethesunneandmone”: TheUseofWaterintheMedievalConsiderationof UrbanSpace

Whenwe,justasmuchasmedievalauthors,considerthenatureofurbanspaces, itisnecessaryforustolookatthecity’smostpreciousnaturalresource:water. Waterisapreoccupyingfeatureinurbanspacesevenasperfectasthedivinecity, astheuseofaquotationfromPearlinthetitleofthispapersuggests.Anditislittle wonderthatmedievalauthorsfocusedtheirattentiontothisgeographicalfeature. Civilizationcannotadvancewithoutareadysourceofwatertosustainthepeople. Mostobviously,waterisnecessaryforhydrationandfoodproduction.Water,in theformofgroundwater,irrigation,andgeographicwaterfeaturessustainsthe cropsthatprovidefood.Additionally,waterpowerfacilitatestherefinementofthe rawmaterialsgrown,byturningmillwheels,forexample.1Itisnocoincidence that water is an integral part of the planning and development of most major medieval urban centers.2 In discussions of historical cities, such as London, fictitious ones, such as New Troy, and divine urban center, such as New Jerusalem,medievalEnglishauthorsfromWilliamFitzStephentoJohnLydgate

ForfurtherreadingontheuseofmillsfromantiquitythroughtheMiddleAges,seeStevenA. Walton’scollectionofelevenessays fromthe2004PennsylvaniaStateUniversityconference, “WindandWater:TheMedievalMill.”Thiscollectionofferswiderangingdiscussionsontheuses ofwhatwenowconsider“alternativeenergy”sources.Whilethefirsteightessaysfocusonthe historicalpresence,use,andlegalitiesofmills,thelastthreeessayslookattheuseofmillsina literary context. Wind and Water in the Middle Ages: Fluid Technologies from Antiquity to the Renaissance,ed.StevenA.Walton.MedievalandRenaissanceTextsandStudies,322.PennState MedievalStudies,2(Tempe:ArizonaCenterforMedievalandRenaissanceStudies,2006). Ifwelookatthemajormedievalurbancenters,wefindthateachofthemhasproximitytowater: London,Paris,Rome,Brussels,Florence,andVenicejusttonameafewoftheEuropeancenters oftradeandpopulation.

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andJohnGowerhighlighttheimportanceofwaterthroughtheirdescriptionsof the rivers, streams, wells, and fountains that surround and permeate the civic space. We find that this prominent consideration of water exists not only in terrestrialcities,butalsoindescriptionsoftheholycityofNewJerusalem,by authorssuchasthePearlpoet,andofmorediabolicalterritory,suchasDante’s Inferno.3Wateractsasafocusformedievalauthorsnotonlybecauseofitsliteral proximity to most major towns, but also because of its role in the literary conceptualization of the urban space. Medieval authors describe not only the presenceofwaternearandincities,butalsotheuseofwaterbythecitizens.We seewaterbeingusedprimarilyinthreerolesinthesetexts:1)adefiningelement; 2) a protective barrier; and 3) a cleansing agent. In depictions of historical or fictitious earthly cities, we see water used in these functions individually, or perhapsdually,suggestinganimportanttoposforwater,butnotaformulaicuse ofit.Whenalloftheserolesappearinonedescription,wefindtheperfectionthat existsinthecelestialcityofPearl.Butwhentheserolesaresubverted,weseethe apocalypticnightmareofJohnGower’sLondoninVoxClamantis.Itisthroughthe author’smanipulationofwaterinthesethreerolesthatwecanseehowmedieval authorsmayexpresstheirconceptoftheurbanspace. Significantresearchhasbeendoneinrecentyearsconcerningtheprevalenceand needforwaterincitiesfromantiquitytothemodernera.Muchofthisscholarship overlaps,thematically.Forexample,inthefieldofwastemanagementintheurban environment,MichèleDagenaisusesthecleansingpropertiesofwatertodiscuss thedichotomyofcivilizedandwild,aswellastherelationshipoftheindividual tothegroup.4Andwhilethistopicisveryclosetomyownsectionthreeofthis paper,Dagenais’sinterestrestsintwentiethcenturyMontreal,Canada.Wecansee similaritiesfortheuseofwaterinbothmodernCanadaandmedievalEngland, butthebureaucraciesandenvironmentaldilemmasthatconcerncivicplannersin Canada at the turn of the last century are not those of medieval London. For Dagenais,themanipulationofwaterandthecreationofthecityboth“conquer[ed] theland”and“reform[ed]society’smoralsandbehavior.”5Thereisnoindication that the civic planners of London hoped to reform anyone’s “morals and behaviors”throughtheirmanipulationofwaterways.Thereare,ofcourse,articles onthemedievalusesofwater.DollyJørgensenexaminesthesystembywhich

For this paper, I am limiting my discussion to a handful of authors from the fourteenth and fifteenthcenturies.AlthoughIwillalsoconsiderWilliamFitzStephen’stwelfthcenturyDescriptio nobilissimæ civitatis Londoniæ , the bulk of this paper focuses on the Pearl poet’s Pearl and St. Erkenwald (for a discussion of the authorship of these works, please see note below), John Lydgate’sTroyBook,andJohnGower’sMirrourdel’hommeandVoxClamantis. MichèleDagenais,“Cleaning,Draining,andSanitizingtheCity:ConceptionsandUsesofWater intheMontrealRegion,”TheCanadianHistoricalReview87.4(December2006):621–51. Dagenais,“Cleaning,Draining,andSanitizingtheCity,”621.

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medievaldrainageditchesandpavedroadsweremaintainedinlatemedieval EnglandandScandinavia,consideringthecomplexrelationshipofgovernment andcitizenintheremovalofhouseholdwastesfromthecity.6Whilefascinating, Jørgensen’spurposeisnottoconsiderhowliteraryauthorsusetheimageofwater toexpresstheirtheoreticalconceptofurbanspace,buttoconsiderthehistorical usesofwaterinmedievalnorthernEurope. Therehavealsobeenmanyarticleswrittenonmedievalcities,suchasC.David Benson’s“SomePoets’ToursofMedievalLondon:VarietiesofLiteraryUrban Experience.”7Inthisessay,BensonexploresmedievalLondonthroughtheeyesof his “guides”: William Fitz Stephen, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Thomas Hoccleve, John Lydgate, and the anonymous author of London Lickpenny. The resultingdifferencesleadBensontoconclude,alongsideMicheldeCerteau,that depictionsofthecityareasdifferentastheauthorsthatcomposethem.8These poets,forBenson,givevividdescriptionsofthecityfrom,withtheexceptionof WilliamFitzStephen,roughlythesameera.Whileourauthorsoftenintersect,and I am indeed indebted to David Benson for the genesis of my own article, his purposeisnottoarguethatthepoetsarecreatingtheirurbanspacethroughtheir literaryuseofwater,asIhopetoaccomplishhere.9

I.WaterasDefinition Thefirstroleofwateristhatofdefinition.Itisnot,however,typically,thefirst image that comes to the modern mind when the image of a medieval city is invoked. We often first envision the massive walls outlining the borders and keepingoutthewildernessandunwantedpeople.Ofcourse,completelywalled citieswerenottheonlyurbanspacesconstructedduringtheMiddleAges;the imageoftheimpregnablewallsofacitysuchasCarcassonne,however,typifies themodernconceptionofthemedievalurbanspace,reinforcedbyHollywood’s depictionofmedievalandfantasycitiesinmoviessuchasThe13thWarrior,Robin

Dolly Jørgensen, “Cooperative Sanitation: Managing Streets and Gutters in Late Medieval EnglandandScandinavia,”TechnologyandCulture49.3(July2008):547–67. C. David Benson, “Some Poets’ Tours of Medieval London: Varieties of Literary Urban Experience,”EssaysinMedievalStudies24(2007):1–20. Benson,“SomePoets’ToursofMedievalLondon,”2and17.Ultimately,Bensonconcludesthat themedievalpointofviewonnearlyeverysubjectisasvariedasthepeopleunderconsideration: “ThesetoursoffercontemporaryimagesofmedievalLondon,andbelietheideathatthereisa single medieval view, even medieval literary view, about anything, especially anything as complexasacitylikeLondon”(17). Forabroaderdiscussionofthemanyusesofwaterinanurbansetting,seeAlbrechtClassen’s introductiontothisvolume.

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Hood:PrinceofThieves,orTheCrusades.10Ourimaginedmedievalcityprobably more closely resembles a walled garden, only on a much grander scale. In La RomandelaRose,forexample,thegardeniscompletelysurroundedbyhighwalls, keepingoutthosewhowishtoentertheenclosurewithoutpermission.Manfred Kuscharguesthatgardensrepresenta“rationallycontrolledsystemsurrounded byanoftenamorphouswilderness.”11AlthoughKuschisdiscussingtheenclosed gardenwithinanurbansetting,hisargumentsapplyequallytotheenclosedcity surroundedbywildernesspopularinthemodernconsciousness.Althoughthe protective nature of walls is not lost on the medieval perception, a walled enclosuredoesnotmerelyrepresentsecurity.Thegarden,suchasthatinLaRoman de la Rose, is considered by medieval authors to be “the locus of virtue, piety, harmony,lust,andgluttony,tomentionbutafewexamples.”12Andweseethese traits in medieval author’s descriptions of cities as well. The holy city inPearl highlightsthevirtuouspietyofitscitizens,thoseblesseddeadwhohavefound eternal reward for their pious lives. London for Fitz Stephen exists as the harmoniousbalanceofruralandurban,itscitizenscohabitatingpeacefully.Butfor John Gower, the urban becomes the site of the evils of civilization when it is forciblyinvadedbytheraveninghordesofpeasantswho,bestialintheirnature, representthebasestelements. John Scattergood, in “Misrepresenting the City,” argues that authorial descriptionsofthecompletelyenclosingwallsofacityrepresenttheindividual’s viewofperfection.13Ontheliterallevel,however,thecityoftenmanifestsasa spacedemarcatedbynaturalandconstructedbarriers.Inthelastquarterofthe twelfth century, William Fitz Stephen, clerk to Thomas Becket and later his encomiast,describesthecityofLondoninaworkentitledDescriptionobilissimæ

Although set in a fantasy world, The Lord of the Rings also helps promote the concept of the medieval walled city because of its portrayal of medievalesque clothing, weaponry, and technology.WhilesomeofthecitiesportrayedbyHollywood,suchasthecityofTroyinTroy, mayhaveindeedbeenencircled,thepopularvisionofamedievalcityappearstobethatthey wereallwalled.Tobefairtothepopularview,manymedievaltownswere–butcitiessuchas Veniceapparentlyneverhadsuchfortifications,andsomecitieswerefirstwalledwellafterthey wereestablishedurbancommunities(forexample,Brussels,Belgiumwasnotwalleduntilthe thirteenthcentury,butwasinhabitedcontinuouslyfromthetenthcentury.) ManfredKusch,“TheRiverandtheGarden:BasicSpatialModelsinCandideandLaNouvelle Héloïse,” EighteenthCentury Studies 12.1 (Autumn, 1978): 1–15; here 1. Although Kusch is discussingmuchlaterusesofgardensandthebinaryofinclusive/exclusivespace,hiscomments hereonthegardeninartinliteratureapplytotheuseofenclosedgardenspacesthroughout literaryhistory. Kusch,“TheRiverandtheGarden,”1.SeealsothecontributionstothisvolumebyJeanE.Jostand ConnieScarborough. JohnScattergood,“MisrepresentingtheCity:Genre,IntertextualityandFitzStephen’sDescription ofLondon,”ReadingthePast:EssaysonMedievalandRenaissanceLiterature(Dublin:FourCourts Press,1996),15–36;here19.

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civitatis Londoniæ.14 The text is variably dated to “sometime before 1183”15 or “between1173and1175”16anddescribesLondon,bothintermsofitsphysical appearance,aswellasitsinhabitantsandtrades,inthevividfirstpersondetailof someonewhoknowstheareawell.Afterabriefdescriptionofthecity’scleanair, majorchurches,andtheTowerofLondon,FitzStephenturnshisattentionstothe city’sfortifications.17Atsomepointinthepast,fromFitzStephen’sperspective, Londonhadbeenentirelyenclosedbyfortifiedtowersconnectedbygatedwalls.18 If,asJohnScattergoodsuggests,theperfectlyencircledcityisnecessarytofulfill theauthor’sviewofanidealcity,Londononcemetthoserequirements.AndFitz Stephen’s description of London, as noted by Scattergood, is exceedingly idealistic.19 The ideal of a perfectly enclosed and defined city does not last however,asoneofthewallsfallstotheinexorableforceoftheriver: On the South, London was once walled and towered in the like fashion, but the Thames,thatmightyriver,teemingwithfish,whichrunsonthatsidewiththesea’s ebbandflow,hasincourseoftimewashedawaythosebulwarks,underminedand castthemdown.20

ScattergoodarguesthatalthoughLondondoesnotneedtohaveacompletedwall inFitzStephen’stimetoexistashisideal,itmusthavebeencompleteatsome pointinthepast.21ForScattergood,FitzStephencannotviewacityasperfectly

16 17

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Theeditionusedhere,the1990ItalicaPressprinting,followsthetranslationofthetextbyH.E. Butler,originallypublishedin1934byTheHistoricalAssociation.The1990editionincludesFrank M. Stenton’s essay “Norman London,” as well as an introduction by F. Donald Logan. The DescriptionobilissimæcivitatisLondoniæservesastheintroductoryprefacetoWilliamFitzStephen’s LifeofThomasBecket. F.DonaldLogan,“Introduction”inNormanLondonbyWilliamFitzStephen(NewYork:Italica Press,1990),ix. Scattergood,“MisrepresentingtheCity,”19. “OntheEaststandsthePalatineCitadel,exceedinggreatandstrong,whosewallsandbaileyrise fromverydeepfoundations,theirmortarbeingmixedwiththebloodofbeasts.OntheWestare twostronglyfortifiedCastles,whilethencethererunscontinuouslyagreatwallandhigh,with sevendoublegates,andwithtowersalongtheNorthatintervals”(49). Scattergood,“MisrepresentingtheCity,”49.Inadditiontothegreatheightofthewalls,withtheir “deepfoundations(49),FitzStephen’swallsarestrengthenedbytheinclusionof“thebloodof beasts”mixedintothemortar(49). AsScattergoodnotes,FitzStephendoesnotcommentonanyofthemorenegativeaspectsof urbandevelopment(19);overcrowding,poverty,disease,wastecontamination,andcrimeareall absentfromFitzStephen’s“descriptionofthemostnoblecityofLondon”(48).Justasthetwelfth centuryauthorturnsablindeyetotheflawsinherenttocitylife,healsomustrepresentthe fortificationsofthecityasideal.However,hecannotconjureaphysicaledificeaseasilyashean eraseunwelcomesegmentsofthepopulationandsoinhistextFitzStephenaddressesthemissing wallonthesouthsideofLondon. WilliamFitzStephen,NormanLondon(NewYork:ItalicaPress,1990):49. Scattergood,“MisrepresentingtheCity,”19.

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completedunlessatsomepointinitshistory,itwastotallyencircledbyawall. This requirement for perfection, however, does not seem to fit Fitz Stephen’s descriptionofthewallinhisowntime.ThereisnosenseofimperfectioninFitz Stephen’s description of London. Instead, Fitz Stephen describes London as premier among cities, blessed in, among other things, “the strength of its bulwarks.”22 The Thames is equal to the wall in terms of satisfying his requirementsforacivicboundary.Theriverisdescribedas“mighty,”ableto “undermine and cast. . . down” the stalwart bulwarks.23 Simply, the river is strongerthanthewall.Thefailedwallisneverreplacedandsotheriverfulfillsthe roleofthedestroyedfortificationindefiningthephysicalcompositionofthecity onitsbanks. Buttheriverdoesnotactsimplyasanacceptablesubstitutionforafailedwall. The presence of the river as the southern boundary of London predates the creation of the wall. The inhabitants of London must have used the river as a boundarymarkerevenbeforetheyrealizedtheneedtoenclosetheircivicspace with walls. The southern wall of London fell to the Thames because the civic plannersdecidedthatthesouthernboundaryofthecitywastheThames.They placedtheirprotectiveedificewithinthenaturalboundaryoftheriver.Andwhen the force of the current undermined and eventually destroyed the bulwarks, civilizationacceptedthenaturallyoccurringbarrierassufficient.Irrespectiveof a constructed boundary, it is the Thames that defines the southern edge of medievalLondon. Whilethepresenceoftherivercreatesanatural,physicalboundaryforLondon, separatingthecityfromthatwhichisnotthecity,wateralsoworkstodefinethe cityintheDescriptionobilissimæcivitatisLondoniæastheurbancenteraswellasthe surroundingcountryside.InFitzStephen’stime,theurbanspaceofLondonmust includetheruralspaceoutsidethewallasintegraltothecontinuedhabitabilityof the city. Jacques Le Goff notes that scholars since Karl Marx have seen the relationshipbetweentownandcountryasthatofmasterandslave;butLeGoff argues instead for a sense of civic unity between the enclosed city and the countrysidewithfreelyoccurringtravelbetweenthetwo.24Inconcertwiththis theory, Fitz Stephen’s London is not only the physical structures and people containedwithinthewall,butitisalsothesurroundingareathatsupportsthe citizensofLondon:“OntheNortharepasturelandsandapleasantspaceofflat meadows,intersectedbyrunningwaters,whichturnrevolvingmillwheelswith

22 23 24

FitzStephen,NormanLondon,48 FitzStephen,NormanLondon,50. JacquesLeGoff,“TheTownasanAgentofCivilisation”inTheFontanaEconomicHistoryof Europeed.CarloM.Cipolla(NewYork:Barnes&NoblebyagreementwithFontanaBooks, 1976–1977),77–106;here92.

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merrydin.”25Althoughthereissignificanttravelbetweencityandcountry,itis notthesymbioticrelationshipthatleGoffenvisions.FitzStephendoesnotexpand thecity’sdefinitiontoincludetheruralpeasantry;itisonlytheirbuildings,wells andrunningwater,their“freshair,”andtheproductsoftheir“merry”millsthat appear in Fitz Stephen’s description of the city of London. The movement is unidirectional.Theurbancitizensmoveoutofthecity,minglingwiththephysical essenceofthecountryside,butnotherpeople,andthenretreatingwithintheir fortifications. Thepreferredunidirectionalrelationshipofthecityandthecountryisonethat issharedamongallthetextsthatIdiscusshere.Ineach,asIwilldescribe,thecity istheterritoryenclosedwithinthewallsandthesurroundingcountrysideisonly part of the urban area in that it contains the methods of food production that peopleinthecityneedtosurvive.InthecaseofPearl,thesurroundingcountryside doesnotevenproducefoodfortheinhabitantsofNewJerusalem;thecountryside thereexistsonlyasafurtherseparationofthedreamerfromtheurban.Thisisa conception of the city supported by Isidore of Seville’s discourse in the Etymologiae.26Isidore,withhistypicalcorrelationofnameandthingrepresented, argues in book fifteen that a town is so called either because of the walls that surround it, the greed that sustains it, or the defenses that protect it.27 It is importanttonote,however,thattheexamplesIusehereprovidealiteraryvision ofthecity,notnecessarilytherealityofurbanlife.Inreality,peoplemovedinto andoutoftheurbancenter:farmer’sfromtheoutlyingareasbroughtproduceto themarketsintownsandindividualsarrivedlookingforhonestwork,orperhaps lessthanhonestopportunities. AsDavidBensonhasnoted,citiesarenotstaticentities:overthecourseofthe fourteenthcentury,asnearlyhalfofthepopulationofLondon,originallyashigh as100,000,died,immigrantsfromtheoutlyingareasarrived.28

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FitzStephen,NormanLondon,49–50. IsidoreofSeville,Etymologiae,ed.RudolphBeer(Leiden,TheNetherlands:A.W.Sijthoff,1909); particularlyBookXV. IsidoreofSeville,Etymologiae,XV,ii,5.Isidorecontinuestoargueinlineselevenandsixteen,that thesmallervillagesaremerelyacollectionofpeople,withoutthedignitycommandedbyacity andthatthesuburbs(or“undercity”)arethebuildingsaroundacity.Clearlythereisacommon themeintheMiddleAgesthatthephysicalpropertyofthecityisthatwhichlieswithinthewall aswellastheproductionofthelandssurroundingit,butnotnecessarilythepeople.Foramore thoroughdiscussionofmedievalconceptsofthecity,seeHartmutKugler,DieVorstellungderStadt inderLiteraturdesdeutschenMittelalters.MünchenerTexteundUntersuchungenzurdeutschen LiteraturdesMittelalters,88(Munich:Artemis,1986).SeealsoAlbrechtClassen’sIntroduction tothepresentvolume. C.DavidBenson,“London,”Chaucer:AnOxfordGuide,ed.SteveEllis(Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press,2005),66–80;here66.

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ButasmuchastherealityofLondonwasoneoffluctuatingpopulations,the descriptionoftheidealizedLondonappearsremarkablyurbancentric.Atfirst, FitzStephendescribesthepalaceofWestminsterasaconnectionbetweenthecity andthe“populoussuburb.”29However,thisisnotapopulationthatweeversee in action. We know only that the royal palace is surrounded by the houses in whichthisunseenmasslives,andbeyondthosehousesliethefieldsthatsustain lifeinthecity:“Onallsides,beyondthehouses,liethegardensofthecitizensthat dwell in the suburbs, planted with trees, spacious and fair, adjoining one another.”30 Instead of describing the people that inhabit this rural space, Fitz Stephenfocusesonthetreesandgardens.Itisnotthepeoplethatbelongtothe cityofLondon;itistheproductivelands.Hefurtherdescribesthepasturesand meadows,givingusamorethoroughdescriptionofthewildbeaststhatinhabit thespacethanthepeople: Hardbytherestretchesagreatforestwithwoodedgladesandlairsofwildbeasts,deer bothredandfallow,wildboars,andbulls.Thecornfieldsarenotofbarrengravel,but richAsianplainssuchas‘makegladthecrops’andfillthebarnsoftheirfarmers‘with sheavesofCeres’stalk.’31

Thepasturesandflatmeadows,althoughpresumablytendedbythepeople,do nothavepeopleactivelyworkingthem.Thecornfieldsgrowabundantlyandfill thestoragefacilitiesofthefarmers,buttheydoitapparentlyundertheirown power.Ofcourse,FitzStephenunderstandsthatthelandisactivelytendedby individuals.Hisdescription,however,focusesnotonthosepeoplewhogrowthe foodnecessarytosupporturbanlife,butratherontheremarkablyfertilelandand onthewildbeaststhatinhabittheforest. In addition to the important production of grain and game animals, the countrysidesurroundingLondonisalsothelocationoffrivolityandgamesforthe

29 30 31

FitzStephen,NormanLondon,49. FitzStephen,NormanLondon,49. FitzStephen,NormanLondon,50.

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inhabitantsofthecity.32TheveryfirstinteractionFitzStephendescribesbetween townandcountry,involveswater: TherearealsoroundaboutLondonintheSuburbsmostexcellentwells,whosewaters are sweet, wholesome and clear, and whose ‘runnels ripple amid pebbles bright.’ AmongtheseHolywell,ClerkenwellandSaintClement’sWellaremostfamousand arevisitedbythickerthrongsandgreatermultitudesofstudentsfromtheschooland oftheyoungmenoftheCity,whogooutonsummereveningstotaketheair.33

Itisquiteclearlyfromthecityandtowardtheruralenvironsthatcitydwellers movetointeractwithwater.Thewells,sweet,clear,andfamous,bringpeopleinto thecountrysidefromthecity.Butwhileinthecountryside,theurbancitizensdo notapparentlymeetwithanyruralinhabitants.Instead,theyinteractsolelywith thewaterthatservestotiethecountrysidetothecityinaholisticdefinition.The uninhabitedcountrysideactsasanextensionofthecity,aplaceofproduction wherethecityinhabitantsvisit,butsurelybelongingtothecityitself.Wateracts totiethepastoraltotheurbanasalocationforthecitizenstovisitaswellasthe meansofproducing,quiteliterally,theirdailybread.Inhisholisticconsideration ofLondon,FitzStephenusestheimageofwatertodefinethecityasboththe urbansettingandthecountrysidethatsupportsit. Water does not merely serve to define the limits of the city as a physical boundaryorthroughinclusionwiththecountryside,however.Inadditiontothis concretedefinitioncreatedbytheauthor’smanipulationofwatersinandaround

Itisimportanttonotethatthelackofpeoplewhoapparentlyresideinthecountrydoesnotstem fromageneraldearthofpeopledescribedintheDescriptio.FitzStephen’stextincludesriotous storiesofthepastimesandpleasuresofallmannerofpeople.Thesepeople,however,areall regularly described as coming from the city, citizens of London, or Londoners. Indeed, Fitz Stephendescribesnumerousfrolics,games,anddiversionsinwhichthepeopleofLondonpartake thatwouldrequiretheirdeparturefromthecity:“Inwinteronalmosteveryfeastdaybefore dinnereitherfoamingboardsandhogs,armedwith‘tuskslightningswift’themselvessoontobe bacon,fightfortheirlives,orfatbullswithbuttinghorns,orhugebears,docombattothedeath againsthoundsletlooseuponthem”(58).Eachweek,horsetradersbringtheirlivestocktoflat fieldsoutsideofLondon,bringingoutthe“Earls,BaronsandKnightswhoareintheCity,and withthemmanyofthecitizens”(53).Healsodescribesthe“greatmarsh”tothenorthofLondon thatfreezesinthewinter,when“densethrongsofyouthsgoforthtodisportthemselvesuponthe ice”(58).Furthermore,“Londoners”enjoy“takingtheirsportwithbirdsoftheair,merlinsand falconsandthelike,andwithdogsthatwagewarfareinthewoods.Thecitizenshavethespecial privilegeofhuntinginMiddlesex,HertfordshireandallChilternandinKentasfarastheriver Cray”(59).Hetellsof“alltheyouthoftheCity”goingintothefieldstoplayballgames(56.)We mustnotethateachofthesedescriptionscreatetheimageofcrowdsofindividualsleavingthe wallsofthecityinordertoplayinthefields,woods,andwatersofthecountryside.Thereisno suggestionthatthepeopleinvolvedinthesegamesandhuntscomefromthecountrysideitself. ForFitzStephen,thepeopleinvolvedinthesepastimesarethosewhoresidewithinthewallsof London. FitzStephen,NormanLondon,50.

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the city, there is a symbolic definition that water serves to create in our considerationofthecityofLondon.FitzStephendescribestheThamesasariver “teemingwithfish,whichrunsonthatsidewiththesea’sebbandflow....”34The ThamesisnotsimplyariverthatcreatesabarrieronthesouthsideofLondon;it isanoutlettotheocean,andthroughthisoutlet,expandsthescopeofthecity. London’stradeisnotlimitedtoitsimmediatesurroundings,butbringsinpeople throughitspositiononamajorwaterwaytotheocean.Londonis,throughits exportationofwooltothecontinent,aninternationalcity.Theidentificationof LondonwiththismaritimetradealsooccursinRobertofGloucester’sChronicles, datedaround1300,whereheidentifiesLondonwiththepresenceof“ssipes”as the “mest” plentiful image, just as he identifies Canterbury with “fiss” and Winchester with “win.”35 This suggests that, like today, cities are equated symbolicallytoanimage,role,orproduct.Cairo,forexample,callstomindthe pyramids;Parisisthecityoflovers;orBrugesisrenownedforitslace.Theidentity ofLondonasamaritimepower,symbolicallyrepresentedbyGloucester’s“ssipes” (ships),obviouslycomesfromitslocationnearawatersource,andthroughthis definitionLondonbecomesaninternationalcity.Water,therefore,definesLondon onametaphoricallevelasacenterofmaritimeactivity. WhiletheactualriverandwaterwaysaroundLondonworktodefine,somewhat ambiguously,eitherthedivisiveorinclusiverelationshipbetweenthecityandthe countryside,theroleofriversbecomesabsoluteinconjunctionwiththedivinecity inPearl.Writteninthelatefourteenthcentury,Pearlformspartofacollectionof poems all argued to have been written by one master of medieval alliterative poetry,thePearlpoet.36ThePearlpoettreatsthesubjectofwaterinconjunction withanurbancenterinmanyofthesamewaysthatFitzStephenuseswaterinhis descriptionofLondon.Aswiththedefinitionoftherealcitythroughitsproximity towatersources,theriverinPearldefinesNewJerusalembothintheliteralsense

34 35

FitzStephen,NormanLondon,49. TheMetricalChronicleofRobertofGloucester,ed.WilliamAldisWright(London:PrintedforH.M. Stationeryoff.,byEyreandSpottiswoode,1887),lines139–41. ThePearlpoetisalternatelyknownastheGawainpoet,afteranotherofthewellknowntexts attributedtothesameartist,SirGawainandtheGreenKnight.Alsopresumedtobebythesame authorareCleanness,Patience,and,perhaps,St.Erkenwald.FormoreonthedebateconcerningSt. Erkenwald’sauthorship,seeLarryD.Benson,“TheAuthorshipofSt.Erkenwald,”JournalofEnglish andGermanicPhilology64 (1965):393–405;andC.J.Peterson,“PearlandSt.Erkenwald:Some EvidenceforAuthorship,”TheReviewofEnglishStudies,NewSeries25.97(Feb.,1974):49–53.The preponderanceofevidence,assuggestedbyLarryBenson,seemstoexcludeSt.Erkenwaldfrom thePearlpoet’scollection,butasPetersonnotes,“showingcommonauthorshiptobe‘notproven isnotthesameasshowingittobeimpossible’”(4).ForadiscussionoftheauthorshipofPearl,see BarbaraNolanandDavidFarleyHills,“TheAuthorshipofPearl:TwoNotes,”The Reviewof EnglishStudies,NewSeries22.87(Aug.,1971):295–302.

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byrevealingthecitytothedreamerandinthemetaphoricalsensethroughits divineorigin.Asthenarratorwandersthroughhisdreamvision,hecatchesa glimpseofaparadisiacalcity:“ForþyIþo3tthatparadise/Watzþerouergaynþo bonkezbrade”[“Therefore,Ithoughtthatparadisewasnearbyoverthebroad banks”].37 AswithLondon,theriveroutlinestheboundaryofthecity’sphysicalspace,but inconjunctionwiththewallsdefinesNewJerusalemasacityofexclusion.InPearl, thereisaredundancyofdefinitionsuggestedbytheriverandthewalls.Theriver offersaboundaryoverwhichthecasualobservercanviewacity,whereasthe wallsblockthespecificjoysofparadisefromview.SarahStanburyarguesin“Pearl and the Idea of Jerusalem” that the city represents the Christian’s inability to reuniteinthebodyofChristuntiltheLastJudgment,suggestingits“tantalizing yetephemeralnature.”38Becausetheriverdoesnotimpedethedreamer’sview, itdoesindeed“tantalize”thenarratorwithaglimpseoftheheavenforetoldbythe Church.Asaphysicalboundary,however,itmarksthelimitofwherehemay approachthemanifestationofthattheologicaltheory.Whiletheparadisiacalcity existsasatangiblelocationinthecontextofthedream,itisbeyondthereachof thedreamerasalivingbeing.JohnFinlaysonargues,in“Pearl:Landscapeand Vision,” that the elegiac nature of the poem and dream necessitates the progressionofclarityallowedtothedreamer.39Thecityisavailabletothedreamer withnoimmediacyandnopersonalrelationship,yet.Itisonlyafterhe,likehis daughterthePearlmaiden,diesthathewillbeallowedapersonalrelationship withthecityhecanonlyknowthroughthemediationofthechurchinlife.The riverdefinesthecityasaplacethedreamercan“see”throughhisdream,butthe wallsdefinethecityasaplaceofexclusion,whosejoysareunavailabletothe narratoreveninadream. While on a literal level the river divides the physical locations in Pearl as inclusive or exclusive to the dreamer, it also works to define the city on a figurativelevel.TheThamesfigurativelydefinesLondonasacityofinternational commerce; the river in Pearl serves to highlight the inhuman and awesome qualitiesofthecity.Inanearthlycity,suchasLondon,theabilitytomanipulate thepathofrunningwaterthroughtheuseofpipesandconduitshighlightsthe civilityofthaturbancenter.40Inthemiddleofthethirteenthcentury,forexample,

Pearl,inTheCompleteWorksofthePearlPoet,ed.andtrans.CaseyFinch)Berkeley:Universityof CaliforniaPress,c1993),43–103;herelines137–38.Fromthispoint,allreferencestoPearlwillbe tolinenumbers. SarahStanbury,“PearlandtheIdeaofJerusalem,”MedevaliaetHumanistica16(1988):117–31;here 118. JohnFinlayson,“’Pearl’:LandscapeandVision,”StudiesinPhilology,71.3(Jul.,1974):314–43;here 315. For how the description of the city highlights the civility as well as engineering skills of the

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the continued existence of numerous urban centers in Holland, Belgium, and Germanywaspossiblethroughman’sabilitytoalterthecourseofwater.41As William H. TeBrake argues, the development of “one of the most densely populatedandhighlyurbanizedregionsofEurope”occursonlybecausepeople began manipulating water flow away from human settlements.42 In the same fashion,thepavingofthecelestialriverin Pearlservestohighlightthedivine civilizationofNewJerusalem.Thisisnotmerelyanaturallyexistingdivineriver; thisisariverwhosepathispredeterminedbydivinewill.Itscourseisdictatedby pavingstones. In“TheImageryandDictionofThePearl,”WendellStacyJohnsonarguesthat acelestialriverbedpavedwithgemsisametaphorforpurity.43Butwaterways pavedingemsalsosuggestacivilizedsetting.InPearl,thehumanabilitytocontrol smallamountsofwaterwithinthecityisoverwhelmedbythewealthandskill suggestedbythedivineabilitynotonlytoreinforcetheriverbedwith“bonkez beneofberylbry3t”[“banksthatweremadeofbrightberyls(preciousstones)]44 butalsotocontrolthedepthandflowoftheriveritselfbypavingthebottomwith “emerad,saffer,oþergemmegente”[emeralds,sapphires,andotherbeautiful gems].45Thisisnotasmallamountofwaternavigatedbytheurbanengineers,but rather an entire river whose course and purpose is created through a divine civilizationpavingwithpreciousstones.AtthetimeofPearl’scomposition,paving isnotunknownintheurbancentersofEurope:Pariswaspavedin1184;London paved at the end of the thirteenth century; “in the fourteenth century, paving becamegeneral,”accordingtoLeGoff.46Thisisonemoreseparationbetweenthe

42 43

44 45 46

inhabitants,evenmonstrousinhabitants,seeAlbrechtClassen’sdiscussionofthedescriptionof GrippiainHerzogErnstintheIntroductiontothisvolume.Theexcessesintheconstructionof Grippia, while hardly realistic, suggest a fantastically advanced civilization. Indeed, Classen suggeststhatthedescriptionofrunningwaterusedasbathsandthenasacleansingagentfits more with an eighteenthcentury city (or as I will argue below, the celestial city). While the waterways described in Herzog Ernst suggest civility, it is important to remember that the monstrouscitizensareprobablynotmeanttorepresentthepinnacleofcivilizationinethical, moral,andreligiousterms. WilliamH.TeBrake,“TamingtheWaterwolf:HydraulicEngineeringandWaterManagementin theNetherlandsduringtheMiddleAges,”TechnologyandCulture43(July2002):475–99;here475. TeBrake,“TamingtheWaterwolf,”483. WendellStacyJohnson,“TheImageryandDictionofThePearl:TowardanInterpretation”in MiddleEnglishSurvey:CriticalEssays,ed.EdwardVasta(NotreDame:UniversityofNotreDame Press,1965),161–80;here168. Pearl,110. Pearl,118. JacquesLeGoff,TheMedievalImagination,trans.ArthurGoldhammer(Chicago:Universityof ChicagoPress,1988),89.ArguesthatalthoughtheItaliantowns,eventhesmallerones,paved theirstreets,the1185pavingofPariswasforonlythemajorroadsandwas“anoveltyinthe north”(LeopoldArnaud,“MedievalTowns,”TheJournaloftheAmericanSocietyofArchitectural

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civilizationofman,andthecitieshecreates,andthewildernessthatsurrounds them.Featsofengineeringsuchaspavedstreetsandthemanipulationofwater sourcesdividethecivilizedculturefromthebeaststhatwearpathsthroughthe wildernesssimplybyrepeateduse.Eveninadescriptionoftheheavenlycity,the Pearl poet reverts to images and phraseology that exist in realistic urban descriptions.ThecivicauthorityofLondonmaynotpavetheThamesinprecious gems,butbothearthlyanddivineengineersusetheriverasanaturalboundary fortheircity,allowingthosenotpermittedthroughthebarriersaglimpseofthat whichtheycannotattain,accesstothefreedomofthecity.Inthisway,theriver inbothLondonandPearlworksasastrongdefiningelement. Uptothispointwehavediscussedthepositiverolesofwaterintheliteraland figurativeconsiderationsofLondonandtheheavenlycity.JohnGower,however, intheVoxClamantisaswellasintheMirourdel’Ommemanipulatestheimagery oftranquilwatertodisplaythecatastrophicpowerbarelycontainedbyariver’s banks.GowercomposedtheVoxClamantisasareactiontothehorrorsheviewed andimaginedoccurringduringthesocalledPeasants’Revoltof1381whenthe inhabitants of the outlying areas of London, in a widespread reaction to the unusuallyhighpolltaxof1380,invadedthecity,burnedJohnofGaunt’spalace, andmurderedtheArchbishopofCanterbury.47 TohighlighttheutterlackofcivilityduringthefourdayuprisinginJuneofthat year,Gowerjuxtaposestheidyllicpreriotinteractionoftownandcountrywith anightmarishdescriptionofthetownduringtheperiodofunrest.Goweruses waterimagerytosuggestnottheliteralboundariesofthecity,butratherapositive definitionofhispastoralidealbeforethe1381rebellion;natureandthepeasantry dwellinthecountrysideandgrowtheprovisionsrequiredbythecity.Waterhere, therefore, does not define the city itself, but rather Gower’s preferred social hierarchybetweencityandcountry:theproductivewater,likethepeasantsthat useit,canmoveunrestrainedinthecountryside.Waterinthecities,however, muchlikethepeasantsthatvisit,mustbeconstrained.Watermustflowthrough designatedchannelsandpipes;thepeasantrymustconformtothelevelofcivility thatGowerexpectstoseewithinanurbanenvironment. LeGoff,inTheMedievalImagination,arguesthatnatureimageryinliteratureand artdoesnotpointtoacontestbetweencityandcountry,butrathertothatwhich

Historians,3.1/2(Jan.April,1943):30–35;here31–33).Foranopposingviewontheprevalenceof pavedroadsinmedievalEurope,seeAllisonP.Coudert’scontributiontothisvolume. Thepurposeofthispaperisnottoinvestigatetheeventsleadinguptotheriotsof1381,among whichwerethedepopulationoftheareaduetotheplagueof1348–1350,theattemptbytheruling classestocreateawagefreezeandrestrictedmovementforthepeasantry,aswellasapolltaxthat wasthreetimeshigherthanthepreviousyear.Noinstanceofsocialunrestisassimpleasthis,but thatisamatterforanotherpaper.

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is essential to each, an “opposition between what was built, cultivated, and inhabited(city,castle,village)andwhatwasessentiallywild(theoceanandforest, thewesternequivalentsoftheeasterndesert).”48InaslightextensionofLeGoff’s argument, uncontrolled, or perhaps uncontrollable, water synonymously embodiesthatwhichisuntamedanduncivilized.Butuncontrolledwaterdoesnot havetobeanegativeforce,aslongasitstayswhereitbelongs.ForGower,water thatflowsfreelythroughthecountrysideisnot“wildwater.”Itiswaterthatis conformingtoitsnaturalplaceinagreaterworldorder,asheunderstands it. Water flows in the fields and grows the things that the citydwellers, and by extensionGowerhimself,liketoeat.Thesebodiesofwaterinthecountrydonot actasthebinaryoppositiontotheessentialqualitiesofacity;rathertheyarean extensionofthecivilizationthatcreatesthecityoralocusofprovisionthatallows the city to exist, much as we found in Fitz Stephen. The idyllic peace of Fitz Stephen,however,willnotlastinGower’stime.Waterwillbecomethebinary opposition to the essential qualities of the city, the destructive force that underminesthecreationsofcivilization. Before the countryside overwhelms London in the Vox Clamantis, Gower describeshisutopiansetting: Estalterparadisesibi,namquicquidhabere Menshumanacupit,terrabeataparit, Fontibusirriguisfecundus,semineplenus, Floribusinsignisfructiferisquebonis. (VoxClamantis,LiberPrimus,ll.79–82)49

[ItwasasecondParadisethere,forwhateverthehumanmindwishedtohave,the blessedearthbroughtforth.Itwasteemingwithflowingfountains,filledwithseeds, andmarkedwithflowersandfruitfulgoodthings.]50

Thisisnotapastoralsettinginhabitedbypeople,justasFitzStephen’sdepiction ofthe“mostexcellent”wellsaroundLondonwiththeir“sweet,wholesomeand clear” waters.51 Similar to Fitz Stephen’s preface, where the young men leave Londontocavortintheuninhabitedcountryside,Gowerheredescribesasetting where, although filled with all manner of growing things, few people appear. WheretheriverabsolutelydefinesthephysicalcityinPearl,ruralwaterwaysfor bothFitzStephenandGowersuggestapreferrednaturalsocialhierarchywhere nature and the peasants who cultivate it remain in the countryside producing 48 49

LeGoff,TheMedievalImagination,58. Quoted from John Gower, The Complete Works of John Gower, ed. G. C. Macaulay (Oxford: ClarendonPress,1902),hereandthroughout. JohnGower,VoxClamantisinTheMajorLatinWorksofJohnGower:TheVoiceofOneCrying,andThe TripartiteChronicle,ed.EricW.Stockton(Seattle:UniversityofWashingtonPress,1962),52. FitzStephen,Descriptio,50.

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thingsthecitydwellerscanuse.ButFitzStephenuseswaterwaystoincludethe pastoralwithinhisdefinitionofthecity,whileGowerusesthemtoexclude.Fitz Stephenincludesthecountrysidespecificallyinanencomiumforthecityitselfand itisalocationtowhichpeopletraveltoenjoythecountryair. Gower’scountryside,significantlyseparatefromthecity,isaplacefromwhich peoplecomeonlyinanapocalypticnightmare.Thereisasubtledifferenceinthe distinctionsbetweenthetwoauthors.FitzStephen’spastoralpeasantryinvisibly worksinthefields,creatingthethingsthecityneedstosurvive,butstayingin theirplace.Gower’scountrydwellersmoveintotheurbanspaceasaninvading force.Theidyllicpeaceofthecountryexistsonlyaslongastheunseenpeasantry remainsinvisiblyworkinginitsrightful,asdefinedbyGower,pastoralplace.As BarbaraHanawaltpointsoutinherintroductiontoChaucer’sEngland,descriptions likeFitzStephen’sandGower’s,ofthepastoralidealwhich“couldsanitizeand tamethepeasants,”52didnotmasktherealdangerspresentinthecountryside.The city,forGower,isthatwhichthewallsprotect.Waterdefinesthecountrysideas thepeacefullocusofproductionforthecity’sconsumption,nourishingtheseeds and growing “flowers and fruitful good things,”53 until the social hierarchy is invertedbythedestructive1381riotsandthetranquilsettingisspoiled. IntheMirourdel’homme,writtensporadicallyoverthethirdandfourthquarters ofthefourteenthcentury,Gowerexplainsexpresslyhisfearofsocialdisorderin hislargercomparisonofthecourtlytraditionoftruelovewithspiritualmorality.54 Written during the period of social unrest that leads up to the 1381 riots, the MirourbrieflytouchesonGower’sviewsofaciviluprising.Whenthepastoral setting described in the Vox Clamantis deteriorates, Gower fears the resulting hierarchicalinversion,whichhedescribesfirstintheMirour: Troischosessontd’unecovyne, Quisanzmercyfontlaravine Encasq’ilssoientaudessus: L’unestdel’eauelacretine, L’autreestduflammelaravine, Etlatierceestdesgensmenuz Lamultitudeq’estcommuz: Carjaneserrontarrestuz Parresounnepardiscipline. (26497–505) [“Therearethreethingswithasinglebehaviorthatravagemercilesslywhentheyget themastery.Oneisfloodwaters.Anotheriswildfire.Thethirdisthemultitudeof

53 54

BarbaraA.Hanawalt,Chaucer’sEngland:LiteratureinHistoricalContext(Minneapolis:University ofMinnesotaPress,1992),xxii. Gower,VoxClamantis,52. ForthedebateoverGower’sdateofworkontheMirour,pleaseseeR.F.Yeager,“Gower’sFrench Audience:TheMirourdel’Omme,”TheChaucerReview41.2(2006):111–37.

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IntheMirour,Gowerpredictsthatthemultitudesof“littlepeople”willinvertthe socialorder,creatingcivicchaosinLondon.Inthecitedpassage,Gowertreatsthe mobsassenselessanddestructiveaswildfiresandfloodwaters,bothofwhichcan be seen with destructive force in the modern era. The direct parallel between riotingpeasantsandfloodssuggestsacataclysmicintersectionbetweenwilderness andcity.Withoutthesocialhierarchy,theruralpeasantrybecomesassenselessas waterandinvadesthecityjustastheThamescouldfloodthemarketstreetsof LondonorSouthwark.Forthecivicentityofthecity,anuprising,suchasin1381, representsasignificantthreattothestatusquo,shatteringthisotherEdenand invertingtheroleswaterplaysinthecity.56 If Gower’s first use of water in the Vox Clamantis is that of a positive demarcationbetweenurbanandrural,itquicklyshiftstoanegativerepresentation with the approach of the rioting pastoral laborers: “Sic adeunt vrbem turbe violenteragrestes,/Etmarisvtfluctusingrediuntuream(ll.91112;“Andsothe savagethrongsapproachedthecitylikethewavesoftheseaandentereditby violence”).57Thephysicaldefinitionofthecityhasfailed,becomingincreasingly swampedbythetideof“littlepeople”whodestroytheboundarybetweenurban andruralbyleavingtheirnaturalplaceinthesocialhierarchyandinvadingthe city.Gowerequatestheinvadingpeasantrywiththeuncontrollableocean,leaving itsnaturalplaceandoverwhelmingtheboundariesofthecity.Ifwaterintheform ofriversservestodelineatetheboundariesofthecitythroughtheircontainment withintheirbanks,thentheiroverflowdestroysthecity’sdefiningphysicality.

II.WaterasProtectiveBarrier Thesecondroleofwater,intheformofariver,istoprotectthecityfromoutside forces.In“TheNatureoftheCity,”MaxWeberarguesthatmanycities,inthe MiddleAges,arelocationsoffortresses,surroundedbywallsandprotectingthe merchants and tradesmen.58 Real rivers, however, are not easily defensible

57 58

The translation is taken from G. C. Coulton, Social Life in Britain From the Conquest to the Reformation(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1919),353. Forafurtherdiscussionofurbansocialunrest,seeLiaB.Ross,“AngerandtheCity:WhoWasin ChargeoftheParisCabochienRevoltof1413?,”inthisvolume. Gower,VoxClamantis,70. MaxWeber,“TheNatureoftheCity”inClassicEssaysontheCultureofCities,ed.RichardSennett (NewYork:AppletonCenturyCrofts,1969),23–46;here32–36.Originallypublishedas“Die Stadt:EinesoziologischeUntersuchung,”ArchivfürSozialwissenschaftundSozialpolitik47(1921):

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fortifications.ContainedwithinthefiftyvolumesetoftheCalendarofLetterBooks isadetailedrecordofthecivicconcernsthatfacedLondonfrom1275to1509.The entries catalog the recognizance of citizens for their neighbors, ordinances governingeverythingfrommurdertotheproperweightofbread,andthefines leveledandpaidforfailuretocomplywiththoserules.Thereisadefiniteconcern regardingthedefensibilityoftheThames,aswereadintheprovisionsforthe protectionofthecityintheLetterBooks.Theriverneedsconstantvigilancebecause oftheeaseofcrossingintothecityundetected.Atnight,whennooneshouldbe enteringorleavingthecity,onlytwosleepingmenmonitorthegates,buttheriver hasalarger,moreactive,patrol: TheserjeantsofBillingesgateandQueenHythearetoseethatallboatsaremooredon theCitysideatnight,andaretohavethenamesofallboats;andnooneistocrossthe Thamesatnight.Andeachserjeantmusthavehisownboatwithfourmen,toguard thewaterbynight,oneithersideofthebridge.59

Thegates,onceshut,offertheirownprotectionforthecitizensofLondonandonly requiretheattentionoftwosomnolentguards,buttheriverrequirestheactive patrolofasergeantandfourmen.Inotherwords,theonlyopeningswithinthe wallsofthecity,thegates,requireonlythemostcursoryofadministrationinorder tofulfillitsroleasprotection.Theriverrequiresafarmoreactiveguard,gathering allboatstoensurenolatecrossingsandforcefullyblockingtrespassers.Itisnotan easilydefensiblelocation,andtrespassersbywayofwaterareaconstantthreat, if the concern in the LetterBooks is an indication. It is not the river itself that protectstheworldlycity;itisthemenwhopatrolit.Itisonlythedivinebarriers, both in Pearl and Saint Erkenwald, which can act independently of a guard to protectthecity. Iftheriverisanimperfectbarriersuggestingadefensiblefortificationbutfailing toprovideprotectionfromboatinvasion,orindeedfromanyonewhocanswim, theriversurroundingthecityinPearlperfectsthisdefensiverole,keepingthe undeserving dreamer out of New Jerusalem. Maddened by his desire to be reunitedwithhisdaughter,thenarratorrashlyattemptstocrosstheriverinto NewJerusalem,inlines1153–70.Theseactions,however,donotpleasethePrince ofthecity,Christ,andthereforewinthedreamerexilenotonlyfromthecity,but alsofromhisdream.ReadingPearlthroughtheimageryusedinfifteenthcentury courtly love poetry, Maria BullónFernández argues in “By3onde Þe water: CourtlyandReligiousDesireinPearl”thatswimmingtheriverinPearlsymbolizes

621–772. CalendarofLetterbooksPreservedAmongtheArchivesoftheCorporationoftheCityofLondonatthe Guildhall.Vol.1.ed.ReginaldR.Sharpe(London:PrintedbyJohnEdwardFrancis,1899),21.

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sexualactivityculminatingonthebankattheotherside.60Thepoet’sdescription oftheriver,however,suggestsnotphysicalintimacybetweenthedreamerandthe maiden,butratherChrist’sannoyanceatthedreamer’sattemptstoenterthecity unlawfully: WhenIschuldestartinþestremastraye, OutofþatcasteIwatzbycalt: HitwatznotatmyPryncezpaye. HitpayedHymnoþatIsoflonc Ouermeruelousmerez,somadarayd.... Forry3tasIsparreduntoþebonc, þatbrathþeoutofmydremmebrayed [WhenIwantedtoleapastrayintothestream OutofthatdreamIwassummoned ItwasnotatmyPrince’spleasure ItdidnotpleaseHimthatIrushed Overthemarvelouswaters,insuchafrenzy.... BecausejustasIrushedtothebank, Thatimpetuosityjerkedmeoutofmydream].61

It is possible to read this passage as an exile from the dream as soon as the dreamer enters the water. The line “when I schulde start in þe strem astray” suggests that the dreamer is removed from the dream at the moment that he desirestoswimacrosstheriver.Butthepassagecontinuesthatitisnotuntilthe dreamerhas“sparred”[rushed]tothebank,afterhaving“floncouermeruelous merez”[rushedoverthemarvelouswaters]. Asthehetouchestheoppositebank,thedreamerfindshimselfexiledbythe riverbecauseofthePrince’sdispleasure.Theriveractsasanabsoluteguardian, upholdingthelawsofthecityandthedesiresofitsLordbyrepellingtheinvasion ofthisunworthyforeigner.Itisunlikelythattheriverisametaphorforsexual activity,asswimminginwateritselfdoesnotpromptanyretaliation,but,asSarah Stanburyargues,itisthedreamer’sinabilitytoenterthecityasalivingcreature combinedwithhisinabilitytounderstandGod’sineffability,thatpreventshim from crossing the river.62 The swimmer may spend as much time as he likes rushingthroughthewater,anunlikelysituationifswimmingsymbolizessexual activity,buthemaynotremaininthevisiononceheattemptstoenterthephysical spaceofthecitydefinedbythefarbank.Theriverservesnotonlytodefendthe cityfromunwelcomeforeignpresences,butitalsoactswithinthetextofthepoem

61 62

MaríaBullonFernandez,“By3ondeÞewater:courtlyandreligiousdesireinPearl,”Studiesin Philology91.1(1994):35–49;here47–49. Pearl1162–70. Stanbury,“PearlandtheIdeaofJerusalem,”127.

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tosymbolizetheChristiansoul’sattempttounderstandhisrelationshiptoGod. WhiletheChristianmaycontemplateGod’snature,orstrivetocrosstheriver,he maynotfullyinteractwithGod,orenterthecityinPearl,untilthemomentof death.63 InmydiscussionoftheredundancyofdefiningelementsinPearl,Inotedthat whiletheriverdefinesthecitylimits,thewallsalsoservetodefineitsphysical area.Similarly,thewallsandriverperformredundantfunctionsinprotectingthe cityfromforeigninvasion.Itisnot,ofcourse,thedesireofthephysicaldefenses ofNewJerusalemthatremovethedreamerfromthedreaminPearl.Christhimself istheactingagentprotectingNewJerusalemthroughsheerwill.However,the poet represents this absolute defense of the city by two easily identifiable landmarks:theriverandthewalls.Shouldtheriverfail,thewallsremainasan easilydefendedfortification.AswithLondon,wallsrequirelessattentiveguards becausetheyaresimplymoredifficulttobreach.ShouldtheriverinPearlfailto stopthedreamer’sinvasion,givingthehuman,orinthiscasedivine,guardsthe opportunitytoremovetheoffender,thewallsofNewJerusalemwillcertainly succeed.Butbecauseofthedivinesetting,therivercannotfailtoprotectthecity; thisperfectcityremainsabsolutelyguardedbytwoinfallibledefenses. ThefourteenthcenturyPearlpoemservesmyargumentasagoodexampleof theperfectedroleofwaterinthemedievalconsiderationoftheurbanspace,but itisnotuniqueinitsappropriationofthistopologicalfeature.Waterservesto protectthedivinecityintheanonymouslatefourteenthcenturyalliterativeLegend of Saint Erkenwald, as well. Although firmly set in the real city of London, the Legendonlyreferstowaterinconjunctionwiththespiritualdefenseofthedivine city,keepingtheunbaptizedsoulfromreachingthecelestialparadise,“Quenwe aredampnyddulfullyintothedepelake/Andexilidfrothatsoperso”(Whenwe are sorrowfully condemned into the deep lake and therefore exiled from that supper).64 Thesoul,unabletoattainthejoysofHeavenbecauseofitspaganstate,isexiled fromthesupperservedinheavenuntilbaptizedasaChristianbySt.Erkenwald’s tears.ThelakereplacestheriverinPearlandformsanaturalandinsurmountable barrierprotectingheavenfromtheundeservingsoulswhoarenotwelcomeatthe

ForfurtherdiscussionontheimageryofNewJerusalem,seeAnnR.Meyer,MedievalAllegoryand the Building of the New Jerusalem (Rochester, New York: D.S. Brewer, 2003). See also J. Allan Mitchell,“TheMiddleEnglishPearl:FiguringtheUnfigurable,”TheChaucerReview35.1(2000): 86–111. SaintErkenwald,ed.CliffordPeterson(Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,1977), 302–03. For a discussion of Saint Erkenwald and the other Pearl poet’s works as a social commentaryonthestateofreligionandpoliticsinLondonduringtheRicardianera,seeJohnM. Bowers,ThePoliticsof“Pearl”:CourtPoetryintheAgeofRichardII(Woodbridge,England,and Rochester,NY:BoydellandBrewer,2001).

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feast.JustasthelivingconsciousnessofthedreamerinPearlsuffersbecausethe water blocks his entrance into the celestial city, so too does the pagan soul in Erkenwaldlamentbecause,whilenotpreciselydamnedtohell,hecannotreachthe tantalizinglyvisibleparadise.Itisnotuntilthesoulhasbeencleansedofitspagan taintthatheisreleasedfromthedeeplakeandintothefeastforwhichhepines.65 IftheThamesRiveristhehumanequivalentofanaturallyoccurring,butfaulty, protectivebarrier,theriverinPearlandthelakeinSaintErkenwaldaretheultimate expressionsofcelestiallyprotectivewater.TheThamesfailstoprotectthecity, requiringthepresenceofguards,butthedivinelycreatedbarriersprotectNew Jerusalemandtheheavenlyfeastabsolutely. WheretheThamesrepresentstheimperfect,earthlybarrierandtheriverinPearl thedivineperfectionofthatprotection,Gowerinvertstheprotectivequalityof water,highlightingitsmoredestructiveforce.Asweseeabove,Gowerdefinesthe invadingpeasantryas“thewavesofthesea,”enteringthecity“byviolence”and destroying the walls of London. In Fitz Stephen, the destructive power of the ThamestopplesLondon’sSouthwall,butreplacesit,howeverimperfectly,asa naturalbarrier.InGower’sportrayalofviolentlydestructivewater,however,the

Theimageoftheriverisnotuncommoninmedievalliterature.Riversappearthreetimes,atlines 160,246,and308,inSirOrfeoassceneryintheforestthroughwhichHeurodisandlaterOrfeo himselfmustpasstogettotheunderwold.Inlines699–700,SirGawaincrossesariverfrom HolyheadtoWirral,the“wyldernesse.”Theriverhereformsaboundarybetweentheknownand theunknown.InCantoIIIofDante’sInferno,Danteseesabandofsoulsthatpinetocrosstheriver intoHeaven: “Figliuolmio,”disselmaestrocortese, “quellichemuoionnel’iradiDio, tutticonvegnonquid’ognepaese; eprontisonoatrapassarlorio chèladivinagiustizialisprona sìchelatemasivolveindisio. Quincinonpassamaianimabuona; eperò,seCaronditesilagna, benpuoisapereomaichelsuodirsuona” [“Myson,”saidthegentlemaster,“herearejoined ThesoulsofallwhodieinthewrathofGod, Fromeverycountry,allofthemeagertofind Theirwayacrossthewater–forthegood Neverpassthisway;therefore,ifyouhear Charoncomplainingatyourpresence,consider Whatthatmeans.”] TheInfernoofDante,ed.andtrans.RobertPinsky(NewYork:Farrar,Strauss,andGiroux,1994), III, 100–108. See also Charles Dahlberg, The Literature of Unlikeness (Hanover and London: UniversityPressofNewEngland,1988).

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tidesremoveanytraceofthewallsandrenderthegatesuseless66:“Adextrisque nouammetuncvidisseputabam/Troiam,queviduelanguidmorefuit:/Que soletexmuriscingipatuitsinemuro,/Necpotuitserasclaudereportasuas(ll. 879–82;“OnmyrightIthenthoughtIsawNewTroy,whichwaspowerlessasa widow.Ordinarilysurroundedbywalls,itlayexposedwithoutanywall,andthe citygatecouldnotshutitsbars”).67GowerportraysLondonasacitythathaslost theessential,immobilequalitiesofbeingacity.Robbedoftheirprotectivepower bythedestructiveforceofwater,thewallsvanishandthegatenolongerworks tokeepthewildnessofthecountryoutofthecity.Thisisnotmerelyanimperfect barrier as we see in the LetterBooks. It is the full destructive force of people, symbolizedasfloodwaters,gainingalevelofmasterynotpermittedbytheirsocial stationandworkingtodestroythedefensesandcivilizationofthecity.

III.WaterasCleansingAgent Thefinalwayinwhichtheurbanizationofwaterexpressestheextentofman’s civilizationisthroughitscleansingproperties,bothliteralandspiritual.Iwishto turnfirsttotheliteralimportanceofcleanlinessinbothterrestrialandcelestial cities, and then consider the baptismal quality suggested by Pearl and Saint Erkenwald.Thefilthofcitystreetsisasubjectthatfrequentlyconcernsmedieval Londoners.InLetterBookAof1275alone,thechroniclerwritesthatneglectful ownersforfeitanyrubbish,usefulitem,orlivestockfoundinthestreets,68thatthe streetsmustbecleansothathorsemenandpedestrianscanpassunhindered,69that fishvendorsmaynotthrowrefuseorwaterinthestreets,butmustcarryittothe Thames,70andthat“nooneshallthrowanyfilthintothehighway,norallowitto berakedinthetimeofrain,norremoveitsoastobeanuisancetoneighbors.”71 These entries in LetterBook A suggest the high concern shown by urban authoritiesregardingthecleanlinessoftheirstreets.Furtheredictsfromtheking continuethisconcernforwastemanagement.KingEdwardIIappearspreoccupied withthestreetsofLondoninhis1309orderdictatingthatthepeopleofLondon needtostopthrowingtheirtrashintothestreetandreturntotheirolderpractice ofthrowingitintheThames,or“elsewhereoutoftheCity,whitheritusedtobe

67 68 69 70 71

Ironically,despitetheconcernsoftheLetterBooksandtheirriverpatrols,itisthroughthemore easilydefendedgates,withtheirtwosleepingguards,thattheriotersflood—accordingtolegend. Gower,VoxClamantis,70. CalendarofLetterBooks,Vol.A,220. CalendarofLetterBooks,Vol.A,218. CalendarofLetterBooks,Vol.A,219. CalendarofLetterBooks,Vol.A,219.

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carried.”72Beforetheplagueof1348–1350,theauthoritiesfocusonthephysical obstaclesposedbyrefuseasa“nuisance”andshowlittlecareforwherethetrash shouldgo,solongasitisoutofthestreets.AfterthepopulationofLondonhas beendecimatedbytheplague,EdwardIIIdeclaresthatthecitizensofLondonmay nolongerremovetheirtrash,dirtordungintothestreet,theThames,ortheouter walls of the city because of the “grievous and great abomination” that is “commonlyinflicteduponallthegreatcity.”73Filthstrewnpassagesandwaste managementbecomealargercivicconcern,astheycontributetothe“grievous and great abomination,” pestilence, which visits the city. Is it not entirely surprising,therefore,thatauthorsaftertheplaguesechothiscivicconcernforfilth, contagion,andcleanliness. The1348–1350BlackDeaththatdecimatedthepopulationofEnglandwasnot theendoftheplaguesthatfrequentedtheisland.Fortheremainderofthecentury andintothefifteenthcentury,theplaguedescendedontheEnglishpopulation withfrighteningregularity,withotherlargeoutbreaksoccurringin1361,1374,and 1390.74Itisthisrepetitionofplagueandthestillconstantcomplaintoffilththat echoesinJohnLydgate’sdescriptionofNewTroyinhisTroyBook,writtenin1420. Lydgate,understandably,appearspreoccupiedwithwastemanagementinhis literaryurbancreation.WhileLondonershirerakersandscavengerstoremovethe refusefromthestreets,75Lydgate’scitizensofNewTroyengineerwaterwaysto removethestreetdebristounknownlocations.76Itisthroughtheuseofwaterthat

MemorialsofLondonandLondonLife,H.T.Riley,ed.(London:Longmans,GreenandCo.,1868),67. ThistextincludesexcerptsfrommultipleLetterBooks.Thequotationhereisfoundwithinthelaw codesofEdwardII,foundinLetterBookC,fol.xcvi. Memorials,299.ThistextcanalsobefoundunderthelawcodesofEdwardIIIinLetterBookG,fol. lxi. Foramorethoroughdescriptionoftheplagueepidemicsandthedebateregardingtheexactstrain ofplague,orevenifthediseasewasthePlague,seeJohnTheilmannandFrancesCate,‘APlague ofPlagues:TheProblemofPlagueDiagnosisinMedievalEngland,”JournalofInterdisciplinary History37.3(Winter,2007):371–93. CarolineM.Barron,“LaySolidarities:theWardsofMedievalLondon.”Law,LaityandSolidarities: EssaysinHonourofSusanReynolds,eds.PaulineStafford,JanetL.NelsonandJaneMartindale (ManchesterandNewYork:ManchesterUniversityPress,2001),218–33;here230 JohnLydgate,TroyBook:Selections,ed.RobertR.Edwards(Kalamazoo,MI:MedievalInstitute Publications,1998).AllcitationsfromthisbookwillrefertolinenumbersinBookII: Thusrivereke,offyschefulplenteuous, Devidedwasbywerkmencorious Socraftily,throughcastygsevereyne, Thatinhiscoursethestremysmightatteyn Fortoareche,asGuydodothconjecte, Byarchiesatronghiscoursfortorefelcte Thorughcondutpipis,largeandwydewithal, Bycerteynmeatisarticial,

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thepeopleofthecitycleansetheirenvironmentandremovethefilththatbrings death,accordingtoLydgate: Wherbythetounwasoutterlyassured Fromengederyngofalcorrupcioun, Fromwikkedeyr&frominfeccioun, Thatcausynoftebyherviolence Mortaliteandgretpestilence

[Bywhichmeansthetownwasutterlyprotected fromtheengenderingofallcorruption fromwickedairandfrominfection, That,bygreatviolence,oftencauses deathandgreatpestilence].77

Lydgate,likeEdwardIII,iskeenlyawarethatthefilthinthecitystreetsaddsto the risk of pestilence and death, therefore the crucial aspect of this feat of engineeringisitsabilitytoremovethewasteproductsthat,cause“mortaliteand gretpestilence”[deathandgreatpestilence].78Itisuncertainwhatcontaminants litter the street, given that the downspouts attached to each building remove “Voydingfilþeslowintoþegrounde,/þoru3gratispercidofyrenpercidrounde” [removingfilthlowintothegroundthroughgratesofpiercediron],79butLydgate expressesthesameconcernoverfilthinthestreetthatwefindinthestatutesofthe LetterBooksofLondonandtheroyalproclamations.TheabilityinLydgate’scity forthecontaminantstoberemovedwithouthumaninterventionrepresentsahigh level of civic achievement. They eliminate the need for people to expose themselvestocontagionandfreeallthecitizensforproductivework,perhapsin theguildsandtradeshediscussesearlier.Inacitywherepeopleareremovedfrom meniallabor,thelowestsocialstrataareraisedfromsuchunhealthyoccupations

77 78 79

Thatitmadeafulpurgacioyn Ofalordureandfylthesinthetoun, Waschyngthestretysastheistodarowe Andthegoterisintheerthelowe, Thatinthecitewasnofilthesene; Forthecanelskouredwassoclene Anddevoydedinsosecrewyse Thatnomanmightespiennordevyse Bywhatengynthefilthes,fernorner, Wernbornaweybycoursoftheriver– Socovertlyeverythingwascured. Lydgate,TroyBook,760–63. Lydgate,TroyBook,763. Lydgate,TroyBook,698–99.

(740–58)

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tothoseoftradesmenorcraftsmen.Additionally,bynotleavingthejobtohuman fallibility,butrathertothealwaysrunningwater,Lydgate’scitizensensurethat thestreetsarecleanandthatthedebrisisnotremovedinanunsuitablemanner. Unlike the city of London, whose waste management is not always the most efficientassuggestedbyEdwardIII’sproclamation,Lydgate’swaterwaysactas automaticstreetsweepers,cleansingtheroadsofcontagioncausingdebris. WhiletheearthlycitiesofLondonandNewTroyrecognizethedangersofstreet garbageandwork,imperfectlyasusualinthecaseofLondon,tocleansetheir cities,Pearlagainshowsustheperfectionofthedivinecityanditsredundant systems.ThePearlpoet,followingthetextofApocalypse22,80speaksofariver flowingfromthethroneofGodandstreamingthroughoutthe streetsofNew Jerusalem.TheBiblicaltextfocusesonthemiraculousandineffablenatureofthis river;notonlydoesitremarkablyremain“clearascrystal,”81despiteitstravels throughthestreets,italsosustainsthetwelvetreeswhosefruitsoffermonthly healingforallnations.ButratherthanfollowJohn’smodelexactly,thePearlpoet firstconsidersthecleanlinessofthestreets,showingaconcernformoremundane rolesfortheriver,onlyreturningtoJohn’stextfifteenlineslater: Areuerofþetroneþerranoutryghte Watzbrighterþenboþethesunneandmone. Sunnenemoneschonneuersoswete Asþatfoysounflodeoutofþatflet; Swyþehitswangeþurguchastreet Wiþoutenfylþeoþergalleoþerglet [Ariverranoutfromthethrone thatwasbrighterthanboththesunandmoon. Neithersunnormoonevershonesopurely Asthatcopiousriveroutofthatcity; Swiftly,itrushedthrougheachstreet Withoutfilth,bile,andslime].82

AllreferencestoBiblicaltextsarefromTheHolyBibleTranslatedfromtheLatinVulgate(Douay RheimsVersion),ed.andtrans.RichardChalloner(London:BaroniusPress,2005). (1)Andheshewedmeariverofwateroflife,clearascrystal,proceedingfromthethroneof GodandoftheLamb.(2)Inthemidstofthestreetthereof,andonbothsidesoftheriver,was thetreeoflife,bearingtwelvefruits,yieldingitsfruitseverymonth:theleavesofthetreefor thehealingofthenations.(3)Andthereshallbenocurseanymore:butthethroneofGod andoftheLambshallbeinit.Andhisservantsshallservehim(Apocalypse22:1–3).

Apocalypse22:1. Pearl,1055–60.

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LikeJohn’sriver,whichflows“clearascrystal”83throughthestreets,thePearl poet’swaterremains“brighterthenbothethesunneandmone,”84highlightingits divinenature.AlthoughthedivinityofGodandNewJerusalemare,ofcourse, predominant in this highly spiritual poem, there is a brief moment where the thoroughly terrestrial concern of waste management creeps into the poet’s descriptionofNewJerusalem.Immediatelyafterconsideringthebrightnessofthe river, the poet returns to more civic concerns and notes that the water flows through streets that are free of “fylthe other galle other glet” [filth, bile, and slime].85Theroleofthisrivercannotbetocleansethestreetofdebris.Itisunlikely thatthewidestreetsoftheheavenlycity,socleanthattheydonotatanypoint cloud the crystal waters of the river, are littered with refuse and slime. So, althoughthepurposeofthisriverisnottocleanthealreadyspotlessstreetsof NewJerusalem,theauthorstillpausesinhisretellingoftheBiblicalaccountto dwellonthiscleanlinesshighlightingthewater’sabilitytocleansethestreets,if theneedexisted.Hisvisionoftheperfectcityisonewhosestreets,whilealready clean,areredundantlysluicedwithcrystalclearwatertoensureabsolutefreedom fromcorruption.Thisbetraystheauthor’shumanconcern,notforthecleanliness ofNewJerusalemwhichmustbyitsdivinitybefreefromallcorruption,butrather forwastemanagementinhisownenvironment.Thisdescriptionoftheholycity andtheriversuggestsapreoccupationwiththeworldlythatseepsintoeventhe mostdivinerevelation. In“TheTownasanAgentofCivilisation,”JacquesLeGoffarguesthaturban fountains“werebothnecessaryforhygiene,andaestheticallysatisfying,showwell themanysidednatureofmedievalurbanism.”86Fountains,muchlikethepipes and conduits which highlight man’s mastery over his surroundings described aboveinSectionI,actalsotoprovidecleansingwaterthroughoutthecity.Butin VoxClamantis,weagainfindthatthenormativefunctionscollapseamidthesocial unrest of 1381. During the riots, the water that exists within the fountains no longerperformsitscleansingfunctionsandinsteadbecomesalocationofpotential contamination:“Fonsvbicumquetumet,sanguinitaterubet(l.1172;“Wherevera fountainswelled,itbecameredwithbloodiness”).87 Justastheprotectiveroleofwaterasanaturalbarrierisinvertedtoemphasize theuncontrollabledestructivecapabilityofwaterintheVoxClamantis,heretoo doestheinversionofGower’ssocialnormsdeprivewaterofitspositiveurban role.NolongercanfountainsoffertheLondoncitizenryaplaceofhygieneand

83 84 85 86 87

Apocalypse22:1. Pearl,1056. Pearl,1060. LeGoff,“TheTownasanAgentofCivilisation,”89. Gower,VoxClamantis,75.

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beauty, suggested by Le Goff. They now become the location of potential pestilenceandhorror.Ifrefuselitteringthestreets,walls,andriverofLondon concernsEdwardIIIin1358,theusuallycleansingfountainwaters,befouledwith blood,mustalsobeaconcerntoGower.Theyhavenotonlylosttheirabilityto cleanse, they now offer a possible source of that “grievous and great abomination”88thatravagedLondonfrom1348–1350 andpromptedthesocial imbalancethatultimatelysparkedthesubjectofGower’sVoxClamantis,therevolt of1381.

IV.Conclusion Ifwateractsasacleansingagentintheliteralsense,italsocleansfigurativelyas the baptismal medium, and is unsurprisingly found in urban spaces. It is the baptismal use of water that brings together all of the roles water holds in a quintessentially urban way. Christianity is a highly urban religion. Jennifer Summit,inherarticle““TopographyasHistoriography:Petrarch,Chaucer,and theMakingofMedievalRome,”arguesthattheconversionofRomeoccurswhen Christianitymovedoutofthesuburbs,thesiteoftheircatacombs,and“intothe centralurbanspacesformerlyclaimedbythepagantemplesandmonuments.”89 ForSummit,theconversionofthemedievalChristiancityisspecificallytiedtoits urbanization, an idea also highlighted by Le Goff. Because there is a higher populationincities,therearemorepeopletohearpreachingandconsequently more sins to cleanse through baptism.90 The cleansing of the citizens’ sins, therefore,becomescrucialtothepurifyingroleofwater.Itisthroughtheuseof waterasabaptismalmediumthatmedievalChristian’ssoughttoidentifytheir cities as the locus of Christian ideals, sought to protect their inhabitants from temptations,andsoughttocleansetheurbanspace,attheindividuallevel.In Pearl,baptismalwatercomesnotfromanearthlysource,butratherintheformof Christ’sbodilyfluids.WendellStacyJohnsondescribesthiswaterimageryas“a neverexhaustedfountain...reinforcedwiththetraditionalsymbolsofthewater andtheblood.”91Ifwaterisameansofdefinition,protection,andcleansinginan

88 89

90 91

Memorials,33. JenniferSummit,“TopographyasHistoriography:Petrarch,Chaucer,andtheMakingofMedieval Rome,”JournalofMedievalandEarlyModernStudies30.2(2000):211–46;here237. LeGoff,“TheTownasanAgentofCivilisation,”78. WendellStacyJohnson,“TheImageryandDictionofThePearl:TowardanInterpretation,”Middle EnglishSurvey:CriticalEssays,ed.EdwardVasta(NotreDame:UniversityofNotreDamePress,

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urban context, highlighting man’s achievements in civilization or failure in its absence,thenthefountainasametaphorforcontainedwaterexpressesthehighest levelofthatachievement.FortheauthorofPearl,theideaofperfectlycontained fluids in a fountain appears to resound. The fluids that pour forth from the woundsofChristanddelivermankindfromHellaredivinelycontrolledtorrents, presentingChrist’sbody,notasariver,butasabaptismalfountain: Innoghetherwaxoutofthatwelle, Blodandwaterofbrodewounde. Theblodvusboghtfrobaleofhelle, Anddelyueredvusofthedethsecounde; Thewaterisbaptem,thesoothetotelle, Thatfol3edtheglayuesogrimlygrounde, Thatwaschezawaythegyltesfelle ThatAdamwithinnedethvusdrounde [Enoughgrewoutofthatfountain, Bloodandwaterfromthebroadwound. Thebloodboughtusfromthepainofhell, Anddeliveredusfromtheseconddeath; Thewaterisbaptism,totellthetruth, Thataccompaniedthespearsogrimlysharpened, Thatwashesawaythedeadlyguilt ThatAdamhasdrownedeveryoneindeath].92

ThefluidswhichflowforthfromChrist’sbodyduringthecrucifixion,theblood andthewater,bathetheworldinabaptismalmedium,erasingthesinsofAdam that had, until that point, drowned the inhabitants of the world. Much as the peasantryinvadingLondoninGower’sVoxClamantisappeartodrowncivilization withthefloodoftheirriotousbehavior,sotoodoesAdamdrownmankindinthe floodofhissinfulness.ButChrist’ssacrificeredeemsmankindthroughbaptism and Christocentrically defines the world. It purifies the sins of mankind and redefinesthemas“thesaved.”Anditdoesthisfirstandforemost,asSummitand LeGoffargue,inthecities. Within a thoroughly urban text, the tears of the devout convert the individualpagansoultoChristianity’scivility.InSaintErkenwald,theLondon saintpraysforbaptismalwatertoreleasethesoulofthenoblepagan,butachieves thatbaptismwithhisowntears,“wytthewordesandthewaterthatwesheusof payne”[withthewordsandthewaterthatwashusofpain].93Erkenwald’stears, the“water”thathe“sheddes,”bringthereleaseoftheunbaptizedsoul,cleansing

92 93

1965),161–81;here172 Pearl,649–56. St.Erkenwald,333.

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him of his pagan taint and redefining the soul as Christian. While Christ accomplishedbaptismonaglobalscale,St.Erkenwaldgivesofhisbody,through tears,onanindividuallevel,totheonenoblepagansoulcleansinghimofthesins ofhisbirth. Justasthewaterofdivinityorofthedevouthavetheabilitytorestoremankind toheaven,God’smanipulationofwaterinGower’sVoxClamantis,returnssocial order:“He[God]calmedthewatersofthedeepandestablishedaboundaryfor them....Sotheseahadashore,andtheriverbankhelditsfullstreamsincheck, andtheroadswereagainopentolawandorder.”94Here,weseeanexcessof water closely identified with the uncivilized countryside. As God restores the peaceofLondonandreassertsthecivichierarchy,thewater,justasthepeasantry, isagainputinitsrightful,naturalplace.Thewaterreturnstoitsoceanorriverto beconfined,andliterallydefined,byitsbanksjustasthepeasantryreturnstothe countrysideanditssociallyprescribedroleasagriculturallaborer.Thereturnof order, then, is also a return to the three roles of water to define, protect, and cleanse,seeninitsdescriptionsofLondonandNewTroy,andperfectedinthe divinelyredundantsystemsofNewJerusalem.ItisthedeparturefromGower’s preferredhierarchy,andthereforethepositiverolesofwater,thatbringsabouthis apocalypticvision.Anditisthroughtheirdescriptionsandusesofwaterthateach oftheseauthorspresentstheirvision,idealorapocalyptic,oftheurbanspace.

Gower,VoxClamantis,91.

BirgitWiedl (InstituteforJewishHistoryinAustria)

JewsandtheCity:ParametersofJewishUrbanLife inLateMedievalAustria1

In1391,themunicipalcourtoftheSwisstownofZurichwasconfrontedwitha series of charges brought in by several attendees of a wedding that had been hostedbythefamilyofVifli,oneofthewealthiestandmostprominentJewsofthe town.2Duringthewedding,alongpendingquarrelbetweenmembersofhisand

ThisarticledoesnotaimatprovidinganencompassingcoverageofmedievalJewishurbanlife butratheratpointingoutvariousaspectsofJewishexistencein(Late)MedievalAustriantowns thatmayeithercorrespondwithgeneraldevelopmentsofJewishurbanlifeordifferfromthose due to circumstances particular to the countries thatmake up today’s Austria. For a general overviewoverAustrianJewishHistory,seeGeschichtederJudeninÖsterreich,ed.EvelineBrugger, ChristophLind,AlbertLichtblau,andBarbaraStaudinger.ÖsterreichischeGeschichte,15(Vienna: Ueberreuter,2006);onJewishChristiancohabitation,seenowJonathanElukin,LivingTogether, LivingApart:RethinkingJewishChristianRelationsintheMiddleAges.Jews,Christians,andMuslims fromtheAncienttotheModernWorld(Princeton:PrincetonUniversityPress,2007).Forvaluable comments and corrections, I would like to thank Albrecht Classen and Marilyn Sandidge. Furthermore,IwouldliketoexpressmygratitudetoMarthaKeil,HansJörgGilomen,Gerd Mentgen,andMarkusWenningerforgrantingmeaccesstogalleyproofsoftheirnewestresearch publications. SeeMarkusWenninger,“JüdischeundjüdischchristlicheNetzwerkeimspätmittelalterlichen Ostalpenraum,” Beziehungsnetze aschkenasischer Juden während des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit,ed.JörgR.Müller.ForschungenzurGeschichtederJuden,AbteilungA,20(Hanover: HahnscheBuchhandlung,2008),163–76;here167;MarkusWenninger,“NichtineinemBett– aberdochaufeinerHochzeit.ZurTeilnahmevonChristenanjüdischenFestenimMittelalter,” NichtineinemBett:JudenundChristeninMittelalterundFrühneuzeit,ed.InstituteforJewishHistory inAustria(St.Pölten:EigenverlagdesInstituts,2005);10–17,here13–14(downloadableaspdffile here:http://www.injoest.ac.at/upload/JudeninME05_2_917.pdf;lastaccessedonApril8,2009). MarkusWenningerisplanninganextensivepublicationonthesubject;id.,“VonjüdischenRittern undanderenwaffentragendenJudenimmittelalterlichenDeutschland,”Aschkenas:Zeitschriftfür GeschichteundKulturderJuden13.1(2003):35–83;here72–75.Theincidenthasfirstbeenrecounted byAugustaWeldlerSteinberg,IntérieursausdemLebenderZürcherJudenim14.und15.Jahrhundert

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otherprominentJewishfamilieshadobviouslyreachedacrisisandhaderupted infirstavociferousargument,theninabrawlandhadendedinseveralmembers oftherespectivefamiliesfacingeachotherwiththeirswordsdrawn.Thequite detailedcourtrecordsrevealastonishingfacts:NotonlydidtheJewsturntothe Christianmunicipalcourttosettletheirdispute,theywerebearingarmsandwere obviouslyaccustomedtousingthem;3yettheprobablymostremarkablefact,as Markus Wenninger has pointed out, was the quite high number of Christian witnesseswhogavetestimonyatcourt.Apartfromthosewhohadbeenhiredas servants or musicians, twelve Christianshence about a third of the witnesseshadclearlybeenpresentasguests,mostofthembeingmembersofthe Zurichupperclass:aknight,theformermayor,thetownscribe;andatleastfive ofthemlivedinclosevicinity,someevenwithinthesamelane,theBrunngasse, whichhousedthemajorityoftheZurichJewishpopulationintheMiddleAges.4 Underpenaltyofexcommunication,thesynodsatWrocaw(forthearchbishopric ofGniezno)andVienna(fortheecclesiasticalprovinceofSalzburg,andcityand bishopric of Prague) had stated in 1267, Christians shall not invite Jews and Jewessesastheirdinnerguests,ordrinkoreatwiththem,neithershalltheydance at their weddings or feasts.5 This article was, in fact, an elaboration of the

(Zurich:VerlagsundVersandbuchhandlung‘DerScheideweg’,1959),22–24;forafocusonthe jurisdictionalissuesseetheworksbySusannaBurghartz,Leib,EhreundGut:DelinquenzinZürich Ende des 14. Jahrhunderts (Zurich: Chronos, 1990), and “Juden – eine Minderheit vor Gericht (Zürich1378–1436),”SpannungenundWidersprüche.GedenkschriftfürFrantišekGraus,ed.Susanna Burghartz(Sigmaringen:JanThorbecke1992),229–44.OnprominentJewsinZurich,seeGermania Judaica,vol.III:1350–1519,part2:MährischBudwitz–Zwolle,ed.AryeMaimon,MordechaiBreuer, andYacovGuggenheim(Tübingen:J.C.B.Mohr,1995),1733–34. OntheprohibitionforJewstobeararmsandits‘reality,’seethearticlesbyWenninger,“Von jüdischen Rittern,” and Christine Magin, “‘Waffenrecht’ und ‘Waffenverbot’ für Juden im Mittelalter–zueinemMythosderForschungsgeschichte,”Aschkenas:ZeitschriftfürGeschichteund KulturderJuden13.1(2003):17–33;MarkusWenninger,“BearingandUseofWeaponsbyJewsin the(Late)MiddleAges,”JewishStudies41(2002,appearedin2003):83–92. Wenninger,“Hochzeit,”13–14.OnthelocationofJewishhouseholdsinZurichingeneral,see GermaniaJudaica,vol.II:Von1238biszurMittedes14.Jahrhunderts,part2:Maastricht–Zwolle,ed. ZwiAvneri(Tübingen:J.C.B.Mohr1968),946(upuntil1350)andGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/2, 1726–27. A contrasting example, where Christians were punished for partaking in a Jewish wedding feast, is given by HansJörg Gilomen, “Kooperation und Konfrontation: Juden und ChristenindenspätmittelalterlichenStädtenimGebietderheutigenSchweiz,” Judeninihrer Umwelt:AkkulturationdesJudentumsinAntikeundMittelalter,ed.MatthiasKonradtandRainer ChristophSchwinges(Basel:Schwabe,2009),157–227;here176–77(Zurich1404). See“ContinuatioVindobonensisa.1267–1302,1313–1327,”ed.WilhelmWattenbach.Monumenta GermaniaeHistoricaScriptores,vol.9(1851;Stuttgart:AntonHiersemann,1983),698–722;here 699–702(Vienna),the1851originaled.online(appliestoalltheMGHvolumesquoted)here: www.dmgh.de(lastaccessedonApril8,2009).WithrespecttothearticlesconcerningJews,see HeinzSchreckenberg,DiechristlichenAdversusJudaeosTexteundihrliterarischesundhistorisches Umfeld(13.–20.Jh.).EuropäischeHochschulschriften.SeriesXXIII:Theologie,497(Frankfurta.M.,

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regulationsoftheFourthLateranCouncilthathadgenerallyaimedatlimitingthe possibilities for Jews to take part in the everyday lives of their Christian neighbours,andviceversa.6Thechurchauthoritieswere,however,notoblivious totheimpossibilityoftransferringtheseregulationsintotherealityof(inevitable) daily interaction between Jews and their nextdoor Christian neighbors; the lamentationsandcomplaintsoftheBishopofOlomoucandtheprovincialsynod atSalzburgasearlyas1273and1274respectivelyaboutthe‘persistentviolation’ oftheseregulationsspeakforthemselves.7Tellingly,itwasthebreachofthe‘safe conductandpeace’(freiesgeleitundfried)thatthetownofZurichhadpromisedthe outoftownvisitorsonVifli’srequestthatrequiredanexaminationbeforethe aldermen,thefisticuffs,theverbalandbodilyassaults,andparticularlythedrawn

Bern, New York, and Paris: Peter Lang, 1994), 224 (Wrocav) and 228 (Vienna, both German translationoftherelevantarticles);SolomonGrayzel,TheChurchandtheJews,vol.2:1254–1314, ed.andcompletedKennethR.Stow(NewYorkandDetroit:WayneStateUniversityPress,1989), 244–46, no. 6 (Wrocaw), 247–48, 277, 290, no. 7 (Vienna); Eveline Brugger and Birgit Wiedl, Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Österreich im Mittelalter, vol. 1: Von den Anfängen bis 1338 (Innsbruck,Vienna,andBolzano:StudienVerlag,2005),59–61,no.45(Vienna);thewholebook isdownloadableaspdffilesin3partshere: http://www.injoest.ac.at/projekte/laufend/mittelalterliche_judenurkunden/index.php?lang=EN; lastaccessed on April 8,2009).The secondvolume,forthcomingin2009,willcoverthetime periodfrom1339to1365. FourthLateranCouncil,Canon67Quantoamplius,quotedaftertheGermanrpt.ofGiuseppe Alberigo,Conciliorumoecumenicorumdecreta(Bologna1973)byJosefWolmuth(ed.),Dekreteder ökumenischen Konzilien: Konzilien des Mittelalters vom ersten Laterankonzil (1123) bis zum fünften Laterankonzil(1512–1517),vol.2(PaderbornandVienna:FerdinandSchöningh,2000),265–66. With respect to the Jews, see Solomon Grayzel, The Church and the Jews, vol. 1: 1198–1254 (Philadelphia:DropsieCollege,1933;Sec.ed.NewYork:HermonPress,1966),312–13,no.13. Many of these regulations were adapted by legal codes like the Schwabenspiegel or Sachsenspiegel,whichtheninturn,duetotheirquickandwidecirculation,hadanimpacton furthersecularandecclesiasticallegislation,seeKlausLohrmann,“DieRechtsstellungderJuden imSchwabenspiegel,”DieLegendevomRitualmord:ZurGeschichtederBlutbeschuldigunggegenJuden, ed.RainerErb(Berlin:MetropolVerlag,1993),73–94.OnthetopicofJewsandChristiansusing thesamebaths,aparticularlywidelydiscussedissuewhichcanbefoundinthe1267ecclesiastical regulation as well as the Schwabenspiegel (among others), see latest HansJörg Gilomen, “JüdischeNutzungöffentlicherundprivaterBrunnenimSpätmittelalter,”...zumallgemeinen statt nutzen. Brunnen in der europäischen Stadtgeschichte, ed. Dorothee Rippmann, Wolfgang Schmid,andKatharinaSimonMuscheid(Trier:Kliomedia,2008),133–45. Olomouc:Constitutionesetactapublicaimperatorumetregum,vol.3:1273–1298,ed.JakobSchwalm. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Leges IV, Constitutiones, 3 (1904–1906; rpt. Hanover and Leipzig: Hahnsche Buchhandlung, 1980), 594, no. 620; Salzburg: Joannes Dominicus Mansi, Sacrorumconciliorumnovaetamplissimacollectio,vol.24:1269–1299(1903rpt.;Graz:Akademische DruckundVerlagsanstalt,1961),136.In1254,PopeInnocentIVhadalreadycomplainedthatthe JewsofthetownandbishopricofConstancedidnotwearthemandatoryattributes,seeShlomo Simonsohn,TheApostolicSeeandtheJews:Documents492–1404.StudiesandTexts(1988;Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, 1991), 209, no. 203; Gilomen, “Kooperation und Konfrontation,”172–73,alsoonthe(partial)enforcementofthisregulation.

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swords,8whereasthepresenceofChristiansatwhatwasclearlya‘Jewishfeast’ merelymeanttheinterrogationofadditionalwitnesses. Inwhicheverhousetheweddingtookplace,itmusthavebeenclosetothehouse whichoncehadbelongedtothemoneylenderMinna,9widowofMenachem,who hadlivedinthesamestreetinthefirsthalfofthefourteenthcenturywithhersons MordechaiandMoshe.10Shehadtherepresentativepartsofherhousedecorated with what is today regarded as one of the most striking examples of cultural translation, having commissioned wall paintings the iconographic program of whichwereaccessibletobothChristiansandJewsalike.11Someofthescenes,

8 9

Wenninger,“VonjüdischenRittern,”73. TheroleofJewishwomeninthemoneylendingbusinessisnottobeunderestimated,seethe articleofRosaAlvarezPerezinthisvolume.Further,withparticularbutnotexclusiveregardto Austria,seetheworksofMarthaKeil,latest“BusinessSuccessandTaxDebts:JewishWomenin Late Medieval Austrian Towns,” Jewish Studies at the Central European University, vol. II (1999–2001),ed.AndrásKovácsandEszterAndor(Budapest:CentralEuropeanUniversity,2002) 103–23;“PublicRolesofJewishWomeninFourteenthandFifteenthCenturyAshkenaz:Business, Community,andRitual,”TheJewsofEuropeintheMiddleAges(TenthtoFifteenthCenturies),ed. Christoph Cluse. Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, 4 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2004), 317–30; “Jüdinnen als Kategorie? Judinne in obrigkeitlichen Urkunden des deutschenSpätmittelalters,”RäumeundWege:JüdischeGeschichteimAltenReich1300–1800,ed.Rolf Kießling,PeterRauscher,StefanRohrbacher,andBarbaraStaudinger.ColloquiaAugustana,25 (Berlin:AkademieVerlag,2007),335–61;“MobilitätundSittsamkeit:JüdischeFrauenimWirt schaftslebendesspätmittelalterlichenAschkenas,”WirtschaftsgeschichtedermittelalterlichenJuden: Fragen und Einschätzungen, ed. Michael Toch. Schriften des Historischen Kollegs München, Kolloquien,71(Munich:Oldenbourg,2008),153–80. Moshewasanacknowledgedscholar,thusthefamilywas“byfarnotatthebrinkofthebaptismal font,” as put by Martha Keil, “Lebensstil und Repräsentation. Jüdische Oberschicht im spätmittelalterlichenAschkenas,”TresCulturas:DiedreiKulturenEuropaszwischenMittelalterund Neuzeit.TranskulturalitätinderAusgrenzung.ProceedingsoftheConferenceinVienna2005,ed.Rudolf KarlandHartmutKrones(Madrid[inprint]),chapter2;furtherMichaelToch,“Selbstdarstellung vonmittelalterlichenJuden,”BildundAbbilddesmittelalterlichenMenschen,ed.ElisabethVavra. SchriftenreihederAkademieFriesach,6(Klagenfurt:Wieser,1999),178–83;here181–82. FrescoesinZurich,Brunngasse8.SeeToch,“Selbstdarstellung,”illustrations185–91.DölfWild, “Bedeutende Zeugnisse jüdischer Wohnkultur in der Zürcher Altstadt entdeckt,” Aschkenas: Zeitschrift für Geschichte und Kultur der Juden 7 (1997): 267–99; with a particular focus on the iconography,seeRudolfBöhmer,“Bogenschütze,BauerntanzundFalkenjagd:ZurIkonographie derWandmalereienimHaus“ZumBrunnenhof”inZürich,”LiteraturundWandmalereivol.I: ErscheinungsformenhöfischerKulturundihreTrägerimMittelalter,ed.EckartConradLutz,Johanna Thali,andRenéWetzel.FreiburgerColloquium1998(Tübingen:Niemeyer,2002),329–63;see furtherEdithWenzel,“EinneuerFund:MittelalterlicheWandmalereieninZürich,”Zeitschriftfür deutschePhilologie116(1997):417–26;Gilomen,“KooperationundKonfrontation,”164–66;Harald Woltervon dem Knesebeck, “Profane Wandmalerei in jüdischen Häusern des Mittealters,” Abstractofthethirdconference“InterdisziplinäresForumJüdischeGeschichteundKulturinder FrühenNeuzeit,”onlinehere:http://www.forumjuedischegeschichte.de/2002Wolter.html(last accessedonApril8,2009);Keil,“LebensstilundRepräsentation,”chapter2;Wenninger,“Von jüdischenRittern,”43–44;EdithWenzel,“AltJiddischoderMittelhochdeutsch?”Grenzenund Grenzüberschreitungen:KulturelleBeziehungenzwischenJudenundChristenimMittelalter,ed.id.Part

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particularly the rural and somewhat rude dance scenes, greatly resemble the scenesdescribedinthelyricsofthethirteenthcenturyAustrianpoetNeidhartand could as well have been the decoration of a Christian householdlike the ‘Neidhartfrescoes’fromaround1398inthehouseofawealthyViennesecitizen,12 orthefourteenthcenturydancescenesacitizenofRegensburghadoneofhis representationalroomsdecoratedwith.13AndliketheVienna(Christian)example, thedecorationoftheZurichJewishhousealsobearsscenesthatcatertoamore nobleaudiencehuntingscenes,particularlyfalconry,andasaspecial‘bonus’the coatsofarmsofMinna’snobleguests(andquiteprobablydebtors)14onafrieze runningabovethepaintingsandprovidedwithainscriptionoftheirnamesin Hebrewletters.Theconclusionthatintenseculturaltranslationtookplacebetween theJewsandChristiansofmedievalAshkenasandSepharadintheareasoftheir livestheysharedaswellasthosetheylivedseparately,ismostwidelyrecognized bynow.15However,itdoesnottranslateasassimilationbutratherastransferring

ofAschkenas:ZeitschriftfürGeschichteundKulturderJuden14.1(2004):31–50,47–48,onthequestion ofaJewishChristianaudience. FrescoesinVienna,Tuchlauben19.EvaMariaHöhle,TheNeidhartFrescoes,theoldestsecularmural paintingsinVienna(Vienna:MuseumsoftheCityofVienna,1984);GertrudBlaschitzandBarbara Schedl, “Die Ausstattung eines Festsaales im mittelalterlichen Wien: Eine ikonologische und textkritischeUntersuchungderWandmalereiendesHauses‘Tuchlauben19’,”Neidhartrezeption inWortundBild,ed.GertrudBlaschitz.MediumAevumQuotidianum,SonderbandX(Krems: MediumAevumQuotidianum,2000),84–111. NikolausHenkel,“EinNeidharttanzdes14.JahrhundertsineinemRegensburgerBürgerhaus,” Neidhartrezeption,53–70;forfurtherexamplesonNeidhartmotifsinwallpaintings,seetheother articlesinthisvolume(LakeConstance,Matrei). Wenninger,“JüdischeundjüdischchristlicheNetzwerke,”166–67,callsthefriezea“reference list”ofMinna’sbusinesspartners. ThusexplicitlyputbyKeil,“LebensstilundRepräsentation,”chapter1.JustasexplicitisIsrael JacobYuval,TwoNationsinYourWomb:PerceptionsofJewsandChristiansinLateAntiquityandthe MiddleAges,trans.fromtheHebrewbyBarbaraHarshavandJonathanChipman(2000;Berkeley, LosAngeles,andLondon:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,2006),206,onthequestiontowhat extentJewswereawareofChristianrituals.Thephenomenonofculturaltranslationhasbeenthe centraltopicofmanystudies,mostofwhich,however,focusontheEarlyModernPeriod.Forthe specifictopicofJewishChristianculturaltranslationintheMiddleAges,seetheanthologyby Wenzel,“GrenzenundGrenzüberschreitungen”;further,albeitwithafocusonthenineteenthand twentiethcenturies,KulturtransferinderjüdischenGeschichte,ed.WolfgangSchmaleandMartina Steer(Frankfurta.M.andNewYork:Campus,2006).Foramethodologicalconceptofcross culturaltranslationintheEuropeanMiddleAges,seeMittelalterimLabor:DieMediävistiktestet Wege zu einer transkulturellen Europawissenschaft, ed. Michael Borgolte, Juliane Schiel, Bernd Schneidmüller,andAnnetteSeitz.EuropaimMittelalter,10.AbhandlungenundBeiträgezur historischenKomparatistik(Berlin:AkademieVerlag,2008),195–209:partIII:ArbeitsforumB: KontaktundAustauschzwischenKulturenimeuropäischenMittelalter,followedbytwocase studiesonChristianJewishculturaltranslation(FrederekMusallonMoshebenMaimon,209–28, andRainerBarzenandLennartGüntzelontheexpulsionoftheJewsinFranceandEnglandand theperceptionofcrisis,228–51).

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one’s own culture into a new context,16 as adapting personal tastes as well as generalconceptsofaestheticsthataresharedbypeopleofacomparablesocial status.17Thissharedtasteextendstoareasoflifethatremainmoreprivate,orat leastrepresentationalwithinasmallergroupofpeople.When,forexample,Israel Isserl, magister iudeorum and one of the most prominent Jews of Vienna, commissionedaSeferMordechai,acollectionofRabbinicalresponsaebyMordechai barHillelfromthelatethirteenthcentury,tobewrittenforhimin1371/1372,he had the manuscript decorated in what is known as Niederösterreichischer Randleistenstil,aparticularstyleofbookilluminationthatwasquitewidelyused at that time; it was, for example, the style a missal of the Lower Austrian monastery of Klosterneuburg that originated from about the same time was adorned in (see Figure 5).18 Despite the fact that Isserl’s Hebrew codex would rather not, or at least not mainly, be used in the presence of Christians, he neverthelesshaditdecoratedinwhatcanbecalledthe‘infashion’styleofthetime and region, Isserl’s codex being but one example of Hebrew manuscripts the marginsofwhichweredecoratedinthatparticularstyle.19BothJewsandChristian monkshadacquiredthesametasteasfarasbookilluminationwasconcerned, regardedthesamestyleasbeautifulandprestigious,and,probably,knewhowto impressvisitorswiththeirgems. However close though the cultural and social contacts to their Christian neighborswere,Jewsremainedinmanyrespectsaseparate,ifnothomogenous, groupwithin(orratheroutside)theChristiansociety.20AsfarastheChristian

17 18

Raingard Eßer, “Migrationsgeschichte und Kulturtransferforschung,” Das eine Europa und die VielfaltderKulturen:KulturtransferinEuropa1500–1850,ed.ThomasFuchsandSvenTrakulhun (Berlin:BerlinerWissenschaftsVerlag,2003),69–82;here73–74.OnthemedievalAshkenasicJews andtheirculturalandsocialidentityingeneral,seeMichaelToch,DieJudenimmittelalterlichen Reich.Sec.ed.EnzyklopädiedeutscherGeschichte,44(1998;Munich:Oldenbourg,2003),33–34, ontheintensifiedcontactstoChristiansintheLateMiddleAgesasbornoutofnecessitydueto the(violently)reducedJewishpopulation,38. Keil,“LebensstilundRepräsentation,”ontheexampleofluxurygarments. Andreas Fingernagel and Alois Haidinger, “Neue Zeugen des Niederösterreichischen Randleistenstilsinhebräischen,deutschenundlateinischenHandschriften,”CodicesManuscripti 39.40 (2002): 15–41; here 15–29. Martha Keil, “Gemeinde und Kultur – Die mittelalterlichen GrundlagenjüdischenLebensinÖsterreich,”GeschichtederJudeninÖsterreich,15–122;here28–29, illustration(SeferMordechaiandmissalfromKlosterneuburg),28. Keil,“GemeindeundKultur,”29.SeealsoRobertSuckale,“ÜberdenAnteilchristlicherMaleran derAusmalunghebräischerHandschriftenderGotikinBayern,”GeschichteundKulturderJuden inBayern(Aufsätze),ed.ManfredTremlandJosefKirmeier.VeröffentlichungenzurBayerischen GeschichteundKultur17.88,ed.ClausGrimm(Munich,NewYork,London,andParis:K.G. Saur,1988),123–34. Onthehighlyproblematicandwidelydiscussed‘label’ofJewsasafringegroup,seeFrantisek Graus,“RandgruppenderstädtischenGesellschaftimSpätmittelalter,”Zeitschriftfürhistorische Forschung 8 (1981): 385–437; here particularly 396 on the definition of ‘fringe group’; Gerd

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secularauthoritieswereconcerned,thelegalaswellastheeconomicpositionof Jews,bothasagroupandasindividuals,wasgenerallydefinedbytheruler,in particulartheHolyRomanEmperorwhoheldthegeneralsovereigntyoverallthe Jews of the empire, counting them as a part of his treasure:21 “the rulers’ sole purposeismoney,”asRabbiJacobbarJechielphraseditclearlyinmidthirteenth century.22 As early as the beginning of the thirteenth century, however, this sovereigntywasreducedtoamereclaim,theImperiallordshipweakeninginthe courseofthetransitionofImperialrightstotheregionalrulers,therighttothe Jews(Judenregal)beingbutoneamongthem.23InquiteanumberofGermancities, theirgripontheJewsdwellingwithintheirrealmtightenedalongwiththeirrise toeconomicalaswellaspoliticalimportance,24whereasintheregionofmodern dayAustria,bothtownsandJewsremainedunderthestronggripoftherespective regionalruler,behetheHabsburgduke,theArchbishopofSalzburg,theBishop ofBamberg,oralocalnobleman.

Mentgen, “‘Die Juden waren stets eine Randgruppe.’ Über eine fragwürdige Prämisse der aktuellen Judenforschung,” Liber amicorum necnon et amicarum für Alfred Heit: Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen und geschichtlichen Landeskunde, ed. Friedhelm Burgard, Christoph Cluse, and Alfred Haverkamp. Trierer Historische Forschungen, 28 (Trier: Verlag Trierer Historische Forschungen,1996),393–411;AnnaFoa,“TheWitchandtheJew.TwoAlikesthatWereNotthe Same,” From Witness to Witchcraft. Jews and Judaism in Medieval Christian Thought, ed. Jeremy Cohen.WolfenbüttlerMittelalterStudien,11(Wiesbaden:Harrassowitz,1997),361–74. First explicitly stated in the general Imperial privilege by Emperor Frederic II in 1236, Constitutiones et acta publica imperatorum et regum, vol. 2: 1198–1272, ed. Ludwig Weiland. Monumenta Germaniae Historica Leges IV, Constitutiones, 2 (1896; Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung,1963),274,no.204.OnthevastdiscussionontheJewsasservitescamere(“servants ofthetreasure”),seethesummarybyToch,“JudenimmittelalterlichenReich,”48and102–10. ForasimilardevelopmentinFrance,seethecontributionofRosaPerezAlvarezinthisvolume. MarthaKeil,“NäheundAbgrenzung.DiemittelalterlicheStadtalsRaumderBegegnung,”Nicht in einem Bett, 2–8; here 4–5. The whole article is downloadable as a pdf file here: http://www.injoest.ac.at/upload/JudeninME05_1_18.pdf(lastaccessedonApril8,2009). GenerallyseeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III:1350–1519,part3:Gebietsartikel,Einleitungsartikel,Indices, ed.AryeMaimon,MordechaiBreuer,andYacovGuggenheim(Tübingen:J.C.B.Mohr,2003), 2173–74;Toch,“JudenimmittelalterlichenReich,”48–49. StillessentialisHerbertFischer(laterAryeMaimon),DieverfassungsrechtlicheStellungderJuden indendeutschenStädtewährenddesdreizehntenJahrhunderts.UntersuchungenzurDeutschenStaats und Rechtsgeschichte, 140 (1931; Aalen: ScientiaVerlag, 1969). Further see Toch, “Juden im mittelalterlichen Reich,” 106–07; for a general summary of Jews and towns, see Alfred Haverkamp, “Jews and Urban Life: Bonds and Relationships,” Jews of Europe, 55–69; on Imperial/regalrightsandtheirrelationtotheImperialcities,seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2167, oncitiesandJews,2169–70,onJewsascitizens,2181–87,onjurisdictionalmatters2188–91;for regional examples, see Alfred Haverkamp, “Die Juden im Erzstift Trier,” Die Juden in ihrer mittelalterlichen Umwelt, ed. Alfred Ebenbauer and Klaus Zatloukal (Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar:Böhlau,1991),67–89;KlausLohrmann,JudenrechtundJudenpolitikimmittelalterlichen Österreich(ViennaandCologne:Böhlau,1990),especially146–66.

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ThefirstencompassingdefinitionofthelegalstandingoftheAustrianJewswas thequitecomprehensiveregulationwhichtheBabenbergDukeFredericIIissued in1244,25whichremainedthebasisforfurtherlegislationwithintheduchy of Austria26 and also served as a model for other rulers.27 The rather detailed economic issues, mostly in favor of the Jews, and the quite wideranging protectionsuggestthatDukeFredericaimedatprovidinganincentiveforJewsto settledowninAustria28aspartofhis,andnolongertheEmperor’s,treasure. Withregardtothetowns,thisalsomeansthattherulerwasdeterminednottolose his control over what he had just acquired29 and regarded as his immediate property,apartofhistreasurethatheprotectedand/orexploitedandutilizedas hesawfit.Itremainedtherulers’soleprerogativetograntJewstherighttotake their abode on his realm, their favorite financiers were given wideranging economic and legal privileges without as much as informing the cities. Only duringthelastdecadesofthefourteenthcentury,someAustriancitieswereable

Most recent edition by Brugger and Wiedl, Regesten, vol. 1, 35–38, no. 25. For an English translation,seehttp://www.fordham.edu/halsall/jewish/1244jewsaustria.html(lastaccessedon April8,2009),whichisbasedonthe(somewhatproblematic)translationbyJacobMarcus,TheJew intheMedievalWorld:ASourcebook,315–1791(NewYork:JPS,1938),28–33. ReissuedadimitationemclarememoriequondamFridericiducisAustrieetStiriebyKingRudolfIin 1277(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,71–73,no.56).TheexplicitreferencetoDukeFrederick IIconveysaclearmeaning—ontheonehand,Rudolf’srivalPemyslOtakar,the(outlawed)duke ofAustria,wasbeingblatantlyignored,andontheotherhand,byrevertingtotheducalprivilege of1244,andnottheImperialone,Rudolfstressedhisfamily’sclaimontheduchiesofAustriaand Styria (Eveline Brugger, “Von der Ansiedlung bis zur Vertreibung – Juden in Österreich im Mittelalter,”GeschichtederJudeninÖsterreich,123–228;here142). Hungary:BelaIV,1251(MonumentaHungariaeJudaica,vol.1:1092–1539,ed.ÁrminFrissandMór Weisz [Budapest: Magyar Izraeliták Országos, 1903], 23–30, no. 22); Bohemia and Moravia: PemyslOtakarII,1255,1262,and1268(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,45–48,no.34,51–54, no.39,and62–65,no.47,thefirstincludingAustria,thelattertwoAustriaandStyria);Poland: DukeBoleslav,1264(JudeninEuropa:IhreGeschichteinQuellen,vol.1:VondenAnfängenbiszum späten Mittelalter, ed. Julius Schoeps and Hiltrud Wallenborn [Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,2001],139–43,no.65);Bamberg:BishopsHenryIIandWulfing,between1304 to1328(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,255–57,no.302).NoprivilegesfortheStyrianand CarinthianJewshavebeentransmitted,thelaterHabsburgprivilegesofthesecondhalfofthe fourteenth century however include both these territories, referring to an ‘older existing legislation’ (see Lohrmann, Judenrecht, 182–89 [Carinthia], 200–06 [Styria], late Habsburg privileges230–35). TheJewishimmigrationintothemiddleDanubeareahadalreadyincreasedduringthefirsthalf ofthethirteenthcentury;atleastforVienna,anexistingcommunitycanbeprovenforaround 1200(firstmentionoftheViennaSynagoguein1204;seeBruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1, 18–19,no.5),thusFredericmightalsohavereactedtothenewlyarisenneedofregulatingthe Jewishlifethathadbeguntoflourish.

In 1331, Emperor Louis IV officially enfeoffed the Austrian dukes with the right to theJews (Judenregal),Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”143–44.

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togainatleastpartialcontrolovertheJews,mainlyfocusingonjurisdictionaland economicmatters.30 YettheseeminglyunduepreferenceaccordedtheJewsrankledwiththecitizens, causing the author of the Viennese Stadtrechtsbuch (a compendium of legal regulationsfromtheendofthefourteenthcentury)tocomplainpolemicallyabout the“cursedJews”havingabetterlegalpositionagainsttheChristiansthanthe ChristiansagainsttheJews,directlyreferringtothe1244regulationsandblatantly ignoring the everyday reality that had by then long changed to the clear disadvantageoftheJews.31 Their increasing influence notwithstanding, Austrian cities remained for the mostpartpowerlessshouldtherespectiveruler,inwhoseofficialpossessionthe JewsremaineduntiltheendofJewishmedievalsettlement,decidetointerfere.The AustriandukesgavetheirJewsasfiefstonoblementheywantedtoparticularly honor,reward,orbribe,32withoutasmuchasnotifyingthegovernmentofthose citieswheretheJewsdwelled;shouldaJewfleefromaruler’sterritory,thecities wereneitherinvolvedintheensuingtrialnordidtheyparticipateinthesharing oftheJew’sconfiscatedproperty.33Thisappliesnotonlytotownsthatwereunder the rule of a powerful lord, like (partially) the Duke of Austria, but also to noblemenwhoseimmediateruleextendedtoaconsiderablylimitedareamanaged to maintain a close grip on the Jews as an outstanding group. In 1350, the noblemanandchancellorofStyria,RudolfOttoofLiechtenstein,grantedtheJew Häslein,thewealthiestandmostprominentJewintheCarinthian/Styrianareaat thattime,therighttosettleinhistownofMurau,placinghimandhisfamilyina

SeeBirgitWiedl,“CodifyingJews.JewsinAustrianTownChartersoftheLateMiddleAges,”The ConstructedJew:JewsandJudaismthroughMedievalChristianEyes,ed.KristineT.Utterbackand MerrallL.Price(Turnhout:Brepols,forthcoming2009). Christine Magin, “Wie es umb der iuden recht stet:” Der Status der Juden in spätmittelalterlichen deutschenRechtsbüchern(Göttingen:WallensteinVerlag,1999),103;HeinrichMariaSchuster,Das WienerStadtrechtsundWeichbildbuch(Vienna:Manz,1973),130–31;Lohrmann,Judenrecht,161;id., DieWienerJudenimMittelalter(BerlinandVienna:Philo,2000),36–37. ThemostfamousofthesewastheenfeoffmentoftheCountsofCilli(today’sCelje,Slovenia)with theJewChatschimandhisfamilybydukeRudolfIV.DespitethefactthatthetownsChatschim livedinwerequiteprosperous(Ljubljana,Celje,Trieste),thereisnonotionofanyinvolvement of either of these towns. See Germania Judaica, vol. III/3, 209; Brugger, “Ansiedlung,” 184–85; Lohrmann,Judenrecht,206–07;MarkusWenninger,“DieBedeutungjüdischerFinanciersfürdie GrafenvonCilliundviceversa,”Celjskigrofje,staratema–novaspoznanja,ed.RolandaFugger Germadnik(Celje:PokrajinskiMuzej,1999),143–64;here151–52.OnJewsbetweenrulerand (LowerAustrian)nobility,seeEvelineBrugger,AdelundJudenimmittelalterlichenNiederösterreich. Studien und Forschungen aus dem Niederösterreichischen Institut für Landeskunde, 38 (St. Pölten:SelbstverlagdesNiederösterreichischenInstitutsfürLandeskunde,2004). For ‘famous flights’ of Jews see below; further Brugger, “Ansiedlung,” 181–82 (Häslein) and 184–85(ChatschimandMosche);Lohrmann,Judenrecht,218–20(Häslein)and225–30(Chatschim andMosche).

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veryprivilegedpositionwithrespecttoboththeJewishcommunityofMurauand thetownitself.34 AlthoughitisverylikelythatRudolfOttoofLiechtensteinissuedtheprivilege withducalapproval,thereisnomentionofanyinvolvementwhatsoeverofthe townofMurau—which,ifnothingelse,hadtorenounceanyjurisdictionalrights over HäsleinwhofellunderthesolecompetenceofRudolfOttohimself.This exampleconcurswithageneralincreaseofpersonalizedprivilegesinthesecond half of the fourteenth century,35 privileges that granted a special status to an individualJeworJewess(usuallyincludingtheentirefamily)andexemptedthem fromthelegalrequirementsofthetowntheylivedin.Whenseveralyearslater, Häslein left his new abode in the ducal town of Judenburg without seeking permissionbeforehandandDukeRudolphIVconfiscatedallhispropertyand outstandingdebts,neitherofthetownshehadlivedinorhadbusinesscontacts withwasgivenashare. TheAustrianrulers’controlevenextendedtoJewishgeographicalspaceswithin acity.Thepermissiontoerectorrebuildasynagogue,toestablishortoenlargea cemeteryremainedtherightoftherespectivelordofthetown,36leavingthetown’s administrationwithnosayinthematter.37Tothecontrary,arulerliketheBishop ofBambergwhoownedtheCarinthiantownofVillachcouldeven,afterhaving grantedtheJewAschroktherighttoerectasynagogue(inreturnforapayment of200pounds)38,coercehisChristiansubjects,inthiscasethemayorandcouncil ofVillach,intopromisingtoprotecttheJewsshouldany“uprise”againstthem occur.39Butevenifreducedtothemeregeographicalspace,tothepublicand

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Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”181–82;WilhelmWadl,GeschichtederJudeninKärntenimMittelalter:Mit einemAusblickbiszumJahre1867.Revisedseconded.DasKärntnerLandesarchiv,9(Klagenfurt: VerlagdesKärntnerLandesarchivs,1992),196–98. EvelineBruggerandBirgitWiedl,“‘...undanderfrumeleutegenuch,paidechristenundjuden.’ QuellenzurchristlichjüdischenInteraktionimSpätmittelalteramBeispielÖsterreichs,”Räume undWege,286–305;here288–89. SeeforthesimilarFrenchlegislationthecontributionofRosaAlvarezPerezinthisvolume. TheChurch,however,triedtogaincontrolovertheerectionofnewandthealterationofalready existingsynagogues.TheprovincialsynagogueofViennain1267forbadetheerectionofnew synagogues,while(re)usedexistingoneswerenottobemadewider,highernormoreprecious (latestprintBruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,59–61,no.45;here60). StateArchivesofBavaria,Bamberg,A78Lade403Nr.4(1510May4).JosephBabad,“TheJews inMedievalCarinthia,”HistoriaJudaica7(1945):13–28and193–204;here27;GermaniaJudaica,vol. III:1350–1519,part1:AachLychen,ed.AryeMaimonandYacovGuggenheim(Tübingen:J.C. B.Mohr,1987),415;GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/2,1533–34;GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,1759;Wilhelm Neumann,“DieJudeninVillach,”CarinthiaI155(1965),327–66;here349–50;Wadl,JudenKärnten, 166,223. AustrianStateArchivesVienna,Haus,Hof,undStaatsarchiv,AURUk.1359IV1.Germania Judaica,vol.III/2,1534,GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,1759;Lohrmann,Judenrecht,163;Neumann, “JudenVillach,”342,350;JohannEgidScherer,DieRechtsverhältnissederJudenindendeutsch

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privateplaces,amedievaltownwasaspaceofmeetingforJewsandChristians.40 Theywerelivingnextdoor,andnotonlyinthesetwostreetsinZurichinVienna and Krems, in Wiener Neustadt and Graz, in the episcopal towns of Friesach, VillachandWolfsberginCarinthiaandthethenSouthStyrian,nowSlovenian Maribor and Ptuj, to name but the biggest of the Jewish communities, Jewish settlementmighthavebeenconcentratedaroundcentrallocations,inparticular thesynagogue(s),yetmanymemberslivedoutsidethesepartsofthecitywhere Christianslived,as(notonly)theViennesesourcescallit,underdenJuden,“among theJews”:thus,encounterwasinevitable.JewsemployedtheservicesofChristian craftsmen as much as Christians called on Jewish services;41 and, although frowned upon by the Church,42 Christian servants to Jewish households were common,evenessential:“hehadservantsandmaids,nonJewishandJewishtoo,” EphraimbarJacobwroteinhismemorialbookabouttheJewSchlom,masterof theducalmintinViennaaround1192,notfindingthisintheleastpeculiar.43On bothsides,religiousauthoritieswereupinarmsaboutChristianwomenengaging Jewish,andJewessesengagingChristianwetnurses;44andthestorytoldbythe CarinthianAbbotandhistoriographerJohannofViktringaboutaChristianwet nurse,whoin1343abductedthedaughterofherJewishemployerstohaveher baptized,mayontheonehandconfirmthattheworries,atleastontheJewish side,weren’tcompletelyunfounded,butontheotherhandgivesevidenceofthe

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österreichischen Ländern. Mit einer Einleitung über die Principien der Judengesetzgebung in Europa während des Mittelalters. Beiträge zur Geschichte des Judenrechtes im Mittelalter, 1 (Leipzig: Duncker&Humblot,1901),509;Wadl,JudenKärnten,162. Keil,“NäheundAbgrenzung,”2–4;Haverkamp,“JewsandUrbanLife,”62and65–66. Keil,“NäheundAbgrenzung,”2. WhereasthesynodatWrocav,wherethematterisaddresseddirectlyforthefirsttime,doesnot forbidChristianstoworkasservantsinJewishhouseholds,butmerelydeclaresthattheywere nottostaytheredayandnight(dienoctuque),itisdebatedwhetherthewordingoftheViennese synod(dienocteve)aimsatprohibitingChristianservantsatall.Grayzel,ChurchandJews,vol.2, 244–46,no.6(Wrocaw);BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,”59–61,no.45(Vienna),seeabove for further editions; Schreckenberg, AdversusJudaeosTexte und ihr literarisches und historisches Umfeld(13–20.Jh.),230.Fortheschabbesgoj,therituallyessentialChristianservant,seeKeil, “GemeindeundKultur,”76. BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,17–18,no.4(fulltextinHebrewandGermantranslation); Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”126. MarthaKeil,“LilithundHollekreisch:Schwangerschaft,GeburtundWochenbettimJudentum desdeutschenSpätmittelalters,”AllerAnfang:Geburt,Birth,Naissance.Tagungsbandder5.Wiener GesprächezurSozialgeschichtederMedizin,ed.GabrieleDorffnerand SoniaHorn(Vienna: VerlagshausderÄrzte,2004),145–160;eadem,“GemeindeundKultur,”107;eadem,“Näheund Abgrenzung,”7–8.OnthetopicoffemaleinteractionElishevaBaumgarten,MothersandChildren: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004), 119–53, particularly135–44onChristianwetnursesinJewishhouseholdsandviceversa.Baumgarten emphasizesthecloserelationshipthatmusthaveexistedbetweenaJewishandaChristianwoman ifonewastobreastfeedthechildoftheother.

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commonnessofthispractice(sinceJohannofViktringinterpretstheabductionas remarkable,butnottheemploymentitself).45Therehasbeen,andstillis,avast andvividdiscussiononthetopicofJewishquarters,andwhethertheirsettlement wasscatteredorclosetogetherwithinthecity,andthemostprominentpublic buildingwithin,thesynagogue.46 In addition to being the center of Jewish life on many levelsthe primary worshipinstitution,thesocialcenter,aplaceofidentification,47butalsoaplaceof

Fedor Schneider (ed.), Iohannis abbatis Victoriensis Liber certarum historiarum. Monumenta GermaniaeHistoricaScriptoresrerumGermanicaruminusumscholarum,36.2(Hanoverand Leipzig:HahnscheBuchhandlung,1910);Keil,“LilithundHollekreisch,”151–52;GermaniaJudaica, vol. II: Von 1238 bis zur Mitte des 14. Jahrhunderts, part 1: Aachen – Luzern, ed. Zvi Avneri (Tübingen:J.C.B.Mohr,1968),265;GermaniaJudaica,vol.II/2,786;Wadl,JudenKärnten,185. Fromtheextensiveliteratureonthissubject,seethelatestsummaryinGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3, 2082–89.FurtherseeJüdischeGemeindenundihrchristlicherKontextinkulturräumlichervergleichender Betrachtung:VonderSpätantikebiszum18.Jahrhundert,ed.ChristophCluse,AlfredHaverkampand Israel Jacob Yuval. Forschungen zur Geschichte der Juden, A 13 (Hanover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung,2003);InandOutoftheGhetto:JewishGentileRelationsinLateMedievalandEarly ModernGermany,ed.HartmutLehmann,R.PoChiaHsia,andDavidLazar(Washington,DC: GermanHistoricalInstitute,1995),particularlythearticlebyAlfredHaverkamp,“TheJewish QuartersinGermanTownsduringtheLateMiddleAges,”13–28;SimhaGoldin,“TheSynagogue inMedievalJewishCommunitiesasanIntegralInstitution,”JournalofRitualStudies9.1(1995): 15–39; Keil, “Lebensstil und Repräsentation,” chapter 1; eadem, “Orte der Öffentlichkeit: Judenviertel,Synagoge,Friedhof,”EinThema–zweiPerspektiven:JudenundChristeninMittelalter und Frühneuzeit, ed. Eveline Brugger and Birgit Wiedl (Innsbruck, Vienna, and Bolzano: StudienVerlag,2007),170–86;eadem,“BethaKnesset,Judenschul:DieSynagogealsGotteshaus, AmtsraumundBrennpunktsozialenLebens,”WienerJahrbuchfürjüdischeGeschichte,Kulturund Museumswesen4(1999/2000):71–90;SilviaCodreanuWindauer,“StadtvierteloderGhetto?Das mittelalterlicheJudenviertelRegensburgs,”CentreRegionPeriphery.MedievalEurope,Pre printedPapers,2(Hertingen2002),316–21;id.,“Regensburg:TheArchaeologyoftheMedieval JewishQuarter,”andPamManix,“Oxford:MappingtheMedievalJewry,”bothinJewsofEurope, 391–403, and 405–20, respectively; Paul Mitchell, “Synagoge und Jüdisches Viertel im mittelalterlichenWien,”Synagogen,Mikwen,Siedlungen:JüdischesAlltagslebenimLichteneuer archäologischerFunde,ed.FritzBackhausandEgonWamers.SchriftendesArchäologischen Museums Frankfurt, 19 (Frankfurt a. M.: Archäologisches Museum Frankfurt, 2004): 139–50; MarkusWenninger,“GrenzeninderStadt?ZurLageundAbgrenzungmittelalterlicherdeutscher Judenviertel,”Aschkenas:ZeitschriftfürGeschichteundKulturderJuden14.1(2004):9–30;id.,“Zur TopographiederJudenviertelindenmittelalterlichendeutschenStädtenanhandösterreichischer Beispiele,”JudeninderStadt,ed.FritzMayrhoferandFerdinandOpll.BeiträgezurGeschichteder StädteMitteleuropas,15(Linz:ÖsterreichischerArbeitskreisfürStadtgeschichtsforschung,1999), 81–117.Ontheconfinedspaceoftheeruvchazerot(the‘mixing,puttingtogetherofcourtyards’to facilitatecarryingobjectsfromonedomaintoanotheronSabbath,symbolizedbyaloafofbread, seeEncyclopaediaJudaica,sec.ed.,vol.6[Detroit,NewYork,SanFrancisco,etal:ThomsonGale, 2007],484–85),withinacity,seeKeil,“GemeindeundKultur,”75–76,furtherYuval,TwoNations, 236–39 with particular, and intriguing, reference to the alleged host wafer accusations; also Gilomen,“Brunnen,”133–35.ForacontinuouslyupdatedbibliographyonJewisharcheologyin Europeseehttp://www.projectyesod.org/bibliography.html(lastaccessedonApril8,2009). MordechaiBreuer,“AusdrucksweisenaschkenasischerFrömmigkeitinSynagogeundLehrhaus,”

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flauntingone’ssocialstatus48andthestagewheresanctionsoftheinternalJewish jurisdiction were imposed publicly49the synagogue was also perceived by Christiansnotasan“exclusively”Jewishspacebutasapubliconetheytoohad access to. In some towns, the Jews had to take their oaths in front of the synagogue,50andaccordingtoAustrianducallegislation,thesynagoguewasthe placetoholdacourtsittingifaJewwassomehowinvolvedintheprocess.51Thus, thesynagogueheldasemilegalfunctionforJewsandChristiansalike,inaddition toprovidingaconvenientandthereforecommonmeetingplacewherebusiness transactions were negotiated and concluded, goods delivered and the newest gossipdiscussedwhileitsacousticsignalspermeatedintoChristianspaceasmuch (ifnotasmanifold)aschurchbells.52 Christians therefore showed no sign of hesitation, or repulsion, to use the synagogueasameetingpointandacceptitasaplaceofpublicsignificance.In earlyNovember1354,NikolausPetzolt,thetownjudgeoftheprosperingsouthern Styrian (today’s Slovenian) town of Maribor, which housed one of the largest Jewishcommunitiesofthatregion,wascalledonbymessengersoftheCountsof Pfannberg,alocalnoblefamilywithconsiderablebusinesscontacttotheJews. Theyaskedhimtoaccompanythemtotheshul,thesynagogue.Petzolt,theiudex iudeorumWilhelm,andanothercitizensofMaribor,obliged,andhavingarrived atthesynagogue,themessengerssentfortheshulklapper53toaskaroundwhether

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Judentum im deutschen Sprachraum, ed. Karl E. Grözinger (Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp, 1991), 103–16;here105;Goldin,“Synagogue,”15–16;Keil,“LebensstilundRepräsentation,”chapter1. Germania Judaica, vol. III/3, 2085; Goldin, “Synagogue,” 22–23; Keil, “Lebensstil und Repräsentation,”chapter1. MichaelToch,“MitderHandaufderThora:DisziplinierungalsinternesundexternesProblem indenjüdischenGemeindendesSpätmittelalters,”DisziplinierungundSachkulturinMittelalterund Früher Neuzeit, ed. Gerhard Jaritz. Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der Frühen Neuzeit, 17. Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften. PhilosophischHistorische Klasse, Sitzungsberichte, 669 (Vienna: Verlag der österreichischen AkademiederWissenschaften,1999),155–68;here161;Keil,“OrtederÖffentlichkeit,”175–77; GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2105–08;Goldin,“Synagogue,”23–24. The‘minoroath’oftheJewsoftheLowerAustriantownofKremshadtobetakeninfrontofthe synagogue, with the oathtaker’s hand on the doorknob; see Brugger, “Ansiedlung,” 151. Accordingtoducallegislation,theJewshadtotaketheiroathsolelyinfrontoftheduke,which provedhighlyinexecutable,whereashumiliatingritualsaccompanyingtheoath(selfexecration, standingonasow’sskin),asdescribedintheSchwabenspiegel,arenotrecordedforAustria;see HansVoltelini,“DerWienerundKremserJudeneid,”MitteilungendesVereinsfürGeschichteder StadtWien12(1932):64–70;here69–70;Toch,“HandaufderThora,”162–67. BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,36,no.25,§30. On‘Jewish’soundswithinatown,seeKeil,“OrtederÖffentlichkeit,”172. Theshulklapper(GermanSchulklopfer,inChristiandocuments—likeinthecharterquotedabove —oftencalled‘sacristanoftheJews’,judenmesner)wasresponsibleforcallingtheJewstoprayer; he served as a crier, and was involved in the collection of taxes, the taking of oaths, and in handlingjurisdiction,seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2092–93;EncyclopaediaJudaica,sec.ed.,vol.

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anyoftheJewsstillheldsomedebenturebondsofthePfannbergfamily,andifso, toproducethematthesynagogueinorderthattheycouldrepaythedebts.The Jewsansweredthatnoneofthemheldanyobligations;thusthemessengershad theshulklapperdeclarethatanybondspresentedlateronweretobeconsidered nullandvoid.Thethreecitizenscorroboratedthecharterissuedonthatoccasion withtheirseals,declaringthattheyhadbeenpresentatthesynagoguealongwith ‘otherrespectablepeople.’54 Oneofthemainopportunitiesofcontactandinteractionremainedthecontact viabusinessandthecloseeverydaycontactandtheinteractioncaneasilybe detectedinitemsandactivitiesofthedailybusinesslife.Businessdocumentsare oneofthemostextensivelytransmittedtypeofsourcesinAustriaasfarasJewish Christianinteractionisconcerned.55 From the financier of noblemen and rulers to the lowly pawn broker, their clientelewaspredominantlyChristianandoftenrecruitedfromtheirimmediate surroundings, especially when it comes to smallscale pawning and loaning; whereasthenobleclients,bothsecularandecclesiastical,offinanciallystronger Jewsusuallycamefromagreatergeographicalarea.56JewishChristianbusiness interactionmightevokeideasofcredittransactionsandpawnbrokingonly,yet thesearebyfarnotthesoleformofbusinessthattookplacebetweenJewsand their Christian neighbors. ‘Classical’ contracts like debenture bonds, pawn certificates,andchartersforsafeguardingtheguarantor(Schadlosbriefe)arebuta partofthevastamountofJewishappearancesinbusinessdocuments.Jewsappear inbothducalandmunicipalaccountbooks,57theywereregisteredinrentalsnot onlyaspawnkeepersbutasregularlandand/orhouseownersandappearin chartersassuch;when,e.g.,theStyriannobelmanPoppoofPeggaubequeathed severalofhisestatestotheUpperAustrianmonasteryofReichersbergin1235,he didsoaputWinnamindomoTechaniiudei,inVienna,inthehouseofTekatheJew, towhom,alongwithseveralViennesecitizens,58theestateshadbeenpledged.

54 55 56

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18(Detroit,NewYork,SanFrancisco,etal.:ThomsonGale,2007),531. AustrianStateArchivesVienna,Haus,HofundStaatsarchiv,AURUk.1354XI4. BruggerandWiedl,“ChristlichjüdischeInteraktion,”285. See the survey by Eveline Brugger, “‘Do musten da hin zue den iuden varn’ – die Rolle(n) jüdischerGeldgeberimspätmittelalterlichenÖsterreich,”EinThema–zweiPerspektiven,122–38; forindepthstudiesforLowerAustriaandCarinthia,seeBrugger,AdelundJuden,andWadl, JudenKärnten,193–225,respectively. BruggerandWiedl,“ChristlichjüdischeInteraktion,”292. ApartfromtheaforementionedbroadvarietyofotheroccupationsJewspursued,itisofgreat importancetostressthatmoneylendingwasatnotimeexclusivelya‘Jewishtrade’;seewith respecttoJewsthenewestsummarybyMichaelToch,“EconomicActivietiesofGermanJewsin theMiddleAges,”WirtschaftsgeschichtedermittelalterlichenJuden,181–210;here184–87and194–95; generally Joseph Shatzmiller, Shylock Reconsidered. Jews, Moneylending, and Medieval Society (BerkeleyandLosAngeles:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1990);foracomparisonofthedifferent

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Evenmoreso,Tekadidnotonlyactasahostbutwasnamedastheintermediary oftheentiretransaction(quomedianteetprocurantehocomniafactasunt).59Although Tekaistobeconsideredaratherexceptionalfigurewithcloseconnectionstothe HungariankingandtheAustrianduke60,quitecasualreferencestoJewsowning housesorplotsoflandarenotexceptional,andoftenmerelygiventoidentify anotherChristianownedhouse.61 However,itwouldmostdefinitelybeshortsightedtodismissthosebusiness contractsasyieldingmerelyinformationonmattersofeconomy;62asobjectsof

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formsofcredit,seeHansJörgGilomen,“DieökonomischenGrundlagendesKreditsunddie christlichjüdischeKonkurrenzimSpätmittelalter,”EinThema–zweiPerspektiven,139–69;further id., “Wucher und Wirtschaft im Mittelalter,” Historische Zeitschrift 250 (1990): 265–301; id., “Kooperation und Konfrontation,” 216–22, with statistics on Jewish and Lombard credits in fifteenthcenturyZurich.Asearlyasthethirteenthcentury,LombardsandCahorsinsappearin the Austrian region; Duke Rudolf IV bestowed himself with the right to “hold Jews and Cahorsins” (tenere judeos et usurarios publicos, quos vulgus vocat gawertschin) in the forged PrivilegiumMaiusofaround1358.ParticularlyinthesouthofAustria,theCarinthiandukesand thenobilityresortedtobusinesscompaniesfromtheVenetoFriulanianareathatincludedboth JewsandChristians;seenowthetwoarticlesbyWenninger,“Jüdischeundjüdischchristliche Netzwerke,”andGerdMentgen,“NetzwerkbeziehungenbedeutenderCividalerJudeninder erstenHälftedes14.Jahrhunderts,”BeziehungsnetzeaschkenasischerJuden,163–76and197–246 respectively,withfurtherliterature.SeealsoGerdMentgen,StudienzurGeschichtederJudenim mittelalterlichenElsaß.ForschungenzurGeschichtederJuden,AbteilungA,Abhandlungen,2 (Hanover:HahnscheBuchhandlung,1995),574–789,onthe‘Jewish’Alsacevs.the‘Lombard’ Lorraine as far as moneylending is concerned, with further literature. However, Christian participationinallkindsofmoneybasedbusinessisnotreducedtothesespecificgroups.Apart from(ratherrare)openmoneylendingandpawnbroking,whichwasseverelycriticisedbythe contemporaries,Christiansusuallyengagedthemselvesinmore‘clandestine’transactions,like masking the pawning of a pledge, usually a plot of land, as selling and subsequently re purchasing it after a predetermined time span, where only the final total was stated in the documents,usuallyalreadyincludingtheinteresttobepaidattheend;forAustrianexamples, seeBrugger,“Ansiedlung,”157. BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,24–25,no.11. Probablythebestexampleforthisisthepeacetreatyof1225betweenKingAndrewIIandDuke LeopoldVI,whereTekastandsbailfortheAustrianduke;afewyearslater,heisthecomescamere (taxfarmer)oftheHungarianking(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,20–21,no.7,23,no.10, withfurtherliterature). Fromthevastamountofcharters,seethearbitramentthatsettledadisputebetweencitizensof theLowerAustriantownofKlosterneuburgoverseveralvineyardsandhouses,oneofwhichwas locatedandemnidernmarchtzenachstSteuzzenhausdezjuden(“atthelowermarket,nexttothe houseof[David]SteusstheJew,”ArchivesoftheMonasteryofKlosterneuburg,Uk.1364X31, facsimileonlineat:http://www.monasterium.net,subarchivio;lastaccessedonApril8,2009). Onthebroadvarietyofusingchartersassources,seePaulHerold,“SchriftalsMöglichkeit– MöglichkeitenvonSchrift.Genese,WirkungsweiseundVerwendungvonSchriftamBeispiel österreichischerPrivaturkundendes12.und13.Jahrhunderts,”TextalsRealie,ed.KarlBrunner andGerhardJaritz.VeröffentlichungendesInstitutsfürRealienkundedesMittelaltersundder FrühenNeuzeit,18.ÖsterreichischeAkademiederWissenschaften.Philosophischhistorische Klasse,Sitzungsberichte,704(Vienna:VerlagderÖsterreichischenAkademiederWissenschaften,

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daily life, they give as much clear evidence of the mutual impact of the overlappinglivingspacesofJewsandChristiansasanybuilding,pieceofcloth, or object of art. In everyday transactions, Jewish businessmen adjusted to the needs of their Christian clientele: documents they issued for their Christian partnerswerenotonlyineitherGerman63or(veryrarely)inLatin,64theydifferin nopointtothoseissuedbyChristianstheformulacommonlyusedbyChristians isadoptedwordforword.Crucialdatesliketheduedateofthedebtorthedate ofissuancearerenderedinthesamewayasinChristiancharters,byusageof commonlyknowndaysofsaintsorfeasts.Asmuchasthisisduetothefactthat theChristianbusinesspartnerhadtounderstandthedocumentaswell,thisalso providesevidenceofafirmknowledge(andusage)oftheChristiancalendarand certain‘keydays’liketheeverpopularpaydaysofSt.Michael(September29),St. Martin(November11),andSt.George(April23/24). Followingthestandardformulae,however,wasnotlimitedtodocumentsissued byJewsforChristians;inthe(rare)chartersinHebrew65,whichwereeither,inthe majorityofcases,issuedasanadditionalconfirmationofthetransactiondealtwith intheGermanone(seeFigure6)66orkeptbytheJewishbusinesspartner,mostof thecommonphrases(e.g.,“ofourownaccordandwiththeapprovalofourheirs,” the Schadlosformel that protects the business partner should a third party raise claims)wereliterallytranslatedintoHebrew.Incontrast,allthedatesarestated accordingtotheJewishcalendar,andthecorroborationisexclusivelygivenby signature. Quite telling is the only modification to one of the standard formulaewhereastheChristianversionreads“allwhoseethisletterorhearit being read” (allen die diesen brief sehen oder hören lesen), the Hebrew version is adaptedasmerely“allwhoseethisletter,”proceedingontheassumptionthatany Jewwhoseestheletterwillbeabletoreaditaswellonhisown.67

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2003),135–52. ThequestionwhethermedievalAshkenazicJewsspokeMiddleHighGermanorOldYiddish,or regionaldialects,hasbeenatopicofacademicliteraturesincethenineteenthcentury,albeitwith aclearfocusonliterarytexts.Thestillongoingdiscussionhasbeensummedupandanalyzed latelybyEdithWenzel,“AltJiddischoderMittelhochdeutsch?”GrenzenundGrenzüberschreitun gen,31–50,withanextensivebibliographyinthefootnotes. TheeldestLatincharterintheAustrianregionisalsotheeldestoneissuedbyaJewaltogetherin thisregion:February18,1257,thetwobrothersLublinandNekelo,comitescamere(taxfarmers) oftheAustriandukeandlaterBohemiankingOtakarPemyslII,settledadisputewithBishop ConradIofFreising,whichtheycorroboratedwiththeirshared(and,unfortunately,missing)seal, seeBruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,50–51,no.38,withfurtherliterature. BruggerandWiedl,“ChristlichjüdischeInteraktion,”305,fig.2. These Hebrew charters were often stitched, glued, or somehow else attached to the German documenttheycorrespondto(whichwaspartiallydonecenturieslater);seetheexamplefromthe monasteryofKremsmünsterfrom1305,Figure6. See,e.g.,thetwoeldestHebrewchartersfromtheAustrianregion,bothofthemissuedbythefour

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Jewsdoappearinotherfunctionsaswell:shouldtheneedarise,theyactas arbitrators together with Christians,68 they corroborate Christian charters as witnesses even if they (or any Jews at all) are not involved in the transaction documentedinthecharter.69Jewishappearanceaswitnessesdeclinesperceptibly fromthelastquarterofthethirteenthcenturyonward,whichprecedesthegeneral decreaseintheusageofwitnessesinfavourofsealsasthe(almost)onlymeansof authenticationbyonlyafewdecades.WealthyandprominentJews,however,did adaptthiscustom,this‘newfashionarticle,’70andstartedusingseals,albeitonly forchartersissuedforChristianbusinesspartners.71 ThecommonwayofcorroborationamongJewsremainedtheaforementioned HebrewsignaturethatwasusedonbothHebrewandGermandocuments,72partly announcedwiththesameformulathatwouldbeusedforannouncingaseal:with the forumla und umb taz pesser sicherhait bestett ich die obergeschrift mit meiner judischen hantgeschrift unden darunder (“as an additional corroboration [as an additionalinsurance]Iherebyconfirmtheabovewritten[text]withmyJewish

brothersMosche,Mordechai,IsakandPessach,sonsofSchwärzlein/Asriel,andcorroboratedby theirsignaturesandthoseoftheRabbisChaimandAbraham,BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol. 1, 119, no. 124 (April 29, 1305, see Figure 6), 167–68, no. 165 ([1309]), Hebrew and German translation. E.g.,theducalcellarerKonradvonKyburgandtheJewMarusch,whodecidedadisputebetween themonasteryofHeiligenkreuzandtheJewMordechaioverthepostponedpaymentofduties (BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,203–04,no.219). E.g.,theJewBibaswhotestifiedinadeedofsuretyshipwhichthe(ratherhighranking)nobleman AlberovonKuenringandthecitizensofthetownsofKrems,Stein,andLinzissuedfortwoother noblemen in 1247, assuring them of their standing surety. Bibas is listed as the last of the altogether21witnessesfromKrems(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,39,no.28);afurther exampleistheJewSmoielwhoactsasawitnessinasalecharterofcanonIrnfriedofPassauin 1270(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,66–67,no.49). Heinrich Fichtenau, Das Urkundenwesen in Österreich vom 8. bis zum frühen 13. Jahrhundert. MitteilungendesInstitutsfürÖsterreichischeGeschichtsforschung,Ergänzungsband,23(Vienna andGraz:Böhlau,1971),238. TheeldeststillexistingJewishsealintheGermanspeakingrealmisthesealofPeterbarMosche haLevifromRegensburg,attachedtoacharterissuedbyhissonsHatchimandJacobin1297for ArchbishopConradIVofSalzburg.Itshowsacornutedhatwithabirdontop,flankedbya crescent and a eightpointed star, see Keil, Martha: “Ein Regensburger Judensiegel des 13. Jahrhunderts.ZurInterpretationdesSiegelsdesPeterbarMoschehaLewi,”Aschkenas:Zeitschrift fürGeschichteundKulturderJuden1(1991):135–50;BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,97,no.93; onsealsofAustrianJewsingeneral,seeBrugger,“Ansiedlung,”123–228.SeealsoDanielM. Friedenberg, Medieval Jewish Seals from Europe (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987), unfortunatelywithseriousmistakesandmisunderstandings. Keil,“Judensiegel,”135–36;eadem,“‘Petachja,genanntZecherl’:NamenundBeinamenvonJuden imdeutschenSprachraumdesSpätmittelalters,”PersonennamenundIdentität.Namengebungund NamengebrauchalsAnzeigerindividuellerBestimmungundgruppenbezogenerZuordnung,ed.Reinhard Härtel.GrazerGrundwissenschaftlicheForschungen,3.SchriftenreihederAkademieFriesach, 2(Graz:AkademischeDruckundVerlagsanstalt,1997),119–46;here138–41.

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handwriting”) the Jew Mosche from Herzogenburg announced his signature (MoschebenhaKadoschRabbiIzchaks.k.l.,“Mosche,sonofthemartyrRabbiIzchak, thememoryofthemartyrmaybehonored”),usingthesame‘keywords’ofpesser sicherheit a Christian would herald their seal with.73 Additional confirmatory signatures,oftenthoseofRabbis,wereintroducedusingofawordingsimilarto thatChristianswouldintroduceadditionalcorroboratorswith.74 Towndwelling Jews without a seal of their own often turned toward the particularChristianwhoatthattimeoccupiedtheofficeofwhatwasknownas iudexiudeorum,anofficequiteuniquetotheeasternpartsofmoderndayAustria,75 to witness and seal their documents.76 Introduced in Duke Frederic II’s 1244 privilegefortheAustrianJewsandusuallyheldbyamemberofahighranking familyofthetown,theprincipaldutyoftheiudexiudeorumwasthesettlingof disputes between Jews and Christians;77 furthermore, he had limited rights of controloverthesellingofunredeemedpledgesandwasentitledtoanumberof finesfrombothJewsandChristians,thus,participatingatleastmarginallyinthe revenuesoftheducalprotectionoftheJews.Despitethestrongtiestotheruler whichtheiudexiudeorumcouldenjoy,78thetownsweregenerallyinterestedin

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Keil,“NamenundBeinamen,”138,salesdeedfromMay10,1445. BruggerandWiedl,“ChristlichjüdischeInteraktion,”294–95. ThefirstiudexiudeorumismentionedinthelowerAustriantownin1264ofKrems(Bruggerand Wiedl,Regesten,vol.1,56–57,no.42.).ItwastobecomearathercommonofficeinbothAustria and Styria, partly also in the Styrian and Carinthian enclaves of Salzburg, but was never introducedintootherpartsoftheHolyRomanEmpiresaveBohemiaandMoravia,wherethe 1244privilegewasintroducedbyKingPemyslOtakarII.Forthefewappearancesoutsidethese territoriesseeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2190. HavingsomeoneelsesealadocumentwasacommonpractiseamongJewsandChristiansalike; iftheissuerhadnosealoftheirown,theyaskedforsomeoneelsetocorroboratethecharterwith theirseals(Siegelbitte),whichwasnoteddownseparatelyinaparticularformulatogetherwiththe announcementoftheseals.FortheiudexiudeorumascorroboratorforJews,seealsoKeil,“Namen undBeinamen,”138. Little is known about the organization that is referred to as Judengericht (despite the literal translation“Jewishcourt”itisnottobeconfusedwiththeinternalcourtoftheJewishcommunity, seeKeil,“GemeindeundKultur,”40–41,60–72).Itsexistenceisfirstdocumentedforthecityof Viennain1361(Lohrmann,WienerJuden,47;Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”150).Inthe courseofa general court reform, Duke Rudolf IV decreed the continued existence of the Viennese Judengericht,yetspecifiedneitheritsconstitutionnoritscompetenceindetail.Presidedoverby theiudexiudeorum,itsassessorsconsistedofdelegatesfromthecityandtheJewishcommunity inequalrepresentation.Itsrangeofjurisdictionalcompetence,however,cannotbeinferredfrom itsonlymentionforViennaorfromtheStyrianreferencesofthefifteenthcentury(seeBrugger, “Ansiedlung,” 150), although it is very likely that the extent of empowerment mainly encompassedconflictsbetweenJewsandChristians. E.g.,alloftheiudicisiudeorumoftoday’sUpperAustria’scapitalofLinzwerealsocaretakersof thecastleofLinz,theresidenceoftheducalsteward(Lohrmann,Judenrecht,159).Noneofthelegal documentsrefertohowtheiudexiudeorumwastobeappointed/elected;thus,anappointmentby therulerisatleastpossible,ifnotlikely(atleastasfaraslessinfluentialtownsareconcerned).

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strengthening his position as well as expanding his competences, gradually transformingtheofficeintoanatleastpartlymunicipalone. Withthegrowingclaimofthetownsonamorecomprehensivejurisdictional andeconomiccontrolof‘their’Jews,which,unsurprisingly,startedshortlyafter thewiderangingpersecutionsof1338,theofficesofthetownjudgeandtheiudex iudeorumwereutilizedtosupervisethebusinessactivitiesoftheJewstoagreater extent.Jewswereobligedtoproducetheirdebtinstrumentstothetownjudge annually79oreventhriceayear,80whereaspledgeshadtobepresentedtotheiudex iudeorumonaregular,sometimesevenweeklybasis;81insomeStyriantowns,the municipalcontrolwasexpandedfurtherbydemandingthatanydebtinstrument wastobesealednotbyeitherbutbyboththetownjudgeandtheiudexiudeorum.82 Inthesecondhalfofthefourteenthcentury,citiestriedtogetorganizedwhenit cametokeepinganeyeontheJewsandtheirbusinesstransactions. Theincreasingdeclineoftheducalprotectionofferedconsiderableleewayfor thetownstoshiftcompetencestotheirfavor,allowingthemtotightentheirgrip on the Jews perceptibly. Their aim of controlling and monitoring loans and pledges no longer merely encompassed the aforementioned producing, and certifying, of business documents but was extended to the many transactions concerningsmalleramounts,mostofwhichhadheretoforthnotbeendocumented inwritingatall.Toestablishthiscontrol,manytownssetupwhatisknownas Judenbücher(“codicesfortheJews”).83SometimesincludedinthegeneralSatzbuch of the respective town84 and usually administered by the iudex iudeorum, the

E.g., 1376 in the town charter of the Salzburg town of Ptuj, today in Slovenia, see Scherer, Rechtsverhältnisse,549–50,Wadl,JudenKärnten,176–77. E.g.,inthetowncharteroftheLowerAustriantownofSt.Pöltenfrom1338,grantedbythe BishopofPassauwhowasthelordofthetown;seeBruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,341,no. 444. Ptuj:Inanimatepledges(Schreinpfand,asopposedtoessendesPfand,“eatingpledge,”i.e.,livestock) hadtobepresentedtotheiudexiudeorumeveryThursday,Lohrmann,Judenrecht,160;Germania Judaica,vol.III/2,1100. Meir Wiener, Regesten zur Geschichte der Juden in Deutschland während des Mittelalters, vol. 1 (Hanover:Hahn’scheHofbuchhandlung1862),236,no.144(Graz,Leoben);Lohrmann,Judenrecht, 160,incorrectlyappliesthisregulationtothemajorityofStyriantowns. ThesettingupofJudenbücherwasnotexclusivetothecitiesrulersaswellasnoblefamiliesand inthefifteenthcentury,alsotheEstatesofStyriaandCarinthiatriedtokeeptrackoftheirdebts byestablishingJudenbücher(Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”161–62).Insomecases,itwastherulerwho committed the town to set up a Judenbuch (e.g., Duke Albrecht III, who obliged the Lower AustriantownofBrucka.d.LeithatosetupaJudenbuch,seeLohrmann,Judenrecht,158).Mostof theJudenbücherwerelostduringthepersecutionsof1420/1421thatendedJewishsettlementin LowerAustria.AsfarasthegeneralscholarlydiscussiononJudenbücherisconcerned;fora recent discussion see Thomas Peter, “Judenbücher als Quellengattung und die Znaimer Judenbücher.TypologieundForschungsstand,”RäumeundWege,307–34. ThebestdocumentedexampleswithinAustriaarethe“JudenbuchderScheffstrasse”andtheLiber

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Judenbuchwastheplacewhereallthebusinesstransactionsconductedbyandwith Jewshadtoberegisteredin(whichalsoprovidedsomeprotectionfortheJews sincetheentryrendereditimpossiblefordebtorstoclaimthatthebondstheJews presentedwereforgeries). Withthe tighteninggripofthecitiesontheirJews,thedemandforthemto partakeincivicdutiesgrew,85whilstinreturn,manyGermancitieshadtakento granting(partial)citizenshipstoJews;86arightthathad,forthemostpart,been transferred to them by the lord of the town.87 In the territory of modernday Austrianterritory,boththedominatingpositionoftheruler(s)andthelackof reallypowerful,importantcitiesismostlikelythereasonfornonexistingJewish citizenship,thegrantingofsettlementremainingexclusivelyinthehandsofthe rulers.88InformationonAustrianJewsparticipatinginurbandutiesistherefore

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JudeorumofWienerNeustadt.TheScheffstrasse,asmallcommunityrightoutsidetheViennacity wallsthatwassubjecttotheduchessofAustria,haditsownregister,keptbybothducalofficers andrepresentativesofthecityofVienna,whichwasacadastralregisteraswellasabookofloans. Whereas the second part was dedicated to loans among Christians, the third part is the “Judenbuch,”entriesofloansgrantedbyJews(VienneseaswellasLowerAustrianandBohemian Jews)toinhabitantsoftheScheffstrasse.Sincethemajorityoftheinhabitantsweresmallscale craftsmen,mostofthesums(aconsiderablenumberofwhichweregrantedbyJewesses)were rathersmall.ArturGoldmann,DasJudenbuchderScheffstrassezuWien(1389–1420).Quellenund ForschungenzurGeschichtederJudeninDeutschÖsterreich,1(ViennaandLeipzig:Wilhelm Braumüller,1908).AnolderJudenbuchofthecityofViennahasbeenlost;seeArturGoldmann, “DasverscholleneWienerJudenbuch(1372–1420),”QuellenundForschungenzurGeschichteder JudeninÖsterreich,11:Nachträge(Vienna:SelbstverlagderHistorischenKommission,1936),1–14. ForWienerNeustadt,seeMarthaKeil,“DerLiberJudeorumvonWienerNeustadt1453–1500. Edition,”StudienzurGeschichtederJudeninÖsterreich,ed.eademandKlausLohrmann(Vienna, Cologne,andWeimar:Böhlau,1994),41–99. Wenninger,“VonjüdischenRittern,”54–67,onJewspartakinginthemilitarydutieswithinacity. Alfred Haverkamp, “‘Concivilitas’ von Christen und Juden in Aschkenas im Mittelalter,” Gemeinden,GemeinschaftenundKommunikationsformenimhohenundspätenMittelalter,ed.Friedhelm Burgard,LukasClemensandMichaelMatheus(Trier:Kliomedia,2002),315–44(rpt.ofthearticle firstpublishedinJüdischeGemeindenundOrganisationsformenvonderAntikebiszurGegenwart,ed. RobertJütteandAbrahamP.Kustermann.Aschkenas:ZeitschriftfürGeschichteundKulturderJuden, Beiheft 3 [Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar: Böhlau, 1996]: 103–36); Germania Judaica, vol. III/3, 2181–87; Barbara Türke, “Anmerkungen zum Bürgerbegriff im Mittelalter: Das Beispiel christlicher und jüdischer Bürger der Reichsstadt Nördlingen im 15. Jahrhundert,” Inklusion/Exklusion:StudienzurFremdheitundArmutvonderAntikebiszurGegenwart,ed.Andreas GestrichandRaphaelLutz.Secondedition(2004;Frankfurta.M.andVienna:PeterLang,2008), 135–54;moregenerally,seeHansJörgGilomen,“StädtischeSondergruppenimBürgerrecht,” NeubürgerimspätenMittelalter:MigrationundAustauschinderStädtelandschaftdesaltenReiches (1250–1550),ed.RainerChristophSchwinges.ZeitschriftfürhistorischeForschung.Beiheft,30 (Berlin:Duncker&Humblot,2002),125–67. Thereareveryfewexamplesofcities(Worms,Prague)wherethisrighttograntcitizenshipto Jewswas independentfromtheconcessionoftheruler;seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2169, 2181–82. KlausLohrmann,“BemerkungenzumProblem‘JudeundBürger’,”JudeninderStadt,145–66;here

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scarce.SincetheJewsweregenerallysubjectedtotaxationtonoonebuttheruler, the towns strove either to charge additional taxes or at least partially to incorporatetheJewsintothetaxrevenueofthetown.89Theearliestdocumented exampleinAustria,however,isremarkableintworespects:in1277,KingRudolph Inotonlyconfirmedbutalsoexpandedtherightsofthe(small)townofLaa/Thaya (LowerAustria),amongstwhichheaddedtherighttoexclude‘their’Jewsfrom thegeneralJewishtaxandtoincludethemintothecitizens’taxrevenue,90thus documentingnotonlythefirstexceptiontothegeneraltaxtheJewswerepaying directly into the treasury but the first mention of the ‘Jewish tax’ on Austrian territoryatall.91 Formorethanacentury,however,therulers’claimtotaxingtheJewsremained widelyunchallenged;onlythelatefourteenthcenturysawAustriandukesyield tothepressureofbothtownsandtherisingestates.In1396,alargenumberof StyriantownswereallowedbytheDukesAlbrechtIVandWilliamtocoercethe Jewsowninghousesand/orplotsoflandwithintherealmofthetowneithertosell thesepremiseswithinayearortoparticipatehenceforwardinthetaxrevenueof the town.92 The references to Jews partaking in other civic duties like the city

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161–64.Thereisbutoneexception:thesmalltownofFeldkirchintheutmostwestoftoday’s Austriawhichwasundertheruleofalocalandnotoverlypowerfulnoblefamily.Unlikein Austria,JewishcitizenshipwasfairlycommonespeciallyintheareaaroundLakeConstance,to whichFeldkirchbelongedbothpoliticallyandculturally;seeKarlHeinzBurmeister,medinat bodase.ZurGeschichtederJudenamBodensee,vol.1:1200–1349(CKonstancez:Universitätsverlag Konstanz,1994),40–42.However,Jewishcitizensareonlymentioned‘intheory’inthetown charterofFeldkirchfromthemidfourteenthcentury,andnoindividualspossessingthestatus ofcitizensareknown;GerdaLeipoldSchneider,“asmittelalterlicheStadtrechtvonFeldkirch: Überlieferung und Edition,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of Innsbruck, 2001, 236. See also Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”204. Onthemany‘stages’andcompromisesoftaxationofJewsbycities,seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3, 2263–67. BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,74,no.57.SeealsoLohrmann,Judenrecht,113–14. RudolphIwasactingasKingoftheRomansandnotasthedukeofAustria(whichheneverwas), preparing,however,thegroundsforhissonstotakeovertheduchyandthustryingtocoax the—howeversmall—townsintosidingwithhim.Old,butstillaworkofreferenceisThomas Michael Martin, Die Städtepolitik Rudolfs von Habsburg. Veröffentlichungen des MaxPlanck InstitutsfürGeschichte,44(Göttingen:Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1976),withparticularrespect tothischarter75–78. Scherer, Rechtsverhältnisse, 403. There is a rather similar regulation noted down in the then Hungarian town of Eisenstadt; it is questionable though whether this town charter, which mentionsthetaxesofJewslivinginandoutsidethecitywalls,isauthentic;seeHaraldPrickler, “BeiträgezurGeschichtederburgenländischenJudensiedlungen,”JudenimGrenzraum:Geschichte, KulturundLebensweltderJudenimburgenländischwestungarischenRaumundindenangrenzenden RegionenvomMittelalterbiszurGegenwart,ed.RudolfKropf.WissenschaftlicheArbeitenausdem Burgenland,92(Eisenstadt:BurgenländischesLandesmuseum,1993),65–106;here68–69.

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watch,ofwhichthereisevidenceinotherregions,93areevenrarer;thereisbutone example of the nowadays Italian town of Gorizia where in 1307, Jews and Christiansalikewerecommittedtowatchduties.94 Facedwithsimilarchallenges,JewsandChristiansoftenarrivedatquitesimilar solutions.TheorganizationoftheJewishcommunity(kehilla)isinitsmainfeatures ratheruniform;95yet,itbearsastonishinganalogiestoChristianorganizations, particularlytothoseofcraftguilds.96Thecontemporarieswerenotobliviousto thisfact:intheAustrianregion,97theJewishcommunityisquitecommonlycalled Judenzeche, “Jewish guild,” whereas their parnass, the head of the Jewish community,wasreferredtoasZechmeisterderJuden,“guildmasteroftheJews.”98 ThetermwaspartlyusedasselfdenominationbytheJewsaswell,99whereasthe scribeoftheVienneseEisenbuch100translatedtheHebrewexpressionintosammung, awordregularlyusedtodescribeconventualcommunities.101Asdivergingasthe

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Wenninger, “Von jüdischen Rittern,” 54–67, who gives numerous examples from the late thirteenth century onwards. See also Germania Judaica, vol. III/3, 2181–82; Toch, Juden im mittelalterlichenReich,51–54;Magin,“‘Waffenrecht’,”23–24;Haverkamp,“Concivilitas,”125–128; from a ‘rabbinical perspective’ Israel Jacob Yuval, “Das Thema Waffen aus der rabbinischen Perspektive,”GrenzenundGrenzüberschreitungen,13–16;here15(Jewsparticipatinginthedefense ofthecityofWormsin1201). BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,160,no.153.ForSwissexamples,seeGilomen,“Kooperation und Konfrontation,” 168–70, who discusses the question of Jews actually partaking in watch dutiesormerelypayingtheirshareinthechargesandgivesexamplesforboth. ForalatestsummaryontheJewishcommunitiesandtheirformoforganization,seeGermania Judaica, vol. III/3, 2080–2138; Yacov Guggenheim, “Jewish Community and Territorial OrganizationinMedievalEurope,”JewsofEurope,71–92,onthestrikingsimilaritiesofJewish communitiesthroughoutmedievalEurope72–73,andwithfurtherliterature. Seethetwocorrespondingarticles:RainerBarzen,“‘Sohabenwirverhängtundbeschlossen...’ TakkanotimmittelalterlichenAschkenas,”218–33,andBirgitWiedl,“‘Confraternitaseorumquod invulgaridiciturzhunft’:Wirtschaftliche,religiöseundsozialeAspektevonHandwerkszünften imSpiegelihrerOrdnungen,”234–52(bothinEinThema–zweiPerspektiven). GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2080,withtheemphasisonthisbeinganAustrianparticularity. E.g.,inKrems:zechaiudeoruminamunicipalrentalfrombetween1350and1370,LeopoldMoses, “AusdemKremserStadtarchiv,”JüdischesArchivNeueFolge1,3–4(1928),3–8;here5;forfurther references,seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/1,678(Krems),1598(Vienna),1621(WienerNeustadt). SeealsoKeil,“GemeindeundKultur,”39. E.g.,intheSeferTerumathaDeschen(acollectionoflegalopinions)oftherabbiIsraelIsserlein ofthe(then)StyriantownofWienerNeustadt(ed.ShemuelAbitan,Jerusalem1991),whousesthe termquitefrequently,seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/2,1621. AcollectionofrightsandlibertiesofthecityofVienna,keptfrom1320to1819;seeFerdinand Opll,DasgroßeWienerStadtbuch,genannt“Eisenbuch.”InhaltlicheErschließung.Veröffentlichungen des Wiener Stadt und Landesarchivs. Reihe A: Archivinventar, Serie 3, Heft 4 (Vienna: EigenverlagdesWienerStadtundLandesarchivs,1999). BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,33–338,nrr.439(Hebrew)and440(German),theJewish communityreducingtheirinterestratein1338.ThescribewhocopiedtheHebrewtextintothe EisenbuchalsoprovidedaGermantranslation,whereheusedtheabovementionedexpression. Adepictionofthepagecanbefoundhere:

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‘basic prerequisites’ may have been, the similarities both in the general compositionofthecommunityaswellasmanydetailsarestriking:bydemandof mandatorymembership,theorganizationcouldnotonlyofferextensiveprotection for,butalsowieldwiderangingauthorityoverthemembers,whilstthebanfrom thecommunity,whichposedagenuinethreattoinsubordinatemembers,was utilizedtoexertcontrol.Socialconcernslikethecareforwidows,orphansand impoverishedmembersweredealtwithby,andthrough,thecommunitybythe institutionofTzedakahandtheguilds’welfaresystemrespectively,bothofwhich were financed by regular contributions;102 members who somehow offended againstruleswereputontrialattheinternalcourt;premisesofreligiousaswell asseculardenominationwereownedincommon;andgenerally,acodeofconduct regulated(atleasttheoretically)manyareasoflifebothpublicandprivate.Feasts that were celebrated together played an important role in creating a sense of identity, an identity that in fact went far beyond the local scopeitinerant craftsmenarrivinginthetownweretakencareofbytheguildwhichprovided themwithshelter,foodandsometimesmoney,thesamewayasforeignJewish studentsand/orpauperswerelookedafterbythekehilla.103 Jews were participating in everyday activities at the cities’ market(s), thus entering and sharing both social and economic space with their Christian neighbors.104Areaslikemarkets,however,alsoprovidedconvenientopportunities forexclusionand(physical)division.Whilethirteenthcenturytownswerebusy banningJewsfromholdingpublicoffices105,theygenerallystrovetogaincontrol

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http://www.wien.gv.at/kultur/archiv/geschichte/zimelien/images/juden.jpg (last accessed on April8,2009). Forasummaryoftheacademicdiscussion,seeRainerBarzen,“‘WasderArmebenötigt,bisDu verpflichtetzugeben:’ForschungsansätzezurArmenfürsorgeinAschkenasimhohenundspäten Mittelalter,”WirtschaftsgeschichtedermittelalterlichenJuden,139–52;particularly142–48. Onthesimilarities,seeBirgitWiedl,“EinezünftigeGemeinde:Handwerkszünfteundjüdische GemeindeorganisationimVergleich,”NichtineinemBett,44–49,downloadableaspdfhere: http://www.injoest.ac.at/upload/JudeninME05_4_4349(1).pdf. Ontheimportanceofmarketsas‘crucialelementsofthemedievalcity,’theaspectofgender,and howmarketspacecanbeutilizedforinandexclusionseethearticlebyShennanHuttoninthis volume. Theprohibitiongoesbacktocanon69oftheFourthLateranCouncilwhichinturnreferredto canon14oftheThirdConciliumToletanumof589.Itis,however,theonlyregulationfromthe LateranIVthathadmadeitswayintosecularlegislation.Fromthevastliteratureonthetopic,see Heinz Schreckenberg, Die christlichen AdversusJudaeosTexte (11.13. Jahrhundert): Mit einer IkonographiedesJudenthemasbiszum4.Laterankonzil.EuropäischeHochschulschriften.Second edition.ReiheXXIII:Theologie,335(1988;Frankfurta.M.,Bern,NewYork,andParis:PeterLang, 1991),425–26.EmperorFrederickIIincludedthisparagraphintheprivilegehegrantedthecity ofViennain1238(forthelatestedition,seeBruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,28–29,no.17,with additionaleditionsandliterature).ThebanwasreconfirmedforViennain1247(byEmperor FrederickII)and1278(byKingRudolfI)andwasalsoincludedintheprivilegefortheStyrian

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overthelegalstatusandtorestrict,oratleastmonitor,theeconomicactivitiesof ‘their’Jewsduringthelatethirteenthandfourteenthcenturies106.NeitherJewish landownership nor Jews being involved in winegrowing and trade107 were uncommon,yettherangeofprofessionstheJewscouldmakealivingwithwithin thetowns’realmswasbeingmoreandmorelimited.Withthecraftguildsgaining importance,regulationsthatexcludedJewsfromspecificprofessions108onbehalf of the respective guild appeared in town charters as well as guild articles. In Austria,theJewsofoneofthebiggestandmostimportantJewishcommunitieson Habsburgterritory,WienerNeustadt,wereprohibitedthetradingandsellingof cloth, presumably at the request of the guild;109 but it was mainly professions concernedwithfoodthatwereblacklisted.Forinstance,professionssuchasthe brewingofbeer(St.Veit,Carinthia)110orthetradingaswellasservingofwineat a(local)bar(Ptuj,LowerStyria,Slovenia)111wasnotpermittedtoJews,yetoverall, thebutcheringandsellingofmeatturnedouttobethemostdisputedissue.

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townofWienerNeustadt,whichallegedlypredatestheViennesecharterbutisinfactaforgery fromthelastthirdofthethirteenthcentury(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,40,no.29,76,no. 60,22–23,no.9).ForthewholecomplexoftheWienerNeustädterforgeries,seePeterCsendes, “DieWienerNeustädterStadtrechtsfälschungen,”FälschungenimMittelalter,vol.3:Diplomatische Fälschungen(part1).MonumentaGermaniaeHistoricaSchriften,33.3(Hanover:HahnscheBuch handlung,1988),637–52;forthischarter646–47);onthefactualvalidityofforgedcharters,see ThomasHildbrand,“SisyphusunddieUrkunden:MediävistischeÜberlegungenzursemiotischen Arbeit,”TextalsRealie,183–92;here186. Wiedl,“CodifyingJews.” HaymSoloveitchik,“Halakhah,TabooandtheOriginofJewishMoneylendinginGermany,”Jews ofEurope,305–17,who,despitethetitle,examinesJewishwinegrowingandtradingaswellas viticulturalcredits;furtherToch,“EconomicActivities,”205–06.ForAustrianJews,seeMartha Keil, “‘Veltliner, Ausstich, Tribuswinkler’: Zum Weingenuss österreichischer Juden im Mittelalter,”‘Undwennschon,dannBischofoderAbt’:ImGedenkenanGüntherHödl(1941–2005),ed. ChristianDomenigandothers(Klagenfurt:KärntnerDruckundVerlagsgesellschaft,2006),53–72, BruggerandWiedl,“ChristlichjüdischeInteraktion,”302–03. ForJewsascraftsmen,seeMichaelToch,“JüdischeGeldleiheimMittelalter,”GeschichteundKultur derJudeninBayern,ed.ManfredTremlandJosefKirmeier(Munich,NewYork,London,andParis: K. G. Saur, 1988), 85–94; here 85–86; id., “Geldleiher und sonst nichts? Zur wirtschaftlichen Tätigkeit der Juden im deutschen Sprachraum des Spätmittelalters,” Tel Aviver Jahrbuch für deutscheGeschichte22(1993):117–26;id.,“EconomicActivities,”187,204–10;Mentgen,Judenim mittelalterlichenElsaß,579–85;GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/3,2139–46. WienerNeustadt1316,BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,195–96,no.205.Itisnotquiteclear whethertheregulationreferstoclothtradeortailoring,orboth. 1297/1308,BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,99,no.96,§13. Ptuj/Pettau1376.FerdinandBischoff,“DasPettauerStadtrechtvon1376,”Sitzungsberichteder AkademiederWissenschaften,philosophischhistorischeKlasse113(1886),695–744.Thearticle(§18), however,refersonlytotheretailtradewithinthecity;theJewsofPettauwerefardistancetraders onabigscale,especiallywithwineandgoodsfromVenetia.Wenninger,“JudenSalzburg,”753.

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TheChristianmistrusttoward‘Jewishmeat’hadbeenclearlyexpressedatthe provincialsynodsofWrocawandViennain1267,whereinveryclearwords, ChristianswerecautionedagainstbuyinganynourishmentsfromJewslestthese, whoallegedlyregardedtheChristiansastheirenemies,poisonthemwiththeir food(necchristianicarnesvenalesseualiacibariaaiudeisemant,neforteperhociudei christianos, quos hostes reputant, fraudulenta machinatione venenent).112 The later adaptions in several town charters, however, hardly ever referred straightforwardlytoanythreatposedtoChristiansshouldtheybuy,orconsume, meat(or,cometothat,anyothergoods)of“Jewishorigin.”Thefirstattemptat excludingJewsatleastpartiallyfromthatbranchofbusinessappearedasearlyas 1267 (!), when the butchers’ guild of the Lower Austrian town of Tulln put additionalchargesonthefatstockthatwasboughtbyJews.Consideringthatthe Jews were most likely butchering the animals themselves to guarantee kosher slaughter,thesumtheJewshadtopaywaspresumablyintendedasakindoffine forthelossofincomethecraftsmensufferedsincetheycouldnotchargethemfor theirslaughteringservice.113 Upuntilthefifteenthcentury,themainproblemhoweverremainedthatthe Jewswerenotonlydoingtheslaughteringthemselves,114butwerealsoselling meattoChristians;andthatbydoingsotheyenteredthedomainofthecrafts guilds.TheChristianauthorities,partiallyattheinstigationofthecraftguilds, partially of their own volition, dealt with the issue in different ways, most of which went along with, or were expressed by, a physical separation. The “simplest”solution,chosenbytheCarinthiantownofSt.Veitinthelatethirteenth century,wastobanJewsfromsellingtheirmeatpubliclyaltogether.TheJewsof thistownwereonlyallowedtobutcherandselltheirmeatathome;accordingto thetown’sregulations,theynotonlyremainedwithoutapossibilitytoparticipate inthepublicmeatmarkedbutwerealsobeingdeniedtherighttoownlivestock (mostlikelyforbreedingpurpose,sincetheywereallowedtoslaughterathome) andrefusedtheirshareintheborough’scommon.115

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BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,59–61(quote59),no.45. Brugger and Wiedl, Regesten, vol. 1, 61, no. 46. English translation (incorrectly dated 1237): http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1237butcherstuln.html(lastaccessedonApril8,2009). Germania Judaica, vol. I: Von den ältesten Zeiten bis 1238, ed. I. Elbogen, A. Freimann, and H. Tykocinski(Tübingen:J.C.B.Mohr,1963),388–89. Jewswere,however,nottheonlygroupofpeoplemedievalbutchershadtoconcedetherightto carryoutslaughterontheirown.Butcheringwithincertainlimits(zurhausnotdurft[forpersonal needs at home]) was regarded as the right of the citizens in many towns, and particular institutionslikeinnsortavernssometimesevenhadtheirownslaughterhouseandemployed journeymenofthebutchers’guilds. BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,99,no.96,§13.

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ThiscompletebanofJewsfromthepublic(economic)sphereofmarketactivities remained rather unique among the regulations of the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries.Commonly,Jewswereallowedtoselltheirmeatatthepublicmarketvia aspecificstallthatwaseitherdirectlyadministeredbythemunicipalgovernment oratleastundertheirstrictcontrol.Thatstallwasusuallyremotefromthoseofthe Christianbutchersandquiteoftenlocatedatthefringeofthemarketplace.116In addition to that, some towns demanded that the meat be presented ‘in an unobtrusiveway’:not,asatthebutchers’guild’sbooths,hookedupanddangling fromtheceilingorapole,butplacedonastool.117Thattheirmeatwastobesold solelyatthisparticulartypeofstallmaythusbeinterpretedasplacingtheJewsat a mere economic disadvantage, yet in many of the regulations, additional specificationsaimedatasegregationoftheJewsthatwentfurtherbeyondamere economicmeasure. Themunicipalstallwasusuallytheplacewherepfinnigfleischwastobesold,118 whichmeantfoul(trichinous)meataswellasmeatfromsickorinjuredanimals.119

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Andenendten(“atthesides”)andnotattheregularbutchers’stallsshallthejudenfleisch(“Jewish meat”)besold,whereithasbeensoldvonallter(“sincetimeimmemorial”),statestheregulation thetownofJudenburgissuedfortheirbutcher’sguildin1467;FritzPopelka,Schriftdenkmälerdes steirischenGewerbes,vol.1(Graz:EigenverlagdesWirtschaftsförderungsinstitutesderKammer dergewerblichenWirtschaftfürSteiermark,1950),137–37,no.104;GermaniaJudaica,vol.III/1,594. LibertiesofthecityofSalzburg,1420:Item,dasjudenfleischundpfinnigssolmanvordemschlätorr vaillhabenaufeinenstullundnietauffhahen.AdolfAltmann,GeschichtederJudeninStadtundLand SalzburgvondenfrühestenZeitenbisaufdieGegenwart.Rpt.ofthe1913ed.andcontinueduntil1988 byGünterFellnerandHelgaEmbacher(Salzburg:OttoMüllerVerlag,1990),100–01. Salzburg1420(seeabove),buttheregulationdatesbacktotheearlyfourteenthcentury:itappears asearlyas1307inthetowncharteroftheBavariantownBurghausen(1307,ChristianHaeutle, “Einige altbayerische Stadtrechte,” Oberbayerisches Archiv für vaterländische Geschichte 45 [1888/1889]:163–262;here183)andwasadopted,oftenwithaquitesimilarwording,inthetown chartersofNeuötting(1321,id.,“EinigealtbayerischeStadtrechte:FortsetzungundSchluß,” OberbayerischesArchivfürvaterländischeGeschichte47[1891/1892]:18–124;here29),Landshut(1344, GermaniaJudaica,vol.II/1,467–68),andSchärding(1316,todayUpperAustria,BruggerandWiedl, Regesten,vol.1,194,no.202).Theinclusion ofthearticleinthetownprivilegeofSchärding, however,istheonlyindicationofaJewishsettlementinthis(rathersmall)townatall;andsince thewordingofthearticleinthetownchartersisrathersimilar,itmighthavemerelybeencopied, perhapsasakindof‘preventivemeasure’againstpotentialfutureJewishinhabitants.Further, e.g.,GermaniaJudaica,vol.II/2,557andGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/2,902(Munich),1500(Ulm), GermaniaJudaica,vol.II/2,946(Zurich);Gilomen,“KooperationundKonfrontation,”177. AccordingtothelibertiesofthetownofMühldorf(before1360),pfinichsflaischs,wolfpaizzichs flaischsundswazderjudersucht(foulmeat,meatthat‘hasbeenbittenbythewolf’andmeat‘which theJewdesires’),shouldbesoldbythebutchers,butinfrontofandnotinsidetheirbooths.Karl Theodor Heigel (ed.), “Mühldorfer Annalen 1313–1428,” Die Chroniken der baierischen Städte Regensburg, Landshut, Mühldorf, München, ed. Historische Kommission bei der Bayerischen AkademiederWissenschaften.Secondedition.DieChronikenderdeutschenStädtevom14.bis ins16.Jahrhundert,15(1878;Göttingen:Vandenhoeck&Ruprecht,1967),369–410;here396; HansGeorg Herrmann, “Das Mühldorfer Stadtrecht im Spätmittelalter und in der Frühen

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TheadditionalassociationofJewswiththe“rotten”and“foul”isthereforequite obvious, a connotation that was stressed even more when the meat had to be clearlytaggedand/orthepotentialChristiancustomerhadtobealertedtothefact thattheywereabouttobuyeitherfoulor“Jewishmeat.”120Inlatefourtheenth/ early fifteenth centuries, the idea of the wellpoisoning Jews prevailing, many townsresortedtomoredrasticandencompassingmeasuresbydeclaringanymeat thathadmerelybeentouchedbyJewsasbeinginthesamecategory,therefore consideringitbeingofalesserquality,orevenunfitforChristianconsumption. This often concurs with, or is included in, regulations which aim at a comprehensivecontrolofthebehaviorofJewsatthemarket:insteadoftouching thegoods,Jewsweretopointatthoseitems,particularlyvictuals,theyintended tobuy,andshouldtheyhappentotouchanitem,theyhadtopurchaseit,often withasurcharge.121 Jewishexistencewithinthespaceofcitieswas,toconclude,ariskyoneatalltimes. Schlom,themasteroftheducalmintandthefirstAustrianJewknownbyname, fellpreytogetherwithhisfamilytocrusadersin1196;122some100yearslater,the firstbloodlibelsandaccusationsofallegedhostwaferdesecrationswerelaunched onAustrianterritory,claimingtheirvictimsamongtheJewsofLowerAustrian towns.Yetasmuchasthesehorrendousincidentsareindicativeoftheatbest fragilebalancebetweenJewsandtheirChristiansurroundings,detailsstillhintat

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Neuzeit,”MühldorfamInn:SalzburginBayern935–1802–2002.Begleitbandzurgleichnamigen Ausstellungvom8.Junibis27.Oktober2002(MühldorfamInn:EigenverlagderStadt,2002), 36–47;here36;Altmann,JudenSalzburg,67–69. LibertiesofthetownofMühldorf:(...)swerdazflaischvoninchauft,ezseigastoderpurger,demsol erezsagen,wieezumbdazflaischste,pei72den(whoeverbuysthemeat,betheyvisitororcitizen, he[thebutcherwhosellsthemeat]shalltellthemabouttheconditionofthemeat,atapenaltyof 72pence),Heigel,“MühldorferAnnalen,”396;Thejudenfleischhasbeenfrequentlyinterpreted as“koshermeat”ingeneral,whereasthefactthatitwassoldatthemarkettoChristianssuggests thatthetermreferstothepartsofthekosherlyslaughteredanimalstheJewswerenotallowedto eatandthussoldviathemunicipalstall(which,infact,mighthavealsoheightenedtheChristian suspicionthattheJewsweresellingthemmeatoflowquality).ThebiggerJewishcommunities usually owned a slaughterhouse and employed their own kosher butcher, e.g. Vienna; see Lohrmann,WienerJuden,55,100,and102. TownlibertiesofBolzano(latefourtheenthcentury,seeGermaniaJudaica,vol.II/1,99;pertaining toallkindsofgoods),adaptedthebutchers’regulation;townlibertiesofMunich(fish),orderof the municipal council of Ulm (1421, livestock, fish, meat, poultry, fruits), see Scherer, Rechtsverhältnisse,577–78,withanalogiestoFrenchlegislation;whereasthecityofPassautooka different(andquiteintriguing)stancebyforbiddingtheirbutcherstoworkforthem,Municipal Archives of Passau III/22 (Gemainer Statt Passau Recht und Freiheiten sambt alten und neuen Verträgen).The1424datinginGermaniaJudaica,vol.III/2,1089,isquestionable:thebutchers’ regulationoriginatesfrom1432,andtheparagraphcontainingtheaforementionedsentenceisan undatedyetclearlylateraddition. BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,17–18,no.4(HebrewandGermantranslation).

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a in parts functioning JewishChristian coexistence. Schlom had his thievish Christianservantimprisoned,andonlythestridentcomplaintsoftheservant’s wifeinthenearestchurchalertedthecrusaders;andwhentheaccusationofahost waferdesecrationwaslaunchedinthesmallLowerAustriantownofKorneuburg in1305,theJewZerklinsoughtrefugeathisChristianneighbor’shouse,whotook him in willingly and tried to protect him from the enraged citizens, albeit in vain.123 Thefirstoverallshifttotheworsecamewiththepersecutionsthatfollowed anotherallegedhostwaferdesecration.StartingfromPulkauin1338,thusalmost parallel to the catastrophic “Armleder” persecutions that heavily affected the JewishcommunitiesinSouthernGermany,124thissoonbecamethefirstwaveof persecutionsthatwentbeyondthelocalscope,affectingover30townsinAustria, Bohemia,andMoravia.125WhileinZurich,Minnaandhersonsfellpreytothe pogromsaccompanyingtheBlackPlague126duringthefatalyearsof1348–1350, DukeAlbrechtIIstillmanagedtoholdaprotectivehandovermostoftheAustrian Jewishcommunities;hiscomingdownheavilyonthetownofKremsthathad persecutedtheirJewsonaccountofanallegedwellpoisoningearninghimthe

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Thewholeincidentisuniquelydocumented:atranscriptoftheinterrogationofaltogether21 witnessesbytheCistercianmonkAmbrosiusofHeiligenkreuz,whocarriedouttheinvestigation attheorderoftheBishopofPassau,istransmitted(BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,125–42, no.133),andfromalatersourceweknowthatthebloodiedwaferhadbeenfakedbyapriest (BruggerandWiedl,Regesten,vol.1,339–40,no.442).SeeEvelineBrugger,“Korneuburg1305– eineblutigeHostieunddieFolgen,”NichtineinemBett,20–26,downloadablehere: http://www.injoest.ac.at/upload/JudeninME05_2_1926.pdf(lastaccessedonApril8,2009);Miri Rubin,GentileTales:TheNarrativeAssaultonLateMedievalJews(NewHavenandLondon:Yale University Press, 1999), 57–65; Winfried Stelzer, “Am Beispiel Korneuburg: Der angebliche Hostienfrevel österreichischer Juden von 1305 und seine Quellen,” Österreich im Mittelalter: BausteinezueinerrevidiertenGesamtdarstellung,ed.WillibaldRosner.StudienundForschungenaus dem Niederösterreichischen Institut für Landeskunde, 26 (St. Pölten: Selbstverlag des Niederösterreichischen Institut für Landeskunde, 1999), 309–48, on this source, particularly 312–28;FritzPeterKnapp,DieLiteraturdesSpätmittelaltersindenLändernÖsterreich,Steiermark, Kärnten, Salzburg und Tirol von 1273 bis 1439. Geschichte der Literatur in Österreich von den AnfängenbiszurGegenwart,vol.2,part1(Graz:AkademischeDruckundVerlagsanstalt,1999), 106–07;Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”211–26,allwithfurtherliterature. Fromthevastliterature,seeFriedrichLotter,“HostienfrevelvorwurfundBlutwunderfälschung beidenJudenverfolgungenvon1298(‘Rintfleisch’)und1336–1338(‘Armleder’),”Fälschungenim Mittelalter, vol. 5: Fingierte Briefe. Frömmigkeit und Fälschung. Realienfälschungen. Monumenta GermaniaeHistoricaSchriften,vol.33.5(Hanover:HahnscheBuchhandlung,1988),533–83;Jörg R. Müller, “Erez gezerah – Land of Persecution: Pogroms Against the Jews in the regnum TeutonicorumFromc.1280to1350,”JewsofEurope,245–60. Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”216–19;Rubin,GentileTales,66–67. Keil, “Lebensstil und Repräsentation,” chapter 2; Toch, “Selbstdarstellung,” 181–82; Böhmer, “Bogenschütze,”330–34.

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insultingephitetoffautoriudeorum,“PatronoftheJews,”fromtheChurch.127The traditional stereotype of the ‘Wucherjude,’ the rapacious Jewish usurer, was repeatedinandpermeatedbyliteratureandiconographyalike,128posingadeathly threattogetherwiththeideasofJewishwellpoisoning,thebloodlibelaccusations andallegedhostwaferdesecrations.Althoughtherewerefewerpersecutionsin the second half of the fourteenth century than had been in the first half, the politicalandeconomicinterestsofrulers,estatesandmunicipalitiesalikeledtoa considerable worsening of the overall situation of the Jews in the Austrian territoriesduringthelastdecades.Therulers’,noblemen’s,andcities’ideasof profitingfromprosperingJewishcommunitieshadchangedfromsqueezingas muchmoneyaspossibleoutofthemtonotneedingthemanyfurtheratall,129 while the ecclesiastical climate had shifted from being at least ambiguous to clearlyandoutspokenlyantiJewish,furtherfosteringthosesentimentswithin both authority and the populace. From the devastating Viennese Geserah in 1420/1421thatendedJewishlifeintheduchyofAustriatotheexpulsionofthe JewsofSalzburgin1498,130Jewishexistencewasviolentlybroughttoanendinthe Austrianterritoriesinthecourseofthefifteenthcentury. InthebeautifulilluminationofanearlyfourteenthcenturyMahzor,awoman andamanduringaweddingscenearedepicted(seeFigure4).Theman,cladin acloakofanoffishwhiteanddarkgreengarments,wearsacornutedhat,andhis handreachesouttowardshispresumptivebride.Itisthefigureofthebridethat isunusualnotthegarmentsinreversedcolors,thecloakbrimmedwithfur,and thehintatathronewhichsheissittingon,buttheacrownonherheadandthe blindfoldacrosshereyescomeasasurprise.TheconnectionwiththeChristian iconography is clear, the reference to the numerous statues and depictions of

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WilhelmWattenbach,ed.,“KalendariumZwetlensea.1243–1458,”MonumentaGermaniaeHistorica Scriptores,vol.9,ed.GeorgHeinrichPertz(1851;Stuttgart:AntonHiersemann,1983),689–98;here 692;Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”173,219;GermaniaJudaica,vol.II/1,454;AlfredHaverkamp,“Die JudenverfolgungenzurZeitdesSchwarzenTodes,”ZurGeschichtederJudenimDeutschlanddes spätenMittelaltersundderfrühenNeuzeit,ed.AlfredHaverkamp.MonographienzurGeschichte desMittelalters,24(Stuttgart:AntonHiersemann,1981),27–93;here40,46–47,and60;Lohrmann, Judenrecht,144. SeethecontributionbyAlbrechtClasseninthisvolume,ontheexampleofHansSachs;further seeChristophCluse,“ZumZusammenhangvonWuchervorwurfundJudenvertreibungim13. Jahrhundert,”JudenvertreibungeninMittelalterundfrüherNeuzeit,ed.FriedhelmBurgard,Alfred Haverkamp,andGerdMentgen(Hanover:HahnscheBuchhandlung,1999),135–64;seealsothe overviewbyGiacomoTodeschini,“ChristianPerceptionsofJewishEconomicActivityinthe MiddleAges,”WirtschaftsgeschichtedermittelalterlichenJuden,1–16. Withanemphasisonthefinancialaspect,seeDavidNirenberg,“WarumderKönigdieJuden beschützenmusste,undwarumersieverfolgenmusste,”DieMachtdesKönigs:HerrschaftinEuropa vomFrühmittelalterbisindieNeuzeit,ed.BernhardJussen(Munich:C.H.Beck,2005),225–40and 390–92. Brugger,“Ansiedlung,”221–27,withreferencetofurtherliterature.

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Synagogadefeatedwithherblindfold,thebrokenstaffandthecrownslippingoff her head, Ecclesia triumphant with her crowned head watching her often somewhat warily (see Figures 1, 2, and 3). Here, the roles are reversed, the ChristiancharactersitswithhereyesblindfoldedandtheJewishonecansee,yet bothfiguresreachoutforeachother.Encounter,contact,andinteractionwere inevitable,neitherChristiannorJewishauthoritiesbeingabletohamperChristians andJewsmeetingonadailybasisintheirsharedlivingspaceofamedievalcity. Neithergroupbeingahomogenousone,JewsandChristiansalsomeetonseveral sociallevels,thepersonalmeetingleveloftenbeingmoredefinedbybelongingto acomparativelysimilarsocialclass.Theclosecontactallowedandfacilitatedthe exchangeofknowledge,themutualtranslationofculturalgoodsandhabits,and the general acquaintance with the respective other; but with changes in the economic, social, and ecclesiastical climate and by the will, or at least lack of interest,oftherulers,theseneighborlyrelationshipseruptedintoviolenceand expulsion. WhiletheacademicfocushaswidenedasfarasJewishhistoryisconcerned duringthepastdecadestoencompassbroader,andmoredifferent,questions,it is,inmanyregards,stilladesideratumforJewishhistorytobefullyintegrated intothehistoryofaregion,city,ortopicratherthantobetreatedinafootnoteor, atthebest,aseparatechapter.Jewsdoplayaroleinurbanhistory,claimingtheir spaceswithinmedievalcitiesandinteractinginmanywaysandonmanylevels, theirhistorybeing,inthecasedealtwithhere,asmuchurbanasitisAustrianand Jewish.

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Figure1:StatueofSynagoga,Bambergcathedral,ca.1230

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Figure2:StatueofSynagoga,Strasbourgcathedral,ca.1225

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Figure3:StatueofEcclesia,Strasbourgcathedral,ca.1225

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Figure4:Mahzorwithadepictionofabridalcouple,thebride,withthetypical itemsofEcclesia,hashereyesblindfolded,which,inChristiandepictions,isthe distinctivefeatureforSynagoga,ca.1330, (StaatsundUniversitätsbibliothekHamburg)

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Figure5:Decorationinthe“NiederösterreichischenRandleistenstil,”Missale, secondhalfoffourtheenthcentury(StiftsbibliothekKlosterneuburg,Cod.74)

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Figure6:SalesdeedofthemonasteryofKremsmünster(UpperAustria)with thecorrespondingHebrewcharterattachedtoit(StiftsarchivKremsmünster, 1305April29,Hebrew,andMay3,German)

RosaAlvarezPerez (SouthernUtahUniversity)

NextDoorNeighbors:AspectsofJudeoChristian CohabitationinMedievalFrance

ThecomplexrelationsJewsandChristiansdevelopedinNorthernFrancebetween theeleventhandthefourteenthcenturiespriortotheirfinalexpulsionin1394 revealthedistinctboundariesthatmappedanddemarcatedthepermissiblezones ofcontactandinteraction.Despitemultiplerestrictions,individualsfromthetwo divergentcommunitiesdidcrosstherealandvirtualbordersofsocialseparation andcreatedtemporal‘pockets’ofmoreviablerelationships.IfingeneralJewish women’sactivitiesduringthatperiodaffectedmostlythelocalcommerce,leaving minimalifanytracesintheFrencharchives,thefewdocumentsthatremaindo neverthelessattesttotheirinvolvement.ThisaspectofJudeoChristianrelations has often gone unnoticed until recently when Rebecca L. Winer and Elisheva Baumgarten began working respectively on Jewish women in Mediterranean FranceandSpain,andGermany.1WhileWinerfocusesonthecityofPerpignan, aCatalancityinthethirteenthcentury,IexaminetheNorthernFrenchJewish communities,socially,linguistically,andculturallyindependentfromthoseofthe south,whichareconsideredAshkenazisincetheysharedsimilartraditionswith GermanJews,2andunliketheirbrethrenintheSouth,thesecommunitieshavenot beenasabundantlystudiedanddocumented.3Theyalsoofferanexcellentbasis forastudyofthedevelopmentoftheeconomyandtheestablishmentofnumerous

RebeccaL.Winer,“SilentPartners?Women,Commerce,andtheFamilyinMedievalPerpignan c. 1250–1300,” Ph.D. diss., University of California Los Angeles, 1996; Elisheva Baumgarten, MothersandChildren:JewishFamilyLifeinMedievalEurope(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversity Press,2004);formoreinformationonurbanJewishlifeinGermany,seealsoBirgitWiedl’sarticle inthisvolume. SeeDavidShohet,TheJewishCourtintheMiddleAges:StudiesinJewishJurisprudenceaccordingto theTalmud,GeonicandMedievalGermanResponsa(NewYork:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1931). EliakimCarmoly,BibliographiedesIsraélitesdeFrance(Frankfurta.M.:G.Hess,1968),7.

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Jewishcommunitiesduringthatperiod.ItisthuswithinamicrocontextthatIwill explore interactions between the two communities that lived in such close proximity,andmoreparticularlytherecurrentexchangesbetweenwomenofthe twofaiths. Althoughtheterm“invisibility”isperhapsanoverusedclichéinrelationto women,itremainsrelevantformedievalJewishwomenwhohavebeentrapped forsolongina“fictionalrole,”livinginasocietythathighlyvaluedspirituality andstressedmalepreeminence.ThecommunitiesofNorthernFrancewereindeed renowned for their spiritual leaders in the fields of Talmudic studies, Biblical exegesis,andmysticalspeculations.4Womenthuswereinstructedtocomplywith BiblicalmatriarchalmodelsprescribedbyHalakha(religiouslaw).Insuchafervent environment, the more ordinary aspects of everyday life were not considered worthy of being recorded; therefore, the social and economic impact of these women,moreinclinedtobeinvolvedinsociallifethanthepiousmenoftheir communities,wasoftenhistoricallyoverlooked.Incomplyingwiththeconceptof zahkor(remembrance),amajortenetintraditionalJewishpracticesandteachings,5 therecordersofJewishevents,intheirownpeculiarway,obliteratedwomenand dissolved their past within the frame of the general historical discourse. The memoryofthingspastwasrecombinedtomirrorthecommunity’saspirationsand struggles,andtorecountmostlythedramaticmomentslivedbythecommunities. Jewishwomen’sabilitytomaneuverthusfellbetweenthecracksofsocialpractices andreligiousobligations,anddespitetheirrecognizedentrepreneurialabilities, theyremainedinasubservientposition. Undeniably,Jewishscholarshiphasremainedpredominantlythestudyofmale Jews,consideredthedefaultvalueoftheirculture.Withinsuchaperspective,the centralfigureoftheJewcouldonlybe“thebodywiththecircumcisedpenis—an imagecrucialtotheveryunderstandingoftheWesternimageoftheJewatleast sincetheadventofChristianity.”6WhileJewishStudieshavetakenasharpturn inthepastseveraldecadeswithnewresearchgeneratingnewperspectivesthat have greatly affected the outlook of this field of study, Jewish feminism only emerged as a new current in Jewish thought during the 1990s,7 generating an

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Robert Chazan, “Ephraim Ben Jacob’s Compilation of TwelfthCentury Persecutions,” Jewish QuarterlyReview84(1993–94):397–416,397. SarahSilbersteinSwartzandMargieWolfe,ed.,FromMemorytoTransformation:JewishWomen’s Voices(Toronto:SecondStoryPress,1998),9. SanderGilman,TheJew’sBody(NewYorkandLondon:Routledge,1991),4–5. See,tonameafew,thecontributionstoOnBeingaJewishFeminist,ed.SusannahHeschel(New York:SchockenBooks,1995);PaulaHyman,GenderandAssimilationinModernJewishHistory:The RoleandRepresentationofWomen(Seattle:UniversityofWashingtonPress,1995);JudithBaskined., JewishWomeninHistoricalPerspective(Detroit:WayneStateUniversityPress,1991);Bernadette

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animated debate that recontextualized the position and actual role of Jewish womenwithintheirowncommunities. Inmedievalsociety,Jewishcommunities,shapedbysocialisolation,hadcome toinhabitaninbetweenspace,aspacethatElizabethGroszdefinesasaposition ofpossiblemovementanddevelopment,butinterestinglyenoughalsoasaspace forcontestation.8Wemightalsocallita‘thirdspace.’Indeedintheabsenceof legitimacy,Jewishappropriationofspace,withinthecitiesandtowns,wasaway ofreclaimingspace,bothspatiallyandsymbolically.Buteventhisliminalpresence wasinitselfaformofexcessintheeyeofChristiansociety,andthedisruptive functionofthisexcesssignificantlyrenderedthesecommunitiesinassimilable.But inspiteofthedifficultiesofcoexistence,Jewsneverthelessinhabitedthemargins ofsociety,addingdiversitytourbanlifeinmedievalFrance. TheassertionoftheFrenchtosaphist9R.JacobTam(d.1171)that“lessthanten yearsagotherewerenomezuzot(mezuzah(sing.):encasedparchmentplacedonthe doorpostofJewishhomes)tobefoundinourkingdom”10ispuzzling.Doesthis statement emphasize the rapid expansion of Jewish communities, or was the famous Rabbi strictly concerned with laxity in the application of this specific religiouscommandment,assomescholarshavesuggested?Inanycase,during thatperiodoftransition(tenthtothetwelfthcentury),inthekingdomofFrance there was not only a rapid growth of the general population, but also the establishmentofmultipleJewishcommunities.11UrbanizationinNorthernFrance wasachievedmoresuddenlythanintheSouth,andasaresult,therewererapid adjustments that incorporated new social and economic realities.12 The demographicexplosionoftheJewishcommunitiesistobeviewedinparallelwith thegrowthoftherestofthepopulation.Moreover,inarelativelyshortperiodof time,theeconomicprogressoftheJewishcommunitiespromotedarapidadvance initsintellectualendeavors,andbythesecondhalfofthetwelfthcentury,there

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Brooten, Love Between Women: Early Christian Responses to Female Homoeroticism (Chicago: UniversityofChicagoPress,1996);AvivaCantor,TheJewishWoman,1900–1985:ABibliography (NewYork:BiblioPress,1987);JudithHauptman,RereadingtheRabbis:AWoman’sVoice(Boulder: WestviewPress,1998);RachelBiale,WomenandJewishLaw(NewYork:SchockenBooks,1984). ElizabethGrosz,ArchitecturefromtheOutside:EssaysonVirtualandRealSpace(Cambridge,MA: MIT,2001),92–93. TheTosaphistsaddedcommentstotheworkofRashiontheTalmud. Elliot Horowitz, “The Way We Were: Jewish Life in the Middle Ages,” Jewish History 1–3 (1986–1988):75–90;here77. BernhardBlumenkranz,Juifsetchrétiensdanslemondeoccidental(430–1096).SeriesEcolePratique desHautesÉtudes(France).SectiondesSciencesEconomiquesetSociales.ÉtudesJuives,2(Paris: Mouton&Co,1960). RobertIanMoore,TheFormationofaPersecutingSociety:PowerandDevianceinWesternEurope (950–1250)(Oxford:BasilBlackwell,1987),60.

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wereatleastfifteenimportantRabbinicalschoolsinFrance.13Yet,despitetheir growingrenownasreligiouscentersthatexercisedauthorityinmattersofcivil andceremoniallaw,thecommunitiesofNorthernFranceremainedsmallentities independentofeachotherthatmanagedtocompensatefortheirisolationwithin aChristianmajoritythroughanimportantnetworkofexchangesandanactive correspondence. WhileearlierJewsinFrancehadbeennotonlyurbandwellers,butalsorural landowners and wine producers, the situation started to change by the tenth century.Inamovementofgeneraldefection,Jewsprogressivelymigratedtothe growingtowns,abandoningruralsettlements.R.JosephBonfils,awellknown Frenchscholaroftheeleventhcentury,calleditajustifiedchangeinaresponsum addressedtotheJewsofTroyes.Hefurtherexplainedthatthepossessionoffields waslessprofitablethanmoneyinvestedincommerce,whichbroughtgreatprofits andcouldeasilybewithdrawnintimesofcrisis.14ThesalecontractsinwhichJews had previously appeared as buyers of land showed them thereafter mostly as sellers,achangethatacceleratedbetweentheeleventhandthetwelfthcenturies.15 Themovementtowardthecitiesandtownsclearlyappearsintheexamination of the topography of the cities of Paris, Sens, Troyes, Rouen, Senlis, Soissons, Auxerre,Chartres,Provins,Orléans,andEtampes,indicatingthatbytheeleventh centuryamajorityoftheJewslivedneartheroyalornoblepalaces.16Butifthe movewasoftenmotivatedbyeconomicreasons,ironicallythecitybecamelater onforJewsamandatoryplaceofresidence,sanctionedbytheroyalordinanceof April1289.ThisadditionalregulationforbadeJewshereaftertosettleinsmall townsandruralareas.17 TheregroupingofJewsinadministrativecenterswascertainlymandatedbythe desire to exercise a tighter control on these groups. If the serfs had been

Norman Golb, The Jews in Medieval Normandy: A Social and Intellectual History (Cambridge: CambridgeUniversityPress,1998),174. JacobMann,TheResponsaoftheBabylonianGeonimasaSourceofJewishHistory(Philadelphia:The DropsieCollegeforHebrewandCognateLearning,1918),319. SiméonLuce,“Cataloguedes documentsduTrésordesChartes,”RevuedesEtudesJuives1–2 (1880–81):15–72;here62.Aftertheexpulsionof1306,in1309Jewswerestillowningagricultural landinChampagne:“...heritagesdesJuifsd’AndelotsisàAndelotetaufinagedecetteville, consistantenchampscultivés,prairiesetvignobles...,”1309,29November,Paris(JJ41,folio 91,92no.156). BrigitteBedosRezak,“TheConfrontationofOralityandTextuality:JewishandChristianLiteracy inEleventhandTwelfthCenturyNorthernFrance,”SedRajna,Gabrielleed.,Rashi1040–1090: HommageàEphraïmE.Urbach(Paris:EditionsduCerf,1993),541–88;here551. GustaveSaige,LesJuifsduLanguedocantérieurementauXIVesiècle(Paris:A.Picard,1881)212,223. Amongotherinterdictions,PhiliptheBoldforbadeJewstoliveinsmalltowns(FondsDoat,tome XXXVII,folio197);thisdecreewasreiteratedbyPhiliptheFairinApril1291(FondsDoat,tome XXXVII,folio211).

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emancipatedonalargescalebythethirteenthcenturyintheregionofParis,18Jews hadbecomeservantsofthecrownbytheeleventhandtwelfthcenturies.They becametheking’sserfs,servicamere,Judeinostri,whichwas a special status,a socialcategoryinitself.Butthesedifferentappellationsconveythesamemeaning: inapositionofsubjectedobjects,Jewswerepoliticallyandeconomicallyexploited. Jewishbodieshadbecomethepropertyeitherofthekingoroffeudallords.19 Thefeudalsystem,arigidlytopdownstructure,establishedbetween950and 1150,20resultedinthefragmentationofpoliticalauthority.21Thelackofcentralized authorityinmedievalFrancegaveJewstheopportunitytoestablishautonomous communalentities.AlthoughTalmudiclawenabledJewishcommunalauthorities toexercisesocialcontrolwithpunitivemeasuresforthesuppressionofcrime,22 they only imposed minor sentences like the “bastonnade” and turned to the secularauthoritiesfortheapplicationofmajorpunishments.23Theperiodbetween theninthandtheeleventhcenturiesconstitutesacomparativelylenienttimein whichtherulesofsegregationwerenotsystematicallyenforced,andwithonly sporadicspurtsofviolence.24 TheinfluencethatJewishleaderscouldexertisillustratedbytheinformative case of Lyons, a city that, during the Carolingian period (780–900), was an importantcommercialcenteratthecrossroadsofItaly,Spain,andGermany.Its weekly market, held on Saturdays, had barred Jews from participating in commercialtransactions.Thisdisadvantageousconditionwasoverturnedbythe powerofaroyaldecreeofKingLouistheDebonair(778–840).Inthesecenturies preceding the slow centralization and strengthening of royal power, as Irving Agus asserts, Jews were in a stronger position to negotiate the terms and conditionsoftheirsettlementwiththelocalrulingpower.25

21 22

OlivierMartin,HistoiredelacoutumedelaprévôtéetvicomtédeParis,vol.1(Paris:ErnestLeroux, 1922),21. L’HistoiredesInstitutionsetdelavieprivéeenBourgogne,ed.JulesSimonnet(Dijon:Imprimerie Rabutot,1867),399–400(f.338).OneofthefirstmentionsofatransactioninwhichaJewwas tradedasanobjectoccurredin1196;aJewishfamilywasgivenasadonationtoacertainVigier, butmoreoftenJewsweretheobjectsofprofitableactsofsale. RobertFossier,“Remarquessurl’étudedescommotionssocialesauxXIeetXIIesiècles,”Cahiers deCivilisationMédiévale16–1(1973):45–50;here45. OlivierMartin,42. RabbiMeirofRothenburg:HisLifeandHisWorksasSourcesfortheReligious,LegalandSocialHistory ofGermanyintheThirteenthCentury,ed.IrvingA.Agus(Philadelphia:DropsieCollege,1947),55n (ResponsumofR.JosephBonfils,L423). SimonSchwartzfuchs,Kahal:LaCommunautéjuivedel’Europemédiévale(Paris:Maisonneuveet Larose,1986),105–06. JacobKatz,ExclusivenessandTolerance:StudiesinJewishGentileRelationsinMedievalandModern Times(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1961),9. IrvingAbrahamAgus,UrbanCivilizationinPreCrusadeEurope:AStudyofOrganizedTownLifein NorthwesternEuropeduringtheTenthandEleventhCenturiesBasedontheResponsaLiterature(New

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Communities come into existence and find expression, as Elizabeth Grosz argues,notonlythroughtherecognitionandestablishmentofcommoninterests, values,andneeds,butalsothroughthemarginalgroupstheyreject.26Thesigns definingthese‘others’strengthenthestabilityofthecenter.Christiansocietyhad circumscribed the integration of Jews to liminal spaces, to better insure their control.Thisheldtrueevenintheexperienceofdailylife,inthemereactofliving andmovingacrossacity.AsarthistorianMichaelCamilleastutelyremarked,the medieval town’s signs were not only cut in stone but also marked on bodies movingthroughspaceliketheJewishbodywithitsyelloworredfeltfabric,27the only piece of bright color it was allowed to wear. Jews were not the only individualstoharborasignofhumiliation;prostitutesandleperswerealsothe bearers of signs that singularized them and set them apart from mainstream society.Anothergroupalsoworeatemporarymark,amorepositivesign,theone thepilgrimsproudlydisplayedontheirreturnfromanarduousanddangerous journeytoaholyplace.Butifforothergroupsthesignwasthemanifestationof anindividualphysicaldegradationorasignofdistinctiveness,theJewishlabel wastheoutwardmarkofarejectedgroup. Officiallytoleratedaswitnessofthefaith,thedisruptiveandculturallymarked categoryofJewsservedasthecatalystforChristianculturalfears.28TheChristian preponderant and central position in medieval society was certainly due to refusingandmarginalizingJewishpresence.TheantiJewishsentimentsthatwere stirred up beginning with the First Crusade denote how medieval sensibility channeled by Churchinfluenceandpressurestronglyreactedtoandopposed diversityinallitsmanifestations.Coexistencewithaculturalotherconstituteda challengeandamenacethatcompelledChristianstoresorttoviolenceasaradical wayofnegotiatingdifference. FearofJewishpollutionwasadominantconcernforChristians,anditdrovethe authorities, secular and religious, to punish Jewish transgressors. As several Parliamentrecordsreveal,thepopulationwaseagertoensurethatJewsdidnot commitinfractions;forthatmatterindividualsdidnothesitatetotakejusticeinto theirownhandsandadministerapromptpunishmentbybeating,forinstance, JewishwomencontraveningtheChristianinterdictionofJewsbathinginrivers.29

26 27

York:YeshivaUniversityPress,1965),17. Grosz,ArchitecturefromtheOutside,152. MichaelCamille,“SignsoftheCity,Place,PowerandPublicFantasyinMedievalParis,”Medieval Practices of Space, ed. Barbara A. Hanawalt and Michal Kobialka. Medieval Cultures, 23 (MinneapolisandLondon:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,1999),1–36;here28. JeremyCohen,LivingLettersoftheLaw:IdeasoftheJewsinMedievalChristianity(Berkeley,Los Angeles,andLondon:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1999). SeeLéonBrunchwicg,“LesJuifsd’Angersetdupaysangevin,”RevuedesEtudesJuives28–29 (1894):229–44;here239.JewswereforbiddentobatheintheriverMaine;Georges,Pon,Recueil

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ThiscouldhappeninplaceswhereJewishwomeninsmallcommunitieslacking the necessary funds for the construction of a mikveh (ritual bathhouse) were compelled to resort to rivers for their monthly cleansing ritual to fulfill the religiouscommandment(nidah).Whatcanbeperceived,atfirst,asanunusual public activity for Jewish women was certainly not an uncommon practice, althoughitwasstrictlyforbiddentoJews. The Church, as the main controller of social homogenization, assumed an ambiguousandcontradictorypositionregardingJewishcommunities.Although initsofficialdiscoursetheChurchpromotedtolerancetowardaminoritythatwas partofthe‘symbolicorder,’inrealitytherewasnotadefinitesenseofacceptance, andJewishinclusionintosocietywaslimited.Thefirstlegalprescriptionimposing onJewsthewearingofamarkofrecognitiongoesbacktotheFourthLateran decreeof1215.30 Inthefollowingyearsanddecades,additionalprovincialsynods,royaldecrees, andtownordinancesenforcedthisdecreeinavarietyofmodulationsuntiltheir expulsion from the kingdom of France. However, it remains unclear in what precise periods, and to what extent in what cities and towns, this law was effectivelyimposedontheJewishpopulation.QuiteafewcasesinFrenchofficial recordsattesttoanddocumenttheviolenceJewsbroughtonthemselveswhen theytransgressed againstthisregulation,andaccordingtotheserecords,men ratherthanwomenweregenerallytheonessubjected,tovariousdegrees,toinsult, assault,andtheftbyindividualsiftheywererecognizedasJews31inthetown’s streetsandnotwearingtheprescribedbadge.32Itisalsotruethatinmostcasesa beardedappearancetargetedmorementobesubjectedtoaninquisitivegaze,to besingledout,andtobeexposedtoabuseandviolence.

des documents de l’Abbaye de FontaineleComte: XIIe–XIIIe siècles (Poitiers: Société des archives historiquesduPoitou,1982)T.25:“shewasbathingintheriverClainatPoitiers.” CharlesJosephHefele,HistoiredesConcilesd’aprèslesdocumentsoriginaux(Paris:LetouzeyetAné, 1913),vol.5:Can.68,386;itisonlyfromthecouncilofNarbonnein1227thattherouellebecame canonicallyacharacteristicJewishsign. SaraLipton,ImagesofIntolerance(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1999).Asshepointsout theuseofthepointedhatandbeardsasattributesinmedievalartdatesbacktotheeleventh century and by the thirteenth was widespread and conventional, 16,19; see also Bernhard Blumenkranz,LeJuifmédiévalaumiroirdel’artchrétien(Paris:EtudesAugustiniennes,1966);arare instanceofamention“unhabitjuif”stolenbyVivantdeMontréalinaletterofpardonafterthe revoltinParisin1380.RogerKohn,LesJuifsdelaFranceduNord,94. JulesViarded.,LesJournauxduTrésordePhilippeIVLeBel(Paris:ImprimerieNationale,1940),XVI. Jewswerethepropertyoftheking.SaintLouis’Ordinanceof18June1269prescribedJewsto wearabadgemadeofscarletfabricorfelt.Iftheywereaccusedbyapasserby,theycouldbefined upto10poundsandtheir(specifiedwithamasculinepronoun)outergarmentwasconfiscated andgiventothedenouncer.

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SocialseparationbetweenChristianandJewswaspromotedandencouragedby theChurch,butmandatoryresidenceonlybecamecustomarybytheendofthe thirteenthcentury.WealthyJewishfamiliescouldstillcircumventtheinterdiction andliveamongChristiansiftheypaidanadditionaltax.Segregationvariedin different periods and locations, but Jewish quarters were not exclusively populatedbyJews;Christianslivedinthesamebuildings,oronthesamestreets. AnexaminationoftheregistersoftheChâteletfortheperiodbetween1389and 1392clearlyatteststoJewishChristianurbancoexistence.Inseveralinstances, Christianindividualsarrestedforpettycriminaloffensesaredescribedasliving inorattheperipheryoftheJewishquarter,asinthefollowing: EnQuareismedernièrementpassévolerentdansunhostelunepairededrapsdelit ...lesvendirentàLorencelaPicarde,demourantauboutdelarueausJuifs.33 [DuringLentenseason,theystolefromaninnapairofbedsheets...(and)soldthem toLorencethePicard,livingattheendoftheJew’sstreet]

Inthisapparentlystrictlyinformativenarrative,thescribejuxtaposestheillicit activities of Lorence, a Christian woman, and urban space within the Jewish quarter.Intentionalornot,thecommentneverthelesssuggestivelyestablishesa linkbetweentheshadytransactionsandtheirplaceofoccurrence.Noaccusation is made but the suspicion is aroused, and if Jewish individuals were indeed occasionally implicated in trafficking in stolen property,34 it was generally understoodbyChristiansthatthispracticewascommon. GilbertDahancontendsthattherewerenotypicalFrenchJewishquartersin medievalFrancetownsandfurthermorethatthereisnocommonhistoryleftfor these quarters.35 Permanence, a necessary factor to retrace culture, was for the Northerncommunitiesverylimited,theJewishinhabitantsbeingeasilyuprooted by expulsions that brought in their wake a homogenous Christian identity. NeverthelessJews,operatingoutsidethesocialorder,tendedtocongregatefor religious purposes within a short distance of a synagogue and a mikveh. They followedthepatternofmedievalurbanoccupationofspacewherestreetstypically regroupedthemembersofthesamecorporationorindividualssharingsimilar interests.ThetaxrollforthecityofParisfortheyear1292isagoodindexofthis

CharlesLahure,ed.,RegistreCriminelduChâteletdeParis(du6septembre1389au18mai1392), 2vols.,(Paris:CharlesLahure,1861)vol.1377(August151390). Edgard Boutaric, ed., Actes du Parlement de Paris. 2 vols. (Paris: Plon, 1863–1867), 2283 “Ordonnancedéfendantauxchrétiensetauxchrétiennesdedemeurerdanslesmaisonsdesjuifs pourlesserviretauxjuifsdelesygarder”(OlimIIfol.50ro). GilbertDahan,“QuartierjuifetruedesJuifs,”ArtetarchéologiedesJuifsenFrancemédiévale,ed. BernhardBlumenkranz(Toulouse:Privat,1980),15–32;21–28.

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phenomenon.36TheJewishtaxpayers,listedinaseparatesectionattheendofthe roll,livedwithintheconfinesofafewstreetsofthecity. InalaterdepictionofJewishcommunities’quarters,NicolasDelamaregivesus adescriptionofmedievalParis,informationhegatheredfromTheChronicleofSt. Denis,knownasTheGreatChronicle.37HenotesthatJewswerehousedinvery limitedquarters,inhastilybuilthousesofpoorquality,andinnarrowanddark streetsclosedatnight.38ThereducedspaceavailablehadinfactforcedJewsto adopt a vertical distribution of dwellings. In Northern France, Germany, and England,mostJewishcommunitieswereverysmallinnumberandrepresented atmost1or2%ofacity’spopulation.39Eventhoughthepercentagewassmall,the numberofindividualsandfamiliesauthorizedtoresideinatownwaslimitedand strictlyregulated.40Eachcommunitywasempoweredtoenforcetheseregulations, grantingordenyingpermissiontonewcomerstosettle. Delamare’sdescriptionofamedievalJewishquarterdoesnotdiffermuchfrom descriptionsofotherpopulatedquartersinanygiventownorcity.Therefore, livingincrampedquartersanddarknarrowstreetswascommonplace,andthe deplorablesanitaryconditionsofthecitieswerenotorious.PhilipAugustuswas offendedbytheloathsomesmellofthestreetsofParis,whichrequiredeveryyear alevyofahundredthousandfrancstoremovethemud.Theywere“...noires, puantesd’uneodeurinsupportableauxétrangers,quipiqueetçafaitsentirà3ou 4lieuesàlaronde.”[black,smellingofanodorwhichisunbearabletoforeigners, whichoffendsandcanbesmelledupto3or4leagues.]TheKingorderedacertain numberofstreetstobepavedtoreducethepestilence.41 The majority of Jews became town dwellers until their final expulsion, but frequentlytheonlyphysicaltraceofJewishpresenceleftinanygiventownisa streetharboringthename“rueauxjuifs.”ThetermVicusJudaeorumthatRomans usedtodesignatetheJewishquarterwasreducedinmedievaltimestovicusand theexpression“settlementoftheJews”graduallycametobetranslatedinto“rue aux juifs,” or simply “la Juiverie.”42 Every expulsion was accompanied by confiscationandresaleofJewishproperty,andwitheverydepartureanotherlayer

38 39

40 41

HerculeGéraud,ParissousPhilippeleBel:d’aprèsunmanuscritcontenant“lerôledelataille”imposée surleshabitantsdeParisen1292(Paris:Crapelet,1837). JulesViard,ed.,LesGrandesChroniquesdeFrance,8vols.(Paris:Sociétédel’HistoiredeFrance, 1920). NicolasDelamare,TraitédePolice,4vols.,(Paris:MichelBrunet,1722),vol.1,301. Salo W. Baron, “The Jewish Factor in Medieval Civilization,” Facets of Medieval Judaism, ed. SeymourSieggel(NewYork:ArnoPress,1973),1–48;here6. EdgardBoutaric,Actes,no.1948. HenriSauval,Histoireetrecherches:LesAntiquitésdelavilledeParis,2vols.,(Paris:C.Moette,1724), vol. 1, 187. For a further discussion of this topic from an earlymodern perspective, see the contributiontothisvolumebyAllisonP.Coudert. Golb,TheJewsinMedievalNormandy,75.

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ofJewishpresencewasscrapped,evenerased.Newoccupantswereinstalled,new activities followed, displacing Jewish memory. Thus, when Philip Augustus expelledtheJewsin1182,inParisalonethesynagogueandatotaloffortytwo houses, twentyfour in rue de la Pelleterie and eighteen in rue de la Vieille Draperie,43wereconfiscatedbytheroyalofficersandsoldtomerchantsordonated asgiftsbythekingtotheChurchortoloyalroyalofficers.44 ThepoliticallandscapeofmedievalFrancewasfarfromhomogeneousandits fragmentationcausedJewstoliveunderdifferentrulesandregulationsaccording to the authority in place. In a changed political and urban scene,45 Jews were readmittedtoParisin1198,buttheywerenotallowedtoreoccupytheirancient quarterintheheartofthecity.Thistime,theywererelegatedtothenewlimitsof thecityclosetothefortifications,evenoutsidethewalls,inaquarternamedLes Champeaux.ThedecentralizationoftheJewishhabitatwasinpartcompensated forbythefactthattheexpansionofthecapitalhadpromptedthedevelopmentof new axes of trade. Reestablished in Paris, Jews organized themselves in two separatecommunities:onemorepopulated46andwellorientedtowardbusiness ontherightbankoftheSeine;theother,ontheleftbankthatwasthedomainof intellectualswheremembersoftheschoolofSaintVictorventuredtoseekthe HebraicaveritasfromJewishmasters.47 In this more dispersed habitat, Jews had two synagogues, a mill, and two cemeteries.48Thiswasaprivilegedsituation,however,thatsoonwouldhavetobe forfeited.Indeed,in1270,PhiliptheBoldforbadeJews,regardlessofthesizeof theircommunity,tohavemorethanonesynagogueandonecemeterypertown.49 Jewswerealsospecificallyforbiddentoprayorsinginaloudmannerduringtheir services.Thisparticularordinancewasenforcedintheyear1288inParis,where

43 44

BernhardBlumenkranz,JuifsenFrance,écritsdispersés(Paris:DiffusionBellesLettres,1989),104. HenriGross,transl.MoïseBloch,GalliaJudaica.DictionnairegéographiquedelaFranced’aprèsles sources rabbiniques (Paris: Librairie Cerf, 1897), 501, Philip Augustus gave to his cupbearer, Rainald,thehalleaubleoftheJewishquarter;seealsoLéopoldDelisle,CataloguedesActesde PhilippeAuguste(Paris:Durand,1856).Laterin1311,PhiliptheFairgavetohiscoachmanthe schoolsruedelaTacherie,seeHenriSauval,Histoireetrecherches:LesAntiquitésdelavilledeParis, vol.1,21. John W. Baldwin, “La Décennie décisive: les années 1190–1203 dans le règne de Philippe Auguste,”RevueHistorique266(1981):311–37. RobertAnchel,LesJuifsdeFrance(Paris:Janin,1946),65–66;Asurveyofthetaxrollof1292clearly showsthatthevastmajorityofthepopulationinParislivedontherightbankofthecity. IsidoreLoeb,“LaControversede1240surleTalmud,”RevuedesEtudesJuives1–2(1880–1881): 247–61;here249. AryehGraboïs,“UnCentreintellectueljuifàParissurlarivegaucheauxXIIe–XIIIesiècles?” RevuedesEtudesJuives131(1972):223–24. MichelRoblin,“LesCimetièresjuifsdeParisauMoyenAge,”ParisetIledeFranceMemoires4 (1952):7–20.

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the Jewish community was condemned to pay a fine of three hundred parisi poundsforbreakingtheregulation.50 Theomnipresentandhauntingfigureofthemoneylenderandusurerappearing in Christian exempla51 points to the means of employment that many Jews did indeedturntosincemanyotherpossibletradesandoccupationswereforbidden tothem.However,againstthegenerallyacceptedassertionthatJewswerenot artisans,namesofthatperiodareoftenproofthattheywereborrowedfromthe professionthesemenwerepracticing,likeCorrigarius(makerofstrapsorgirdles), Vaginarius (gainier),52 or Lotin (peddler).53 With no access to the crafts that providedforawidermarketprotectedbythepowerfulguilds,54theyhadtherefore torelyonChristianartisansandworkersforgoodsandservicesinwhichthey held no mastery, such as masonry for the construction of houses and their upkeep.55 Jewish craftsmen tended to supply for the internal needs of their communitiesintradesmorerelatedtoreligiousregulations,likebutchers,bakers, winemakers,barbers,soapmakers,embroiderers,tallitandtzizitweavers,scribes, andbookbinders.56Jewishcommunitieswereabletocircumventobstaclesand managedtohaveanimpactoncityaffairs. Moneylendingandusuryconstitutethemostwidelyknownaspectofregular and repeated interactions between the Christian and Jewish communities of

51 52

ThéophileCochard,LaJuiveried’Orléans(1895;Marseille:LaffitteReprints,1976),115;(Bailliede Paris 1288: “De emendâ Judaeorum pro eo quod nimis alte cantaverunt, IIIe lib. Parisis”); apparentlyitwasnotanisolatedcomplaint:thePrecheursMineursfromTroyescomplainedto PhiliptheLongthatJewsprayedinaloudvoiceintheirsynagogueandthattheydisturbedthem. Frowald Gil Hüttenmeister, “Synagogues et cimetières en Champagne médiévale,” Rashi 1040–1990:HommageàEphraïmUrbach,ed.GabrielleSedRajna(Paris:LesEditionsduCerf,1993), 579–85;here583. JacquesLeGoff,LaBourseetlavie:économieetreligionaumoyenâge(Paris:Hachette,1986). MichelRoblin,“LesCimetièresjuifsdeParisaumoyenâge,”ParisetIledeFrance(Mémoires)4 (1952):7–20;here14–15. P.PiétressondeSaintAubin,“DocumentinéditrelatifauxjuifsdeTroyes,”LeMoyenAge31 (1920–1921):84–86;here85.(Arch.del’Aube7H.136fo131,Helieus,filiusDouceronlajuyve). ForprotectionagainstJewishinterference,seeEtienneBoileau,LeLivredesmétiers.:“Ilestordené quenulemestresseneouvrièredumestiernepeuventachetersoiedejuys,defileresses,nedenul autre,forsdemarcheanztantseulement...“[100;Itisthelawthatnomistress,orfemaleworker inthetradecanbuysilkfromJews,notfromspinners,notfromanyoneelsebut,frommerchants]; “NosjuyfdelaviledeParisnepeutnenedoitachetersaieescruenetainte,qu’elequeelesoit, secen’estdemarcheantconvegnableetsouffisant,nequenuinenulenepuisseacheternevendre bourreedesoie,seelen’estboulie”[378;OurJewsfromthecityofPariscannotbuyrawordyed silknomatterwhichtypeexceptfromasuitableandadequatemerchant,norcananyonebuyor sellsilkifitisnotboiled]. AryehGraboïs,“LaSociétéurbainechrétiennedanslaFranceseptentrionaleduXIesiècle,vue àtraverslesResponsadeRashi,”Revuehistorique296(1996):241–52;here250. MarkWischnitzer,AHistoryofJewishCraftsandGuilds(NewYork:JonathanDavidPublishers, 1965),xx–xxi.

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NorthernFrance.Constantmonetarydemandsfromthetwelfthcenturyonwere certainlyoneofthefactorsallowingnumerousJewishwomentheopportunityto participatealongsideofJewishmenintheeconomicsphereoftheregion.Forthat matter,asZeevFalkargues,FrancoAshkenaziJewishlawaccordedtobusiness womenthecapacitytocontractontheirownbehalfandtoappearincourtwithor withoutrepresentation.Inamoneysparseeconomy,theintercommunalservice that Jewish moneylenders provided to all groups in society was a valuable commodity; however, their position at “the complex intersection of temporal, culturalandsocialfactors”57exposedthemandallthemembersofthecommunity tomanipulationandexploitation.Inotherwords,Jews,ownedintheirbodiesand markedforrecognition,werecommodifiedbythepoliticalandsocialstructures inplace.58 Althoughrabbisarguedindefenseofmoneylending,thefollowingexemplum stillpresentsthisactivityas“cequiétaitdetestable.” Unefemmesortitdelasynagogueavantquelacommunautén’eutfinideprier.Elle envoyasaservanteàsonmaripourluidemanderlaclé.Lorsqu’ilsortitàsontourde lasynagogue,ildemandaàsonépousepourquoielleavaiteubesoindesclés.Elle répondit que des chrétiennes étaient venues chercher leurs objets engagés parce qu’ellesdevaientalleràl’église.Lemariluiditqu’elleavaiteutortdesortirdela synagogueetd’envoyerchercherlesclésafindeleurremettrelesobjetsengagés,avec lesquelsellesiraientàl’église.Elleavaitfaitpassercequiétaitdétestableavantcequi étaitsacré.59 [Awomanleftthesynagoguebeforethecommunityhadfinishedpraying.Shesenther servanttoherhusbandtoaskforthekey.Whenhecameoutofthesynagogue,he askedhiswifewhyshehadneededthekeys.SheansweredthatChristianwomenhad comelookingfortheirpledgesbecausetheyhadtogotochurch.Thehusbandtoldher thatshehadbeenwrongtoleavethesynagogueandaskforthekeysinordertoreturn their pledges with which they would go to church. She had put that which is detestablebeforethatwhichwassacred.]

LikehisChristiancontemporary,CaesariusofHeisterbach,RabbiJehudahthe Hasid,inhisSeferHasidim,usedtheexemplumforteaching,andoftendrawshis tales from a common reservoir of Germanic and other folkloric tales. This exemplumservestodemonstratetheinabilityofwomentoseparatematerialand

ArjunAppadurai,“Introduction:CommoditiesandthePoliticsofValue,”CommoditiesinCultural Perspective,ed.ArjunAppadurai(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1986),15. Cf. Diane Peters Auslander, “Victims or Martyrs: Children, AntiSemitism, and the Stress of ChangeinMedievalEngland,”ChildhoodintheMiddleAgesandtheRenaissance:TheResultsofa ParadigmShiftintheHistoryofMentality,ed.AlbrechtClassen(BerlinandNewYork:Walterde Gruyter,2005),105–34. JudahbenSamuel,SeferHassidim,trans.RabbiEdouardGourévitch(Paris:EditionsduCerf,1988), 332(Pa.465;Bol.783).

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spiritualmatters.ItrevealsthatbecauseJewishwomenarenottimeboundfor prayerasmenare,andtheirparticipationintheliturgicalritualofthesynagogue islimitedtoamorepassivepresenceprayinginsilence,theyaremorelikelytobe awareofandaccommodatetotheneedsofChristiansborrowers.Thiswomanis indeedmoreopentothepleasofChristianwomen,whichmightsuggestthata certaincomplicityandunderstandingexistedbetweenwomenofdifferentfaiths workingtogetheronadailybasis. The passage also reveals a very interesting perspective, the Jewish woman’s willingnesstoreturnhomeandretrievethepledges.Trustplaysanimportantpart sincethepledgesarereturnedtotheborrowersforashortperiodoftimewiththe expectationthattheywillbebroughtback.Transconfessionalcommunication onlyseemspossiblebetweenwomen.Thehusbandonlyintervenestoscoldhis wifeforinterruptingherprayers,showingtotalindifferencetoChristianwomen. Argumentsoverhighinterestonmoneylendingwerecertainlyacontributing factortourbanviolenceandintensifiedconflictsbetweenthetwocommunities. InoneoftherarerecordedcasesofaJewishhomicidethattookplaceinMontargis (intheOrléanaisregioninlatefourteenthcentury),afightstartedbetween,onthe onehand,twounnamedJewishwomenmentionedasthewivesofEliotSalman and Moreau du Bourc, and Valenète, a Christian woman, on the other. When Moreau,oneofthehusbands,joinedthefight,thedisproportionbetweenthetwo sidesledtothedeathofValenète.Homicidecommittedcollectivelybyagroup wasfrequentinmedievalsociety,wherethebondsofmutualdependenceamong familymembersandkinwerestrong.ThethreeJewswereimprisonedandtheir belongings(as‘Jewsoftheking’)immediatelyconfiscatedbyroyalofficials.60The cause of the quarrel remains unknown, although the mention of “spouses of moneylenders”inthecourtstatementmightbeanindicationthatmoneywasthe trigger. GérardNahon61andWilliamChesterJordan,inhisstudiesofPicardrecords from mid twelfthcentury (Supplementum: Queremoniae contra judaeos), have emphasizedtheroleofJewishwomeninlendingtransactions.Theyaffirmedthat onethirdofthelendingbusinessinthatregionwasinJewishwomen’shands,thus puttingthemincloseanddailycontactwiththeChristianpopulation.62Withfew exceptions,Jewishwomenmoneylendersdidnotseemtohavehadcontemporary

ThéophileCochard,LaJuiveried’OrléansduVIeauXVesiècles,sonhistoireetsonorganisation(1895; Marseille:LaffitteReprints,1976),149–50. SeeGérardNahon,“LeCréditetlesJuifsdanslaFranceduXIIIesiècle,”Annales(ESC)24(1969): 1121–48; “Pour une géographie administrative des juifs dans la France de SaintLouis (1226–1270),”RevueHistorique253–254(1975):305–44. William Chester Jordan, “JewishChristian Relations in MidThirteenth Century France: An UnpublishedEnquetefromPicardy,”RevuedesEtudesJuives138(1979):47–55.

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Christian counterparts,63 and for unclear reasons, these medieval Jewish businesswomenleftfewercontractsthanmen.64 As Roger Khon asserts, it is true that for the most part according to the documents women dealt with small loans, probably preferring pledges to contractualloansthatnecessitatednotaryfees.Theborrowers—peasants,artisans, and workers—were often in need of small shortterm funds, and the only possessionstheycoulddepositassecuritywerecookingvessels,bedding,and clothingitems.Intherecurrentpatternthatemerged,Christiansattemptedon manyoccasionstorejectandeliminateJewsonlytodiscoverthattheyweretoo dependentuponthem.Andwhenfinallytheydecidedtogetridofthemin1394, itwassimplybecausethepracticeofmoneylendinghadbeenincreasinglyused byChristiansnolongerfearingtheChurch.65 This visible and documented aspect of Jewish participation in the economic sectorconcealedtherolethatJewishwomenplayed.ThetaxrollofthecityofParis for the year 1292 lists a total of 125 Jewish taxpayers, one of the largest communitiesinthekingdomofFrance.Fiftyfivearewomen,representingforty fourpercentoftheJewishtaxpayers.Whileacloselookatthesenumbersreveals thatsixteenpercentofthemwererecordedinconjunctionwiththeirhusbandsand thuswithoutanymentionoftheirownnames,twentyfivewomenarerecorded alone.And,inarareaddition,twowomenarementionedwithatradeoccupation, Joielafarinière(themiller)andSarrelamirgesse(thephysician).66 Violencewasacommonaspectofurbanlifeatalllevelsofsociety,andwithin that frame, violence among Jews and Christians was not only triggered by religiousresentments,butalsothroughdailycontacts.67Proximityanddifferences

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Kenneth R. Stow, Alienated Minority: The Jews of Medieval Latin Europe (Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress,1992),203. RogerKohn,LesJuifsdelaFranceduNorddanslasecondemoitiédu14èmesiècle(Louvain:E.Peeters, 1988),96. ForGermanscholarshiponJewishcommunities,seeGerdMentgen,HansJörgGilomen,Markus Wenninger and Michael Toch, Die Juden im mittelalterlichen Reich. Enzyklopädie deutscher Geschichte,44(Munich:R.Oldenbourg,1998);AlfredHaverkamp,Gemeinden,Gemeinschaftenund KommunikationsformenimhohenundspätenMittelalter:FestgabezurVollendungdes65.Lebensjahres, ed.FriedhelmBurgard,LukasClemens,andMichaelMatheus(Trier:Kliomedia,2002);Robert Chazan,MedievalJewryinNorthernFrance:APoliticalandSocialHistory(Baltimore:JohnHopkins UniversityPress,1973).IamgratefultoBirgitWiedlforpointingoutthesestudiestome;seealso TheJewsofMedievalWesternChristendom,1000–1500(Cambridge,UK,NewYork: Cambridge UniversityPress,2006);JosephShatzmiller,ShylockReconsidered:Jews,MoneylendingandMedieval Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990). See also the contributions to German LiteratureBetweenFaiths:JewandChristianatOddsandinHarmony,ed.PeterMeister.Studiesin GermanJewishHistory,6(Oxford,Bern,etal.:PeterLang,2004). HerculeGéraud,ParissousPhilippeleBel(Paris:Crapelet,1837),178. Forfurtherstudiesonthistopic,seethecontributionstoViolenceinMedievalCourtlyLiterature:A Casebook, ed. Albrecht Classen. Routlededge Medieval Casebooks (New York and London:

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sharpenedgrievancesandresultedinfrequentquarrels,asFrenchrecordsattest. Quarrelsomewomensquabblingwithneighborsandsusceptibleto“chaudecolle” wereanurbanreality.Inoneoftherarecasesofrecordedfemaleviolence,which tookplaceinDijoninAugust1388,Pérenote,wifeofJacquot(orPerinot)lePitoul, inflicted serious injury on a Jewish woman whose identity is reduced to the mentionofhermaritalstatus.Theviolentgestureisvividlydescribed,butthe causeoftheattackisleftout: ...qu’elleinjurieusementgitapleinuneponoicledechauxtouzchauxsurlevisaige delafemmeSauleminleJuifdontayeuetaydesempôlesauvisaige.68 [...thatshethrewahandfulofhotlimeatthefaceofthewifeofSaulemintheJew injuringher,whichshehadandhasblistersonherface.]

Pérenotewasarrestedandjailed.Shewascondemnedtopayafineofonefranc, asentencedisproportionatelylowforsuchaninjury.Thefineismodestindeed, butthesentencehadacknowledgedthatthewomanwaspoorandthatshehad already spent three days in jail. As a common practice, violence between individuals that did not end in death was sanctioned by compensation or the payment of a fine. Medieval law applied harsher penalties only when private propertywasviolated. However,contrarytocommonbelief,interactionswerenotalwaysfilledwith violentacts.Womenfrombothcommunitiesalsosharedacertaincomplicityin everydaylife,oftenturningtoeachotherforthehelp,assistanceandexchangeof servicesthatJudithBennettlabeledas“femalesociability.”69Forinstance,ona regularbasisfemaleneighborsordomesticservantshelpedJewishfamiliestokeep Shabbat observance. French rabbis, more lenient according to certain sources, permittednonJewstokeepfiresburninginJewishhousesduringthecoldwinter months, an act that represented a Shabbat violation.70 The employment of ChristianservantsandwetnursesbyJewishfamilieswasacommonpracticein spite of the Church’s interdiction, and it is an important area of interaction between women of the two communities. It opened, as Elisheva Baumgarten affirms,“acomplexworldofinteractions,”asubjectsheextensivelydevelopsin herstudyofJewishfamilylifeinNorthernEurope.71

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Routledge,2004).SeealsothecontributionbyBirgitWiedlinthepresentvolume. RogerKohn,LesJuifsdelaFranceduNord,178. Judith M. Bennett and Amy M. Froide, “A Singular Past,” Singlewomen in the European Past 1250–1800,ed.JudithM.BennettandAmyM.Froide(Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvania Press,1999),1–37;here25. JacobKatz,The“ShabbesGoy”:AStudyinHalakhicFlexibility,trans.YoelLerner(Philadelphiaand NewYork:TheJewishPublicationSociety,1989),57–66. ElishevaBaumgarten,MotherandChildren:JewishFamilyLifeinMedievalEurope,2004.

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Atalecontainedinaletterofpardon(datedApril1375)alsoillustratesfemale complicity.ThewellanchoredpopularbeliefthatJews,menandwomen,with their knowledge of Hebrew, could cast magic spells and make amulets72 encouraged a Christian woman abandoned by her husband, Adam Bigon d’Auxerre,toturntoaJewishwomanforhelp,hopingtobringbackherhusband with“poudresetcharmes,”buttheschemewasuncoveredandthetwowomen werearrestedandimprisoned.ThebailiffofSens,declaringthatthespellswere inoffensiveandnot“chosedontmorssepeutensuivre,”73dismissedthecaseand thetwowomenwerepromptlyreleased. CohabitationwithChristiansnotonlywasasourceoffriction,tensions,and violence,butalsopresentedapossibilityofmoreintimatecontactsbetweenJews andChristians.However,ifinterrelationswereinevitable,sexualinterrelations —the transgression par excellence—represented a social disruption that both communitiescondemnedandtriedtopreventwithaseriesofpunitivemeasures. InthatsocialcontexttheJewishbodywasmarkedandforbidden,butatthesame timethetemptationofothernessexertedanattractionforChristiansandcreated anexusof conflictingdesiresthatlimitsandprohibitions,oftenzonesoffluid boundaries,couldnotcontain. Inresponsetointerfaithsexualrelations,Christianpunitivemeasuresvaried accordingtotheplacetheyoccurred,thenatureofthetransgressionandthesocial statusoftheperpetrator.SexualrelationsbetweenJewsandChristianswereoften punishedbydeathintheregionofAngers(thirteenthcentury).Christianmen accusedofsexualrelationshipswithJewishwomenwereburnedatthestakeif theywereconvicted.74Butonmanyoccasionsthesanctionwasindeedreplaced byafine.TheSynodofVienne(1267)appliedalighterpunishmentforsexual intercourse between Jews and Christians, declaring that the Jew who had fornicatedwithaChristianwomanwouldbesentencedtopayafineof10silver marks,75buttheaccusedChristianwomanwasbanishedfromthecityafterbeing flogged.76 The sentence applied to the woman was much more severe since it severedhertieswithherfamilyandkin,abolishingherstatusinsociety,whereas themanwasfreeduponpaymentofafine.Itremainstruethatregardlessoffaith,

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SusanL.Einbinder,BeautifulDeath:JewishPoetryandMartyrdominMedievalFrance:Jews, Christians, and Moslems from the Ancient to the Modern World (Princeton, NJ: Princeton UniversityPress,2002),160. RogerKohn,LesJuifsdelaFranceduNord,84. Léon Brunschvicg, “Les Juifs d’Anger et du pays angevin,” Revue des Etudes Juives 29–30 (1894–1895):229–44;here239. GérardNahon,“LeCréditetlesJuifsdanslaFranceduXIIIesiècle,”Annales(ESC)24(1969): 1121–48.Thisamountwasequivalent,bytheendofthethirteenthcentury,totwopounds,or480 deniers.Thedailylivingcostofafamilyofseveralchildrenwas12to16deniers. ArthurBeugnot,LesJuifsd’Occident(Paris:ImprimeriedeLachevardièreFils,1824),24.

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intheexaminationofcasesofforbiddensexualcrimes,criminalsentencesoften revealunequaltreatmentofmenandwomen.77 In1397,afewyearsafterthedismantlingoftheJewishcommunitiesandtheir expulsionfromthekingdomofFrance,theremainingJewsintheterritorywere eitherimprisonedorwereitinerantmerchants.InthatyeartheChristianPetrus, aliasJeanHardy,wascondemnedbytheBailiffofParistobeburnedatthestake. Thestoryisremarkablebyallaccounts:hewasguilty,accordingtothehistorian HenriSauval,forallowingthechildrenhehadwithaJewishwomantopractice the religion of their mother.78 Johannes Gallus, in his judicial chronicle of the period,insistsonthesexualaspectoftherelationbetweentheChristianmanand theJewishwoman,presentingherasapollutingagent.GallustakestheChurch prohibitionastepfurtherandpresentstheguiltyrelationshipasasexualdeviance “contrenature,”abestialactpunishablebyburningatthestake: habereremcumJudea,proChristiano,estremhaberecumcane,jurisinterpretatione; siccomburidebet.”79 [tohaverelationswithaJewess,foraChristian,islikehavingrelationswithadog, accordingtotheinterpretationofthelaw;thereforeheshouldbeburned.]

EquatingJewswithanimalswasbutoneamongmanyderogatorypracticesthat dehumanized Jews, and in this precise case the popular condemnation is transposedintothejudicialfieldandincorporatedintothelegalrhetoric.80This caseindirectlyinformsusaboutthepresenceofcryptoJewsinthecityaftertheir expulsion.Inspiteofthedanger,thisJewishwomanwasmostcertainlystillliving in Paris and raising her children according to Jewish precepts. Had the father secretlyconvertedtoJudaism?Thequestionremainsunansweredandwhether Jean Hardy was accused of apostasy remains unsaid. He nevertheless met his deathatthestakelikeaheretic.WearelefttosurmiseaboutthefateoftheJewish woman. Willinglyornot,numerousJewssuccumbedtoassimilationandconversion,but specific conversion numbers remain difficult to ascertain since reports on conversions from Christian and Jewish sources functioned to different ends. ElishevaCarlebachnotesthatthemostfrequentpattern,foundinbothJewishand Christianliterarysources,isthatthehusbandinitiatedconversionwhilethewife

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KathrynGravdal,RavishingMaidens:WritingRapeinMedievalFrenchLiteratureandLaw.New CulturalStudiesSeries(Philadelphia:UniversityofPhiladelphiaPress,1991),130. HenriSauval,Histoireetrecherches:LesAntiquitésdelavilledeParis,vol.2,510. JeanLeCoq,QuestionesJohannisGalli,ed.MargueriteBoulet.BibliothèquedesÉcolesFrançaises d’AthènesetdeRome,Fasc.156(Paris:E.deBoccard,1944),481–82,q.403(folio187). EstherCohen,“SymbolsofCulpabilityandtheUniversalLanguageofJustice:TheRitualofPublic ExecutionsinLateMedievalEurope,”HistoryofEuropeanIdeas11(1989):407–16;here411.

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tended to resist.81 The position of Christians toward Jewish women was more ambivalent.Iftheyfollowedthepostulatethatbynaturewomenareacommodity subjecttotransfer,thentheycouldassumethatJewishwomenwouldbemore receptivethanmentoChristianteachingsandthereforeacceptconversion.Butin realitythisgenderedassumptionwaschallengedonmanyoccasionsbythefierce determinationofJewishwomenopposedtoconversion,givinguptheirlivesif necessarytoremainfaithfultotheirfaith. InChristianreligiouseducationaltexts,Jewishmenwereseldomrepresentedas willingconvertstoChristianity;however,Jewishwomenfrequentlyappearedas moreeagertoembracetheChristianfaith.InTheDialogueonMiracles,aseriesof exempla destined for the instruction of novices, Caesarius of Heisterbach manipulatesJewishwomen’svisibilityinnarrativesofattractionandconversion toChristianity.TheclericaldiscourseontheattractionexertedbytheChristian faithonJewishwomenisratherevocative,depictingyoungJewishgirlsmorethan anxious to convert.82 Heisterbach offers us several portraits in which Jews are constructedthroughtherepetitiveuseofthearchetypeoftheyoungJewishgirl onlytoservetheideologicalinterestsoftheChurch.Intheexemplaveryyoung womenareeasilyseducedandconvincedtoconvert.Jewishmenarepresentedas harmless and since their masculinity is questioned, there are no examples of ChristianwomenseducedbyJews. In one of Caesarius of Heisterbach’s exempla of a converted Jewish girl, a curiousstoryladenwithelementsofpopularculture,thelatrinebecomesthefocal elementofascatologicalceremonyperformedbyaJewishmother.Bysubmitting herdaughtertoaparodyofChristianritual,sheattemptstoannulherdaughter’s conversionbyreversingtheritualofbaptismwiththefollowingwords: Ego, inquit Judaea, tribus vicibus te sursum traham per foramen latrinae, sicque remanebitibivirtusbaptismitui.83 [Iwoulddrawyouthreetimesthroughtheopeningofalatrineandthusthevirtueof yourbaptismwouldbeleftbehind.]84

Menarenotpresentinthistalewheretheconnectionbetweenwomenandmagic is particularly significant. According to Carmen CaballeroNavas, the ritual invocation must be made through maternal filiation, defying deeplyrooted

ElishevaCarlebach,DividedSouls:ConvertsfromJudaisminGermany,1500–1750(NewHavenand London:YaleUniversityPress,2001),31. CaesariusofHeisterbach,TheDialogueonMiracles,trans.H.vonE.ScottandC.SwintonBland, 2vols.(London:Routledge,1929),107–09. CaesariiHeisterbacensis,DialogusMiraculorum.J.M.Heberle,2vols.(1851;Ridgewood,N.J.: GreggPress,1966),98–99. CaesariusofHeisterbach,TheDialogueonMiracles,109–110.

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patriarchalprinciples.85Themotherispresentedasthedesecratorofthesacrament ofbaptism,whichsheperceivesasapollutingelementthathastobephysically ejected from the body. And according to a widespread folkloric belief, the defilementhastobeexpelledthroughtheanus.86Thisexemplumemphasizesthe powerofChristianityagainstpracticesthataremoreassociatedwithwitchcraft; the motherdaughter confrontation will provide the opportunity to show the triumphofChristianityagainstsuchpractices.Thereferencetoprofanationinthe latrinesbytheJewsisalsousedinaletterofInnocentIIIof1205affirmingthat: Faciunt enim Christianas filiorum suorum nutrices, cum in die Ressurectionis Dominice illas recipere corpus et sanguinem Jesu Christ, contingit per triduum antequameoslactent,lareffunderelatrinam. [OnthedayoftheLord’sResurrectiontheChristianwomenwhoarenursesforthe childrenofJews,takeinthebodyandbloodofJesusChrist.TheJewsmakethese womenpourtheirmilkintothelatrineforthreedaysbeforetheyagaingivesucktothe children.]87

Cohabitation made Jews part of society, albeit a fragile part, and their incorporationandrepresentationinliteratureproducedadistortedviewofthem, as well as resentment and fantasies.88 If we look in literature for glimpses of JewishChristian relations, we encounter mostly negative representations, reflections that carry all the prejudices and misconceptions about the decried group.Jews,closeneighborsinlife,becomeinfictionshadowypresencesdistilling hateandareheldresponsibleforthedeviousbehaviorofaChristiancharacter.In 85

CarmenCaballeroNavas,ed.andtrans,TheBookofWomen’sLoveandJewishMedievalLiterature onWomen(SeferAhavatNashim)(London;NewYork;Bahrein:KeganPaulLimited,2004),53; accordingtoAbbaye’smother:“Allincantationswhicharerepeatedseveraltimesmustcontain thenameofthepatient’smother.”TalmudShab.66b. SeeClaudeGaignebetandJ.DominiqueLajoux,Artprofaneetreligionpopulaireaumoyenâge(Paris: PUF,1985). SolomonGrayzel,TheChurchandtheJewsintheXIIICentury:AStudyoftheirRelationsDuringthe Years1198–1254BasedonthePapalLettersandtheConciliarDecreesofthePeriod(NewYork:Hermon Press,1966),314–15(July15,1205InnocentIIItotheArchbishopofSensandtheBishopofParis). Seethefollowingforadetailedanalysisoftheliterarycorpus: GilbertDahan,ErnestRenan, BernhardBlumenkranz,AbrahamE.Millgram,CharlesLehrmann,ManyaLifschitzGolden,M. SteinschneiderIntheepics,representationisminimal:Jewsaremostlyreducedtoepithetslike desfaez,tirant,félon,fals.JewishcharactersinthesetextsareoftendepictionsofJewslivingatthe timeofChristorassociatedwithSaracens.ThelargestrepresentationofJewsinFrenchliterature occursinreligiousplays;HeinzPflaum,“LesScènesdeJuifsdanslalittératuredramatiquedu moyenâge,”RevuedesEtudesJuives89(1930):111–34.(Fromthetwelfthcenturyon,Jewsare negativelyrepresented,allowingtheauthorstointroduceacomicelementintheplay,notpossible otherwisewithsuchatopic.Theyaregivenridiculousnamessuchas“Pinceguerre,Trinquala Palha,Malenquarant,Cambafort(note7“Malencarat(prov.)“àminerenfrognée[sullenface], Camba fort (prov.) cuisse, “quartier de porc [pork hind], or real names like Haquin, Vivant, Mousa,Marques...113–15).

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fact, the Jew who appeared upon the stage, in tales, chronicles, and in the moralizedanecdotesorexemplaofthepreacherswasnotanindividualbutatype, thepatternafterwhichtheentirecommunitywasmodeled.Intheseproductions, theJewoftenlackedaname,andrarelydidhehavepersonalcharacteristics.89In amoregeneralsense,Jewswerethestockliminalcharactersembodyingeviland treason. The accusation of witchcraft practices in real life translated into the literarytextsandviceversa. TheromanceepicLiRoumansdeBerteausGranspies(latethirteenthcentury)is agoodexampleofthatconventionalpractice.TherearenoJewishcharactersinthe narration,buttheirhatedpracticesbecomeapparentinthediscourseoftwoofthe femalecharacters.Theauthor,AdenetleRoi,combinesinhiscontemporaneous renderingofthestoryofBerthe,thefuturewifeofPepintheBrief,thehistorical andthefolkloricelementsthatsurroundedtheobscureoriginsofthiswoman. Althoughthestoryoriginatedintheeighthcentury,this“roumans”evolvesinthe midstofLouisIX’sandPhilipleHardi’scourts.Intheplotthatfocusesalmost exclusivelyonwomen,twoofthem,motheranddaughterofserforigin,bring aboutanimmediatechangeintheirsocialstatusbysubstitutingthebrideduring the nuptial night (a folkloretype motif). When the subterfuge is about to be uncovered,Margiste,themother,ispresentedasatypologicalsorceress,astock device in medieval literature. The mother reveals to her daughter that her knowledge of poisons was transmitted to her by a Jewish woman, another recurrenttropeinFrenchliterature: Aenherberm’apristjadisunejuise MieuslesainesetfemmequidusquesenFrise Blancheflourtraÿraienpoireouencerise Douveninseraitostpourveüseetpourquise90 [TomakepoisonsalongtimeagoaJewesstaughtme NowomanknowshowtobetterthanmefromheretoFrise Blancheflourwillturnintoapearorcherry OfvenomIwillsoonbethepurchaserandpurveyor]

AdenetleRoiportraysthesetwowomenoflowersocialstatusinverynegative terms. Though Christian, they exhibit all the ill sides of the decried group, insinuatingthatJewishnegativeinfluencepermeatedthesocialfabricthrough women.WhilethemotherindirectlystandsasthestereotypicalJewesswhoisa brewerofpoisons,Aliste,thedaughter,representsanotherstereotypicalaspectof

JoshuaTrachtenberg,TheDevilandtheJews:TheMedievalConceptionoftheJewandItsRelationto ModernAntisemitism(Philadelphia:JewishPublicationSocietyofAmerica,1983),13. AdenésLiRoi,LiRoumansdeBerteausGranspies,ed.AugusteScheler(Bruxelles:Closson,1874), verses1830–34.

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Jews: usury and moneylending. This ambitious but more pragmatic character proposesanalternatelifestyletohermother,denotingaJewishinfluence:“De presteràusuretrèsbiennousgarirons”91[byusurylendingverywellwewillbe saved]. The“scaffolding,”orseriesofinvisiblescreensthatJewishcommunitieshad patientlyerectedforprotectionovercenturies,wassubjectedtoconstantstrains, andthefissuresinflictedbyrepeatedexpulsionsandsetbackssince1180further exposeditsvulnerability.Withthefinalblowof1394,theentirestructurecollapsed andtheremainingNorthernFrenchJewsweresentoncemoreintoexile,scattered east,north,andsouth,closingalongchapterofcohabitation. FragilityisthetermthatbestsummarizestheJudeoChristianrelations.However, despitebeingsubjectedtoaformidablepressureandtoanarrayofreligiousand secular interdictions, provisions and concessions made cohabitation possible althoughprecarious.Jewishwomen,definedbothincontrastandinrelationtoa malecentered society, have often emerged as silent figures thus cultivating persistingstereotypes.Nevertheless,inspiteofthedearthofdocumentationand thedifficulttaskofdissociatingwomen’sexperiencesfromthecollectiveidentity, theavailablesourcesrevealthatfrequentexchangesbetweenJewishandChristian womentookplaceandoccasionallynurturedmorepositiveinterrelations.92 FrenchJewishculturevanishedcompletelyforseveralcenturies.93Anduntil theirreinsertioninFrenchsocietyfourcenturieslater,thisgroupthathadbeen sociallyperipheralprovedtobesymbolicallymuchmoreimportant.Indeed,the vanished Jews left persistent traces, definite imprints on the French cultural landscape.

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AdenésLiRoi,LiRoumansdeBerteausGranspies,verse1850. AsimilarlycomplexsituationemergesinmedievalGermanliteraturewherewecomeacross numerous examples where Jews more often than not enjoy a rather positive reputation, see AlbrechtClassen,“JewishChristianRelationsintheGermanMiddleAges–theExplorationof Alternative Voices? The Deconstruction of a Myth or Factual History? LiteraryHistorical Investigations,” Amsterdamer Beiträge zur älteren Germanistik 58 (2003): 12349; id., “Jewish ChristianRelationsinMedievalLiterature,”GermanLiteratureBetweenFaiths:JewandChristianat OddsandinHarmony,ed.PeterMeister,5365. RogerS.Kohn,“L’ExpulsiondesJuifsdeFranceen1394:LesCheminsdel’xiletlesrefuges,” ArchivesJuives28–1(1995):76–84;here80.

JeanetteS.Zissell (UniversityofConnecticut)

UniversalSalvationintheEarthlyCity:DeCivitateDei andtheSignificanceoftheHazelnutinJulianof Norwich’sShowings1

In the medieval period, as now, urban space could define the identity of the individualswhodwelledwithinit.ALondoncitizencouldclaimspecialrightsand privilegeswithinthecitythatallotherscouldnot.2ChaucersatirizesLondoners andcitylifeingeneralthroughoutmanyofhistales,andDante’ssoulsinHellare acutelyawareoftheircityaffiliations,evenastheysuffereternaltorments.3One’s cityshapeshowoneviewstheworld,whatonewearsandeats,andwhoone’s enemiesmaybe.Wheresomeoneis,inasense,defineswhosomeoneis. ThispaperwillconsiderhowJulianofNorwich(bornsometimeintheyears 1342 or 1343) adapts the medieval conception of urban space to a theological purpose.IndoingsoshefollowedatraditionthatoriginatesintheBible,inthe BookofRevelation’sdescriptionoftheheavenlycityinwhichGodwilldwell amongthesoulsofallthesavedattheendoftime.AugustineofHippousesthis abstractiontodescribethespiritualstatusofthewholeofhumanity.TheHeavenly city, in this interpretation, is the eternal home of those who love God, and its enemy,theearthlycity,isatemporaryrefugeofthosewholoveonlythemselves. Citizenship in either city is defined by spiritual similarity rather than by any

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IwouldliketothankC.DavidBensonforreviewingpreviousdraftsofthisarticle. Forexample,theabilitytoparticipateinhigherlevelcitypolitics,andgreaterfreedomtotrade withinthecity.SeeShannonMcSheffrey,Marriage,Sex,andCivicCultureinLateMedievalLondon (Philadelphia:UniversityofPennsylvaniaPress,2006),especially10–11. ForanindepthreviewofChaucer’srelationshiptoLondonandliterarydepictionsofcities,see ChaucerandtheCity,ed.ArdisButterfield,ChaucerStudies,37(Cambridge:D.S.Brewer,2006). TolearnmoreaboutDante’ssatireofcontemporaryFlorence,seeJohnM.Najemy,“Danteand Florence,”TheCambridgeCompaniontoDante,ed.RachelJacoff(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press, 2007), 236–56. For the broader issue, the individual’s identity with a city, see the contributiontothisvolumebyAlbrechtClassen.

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connection with geographical location, culture, or time. The image is used in literature,suchastheMiddleEnglishpoemThePearl, 4andtheworksofother theologians such as Bernard of Clairvaux.5 The design and ornamentation of churcheswereoftenintendedtoevoketheheavenlycitytowhichparishioners believedthattheyreallybelonged.6 AsanyonewhostudiesJuliannotes,littleisknownaboutherlife.However, scholarsnearlyuniversallyacknowledgethebeauty,incisiveness,andtheological complexityofherprose.AsRitaMaryBradleystates,“JulianofNorwichisthe firstknownwomanoflettersinEnglishliterature,andoneishardputtofind prosesuperiortohersintheMiddleEnglishperiod.”7Sheproducedtwobooksin herlifetime,bothdescribingaseriesofreligiousvisionssheexperiencedduring alifethreateningillnessinMayof1373attheageofthirtyandahalf.Thefirst book, known as the “short text,” seems to have been written shortly after the visionstookplace,andthesecond,the“longtext,”wasamoredetailedadaptation ofthefirst,writtenafteratleasttwentyyearsofcontemplationaboutthemeaning ofwhatshehadseen.Atsomepointinherlife,probablyafterhervisionshad taken place, she was enclosed as an anchorite at the Church of St. Julian in Norwich.8Thenameofthischurchistheonlynamebywhichsheisknown.Itis clearthroughtherecordsofbequestsgiventoherasanchoriteofthischurchthat shelivedatleastuntiltheyear1416,butherexactdateofdeathisunknown.9

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Thepoem’sdescriptionoftheheavenlycitymaybefoundinlines973–1092,Pearl,ed.Sarah Stanbury(Kalamazoo:MedievalInstitutePublications,2001).Seealsothecontributiontothis volumebyBrittC.L.Rothauser. ForabriefsummaryofBernardofClairvaux’stakeontheheavenlycity,seeAdriaanH.Bredero, Bernard of Clairvaux: Between Cult and History (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 2001), especially267–75. HerbertL.Kessler,SeeingMedievalArt(Peterborough,OrchardPark:Broadview),34. RitaMaryBradley,“JulianofNorwich:WriterandMystic,”AnIntroductiontotheMedievalMystics ofEurope:FourteenOriginalEssays,ed.PaulE.Szarmach(Albany:StateUniversityofNewYork Press,1984),195–216;here,195. Formoreinformationaboutmedievalanchoritesandanchoriticlife,seeF.A.Jones,“Anchorites andHermitsinHistoricalContext,”ApproachingMedievalEnglishAnchoriticandMysticalTexts,ed. Dee Dyas, Valerie Edden and Roger Ellis, Christianity and Culture: Issues in Teaching and Research(WoodbridgeandRochester,NY:D.S.Brewer,2005),3–18. BiographicalinformationregardingJulian’slifemaybefoundinMaryR.Reichardt’sExploring Catholic Literature: A Companion and Resource Guide (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003), especially43–58,andalsoinJohnJaeNamHan’s“JulianofNorwich,”CatholicWomenWriters: ABioBibliographicalSourcebook,ed.MaryR.Reichardt(Westport:Greenwood,2001),187–92;see alsoLisaGaudet,“JulianofNorwich,”WomenintheMiddleAges:AnEncyclopedia,ed.Katharina M. Wilson and Nadia Margolis, vol. I (Westport, CT, and London: Greenwood Press, 2004), 499–503.

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Julianwasenclosedwithinavibrantcitythathadachievedapopulationof25,000 people by 1330.10 However, despite living in the heart of such a large town, Norwichitselfisnotablyabsentfromherwriting.Inheraccount,Juliandescribes cities as theological abstractions, in the tradition rooted in Augustine’s work. Julian,asananchorite,wasmoreinterestedintheheavenlycity,and,asIwill argue,intheearthlycity,asshesawthemreflectedwithinherownspirit.Sheis notslavishinheradaptationoftheseimages,andargues,againstAugustine’s prevailingmodel,thatbothcitiesareheldequallyinGod’slove.Herknowledge of the image, and her ability to adapt and change it to suit her own theology demonstratesthesignificancethaturbanspacecouldhaveasamedievalmodelof spiritualidentity. TheideaattheheartofJulianofNorwich’sShowingshaslongbeenacknowledged asthetranscendentalpowerofdivinelove.Thisseeminglystraightforwardtheme, however,raisesmorequestionsthanitanswers.Whatdoeslovemeanfromthe perspectiveofthedivine?Howfarcanthatloveextendtothosewhodwellina sinfulworld?Julian’ssimplemessageofGod’sloverequiredtwotexts,shortand long,apparentlywrittenoverthecourseofalifetimetoexplore.Throughouther Showings,JulianattemptstopushthelimitsofChristiantheologyoutwards,to placeGod’slove,ratherthanhisomnipotenceorjudgment,atthecenterofall theologicalissues. InmypaperIintendtodiscussthewaysinwhichJulianofNorwichusesthe imageoftheheavenlyandearthlycitiestoexplorethenatureofGod’slovefor mankind. Julian’s reading forms a response to the predominant medieval understandingofthetwocities,initiallyestablishedbyAugustineinDecivitate Dei,nearlyathousandyearsbeforehervisionstookplace.Augustinedepictsthe twocitiesaswhollyseparate,diametricallyopposedentities.Theheavenlycityis eternal,butattheendoftimetheearthlycitywillbedestroyed,anditscitizens willbecondemnedtohellfortheirpridefulselflove.ToAugustine,thetwocities symbolizeseparationandjudgment. ToJulian,however,thetwocitiesbothequallyrepresentthesoul’sunionwith God.IwishtoarguethatJulian’sdiscussionoftheheavenlyandearthlycities centerslargelyontwosectionsofthetext.Thefirstisthepassageregardingthe hazelnut,foundatthebeginningofhervisions,inwhichshedescribesthewhole of the world as not larger than a hazelnut lying in the palm of her hand, and which,despiteitssmallness,willbeforeverheldinGod’slove.Ibelievethatthis hazelnut represents Julian’s reinterpretation of Augustine’s earthly city. The second is the passage which closes the visions, where Julian describes her

NormanTanner“ReligiousPractice,”MedievalNorwich,ed.CaroleRawcliffeandRichardWilson (London:HambledonContinuum,2006),137–56;here,141.

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discoveryoftheheavenlycity,andfindsthatitisnestleddeeplyintoherown heart.Bothdepictthewholeofhumansocietyinamicrocosm,heldinthebodyof thebeliever.BothareeternallypreservedbyGod’slove.Inthesimilarityofthe languageandimageryusedtodescribethem,theynaturallyevokeeachotherin thereader’sminds. Through her depiction of the earthly city, in the hazelnut passage, as a fundamentally good entity that is eternally preserved by God’s love, she essentiallyequatesitsspiritualstatuswiththatoftheheavenlycity.Insomesense, toJulian,theearthlyandheavenlycitiesconsistofthesamespiritualspace,located insidethebeliever.Bysounitingearthandheaven,Julianraisesthepossibilityof theuniversalsalvationforallhumanity.WhereAugustine,inDecivitateDei,uses theprideful,fleetingnatureoftheearthlycitytoargueagainstOrigen’sargument foruniversalsalvation,Julianinvertshisstrategyagainstitself,andusesthesame imagetoexplorethepossibilityofeternalredemptionforallmankind.11 WhileJulian’sdepictionoftheheavenlycityhassometimesbeencomparedwith Augustine’s,itismoreoftenassociated withtheheavenlycityasdescribedin Revelation.12ChristopherAbbotreadsJulian’suseoftheheavenlycityimageas rootedpartlyinDecivitateDei,butdoesnotrelatetheearthlycityimagewiththat of the hazelnut.13 Overall, there seems to have been more discussion of an AugustinianinfluenceonJulianthroughtheConfessionesandDeTrinitatethan therehasbeenthroughDecivitateDei.14TheinfluenceofDecivitateDeionJulian’s 11

PeterDinzelbacher,“EkstatischerFlugundvisionäreWeltschauimMittelalter,“id.,VonderWelt durch die Hölle zum Paradies—das mittelalterliche Jenseits (Paderborn, Munich, et al.: Ferdinand Schöningh,2007),181–206;here196,emphasizesthesymbolicmeaningofthehazelnutasan expression of the vanity and irrelevance of this material world in face of the macrocosm. AccordingtoDinzelbacher,thehazelnutmightbelovedbyGod,butitstilldistractsfromthetrue goalthehumansouloughttopursue.InmypaperIwilloffertheoppositereading. NicholasWatsonandJacquelineJenkins,forinstance,notethat:“Thecityinthesoulresembles theNewJerusalemofRev.21:1–27,asrepresentedinartandpoemssuchasPearlorThePricke.” SeeTheWritingsofJulianofNorwich:AVisionShowedtoaDevoutWomanandaRevelationofLove, ed.NicholasWatsonandJacquelineJenkins(UniversityPark:PennsylvaniaUniversityPress, 2006), 110. Quotations of Julian’s Showings are from the version of the long text included in WatsonandJenkin’sedition,unlesstheshorttextisspecificallyindicated. See Christopher Abbot, Julian of Norwich: Autobiography and Theology. Studies in Medieval Mysticism,2(Cambridge:Brewer,1999),155. AbbothasidentifiedAugustine’sConfessionesasanindirectmodelforJulian’sautobiographical approachtowritingherShowings(ibid.,10),andJ.P.H.Clarkbelievesthereisevidenceshemay have known De Trinitate either directly or through other sources, such as Peter Lombard’s Sentences.SeeJ.P.HClark,“TimeandEternityinJulianofNorwich,”DownsideReview109(1991): 259–76.DeniseBakeralsoreadsDeTrinitateasasourceforJulian’sunderstandingofthestructure of the soul. See “The Structure of the Soul and the “Godly Wylle” in Julian of Norwich’s Showings,” The Medieval Mystical Tradition in England, ed. E. A. Jones. Exeter Symposium, 7 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2004), 37–49; especially 37–38. Directly or indirectly, it would be

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understandingoftheheavenlyandearthlycitieswarrantsmoreinvestigationthan ithasyetreceived. Julianisanindependentthinkerandwriter,awareofbutnotconstrainedbythe theologicalinheritancefromAugustine.AsJ.P.H.Clarkstates,“JulianofNorwich seldomquotesauthorities,buthercreativeinsightscanrepeatedlybeshowntobe rootedintheologicaltradition,”andalsothat“itisclearthatshecouldgraspand express the commonplaces of theology, especially those of Augustinian theology.”15 While some see similarities in interpretation between Augustine’s theologyandJulian’s,16 mostargueforsomedegreeofdivergencebetweenthe two.Thosewhoargueforthestrongestdegreeofseparationbetweenthem,such asKennethLeech,MariaR.Lichtman,andKevinJ.Magill,tendtofocusontheir interpretations of the sinfulness of the body.17 However, most view Julian’s theologyasdivergentfromAugustine’sintheinterpretationofspecificdoctrines, rather than through an overarching rejection of the theological tradition he established. For example, Denise Baker asserts that, in contrast with Walter Hilton’smorestandardrecapitulationofAugustine’sDeTrinitae,Julianadaptshis interpretation of the imago Dei in a way that is “so different from his more traditional recapitulation as to constitute an innovative contribution to late medievaltheology,”andyetfindsitsconceptualbasisinAugustinenonetheless.18 J.P.H.ClarksuggeststhatshereinterpretsAugustine’sassertionthatGodstands outsideoftime, statingthatwhile“theemphasisonthetimelessnessofGod’s vision can claim affinities with Augustine, the manner in which it is applied neverthelessgoesbeyondhim.”19 ItisinthesamespiritthatJulianreinterpretstheheavenlyandearthlycitiesto expressthevalueofalllifeasitisheldintheloveofGod.Julian’sideasmay indeed be innovative, but in their innovation they do not completely reject

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difficultforanyseriousreligiousthinkertoavoidAugustine’spervasiveinfluenceonmedieval thought. Clark,“TimeandEternity,”259. Abbotinparticularidentifiesa“retrospectivelydiscernableAugustinianparadigmoperative withinthetext.”SeeAbbot,AutobiographyandTheology,34. SeeKennethLeech,“HazelnutTheology:ItsPotentialandPerils,”JulianReconsidered,ed.Kenneth LeechandSr.BenedictaWard,SLG(Oxford:SLGPress,1988)1–9;especially3.SeealsoMariaR. Lichtmann,“Godfulfilledmybodye”:Body,Self,andGodinJulianofNorwich,”GenderandText in the Later Middle Ages, ed. Jane Chance (Gainesville, Tallahassee, et al.: University Press of Florida, 1996), 263–79, and Kevin J. Magill, Julian of Norwich: Mystic or Visionary? Routledge StudiesinMedievalReligionandCulture(LondonandNewYork:Routledge,2006),especially 116. DeniseBaker,“TheImageofGod:ContrastingConfigurationsinJulianofNorwich’sShowings andWalterHilton’sScaleofPerfection,”JulianofNorwich:ABookofEssays,ed.SandraJ.McEntire. GarlandMedievalCasebooks,21(NewYorkandLondon:Garland,1998),35–60;here35. J.P.H.Clark,“PredestinationinChristAccordingtoJulianofNorwich,”DownsideReview100 (1982):79–91;here,83.

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Augustine or the Augustinian tradition, but instead adapt his ideas to new purposes.Indeed,“Likeawisescribe,shebringsoutofhertreasurethingsnewas wellasold,yetwhatisnewhasitsrootsintradition.”20 Before further exploring Julian’s interpretation of the two cities, it is perhaps necessary to briefly explain Augustine’s interpretation of them. The two cities discussed in De civitate Dei find their origin in Isaiah 65:17–19 and Revelation 21:1–4, both of which describe a heavenly Jerusalem, created when all former creationsperished,andinwhichtherewillbenotears.21Augustineidentifiesall thosewhoshallbesavedasmembersofthisheavenlycity,andexpandsuponthe Biblical passage to describe an opposing, earthly city, whose members will be damned at the end of time. To Augustine, the two cities represent “the most fundamentalcleavageinhumanity.”22Thesetwogroups,dividedagainsteach other,representtheessentialstateofmankind,bothinthisworldandafterthe finaljudgment.23

J.P.H.Clark,“Nature,GraceandtheTrinityinJulianofNorwich,”DownsideReview100(1982): 203–20. IntheDouayReimsBible,Isaiah65:17–19,readsasfollows:“ForbeholdIcreatenewheavens,and anewearth:andtheformerthingsshallnotbeinremembrance,andtheyshallnotcomeuponthe heart.Butyoushallbegladandrejoiceforeverinthesethings,whichIcreate:forbeholdIcreate Jerusalemarejoicing,andthepeoplethereofjoy.AndIwillrejoiceinJerusalem,andjoyinmy people, and the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying.” AugustinedirectlyreferencesthispassageinbookXX,Chapter17ofDecivitateDei.Revelation 21:1–4mirrorstheBookofIsaiah’slanguage:“AndIsawanewheavenandanewearth.Forthe firstheavenandthefirstearthwasgone,andtheseaisnownomore.AndIJohnsawtheholy city,thenewJerusalem,comingdownoutofheavenfromGod,preparedasabrideadornedfor herhusband.AndIheardagreatvoicefromthethrone,saying:BeholdthetabernacleofGodwith men,andhewilldwellwiththem.Andtheyshallbehispeople;andGodhimselfwiththemshall betheirGod.AndGodshallwipeawayalltearsfromtheireyes:anddeathshallbenomore,nor mourning,norcrying,norsorrowshallbeanymore,fortheformerthingsarepassedaway.”All BiblepassagesarequotedfromDouayReims,asitisthestandardEnglishtranslationoftheLatin Vulgate, and, as such, is perhaps the closest English approximation to the Bible as medieval thinkerswouldhaveexperiencedit.ThepassagesquotedherearefromTheHolyBible:Douay RheimsVersion,ed.JamesCardinalGibbons(Rockford:TanBooks,1989),814. Paul Weithman, “Augustine’s Political Philosophy,” Cambridge Companion to Augustine, ed. Eleaonore Stump and Norman Kretzmann (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) 234–52;here,235. Augustinealsohadapracticalpurposeinmakingthisdistinction.AsGeraldBonnerstates,De civitateDeiis“designedtorefutethosepaganswhoclaimedthatChristianityhadruinedthe RomanEmpire,andtoreassureanxiousChristianswhocouldnotunderstandwhyGodhadnot protectedChristianRomeagainsttheGoths.”Seehis“Augustine’sUnderstandingoftheChurch asaEucharisticCommunity,”AugustinetheBishop:ABookofEssays,ed.FannieLaMoineand ChristopherKleinhenz.GarlandMedievalCasebooks,9(NewYorkandLondon:Garland,1994) 39–64;here,39.BydescribingthecityofGodasdistinctfromthecityofRome,Augustinefinds himselfable“toanswerthechargethattheabandonmentoftheRomandeitiesfortheGodof

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Indiscussingthetwocities,Augustinefocusesprimarilyonmankindandits attachmenttoGod—orconversely,toitsown,worldlypride.Hethereforedefines affiliationineithercitybythenatureofwhattheindividualloves.BookFourteen, ChapterTwentyEightexplainsthisdichotomy: Fecerunt itaque civitates duas amores duo; terrenam scilicet amor sui usque ad contemptumDei,coelestemveroamorDeiusqueadcontemptumsui.Deniqueillain seipsa,haecinDominogloriatur.Illaenimquaeritabhominibusgloriam:huicautem Deusconscientiaetestismaximaestgloria.(XIV.28)24 [Twocities,then,havebeencreatedbytwoloves:thatis,theearthlybyloveofself extendingeventocontemptofGod,andtheheavenlybyloveofGodextendingto contemptofself.Theone,therefore,gloriesinitself,theotherintheLord;theone seeksgloryfrommen,theotherfindsitshighestgloryinGod,theWitnessofour conscience.]25

Inhisargument,Augustineparticularlyemphasizeshumanperspective,human love,andhumansociety.UnlikeJulian,asIwilllaterdemonstrate,Augustineis primarilyinterestedinthesocialinteractionsofpeopleintheworld,intheirloves, ratherthanGod’sloveforthem.26Thecitiesaretwodistinctentities,livingsideby side in the same human society. The differences between them may not be apparentexternally,butinrealitytheyareentirelyseparateandopposedtoeach other. Iftheyareseparateinthefocusoftheirloves,thetwocitiesarealsoseparatein theireventualfates.Onlythemembersofheavenlycitywillachievesalvationand beadmittedintoeternallife.Theheavenlycityisimmortalandunending,andthe earthlycity,conversely,willfall.Theearthlycityisatemporarystructure,which willceasetoexistattheendoftime:“Terrenaporrocivitas,quaesempiternanon erit(nequeenimcuminextremosuppliciodamnatafuerit,jamcivitaserit)”(XV.4; But the earthly city will not be everlasting; for when it is condemned to that punishment which is its end, it will no longer be a city). The structure of the

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ChristianitywasaninjusticetothegodswhichhadledtoRome’ssackbythebarbarians”See Weithman, “Political Philosophy,” 241. Pagan religious practices were a potential threat to Augustine’sbeliefsystem.HehasamotivationJulianlacks,inthefaceofthisperceivedthreat, tobedivisiveinhislanguageandinhisinterpretationofGod’sjudgment. AllquotationsfromDecivitateDeiarefromvolume41ofPatrologiaLatina. AllEnglishtranslationsofDecivitateDeiarefromTheCityofGodAgainstthePagans,trans.R.W. Dyson.CambridgeTextsintheHistoryofPoliticalThought(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,1998). For a detailed discussion of Augustine’s social and political theories, see R.A. Markus, “De CivitateDei:PrideandtheCommonGood,”ProceedingsofthePatristic,MedieavalandRenaissance Conference12/13(1997–1998),1–16,andJohnM.Parrish,“TwoCitiesandTwoLoves:Imitation in Augustine’sMoralPsychologyandPoliticalTheory,”HistoryofPoliticalThought26(2005): 209–35.

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earthlycitywillbedestroyedwhenitisjudgedanddamnedtoeternaltorment. ItisledbySatan,andwillbecondemnedbyChristatthefinaljudgment: CumperJesumChristumDominumnostrum,judicemvivorumatquemortuorum,ad debitos fines ambae pervenerint civitates, quarum una est Dei, altera diaboli, cujusmodisuppliciumsitfuturumdiabolietomniumadeumpertinentium,inhoc libronobis,quantumopedivinavalebimus,diligentiusdisputandumest.(XXI.1) [Wecomenexttothenatureofthepunishmentwhichistobevisiteduponthedevil andallwhobelongtohimwhenthetwocities—theCityofGodandthecityofthe devil—havereachedtheirdeservedendsthroughJesusChristourLord,theJudgeof thelivinganddead.]

The appropriate fate for the earthly city is utter annihilation, exacted through Christ‘sjudgment.Theearthlycityisfinite,andwillbedestroyedatthefinal judgment: Quodestautemdeistacivitatemortalihominessupplicioprimaemortis,hocestde civitate illa immortali homines supplicio secundae mortis auferre. Sicut enim non efficiuntlegeshujuscivitatis,utineamquisquerevoceturoccisus;sicnecillius,utin vitamrevoceturaeternam,secundamortedamnatus.(XXI.11) [Andjustasthepunishmentofthefirstdeathremovesmenfromthismortalcity,so doesthepunishmentoftheseconddeathremovemenfromtheimmortalcity.Foras thelawsofthismortalcityhavenopowertocallbackonewhohassuffereddeath,so neitherishewhoiscondemnedtotheseconddeathrecalledagaintolifeeternal.]

Augustineisveryclearabouttheutterlydisparatenaturesofthetwocities.They are completely, diametrically opposed to each other: one loves God, the other itself,onelastsforever,theotherwillperish,oneisledbySatan,theotherbyGod. ThisbinaryoppositionbetweenthetwocitiespavesthewayforAugustine’s argumentagainstOrigen’stheoryofuniversalsalvation: Nuncjamcummisericordibusnostrisagendumessevideo,etpacificedisputandum, quivelomnibusillishominibus,quosjustissimusJudexdignosgehennaesupplicio judicabit,velquibusdameorumnoluntcrederepoenamsempiternamfuturam,sed postcertitemporismetasprocujusquepeccatiquantitatelongiorissivebrevioriseos inde existimant liberandos. Qua in re misericordior profecto fuit Origenes, qui et ipsumdiabolumatqueangelosejuspostgraviorapromeritisetdiuturniorasupplicia exilliscruciatibuseruendosatquesociandossanctisAngeliscredidit.(XXI.17) [Certainmercifulbrethrenofoursrefusetobelievethatanyorallofthosewhomthe mostjustJudgeshallpronounceworthyofthepunishmentofhellwillsuffereternally. Theysupposethatthedamnedaretobereleasedafterafixedtermofpunishment, longerorshorteraccordingtotheamountofeachman’ssin.IseethatImustnowdeal withthesepeopleandengageinpeaceabledebatewiththem.Inthisregard,Origen carriedmercytoevengreaterlengths.Forhebelievedthateventhedevilhimselfand

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hisangels,aftersufferingthemoregrievousandprotractedpunishmentswhichtheir sinsmerit,willbereleasedfromtheirtormentsandunitedwiththeholyangels.]

While sympathetic to the desire to believe in the salvation of all mankind, Augustinewhollyrejectsthepossibilitythatallmenwillbesaved.Suchabelief contradictsAugustine’sunderstandingofGod’sjustice.Byassociatingitwiththe beliefinthesalvationofthedevils,itseemsthatuniversalism,inhisview,borders on the ridiculous. It is not merely ridiculous, however, but dangerous. He continuesontoargue thatauniversalsalvationisnotmerciful,butactuallya cruelty,becauseitconstitutesaninjusticetotherighteous: Sedillumetpropterhocetpropteralianonnullaetmaximepropteralternantessine cessationebeatitudinesetmiseriasetstatutissaeculoruminteruallisabistisadillas atqueabillisadistasitusacreditusinterminabilesnoninmeritoreprobauitecclesia; quiaethoc,quodmisericorsuidebatur,amisitfaciendosanctisuerasmiserias,quibus poenasluerent,etfalsasbeatitudines,inquibusuerumacsecurum,hocestsinetimore certum,sempiternibonigaudiumnonhaberent. [ButtheChurchhascondemnedOrigen,andnotwithoutreason,becauseofthisand severalothererrors.Inparticular,hesuggeststhatthereisaceaselessalternationof blessednessandmisery,andthattheinterminabletransitionsfromtheonestatetothe otheroccuratfixedages.Atthispoint,however,heloseseventhemercywhichhehad seemedtodisplay.Forheassignstothesaintsrealmiseriesforthepunishmentoftheir sins,yetonlyfalsehappiness,inwhichthereisnotrueandcertainjoyinthefearless assuranceofeternalgoods.]

ForAugustine,theheavenlyandearthlycitiesarewhollyseparate,andtobelieve inanalterationoftheirspiritualstatusafterthejudgmentistonegatethemercy andjoyofferedtotheelect.Theirhappinessisfalse,toAugustine,whenitisnot secure—whenitisnoteternalandunchangeable.Theheavenlycityiseternal,and lovesGodinrejectionofallworldlythings.Thetemporal,fleetingearthlycity,to itsowndetriment,lovesonlyitself.ToAugustine,onlyeternaldamnationofthe condemnedandtheeternalsalvationoftheelectcanconstitutejustandthustruly compassionateactiononthepartofthejudge. Julian’s readingofthetwocitiesseemstobeentirelyopposedtoAugustine’s. Julian follows its outlines so closely, even while challenging its conclusions at everystep,thatitseemslikelyshemayhavedirectlyorindirectlybeenawareof thetext.ItisimpossibletoknowwhetherornotJulianhadreadDecivitateDei personally, but there is good reason to believe any serious fourteenthcentury religiousthinkerwouldhavebeeninfluencedbyitsinterpretationoftheheavenly andearthlycities.AsM.W.F.Stonestates,thetextwasavailableandwidelyused eveninthethirteenthcentury,andhisideaswerealsoknownindirectlythrough othertexts:

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JeannetteS.Zissel ThirteenthcenturyphilosophersandtheologiansknewAugustineprimarilythrough afewstandardstreatises—Confessiones,DecivitateDei,Deliberoarbitrio,Dedoctrina chirstiana,Deverareligione,andGeGenesiadlitteramlibriduodecim—andthroughthe abundant quotations that circulated under his name in florilegia, canon law, and Lombard’sSententiae.27

Thefourteenthcentury,however,markedaresurgenceofinterestinAugustine’s theology.Histextsweremorewidelyandaccuratelycirculated.AsStonestates: Thefourteenthcenturycanbesaidtohavewitnessedaprofoundchangeintheuse anddiscussionoftheworksofAugustinebymedievalphilosophers.Tobeginwith, onefindsagreatervarietyofworksbeingcited,accompaniedbylongerandmore exactquotations.Furthertothis,thereisanearnesteffortonthepartofscholarsto maintainthehigheststandardsofaccuracyintheircriticalpresentationofAugustine’s views.28

ThiswastheenvironmentinwhichJulianwroteherShowings.TheAugustinian influence on her text, long acknowledged by scholars, seems to include a reinterpretationofAugustine’stheologyoftheheavenlyandearthlycities.She invertshisargument,usingthesameimageryasafoundationfromwhichtobuild anentirelydifferentviewofhumansalvation.WhereAugustine’sfocusisonthe division of mankind into insoluble categories based on what they love, one eternallysavedandtheothereternallydamned,JulianfocusesonwhatGodloves, andwhatGod’slovemeansforbelieversonearth.AsIwillargueinthefollowing section,God’slove,toJulian,issopervasivethatitextendsthroughouttheearth, toallthathasbeenmade,andwillneverbedestroyed.ToJulian,theearthly,as wellastheheavenlycityisheldwithinGod’slove. OneofthemostfamousandmemorableimagesinJulian’sShowingsisthatofthe hazelnut.AppearinginthefifthchapteroftheLongText,itisoneofthefirstinthe seriesofvisionsJulianrelates.Juliandescribesseeingalittlething,shapedlikea hazelnut,sittinginthepalmofherhand.Itisround,likeaball,andverysmall. Sheistolditisallthathaseverbeenmade,andsheisamazedthatcreationcan sustainitself,becausesheisaware,holdingitinherhand,thatitissosmalland insignificantthatitshouldhardlybeabletoexistatall.However,sheisovercome atthesametimebytheassurance,providedforher,thatitsinsignificanceand unsustainabilityareirrelevant,becauseGod’slovewillneverleaveit,andthat lovewillallowittolastforever:

M.W.F.Stone,“AugustineandMedievalPhilosophy,”CambridgeCompaniontoAugustine,ed. EleonoreStumpandNormanKretzmann(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,2001),253–66; here,255–56. Stone,“AugustineandMedievalPhilosophy,”259.

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Andinthis,heshewedalittlethingthequantityofanhaselnot,lyinginthepalmeof myhandasmesemide,anditwasasroundeasanyballe.Ilookedtheranwiththeeye of my understanding, and thought: “What may this be?” And it was answered generallythus:“Itisallthatismade.”Imarvayledhowitmightlaste,formethought it might sodenly have fallen to nought for littlenes. And I was answered in my understanding:“Itlastethandevershall,forGodlovethit.Andsohathallthingbeing bytheloveofGod.” InthislittlethingIsawthreepropreties:thefirstisthatGodmadeit,thesecondisthat Godlovethit,thethirdeisthatGodkepethit.Butwhatisthattome?Sothly,the maker,thekeeper,thelover.FortillIamsubstantiallyonedtohimImayneverhave fullresteneveryblisse:thatistosay,thatIbesofastnedtohimthattherberight noughtthatismadebetweenemyGodandme.(5.7–18)

Ibelievethat Julian’suseofthehazelnutimageprovidesareinterpretationof Augustine’s depiction of the earthly city. Like Augustine, Julian of Norwich presentsheraudiencewithanimageofearthlycreation,balancedwithanimage ofHeaven.However,Julianemploystheseimagestounitetheheavenlyandthe earthlyrealm—todescribetheirsimilarities,ratherthantheirdifferences..The hazelnutimage,inwhichJulianholdsthewholeofcreationinherhandandistold thatGodwillloveitandpreserveitforever,demonstratesanequationofthefates oftheearthlycityandheavenlycity.BothareheldequallyinGod’slove.Julian’s descriptionoftheheavenlycityisconsistentwithherdescriptionofthehazelnut, oftenusingthesamelanguagetomakethesamepoints.IncontrasttoAugustine’s dominantview,Julian’sheavenlyandearthlycitiesareunitedinthebeliever—one heldinthehand,theotherintheheart. ScholarshavelongacknowledgedthehazelnutasanimageofGod’senduring loveforhiscreation.Mostviewitasapositiveassertionofman’sunionwithGod, despite mankind’s apparent insignificance and the unworthiness of created creaturestoengageinsuchaunion.Ithasbeengenerallyacceptedthat,toJulian, God’sloveredeemsandpreservestheworld.Examplesofargumentscenteringon thisinterpretationofthehazelnutarenearlytoonumeroustonote.HughFeiss suggeststhat: Julian’s discussion of the littleness of the world is inseparable from the “homely loving”ofChristmanifestinhiscomingtoearthandinhissufferingforhumanity.29

Theworldissmall,insignificant,butlovednonetheless.CharlesCummingsmakes asimilarcomment:

HughFeiss,“Dilation:GodandtheWorldintheVisionsofBenedictandJulianofNorwich,” AmericanBenedictineReview55(2004):55–74;here,65.

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JeannetteS.Zissel Julian’sthoughtisthatGodholdsthewholeuniverseinhislovinghands,andthough thewholemaybeastinyasahazelnutoragrainofsandyetitispreciousinhissight. Hemadeitall,outofhislove,andhepreservesitall“fortenderlove.”30

SusanK.Hagennotesthattheeverydayfamiliarityofthehazelnutrendersit“an effectiveandefficientmnemonicdevicefortheremembranceofGod’screative, loving,andsustainingpower.”31KerrieHideseesthehazelnutimageascentralto Julian’s understanding of salvation, noting that the world, like the nut, is insignificantandsmall: It looks worthless, fragile, as if it could insignificantly fall into nothing, and yet creationisofinestimablevalue,isprecious,andbelongstoGod.Creationiseternally enfoldedintheloveofGod.”32

Most scholars regard Julian’s interpretation of the hazelnut as a dramatic divergencefromAugustineandothermedievalthinkers’understandingofGod’s relationshiptohiscreation.Thisfeelingisparticularlystrongamongthosescholars whomakeacaseforJulian’spositiveunderstandingofthehumanbody.GraceM. Jantzen sees the hazelnut image as part of the strategy through which Julian provides“asharpchallengetotheideathatchastityisessentialforspirituality,”33 andZinaPetersenagrees,statingthat: SheisgentlerthanmostifnotallofherpastorcontemporaryChristianthinkerswhen discussingsuchtopicsasthehumanbody,preferringtopraiseGodforthebody’s functionsratherthancondemnthefleshaspartofthemortalworldtobesubduedand castoff.Whenshownnothingnessincomprehensiblethan“allofcreation”asatiny unitthesizeofahazelnut,sheatthesametimeperceivesGod’stremendouslovefor thethingassustainingit.34

Thehazelnutisthewholeofcreation,eternallypreservedthroughGod’slove.In this it provides a striking counter argument to many more commonplace theological arguments, which interpreted creation as inherently flawed and corrupted.

CharlesCummings,“God’sHomely”LoveinJulianofNorwich,”CistercianStudies13(1978): 68–74;here,71. SusanK.Hagen,“St.CeciliaandSt.JohnofBeverly:JulianofNorwich’sEarlyModelandLate Affirmation,” Julian of Norwich: A Book of Essays, ed. Sandra J. McEntire. Garland Medieval Casebooks,21(NewYorkandLondon:Garland,1998)91–114;here,106. KerrieHide,“OnlyinGoddoIHaveAll:TheSoteriologyofJulianofNorwich,”DownsideReview 122 (2004): 43–60; here, 51. Also of interest is Hide’s Gifted Origins to Graced Fulfillment: The SoteriologyofJulianofNorwich(Collegeville,MN:OrderofSt.Benedict,2001). GraceM.Jantzen,Power,Gender,andChristianMysticism.CambridgeStudiesinIdeologyand Religion,8(Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress,1995),238. ZinaPetersen,“EveryMannerofThingShallbeWell”:MirroringSerenityintheShewingsof JulianofNorwich,”MysticsQuarterly22(1996):91–101;here,238.

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Indeed,hazelnutswerecloselyassociatedwithphysicality,sexuality,andthe body in medieval medicine and romance tales alike. Peter Dronke, in writing aboutmedievallyrics,notes“theageoldassociationofhazelnutswithfertilityand eroticfulfillment.”35Tothisheadds: Itisunderthehazelnuttreethatlovehasthebestchanceofbeingreturned,evenby thosewhohaveshownnoloveelsewhere.Inawiderangeofproverbialexpressions goingintothehazelnuttrees[…]issynonymouswithlovemaking;alreadyinthe ancientworldsterilewomenwerebeatenwithhazeltwigstomakethemfertile,and hazelnutsweregiventothebrideandbridegroomontheweddingnight.36

MelittaWeissAdamson notesthat,amongtheirothermedicaluses,hazelnuts wereconsideredanaphrodisiac.37Hazelnutsandhazeltreesalsooftenfigurein romanceliteratureintimatelyassociatedwitheroticexperiences.38 This association with sex, love, and fertility has not gone unnoticed in its connectiontoJulian’simagery.LizHerbertMcAvoybelievesthehazelnutstands asevidenceofJulian’suseof“gynaecentricimagery,”39andassociatesitwiththe nutsdescribedintheBiblicalSongofSongs: However,withinthecontextoftheSongofSongsthetinynutoflittlevaluetakeson inordinate significance in its association with the hortus inclusus which is also the locationofsexualdesireanditsfulfillment.40

The earthly city’s goodness, in Julian’s hazelnut image, seems to be closely associatedwitherotic,materialphysicality.Itisonearth,afterall,thatmankind wascommandedtobefruitfulandmultiply.Itisthemeansbywhichmankind participatesinGod’screation.Theearthlycityisafertilecity,bearingfruitlikethe hazeltreeitself,growinglikeagardeneventhoughEdenislost.

36 37

PeterDronke,TheMedievalLyric,3rded.(1968;WoodbridgeandRochester,NY:Boydelland Brewer,1996),194. Ibid.,194. MelittaWeissAdamson,FoodinMedievalTimes.FoodThroughHistory(Westport:Greenwood, 2004),25. Forinstance,seeKarlP.Wentersdorf,“Pandarusshaselwode:acomparativeapproachtoa Chaucerianpuzzle,”StudiesinPhilology89(1992),293–313.Ahazeltreealsofigureslargelyin TristanandIseult’stryst,asdescribedinMariedeFrance’sChevrefoil.SeeWilliamSayers,“Marie deFrance’sChievrefoil,hazelrods,andtheOgamlettersCollandUillenn,”Arthuriana14(2004), 3–16.Fortheiconographicmeaningofnutsingeneral,seeGertraudMeinel,Nuss,Nussbaum, EnzyklopaediedesMarchens,ed.RolfWilhelmBrednich,vol.10.1(BerlinandNewYork:Walterde Gruyter,2000),159–63. LizHerbertMcAvoy,AuthorityandtheFemaleBodyintheWritingsofJulianofNorwichandMargery Kempe(CambridgeandRochester,NY:BoydelandBrewer,2004),84. Ibid.,83.

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Julian’s hazelnut image parallels her image of the heavenly city, both in the languagesheemploysandthemeaningexpressedinthatlanguage.Theimages bookendhervisions,oneappearingnearlyatthebeginningoftheShowings,and theotherattheend. ToJulian,thehumansoulisGod’scity,inwhichChristsitsenthroned.The heavenly city image emphasizes God’s love for mankind, his union with the believer,andtheeternalredemptionofallwhoareunitedtohiminlove.This imageoftheheavenlycityseemstobebasedinthesametraditionasAugustine’s, andyetrespondstohisinterpretationwithanewunderstandingoftheimage’s significance. Julian relates the heavenly city to the earthly city, echoing the languageusedinthehazelnutpassagetounitethetwointhereader’smind. Thelongtextexpandstheuseoftheheavenlycityimagefromthesinglepassage presentintheshorttext.However,allreferencesseemtousethecityforthesame purpose:todescribetheunionofmankindwithGod.41Inthelastvisiondescribed intheShowings,Julianrelatesherdiscoveryoftheheavenlycityinherownheart, inthefinalvisionofthetext: Andthenouregoodlordeopenedmygostelyeyeandshewdememysouleinthe middesofmyharte.Isawthesoulesolargeasitwereanendlessewarde,andalsoas itwereablissefulkingdom,andbytheconditionsthatIsawthereinIunderstodethat itisawurshipfullecitte.InmiddesofthatcittesittethourelordeJhesu,veryGodand very man: a fair person and of large stature, highest bishoppe, solempnest kinge, wurshipfullestlorde.AndIsawhimclothedsolemplyinwurshippes.Hesittethinthe souleevenrighteinpeasandrest,andherulethandyemethhevenanderthandall thatis.(68.1–9)

Theimageofthe“wurshipfullecite”withinthebeliever’ssoulnaturallyevokes theheavenlycityoftheBible.AsinRevelation,Christdwellswithinit,inunion withit.Botharedescribedinthesameterms:thecityis“wurshipfulle”andChrist is“wurshipfullestlord,”clothedin“wurshippes.”ItisaplacewhereChristis constantlylovedandpraised.InthisitseemsconsistentwithAugustine’sreading oftheheavenlycity:itistheeternaldwellingplaceofthosewholoveGod.Julian

Thesepassages,providedinChapterFiftyOne’sparableofthelordandservant,readasfollows: “Buthissittingontheerth,bareynanddesert,isthusto/mene:hemademannessouletobehis ownecitteandhisdwellingplace,whichis/mostpleasingtohimofallhisworkes”(51.123–25), and“Nowsitteththeson,veryGodandveryman,inhiscittein/restandinpees,whichhisfader hathdightetohimofendlessepurpose,andthe/faderintheson,andtheholygostinthefader andintheson”(51.278–80).Thesepassagesallassociatetheheavenlycitywiththepresentworld. AsIwillargueinthissection,thisseemstobearesponsetoAugustine’sreadingoftheheavenly city,byplacingitinthesamecontextastheearthlycity,asdepictedbythehazelnut.Theworld, toJulian,isalsoenclosedwithinthebeliever,andGod’seternalpreservationofbothstandas tokensofhislove.forallofmankind.

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notonlylooksforwardtoanotherplaceoranothertime,butalsolookswithin herselfassheisnow,onearth.Thecityislocatedwithinthebeliever’sheart,inthe createdworld,ratherthaninamorenebulous,invisibleform,onlyawaitingthe judgment to take its true shape. Unlike Augustine’s heavenly city, Julian’s heavenlycityisvictoriousonearth,asitisinheaven.42 The text immediately turns to concerns about the nature of creation, and whetherthesubstanceofcreationcanbesustainedforever:“TheplacethatJhesu takethinouresouleheshallneverremoveitwithouten/ende,astomysight,for inusishishomeliesthomeandhisendlessewonning.And/inthisheshewdethe likingthathehathofthemakingofmannessoule”(68.12–14).Julianisassured Christwillneverberemovedfromthesoul,andthatitishishomewithoutend, justastheheavenlycity,inRevelationandinAugustine,isGod’seternalhome.43 Thebeginningofthehazelnutpassageusespreciselythesametermstoestablish itsmessage.Itpresentsastrikingimageoftheearthlyrealminrelationtothe individual believer: just as the heavenly city is described as enclosed in the believer’sheart,theearthlycityisenclosedinthebeliever’shand.Furthermore, itisdescribedaseternal,aprominentdivergencefromAugustine’sinterpretation ofthefateoftheworldlyrealm: Andinthis,heshewedalittlethingthequantityofanhaselnot,lyinginthePalmeof myhandasmesemide,anditwasasroundeasanyballe.Ilookedtheranwiththeeye of my understanding, and thought: “What may this be?” And it was answered generallythus:“Itisallthatismade.”Imarvayledhowitmightlaste,formethought it might sodenly have fallen to nought for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding:“Itlastethandevershall,forGodlovethit.AndsoHathallthingbeing bytheloveofGod.”(5.7–13)

Thispassagebearssomestrikingsimilaritiestotheimageoftheheavenlycity providedinchaptersixtyeight.Inboth,JulianseessomeaspectofGod’screation inmicrocosm:thecityofGodinoneinstance,andthewholeofcreation,“allthat ismade,”intheother.Inbothcases,theobservedobjectrestswithinher:either enfoldedinhergrasp,ordeepwithinher,inherheartandsoul.Inbothinstances, sheisassuredthattheobjectwilllastforeverbecauseofitsabidingconnectionto

SeeFrederickChristianBauerschmidt,JulianofNorwichandtheMysticalBodyPolitic ofChrist. StudiesinSpiritualityandTheology,5(NotreDameandLondon:NotreDameUniversityPress, 1999),182–83. JoanM.NuthnotestheAugustiniansourceofthisimage,amongitsothersources:“WhileJulian sometimescallsthesoulwithoutqualificationthecityofGod,thefactthatsheoftenspecifically designatessensualityasGod’scityshowsthatshewasconsciousofthehistoricalandbodily implicationsofthetermasemployedbyAugustine.”Itseemslikelythatthehazelnut,initsclose associationwiththebody,mayalsorefertoAugustine’searthlycity.SeeWisdom’sDaughter:The TheologyofJulianofNorwich(NewYork:Crossroad,1991),113.

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God. To state that the world “lasteth and ever shall, for God loveth it,” is a startlingcontrasttoAugustine’sviewofthetemporarynatureoftheearthlyrealm. As J. P. H. Clark states, regarding the hazelnut, “God’s love is shown in conservationaswellasincreation.”44Augustine’sinterpretationofHeavenlyCity isalsodescribedintheseterms.ToJulian,Godlovestheearthashelovesheaven. Bothearthandheavenareconnectedtothelivingbodyofthebeliever,withinthe world,andwillneverbedestroyed.Theyarenotonlyloved,butlovedinthesame way:eternally,withinthebeliever. Intheheavenlycitypassageinchaptersixtyeight,Julianagainrefersto“allthat ismade,”arguingcreation’sinherentconnectiontoGod,thebeliever,andthe kingdom of heaven: “Al thing that he hath made sheweth his lordshippe—as understanding/wasgeveninthesametimebyexampleofacreaturethatisled to “se grete noblinesse / and kingdoms longing to a lorde” (68.19–21). The languageusedhere,againreferringtocreationas“Althingthathehathmade,” drawsaparallelinthisfinalvisionwiththeimageofthehazelnutdepictedinthe first.ThisbalancebetweenthetwoimagesperhapsreflectstheBible,beginning withGenesisandthecreationofallthings,andendingwithRevelation,andits promiseoftheheavenlycity’seternalreign.Thetwopassagesinsomesenseunite God’s heavenly and earthly creations, giving them each equal value. Both “shewethhislordshippe,”andbotharespecificallydescribedaskingdomswhich belong to him. This depiction of the “kingdoms longing to a lorde” stands in contrasttoAugustine’smoretraditionalreadingofthetwocities.Morethanone kingdombelongstothislord.InsteadofonecityruledbySatanandtheotherby God,bothbelongtoGod. Bothpassagesreachthesameconclusionregardingtheimportanceoftheearthly andheavenlyrealms:botharepreservedbyGodfortheexpresspurposethat believers may be united with him. The earth does not provide rest and true securityinitself,butitindicatesGod’sloveandisameansbywhichthatlovewill beeternallyexpressed.Thehazelnutpassagestatesthat: InthislittlethingIsawthreepropreties:thefirstisthatGodmadeit,thesecundIsthat God loveth it, the thirde is that God kepeth it. But what is that to me? Sothly the maker,thekeper,thelover.FortillIamsubstantiallyonedtohimImayneverhave fullresteneveryblisse:thatistosay,thatIbesofastnedtohimthattherberight noughtthatismadebetweenemyGodandme.(5.14–17)

Thesightofthehazelnutindicates,toJulian,thatGodisthecreator,lover,and preserver of all creation. It is a sign of the believer’s union with God that he preserveswhathehasmade,andthelessernatureofearthlycreationmakesit

Clark,“Trinity,”203.

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clearthat“fullreste”isimpossiblewithoutthecreator,lover,andpreserverofall things. Thesamepointismadeagainintheheavenlycitypassage,thistimeemploying God’sheavenlycreationasasignofGod’sloveandameansofunionwithhim. ThesightofheavenindicatestheneedtofindrestinGod.AsJulianstates,she comesto understondesothlythatouresoulemayneverhaverestinthingthatisbenethitselfe. And whan it cometh above alle creatures into itselfe, yet may it not abide in the beholdingofitselfe,butallethebeholdingisblissefullysetinGod,thatisthemaker, wonningtherin.Forinmannessouleishisverywonning.(68.24–26)

Theheavenlycityimagehas,forJulian,thesamemeaningasthehazelnutimage: thatmankind’sonlyrestcanbefoundinGod.AsChristopherAbbotnotes,“The climactic sixteenth showing discloses the completion of a retrospectively discernibleAugustinianparadigmoperativewithinthetext:Julian’sconcernis withthepassagefromknowledgeandloveofcreatedthings“wherinisnorest” toknowledgeandloveofGodwhois“theveryrest.”45IfthisisAugustinianinone sense,inthatGodistheonlytruesourceofhumanhappiness,italsodiverges fromAugustinebytheassociationofthehazelnutwiththeearthlycity.Juliansees theearthlyandheavenlycitiesasequaltokensoftheloveofGod.Godispresent inboth,intheworldandinthebelieveraswellasintheheaventhatistocome. Indeed,toJulian,theheavenlycityisalsonotanendinitself,butinstead“the highest/lightandthebrightestshiningofthecitteisthegloriousloveofoure/ LordeGod,astomysight”(68.27–29).Itisnotthecityitself,butGod’slovethat is significant. As Cynthea Masson states, “Besides her belief that God dwells withinhumankind,Julianalsodiscussesthepossibilityofhumanentranceintothe divinerealm.”46ThisisanotherdivergencefromAugustine’sinterpretationofthe separation of the heavenly and earthly cities, which focused on mankind and mankind’sloves.Julianinvertsthisstructureanddiscussesthetwocitiesinterms ofGod’sloveforman,insteadofman’sloveforGod. Augustine defines the two cities in terms of what their members love. Julian respondstothisinterpretationbyapplyingthesamestandardtoGodasAugustine appliestoman.ToJulian,theheavenlyandearthlycitiesarebothsigns,indicating that God loves mankind without reservation, just as Augustine argues that mankindmustloveGodbeyondallelsetowarrantadmittancetotheheavenly

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Abbot,AutobiographyandTheology,34. CyntheaMasson,“ThePointofCoincidence:RhetoricandtheApophaticinJulianofNorwich’s Showings”JulianofNorwich:ABookofEssays,ed.SandraJ.McEntire.GarlandMedievalCasebooks, 21(NewYorkandLondon:Garland,1998),153–81;here168.

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city.Thehazelnut,asasymboloftheworld,altersAugustine’sinterpretationto explorenewinterpretationsoftheearthlycity’ssignificance.Juliantransformsit from an impermanent, damned kingdom ruled by Satan, to a symbol and testamentofGod’slove. Julian’smessageisnearlyuniversallyacknowledgedasoneoftheoverpowering natureofGod’slove.ScholarsrepeatedlynoteJulian’spositiveunderstandingof man’srelationshipwithGod.KarlTamburrstatesthat“Julianproposesavision ofredemptionthatisultimatelymoretolerantanduniversal,”47andJayGilchrist states that Julian’s theology is a “theology of mercy.”48 Her text explores the outermostreachesofhowGod’slovecanfunctioninahumanlife.Bothinthe passagesdiscussedhereandinherworkasawhole,sheexperimentswithhow muchandinhowmanywaysGod’slovecanaffectmen’shearts.49 Julian’sinterpretationoftheheavenlyandearthlycitiessuggeststhatGod’slove hasnolimits,andmayhavetheabilitytosaveallofmankind—allmembersof bothcities—fromtheirsins.IfJulianistestingthebordersofChristianexperience, attempting to create a theology based wholly on God’s love, then a universal salvationisperhapsthegreatestexpressionofthefarextentthoseborderscan reach.NicholasWatson,amongothers,proposesthatabeliefinuniversalsalvation existedinMiddleEnglishtheologyingeneral,andJulian’sShowingsinparticular.50 He asserts that Julian and other English thinkers espoused “the idea—widely impliedinearlypatristicthoughtandmadeexplicitbyOrigen,butattackedin Augustine’s De civitate Dei, and condemned at the Second Council of 47

Karl Tamburr, “Mystic Transformation: Julian’s Version of the Harrowing of Hell,” Mystics Quarterly20(1994):60,67;here,66. See Jay Gilchrist, “Unfolding Enfolding Love in Julian of Norwich’s Revelations,” Mystics Quarterly9(1983):67–88,83. Thisisnottosay,however,thatshedoesnotdiscussthenatureevilinherwork.SeeBradPeters, “TheRealityofEvilWithintheMysticVisionofJulianofNorwich,”MysticsQuarterly13(1987): 195–202; and also Simon Tugwell, “Julian of Norwich as a Speculative Theologian,” Mystics Quarterly9(1983):199–209.Overall,Julian’sdiscussionofevilseemstobeseparatefromher discussion of the heavenly and earthly cities, which focuses on God’s love for mankind, in responsetotheAugustinianinterpretation.C.E.Banchich,however,arguesthatthehazelnut passageisanarticulationofpiousdread,becauseitmakesJulianandthereaderawareofthe fragility of existence. See C. E. Banchich, “‘A Heavynly Joy in a Dredfulle Soule’: Julian of Norwich’sArticulationsofDread,”FearanditsRepresentationsintheMiddleAgesandRenaissance, ed. Anne Scott and Cynthia Kosso. Arizona Studies in Middle Ages and the Renaissance, 6 (Turnhout:Brepols,2002),311–40;especially321. ManyscholarsidentifyJulian’stextasapositiveassertionofuniversalsalvation.StephenFanning also argues that “in the midst of the calamities and pessimism of her age, Julian’s message overflows with optimism. Contrary to the prevailing spirit emphasizing the horrors of hell awaitingtheunrighteous,JulianbelievedthatJesushadgivenherassuranceoftheuniversal salvationofhumankind,”in“MitigationsoftheFearofHellandPurgatoryintheLaterMiddle Ages:JulianofNorwichandCatherineofGenoa,”FearanditsRepresentationsintheMiddleAges andRenaissance,,295–310.

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Constantinoplein553—thatallhumanitywillattainsalvation.”51Watsonidentifies Julian as one of the theologians who revived Origen’s belief in a universal salvationforallmankind.52ItisofparticularrelevancetothispaperthatDecivitate Deiwasattheheartoftheearlychurch’sargumentagainstuniversalsalvation. WhereAugustinecondemnsthemembersoftheearthlycity,rejectingOrigen’s arguments, Julian reshapes the very same image to explore the possibility of universalsalvation. Julian’sfamouspassage,statingthat“alleshallebewele,andalleshallebewele, andallemanerofthinge/shallebewel”(27.10–11),mayindicatethatallpeople willbesaved,justasthehazelnutimagesuggeststhewholeoftheworldwillbe preserved and never condemned. However, it leaves the mechanism at work vague.Howwillallbesaved?Ifsinhasnosubstance,asJuliansuggests,thesinful maynotbe“things”toher—theymayalsobewithoutsubstance,andwouldnot beincludedinthepromisethat“allmanerofthingeshallebewel.”Herstatements maynotbedefinitive.However,Julianinanycasefoundsherunderstandingof God’sinteractionswithhiscreationintermsofhisoverwhelmingloveforwhat hehasmade. JulianusestheimagesAugustineusedtorefuteuniversalsalvationtoexploreits very possibility. She questions the permanent separation of the heavenly and earthlycities,unitingthemintheirfunctionofindicatingthepowerofGod’slove forallpeople. ThiskindofdepictionoftheearthlycityisperhapspossiblebecauseJulian’s focusrestsonthespirituallifeofanindividualbeliever.Sheisessentiallysecure intheknowledgeofhersalvation.Inthefirstchapteroftheshorttext,sheassures herreadersthat“ItraystesothfastlyethatIshuldebesafe”(1.17–18).Sheisnot, perhaps,amember,orevenapilgrimcaptiveoftheearthlycityasAugustinesees it.Asananchorite,orsimplyevenasabeliever,shehas,insomesense,removed herself from the world, and from anxiety over sin. As Maria R. Lichtmann observes: Julian,inherisolationfromsocialstructuresoffamily,church,andevenreligious community,becameliberatedfromsomeoftheirconfiningimplications.Heranchorite existencefreedhertoacceptuncommoninsightsintothespiritualsignificanceofthe body.Further,hertrustinherownexperience,sometimesatoddswiththereceived

NicholasWatson,“VisionsofInclusion:UniversalSalvationandVernacularTheologyinPre ReformationEngland,”JournalofMedievalandEarlyModernStudies27(1997):145–97. Watson,“VisionsofInclusion,”162.

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Duetoherposition,Julianisfreedfromtheburdenofinstructinganaudience.In doing so, Julian embraces the theological traditions of the church in order to explorenewwaysofunderstandingthosetraditions.Aswehavediscussedhere, sheadaptsAugustine’sreadingoftheheavenlyandearthlycitiestonewpurposes. Shedoesnotrejecttheimagery,butchallengestheargumentbehindthatimagery. In any case, her purpose is not didactic, or apologetic, as Augustine’s is. The world,toher,asrepresentedbytheearthlycity,canbeusedasapositiveimage ofunionwith,notoppositionto,God. Theheavenlycityseemstoevokenaturallyacomparisonwiththehazelnut. Theyarebothreducedinscaletodepictbettertheintimateconnectionbetweenthe individualbelieverandGod.Theyarerenderedsmallenoughtobeheldbyone person. One is held in the hand, the other in the heart. Her experience of the heavenlyandearthlycitiesappearstobedeeplyindividual,deeplyfocusedonthe personalconnectionbetweentheindividualbelieverandGod.Insomesense,the heavenly and earthly cities seem to have a population of two: the individual believerandGod.Ifanindividualbelieverissaved,then,tothatbeliever,allis saved:“Forinthisonehedestondeth/thelifeofallemankindthatshallebesaved” (9.8–9).Alloutsideoftheir“onehede”isinsignificant,andtheir“onehede”inturn comprisesthewholeofexistence,throughtheeternal,unfailingpowerofdivine love. JulianofNorwich’sunderstandingoftheheavenlyandearthlycitiesispartofa longtheologicaltradition,inwhichurbanspaceisusedasametaphorforspiritual identity. Medieval theologians used city imagery to explain the fundamental natureofhumanity,todivideitintopoliticalentitiesdirectlyopposedtoeach other, like two citystates at war. As one’s residence within a real city would convey information about one’s identity to the world, so affiliation with the heavenlyorearthlycityrevealsone’sinnernature.JulianofNorwichisuniquein thewaysheadaptsthisimageryinordertoexploreGod’sloveformankind.Julian inhabitsboththeearthlyandheavenlycities,andunitesthemwithinherselfand withintheloveofthedivine.Theyarenolongeropposed,inherview,butinstead findharmonywithinthebeliever.Julianusestheimagestoexploretheidentityof thesoulwholiveswithinthem,andinwhom,paradoxically,thosecitiesinturn

MariaR.Lichtman,“Godfulfilledmybodye”:Body,Self,andGodinJulianofNorwich,”Gender andTextintheLaterMiddleAges,ed.JaneChance(Gainesville,Tallahassee,TampaandBocaRaton: FloridaUniversityPress,1996)263–79;here,263.

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may also be found. The identity Julian finds there is that of God’s beloved creation—acreationlovedequallywithinthecitiesofheavenandearth.

PatriciaTurning (ArizonaStateUniversity)

“WithTeethClenchedandanAngryFace:”1Vengeance, VisitorsandJudicialPowerin FourteenthCenturyFrance

Onaspringafternoonin1332,abusinesslawyernamedBernardusdeBostowas justoneofmanyindividualsmakinghiswaythroughthebusystreetsofToulouse towardthetownhall.Likemanymedievalcities,thetownhallwassituatedina centrallocationintheurbanspace,whereadministratorscouldmeettheneedsof theirconstituentsinthecourtroom,orridthecityofthemalefactorslockedaway in the municipaljail.2Thebuildingalsoservedasasymbolofcivicprideand autonomy,andreportedlystoredthetrebuchetresponsibleforthefatalstonethat killed Simon de Montfort during the Albigensian Crusade.3 It is unclear what broughtBernardusdeBostotothetownhallonthatspecificday,buthispresence musthavebeenfamiliarenoughamongthepeoplecomingandgoinginthearea thatagroupofmen,armedwithconcealedswordsandotherweapons,layinwait forhisarrival.Whenthegang’slookoutspottedBernardusemergingfromthe crowd,hesignaledtheothersintoaction.Themenbegantostalkthelawyerdown theprominentRuedeBorbona,andwithoutanywordsofwarning,theywithdrew theirswordsandstruckhiminthehead.4Throughtheirrepeatedblows,lawyer

ArchivesmunicipalesdeToulouse–FF57,45:“cumvultoirataetdentibusfremens.”Hereafter referencedasAMT. Jules Chalande, Histoire Monumentale de l’Hôtel de Ville de Toulouse (Toulouse: Imprimerie St. Cyprien,1922). HenriGilles,ed.LesCoutumesdeToulouse(1286)etleurpremiercommentaire(1296)(Toulouse: ImprimerieMauriceESPIC,1969),163:“quilapisfuitprojectuspermachinamcumquodictus comesMontisfortisfuitpercussus.Quemachineestadhucinpalatiocommuni.”Foradescription ofthisevent,see,forexample,WilliamofTudelaandanonymoussuccessor,TheSongoftheCathar Wars: A History of the Albigensian Crusade, trans. Janet Shirley. Crusade Texts in Translation (Sydney:AshgatePublishingLimited,1996),172. AMT–FF57,31.

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Bernardus deBostosuffereda“devastatingandcruel”woundtohisfacethat wouldleavehimperpetuallydeformed,andbleedingprofuselyontheground.5 Due to the amount of blood, one of the thugs thought he had slit Bernardus’ throat,butstilldecidedtostrikethelawyeronelasttimeashelayhelplessinthe street.Beforeanyspectatorscouldintervene,themenrantotheancientchurchof theDaurade,wheretheyassumedtheprotectionoftheecclesiasticalprivilegeof asylum. ItdidnottakelongforToulouse’stwelveelectedofficials,thecapitols,tolearn aboutthedramaticambushofthelawyerthattranspiredjuststepsawayfromthe verybuildingthatservedtheirconstituentsformattersoflawandorder.City representativessoonsoughtcontactwiththefugitiveshidinginsidethechurch. Oncetheassailantsrealizedtheywerebothidentifiedandtrapped,theybeganto revealthatthewholeattackhadbeenplannedandcommissionedbyacitizenof thenearbyvillageofVillamuro.Theyallegedthatthisman,namedStephanus Saletas,hadbeeninToulouseonmultipleoccasionsandhadpromisedtopay themhandsomelyifthey“mutilatedthelawyerintheface.”Later,theattackers provided sworn statements against Saletas to Toulouse’s court officials, and detailedhisplanandmotivationforthewholeevent.Astheevidencemounted against Saletas, the capitols began to mobilize their administration toward preparationforatrial,sothatthelawyerBernardusdeBostocouldreceivejustice for this public affront and his facial disfigurement. However, one significant problememerged:thecityofficialsofVillamuroclaimedauthorityovertheperson ofStephanusSaletasandrefusedtoextraditetheircitizentoToulouse.Itwasonly through intense negotiation and jurisdictional wrangling that Saletas came to standtrialinToulouseforhisroleintheassaultagainsttherespectedlawyer, BernardusdeBosto. StephanusSaletas’scaseofconspiracy,mutilation,andtheintensivedebates concerningextraditionwasrecordedinanotary’sregisterfrom1332,foundtoday inthemunicipalarchivesofToulouse.Thedocumentasawholecontainsthetrial transcripts, copies of appeal letters (papira cedula), and the capitols’ legal correspondenceforfiftytwoseparatecasesheardbetweenthemonthsofApril andOctober.Verdicts,unfortunately,donotappearthatoftenintheregister.The trials themselves took place in the town hall’s courtroom, where the capitols presidedoverthehearingsandhandledthemanylawyers,jurists,medicalexperts, defendants,andwitnesseswhostoodbeforethem.Sofar,historianshaveonly really exploited the transcript of one trial that resulted in the execution of a university student’s squire.6 The rest of the legal proceedings recorded in the

5 6

Ibid.,48. Dubbedbymodernscholarsasthe“AimeryBerengerAffair,”thiscaseprovokedyearsofdebate inthe1330sbetweentheking,pope,andcapitolsconcerningtheextentofroyaljurisdictionover

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registerconcernedaccusationsofvariousviolentcrimessuchasrape,kidnapping, and physical assaults that involved a wide range of weapons. The cases are certainlynotrepresentativeofallofthecriminalactivityinToulouse.Ifaclerk committedaninfraction,forexample,hewouldbetriedinanecclesiasticalcourt. Asidefromjurisdictionallimitationstothenumberofcasesheardbythecapitols, manylesseroffenceswereneverrecordedorevenmadeittotrial.Asthepolitical capital of Languedoc with a population somewhere between 30,000 to 40,000 residents,thereislittledoubtthat,likeParis,thecityhaditsshareofunemployed transientswhohadtostealorresorttoviolencetosurvive.7Butforlesseroffenses, perhapsthecapitols’notarydidnottakethetimetorecordthedetailsofthecase or to conduct an extensive investigation into the matter. The overwhelming majorityofthevictimsordefendantswhocametocourtwerewellestablishedin thecommunity;theyhadpermanentresidentsinToulouse,andtheyhadextensive socialandoccupationalcontactsthatprovidedfinancialandemotionalsupportin court.8 So in many respects, the function of the judicial process was not to

universitystudents’servants.TheoriginalnotarialtrialtranscriptisinAMT–FF57,1–30.The entirecaseiscopiedbyadifferentnotary’shandinregisterAMT–FF58.Fragmentsofthecase havebeentranscribedinavarietyoflocations.Anabbreviatedversionoftheaccusationandsome of the witness testimony is copied in AMT–AA6, fol. 23. The archivist Ernest Roschach summarizedthisdocumentinFrenchinVilledeToulouse–InventairedesArchivesCommunales Intérieursà1790(Toulouse:ÉdouardPrivat,1891),107.–MarcelFournierpublishedRoschach’s versionofthetrial,andseverallettersbetweentheKing,archbishopofToulouse,andthecapitols fromtheVaticanarchivesinLesStatutsetprivilègesdesuniversitésfrançaises,depuisleurfondation jusqu’en1789,vol.1(Aalen,Germany:ScientiaVerlag,1970),nos.563–89. ThepopulationestimationisfoundinJeanNöelBiraben,“LaPopulationdeToulouseauXIVe etXVesiècles,”JournaldesSavants(1964):285–300.ToulouseseemstobeacontrasttoParis,where scholarsarguethatthepoorandmarginalfigureslivingintheCapetiancapitalcommittedmost ofthecriminaloffenses.Muchofthisislinkedtotheeventsofthefourteenthcentury,whichled toadisplacedpopulationthatfledtothecapitalcityofParis.JacquelineMisraki,“Criminalitéet pauvretéenFranceàl’époquedelaGuerredeCentAns,”Étudessurl’histoiredelapauvreté,vol. 2,MoyenAge–XVIesiècle,ed.MichelMollat(Paris:PublicationsdelaSorbonne,1974),535–46. Bronisaw Geremek, The Margins of Society in Late Medieval Paris, trans. Jean Birrell. Past and Present Publications (1971; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 6–43. Most examinationsofParisiancrimecomefromtheonlyextantcriminalregisterfromtheChâteletof Paris dating from 1389 to 1392. From this register, containing one hundred and seven trials involvingonehundredandtwentyeightdefendants,themajorityofoffenderswereamongstthe poorestinhabitantsofPariswhohadnopermanentresidencesorpossessionsinthecity,andhad committedtheftofsomesort.RegistrecriminelduChâteletdeParisdu6Septembre1389au18Mai 1392,ed.M.HenriDuplèsAgier(Paris:ImprimerparC.Lahure,1861–1864).See,EstherCohen, “Patterns of Crime in FourteenthCentury Paris,” French Historical Studies 11 (1980): 307–27; ClaudeGauvard,“LaCriminalitéparisienneàlafinduMoyenÂge:unecriminalitéordinaire?” Villes,bonnesvilles,citésetcapitales:Étudesd’histoireurbaine(XIIe–XVIIIesiècle)offertesàBernard Chevalier,ed.MoniqueBourin(Caen:Paradigme,1993),361–70. Forexample,thecriminalregisterAMT,FF–57from1332containsoverseventynamedprimary defendants,ofwhichonlythree,includingStephanusSaletas,werenotresidentsofToulouse.

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prosecutetransientthieveswholurkedonthemarginsofthecity,preyingupon unsuspectingcitizens.Instead,thecriminalproceedingsallowedthecapitolsand their officers to resolve conflicts between neighbors and to demonstrate their authoritybypassingjudgmentupontheirconstituentscaught,orsuspectedof, breakingmunicipallaws.Themunicipalcourtthenbecameaforuminwhichthe publicandthecivicleadersnegotiatedandsolidifiednotionsofinclusioninand exclusionfromtheirconstructedlawfulsociety. ThetrialofStephanusSaletas,then,provestobesomethingofanexceptionto thisrule.HewasnotacitizenofToulouse,buthealsowasnotaroamingbandit. Hiscrimewasnotaspontaneous,emotionalattack,butacold,calculatedassault thattookmonthsofcoordinationtounfoldfinally.Throughacloseexamination of the whole affair using spatial theory as an analytical tool, this article will analyzethepointsofcontactbetweenthe“insiders”ofToulouseand“outsiders,” andwillexplorehowjustice(interpersonalandjudicial)wasperformedinthe urban space. Stephanus Saletas’s case works on two different levels: the local arena,inwhichSaletasplottedtodisfigureBernardusdeBostoinordertodisplay hisvengeanceinasymboliclocationinthecity;andinthelargerregionaltheater, in which the two urban administrations struggled to demonstrate power by protecting their respective citizens. I will argue that because the infraction transpired in the public space of Toulouse, and involved the humiliation of a celebratedlawyerbythesymboliclocationofthetownhall,thecapitolshadtogo togreatlengthstobringtheperpetratorbacktostandtrialintheircourtroom,to showthattheircityspaceandtheircitizenswereprotected,andlawandorderwas maintained. Inordertoteaseoutthisinterpretation,thisarticlewillfollowthetraditionof recent historians who have borrowed the notions of spatial theory in order to understandjudicialtrialsasaperformance,orritual,ofjustice.Until recently, geographerswerethemostinterestedinapplyingsocialtheoriestoconstructsof space.Theyarguedthatbecausepeopleneedspaceinwhichtointeract,andact acertainwaybecauseoftheirsurroundings,understandingsofspatialandsocial processes are inseparable concepts. In other words, trying to “explain why something occurs is to explain why it occurs where it does.”9 Whereas the discipline of geography urged historians to think more critically about space, HenriLefebvre’swork,LaProductiondel’espace,originallypublishedin1974,has been extremely influential also in driving scholars to unravel how space is

RobertDavidSack,ConceptionsofSpaceinSocialThought:AGeographicPerspective(Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1980), 70. Other geographers have incorporated sociological perspectivestoemphasizehowgeographicalplanning,orproximity,andsocialrelationshipsare interrelated,andinterdependentforces.Forurbanplanning,seeDavidHarvey,SocialJusticeand theCity(Baltimore:JohnsHopkinsUniversityPress,1973).––

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perceived, conceived, and lived.10 Having accepted that the concept of space entailedmorethanmeregeometricalconfines,theorists,suchasMichelFoucault andPierreBourdieu,describedspaceasacontestedgeographyandterritory,over whichgroupsandindividualstrytoexertpowerandcontrol. InPower/Knowledge,Foucaultarguedthat,“awholehistoryremainstobewritten ofspaces—whichwouldatthesametimebethehistoryofpowers...fromthe greatstrategiesofgeopoliticstothelittletacticsofthehabitat.”11Bourdieucame toasimilarconclusionthroughhisobservation’softheBerbergroup,asserting that the power of a society’s dominant group lay in its ability to control the constructionsofrealitythatreinforceitsownstatus,sothatsubordinategroups acceptthesocialorder,andtheirownplaceinit.12Tomaintaintheiradvantages, any powerful group must create an ordering of space for subservient groups through symbolic rituals, laws, or the regulation of habitation and work opportunities.However,thepowerofadominantgroup’spoweroverspaceisnot permanent.Inherstudyofthemaleuseofspatialpowertosubordinatewomen, DaphneSpainrevealedthatthe“reciprocitybetweenspaceandstatusarisesfrom theconstantrenegotiationandrecreationoftheexistingstratificationsystem.”13 Atalllevelsofthesocialhierarchyandsocializationprocess,powerfulandless powerfulgroupsarecontinuallyvyingtoassert,ormaintaintheirpowerover space. Overthepastfewyears,medievalhistorianshavebeguntoexaminethevarious ways in which monarchs, municipal governments, and the common man manipulated,perceived,andlivedintheirurbanspaceinlightofspatialtheory. AstheeditorsofCityandSpectacleacknowledge,“tomedievalurbaninhabitants, spacewasnotneutral.Selectionofparticularspacesforeventsspeakstoexclusion ofsomeurbaninhabitantsaswellasinclusionofothers.”14Onalargescale,people livinginmedievalcitiesrecognizedthesymbolicmeaningsbehindcivicrituals and ceremonies which were enacted throughout the streets in order to assert municipalauthority,legitimizeanewmonarch,orcelebrateprideinaguild’s historyorachievements.Spectacleusedspacetoshow,orrefuse,arealignmentof powerandcontrol,andsocialcohesion.15Beyondroyalandreligiousprocessions, 10 11

13 14

HenriLefebvre,Productiondel’espace(Paris:ÉditionsAnthropos,1974). MichelFoucault,Power/Knowledge:SelectedInterviewsandOtherWritings,1972–1977,ed.andtrans. ColinGordon,etal.(NewYork:Pantheon,1980),149. PierreBourdieu,OutlineofaTheoryofPractice,trans.RichardNice.CambridgeStudiesinSocial Anthropology,16(1972;CambridgeandNewYork:CambridgeUniversityPress,1977),90–91, 160–63. DaphneSpain,GenderedSpaces(ChapelHill:TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress,1992),17. BarbaraA.HanawaltandKathrynL.Reyerson,introductiontoCityandSpectacleinMedieval Europe,ed.BarbaraA.HanawaltandKathrynL.Reyerson.MedievalStudiesatMinnesota,6 (Minneapolis:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,1994),ix–xviii. MervynJames,“Ritual,DramaandSocialBodyintheLateMedievalEnglishTown,”Pastand

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the residents of medieval cities also witnessed a copious number of public executions and punishments. Through the gory disfigurement and symbolic sentencingofcriminals,whichtookplaceinvariouspartsofthecity,theurban crowdcouldwitnessthepowerofthemunicipaljurisdictionandthereturnof civicorder.16 Fromtheseearlyeffortstoexplainhowawellorchestratedspectaclereinforced thesovereigntyofthecentralizedauthority,morehistorianshavebeguntounpack trialsthemselvesasacivicritualofjusticeperformedthroughoutthecityspace. Robert Bartlett, for example, argues that the trials should be interpreted as windowsintogreatermeaningsoftheinteractionwithinsocialcommunitiesand conceptsofcrimes.17Inotherwords,thetrialitselfservedasa“stagedevent”in whichthecriminalproceedingswereaplayofareallifedrama.18The“tales”that aretoldinthecourtrecordsbringtolightthevaluesofthejudgesandthejudged, and establish the society’s system of rules of behavior.19 Thus, the notary’s descriptionofcrimesandthewitnesstestimonyrevealtohistorianstheboundaries ofgoodandbadbehavior,anddecidedwhowasincludedinandexcludedfrom anorderedsociety.20MicheldeCerteauassertsthattrialsare“spatial”storiesin

Present98(February1983):3–29. Joëlle RolloKoster, “The Politics of Body Parts: Contested Topographies in LateMedieval Avignon,”Speculum78(January2003):66–98.MitchelB.Merback,TheThief,TheCrossandthe Wheel:PainandtheSpectacleofPunishmentinMedievalandRenaissanceEurope(London:Reaktion Books,1999).EstherCohen,“‘ToDieaCriminalforthePublicGood’:TheExecutionRitualinLate MedievalParis,”Law,Custom,andtheSocialFabricinMedievalEurope:EssaysinHonorofBryceLyon, ed.BernardS.BachrachandDavidNicholas.StudiesinMedievalCulture,XXVIII(Kalamazoo, MI:MedievalInstitutePublications,1990),285–304.WalterPrevenier,“ViolenceAgainstWomen inaMedievalMetropolis:ParisAround1400”Law,Custom,andtheSocialFabric,263–84.Claude Gauvard,“PendreetdépendreàlafinduMoyenÂge:lesexigencesd’unritualjudiciaire,”Riti eritualinellasocietàmedievali,ed.JacquesChiffoleau,LauroMartines,andA.ParaviciniBagliani (Spoleto: Centro italiano di studi sull’alto medioevo, 1994), 191–214. Guido Ruggiero, “Constructing Civic Morality, Deconstructing the Body: Civic Rituals of Punishment in RenaissanceVenice,”Ritieritualinellesocietàmedievali,175–90.– See,RobertBartlett,TheHangedMan:AStoryofMiracle,Memory,andColonialismintheMiddleAges (Princeton:UniversityofPrincetonPress,2004). Antoine Garapon, Bien Juger: Essai sur le rituel judiciaire (Paris: Odile Jacob, 1997). Andrée Courtemanchedividesonetrialintoliterarycategoriessuchas“protagonists”andthe“plot”in “TheJudge,TheDoctor,andthePrisoner:MedicalExpertiseinManosquinJudicialRitualsatthe EndoftheFourteenthCentury,”MedievalandEarlyModernRitual:FormalizedBehaviorinEurope, China,andJapan,ed.JoëlleRolloKoster.Cultures,Beliefs,andTraditions,13(LeidenandBoston: Brill,2002),105–23. DanielLordSmail,“TellingTalesinAngevinCourts,”FrenchHistoricalStudies20(1997):183–215. NatalieZemonDavis,FictionintheArchives:PardonTalesandtheirTellersinSixteenthCentury France.TheHarryCampLecturesatStanfordUniversity(Stanford,CA:StanfordUniversityPress, 1987). Forexample,B.AnnTlustyexamineswitnesstestimonyinearlymodernAugsburginorderto arguethatthesocietyhadvaryinglevelsandstandardsofacceptableviolence,particularlyamong

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a sense, drawing both literal and figurative borders in the city: restrictions of acceptable behavior, communal obligations of conduct, as well as physical boundariesofsocialinteractioninneighborhoodsandcitystreets.21Thelitigants whobroughtcasesbeforethecapitolsdidnotnecessarilyconsidertheoutcomeof thetrialasthemostimportantfactorofthedispute.Instead,thepublicnatureof theaccusationandthespectacleofthesocialdramainvolvedintakinganenemy tocourtwerejustassignificant.22Medievalpeopleinvestedinpressingcharges againsttheirenemy,notnecessarilyforthefinancialoutcome,butbecausethey coulddefameanopponent,orgivelegitimacytothehatredorangertheymay possess.Soforboththecapitolsandthelitigantstherewasmoreatstakethenjust anoutcomeofthetrial.Thecitizensreceivedanaudiencefortheirgrievance,and theadministratorscouldestablishtheirsovereignty. This essay attempts to situate the trial of Stephanus Saletas within the historiography of spatial theory by accepting urban space as a contested topographyoverwhichdifferentgroupsstruggletomaintaindominancethrough displaysandnegotiationsofpower.Inotherwords,thecitystreetsandpublic squares,buildings,andlandmarksofToulouseservedasaforumfortheresidents andtheadministrationto“perform”theirstatus,tosuppressarival,ortoseek restitutionforsomeperceivedinjustice.Toaccentuatethispoint,myanalysisof thecasewillbedividedintotwoparts.Thefirstportionwillexploretheplanned assaultagainstBernardusdeBosto.Thecourtrecordsrevealthatafterabusiness transactionwentawrybetweenStephanusSaletasandthelawyer,Saletasvowed toavengethisdishonorthroughthespectacleofmutilation.Eventhoughhewas acitizenofVillamuro,andthusanoutsidertothesocialhierarchyofToulouse,he stillaspiredtohavethisretaliationtakeplaceinpublic.Butinsteadofplayinga leadingrole,hewascontenttoworkthroughhispersonalconnectionsinthecity toorchestratetheeventfromadistance.Inthesecondportionofthecase,the struggleforjurisdictionoverSaletas,thecapitolsutilizedthisinterpersonalcrime todisplayandsolidifytheirjurisdictionalsovereigntybothwithinthecitylimits andbeyond.Thiscasewasanopportunityforsocialandjudicialpowerstructures tobenegotiated,andlegitimized,withinapublicurbansphere.

theartisanswhofrequentedtaverns.“ViolenceandUrbanIdentityinEarlyModernAugsburg: Communication Strategies Between Authorities and Citizens in the Adjudication of Fights,” Cultures of Communication from Reformation to Enlightenment: Constructing Publics in the Early ModernGermanLands,ed.JamesVanHornMelton.St.AndrewsStudiesinReformationHistory (Aldershot,Hants,England,andBurlington,VT:AshgatePublishingCompany,2002),10–23 MicheldeCerteau,ThePracticeofEverydayLife,trans.StevenRendall(Berkeley:TheUniversity ofCaliforniaPress,1984),123. DanielLordSmail,TheConsumptionofJustice:Emotions,Publicity,andLegalCultureinMarseille, 1264–1423. Conjunctions of Religion and Power in the Medieval Past (Ithaca, NY: Cornell UniversityPress,2003),23.

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Due to the nature of the extant archival sources, it is difficult to offer any accurateassessmentofthesocialcompositionof Toulouse, ortogainanyreal knowledgeofthemovementofpeopleinandoutofthecity.23Butwedoknow thatbythefourteenthcentury,thecityofToulouseplayedapivotalroleinthe politicalandlegalnetworkofsouthernFrance.AftertheFrenchkingconquered the region and ended the Albigensian Crusade in 1229, Toulouse became the region’sheadquartersforroyalofficialssenttoprotecttheinterestsoftheking, and for the Dominican friars sent by the pope to combat the Cathar heresy. Between1280and1320,theKingPhiliptheFairsentlargenumbersofofficers trainedinRomanlawtoserveintheroyaladministrationinLanguedocasjudges, orasroyalprocurers.24Inaddition,theregionwasintegratedintotheroyaljudicial hierarchybybeingdividedintoregions,sénséchaussées;eachadministeredbya seneschal,aroyalofficer,whohadajudicialcourt,whichservedasthelastcourt ofappealsinmattersbeforetheparlementinParis.25Thesénséchausséeswerethen 23

For the most part, scholars have concentrated on the city’s political transition into the royal kingdomduringthethirteenthcentury.BeyondthecopiouspublicationsofJohnHineMundy, themostrecentstudyisChristopherGardner,“NegotiatingLordship:EffortsoftheConsulatof ToulousetoRetainAutonomyunderCapetianRule(ca.1229–1315),”Ph.D.dissertation,Johns HopkinsUniversity,2002.Historiansinterestedinthecitybeyondpoliticalissueshaveconsulted taxrecords,guildstatutes,andvariousecclesiasticaldocumentsinordertoascertainstandards ofliving,meansofeconomicproduction,andfamilystructures.Forexample,in1335,thecapitols begantogatheracensusofthetaxablewealthofeachheadofhousehold,eithermaleorfemale. Philippe Wolff has worked with these documents extensively from the later fourteenth and fifteenthcenturyinLes“estimes”ToulousainesdesXIVeetXVesiècles(Toulouse:CentreNational delaRechercheScientifique,1956);CommercesetMarchandsdeToulouse(vers1350–1450)(Paris: LibrairiePilon,1954);and“Toulousevers1400:Répartitiontopographiquedesfortunesetdes professions,”Regardssurlemidi(Toulouse:ÉdouardPrivate,1978),269–78.Foradiscussionofthe availableguildrecords,seeSisterMaryAmbroseMulholland,EarlyGuildRecordsofToulouse(New York:ColumbiaUniversityPress,1941).Seealsoher“StatutesonClothmaking:Toulouse,1227” EssaysinMedievalLifeandThought:PresentedinHonorofAustinPattersonEvans,ed.JohnH.Mundy, Richard W. Emery, and Benjamin N. Nelson (New York: Columbia University Press, 1955), 167–80.BeyondthatdocumentsfromtheDominicaninquisitors,stationedinToulouseasearly as 1233, have been exhaustively mined by scholars of heresy and the mechanisms of church repression,partlybecauseinquisitorssuchasBernardGuikeptfastidiousrecordsofthepenalties thattheyadministeredtotheconvictedheretics.See,forexample,CélestinDouais,ed.Documents pourserviràl’histoiredel’inquisitiondansleLanguedoc(Paris:H.Champion,1977);andWalterL. Wakefield,Heresy,CrusadeandInquisitioninSouthernFrance(Berkeley:UniversityofCalifornia Press,1974). JosephR.Strayer,LesGensdeJusticeduLanguedocsousPhilippeleBel(Toulouse:AssociationMarc Bloch,1970),andTheReignofPhiliptheFair(Princeton,NJ:PrincetonUniversityPress,1980). MarieMartinChague,“Contributionàl’étudedurecrutementdesagentsroyauxenLanguedoc auxXIVeetXVesiècles,”FranceduNordetFranceduMidi:Contactsetinfluencesréciproques,vol.1, Actesducongrèsnationaldessociétéssavantes.Sectiondephilologieetdhistoirejusquà1610(Paris: BibliothèqueNationale,1971),359–78. ThispoliticalorganizationofFranceisbestdescribedinJohnW.Baldwin,TheGovernmentofPhilip Augustus: Foundations of French Royal Power in the Middle Ages (Berkeley: The University of

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furthersubdividedintoviguerie,orjugerie,witharoyalvicarpresidingoveracourt withavarietyoflesserofficersandbureaucrats. MostoftheseroyalofficialsresidedandworkedintheChateauNarbonnaisin thesouthernportionofToulouse.ThenewlyinstitutedUniversityofToulousealso providedthecitywithabodyofprofessionallawyersandjuriststrainedinRoman law.26 The friars resided in various locations throughout the city, but they conductedtheirtrialsintheJacobinsmonastery,wheretheystandardizedand institutionalizedthepracticesofinquesttoeliminateheresy.TheDominicanshad attheirdisposalgroupsofnotariesandsoldierswhowouldsummonorforce suspectsintothecityofToulousetostandtrialfortheirbeliefs,ortosufferthe consequencesoftheircondemnation.Manyoftheirofficers,especiallynotaries, cruellyextortedmoneyfromthepeopletheyencountered,and,worse,captured andtorturedmenandwomenuntiltheysecuredconfessions.27Theoverlapping jurisdictionsofthemunicipal,royalandecclesiasticalofficialsinthecityledto frequentdisputesandconfusion,buttheyalsoensuredthatToulousebecamea fundamental location for the significant legal concerns of the residents of Languedoc. The municipal court structure of Toulouse dramatically changed due to the presenceofthesetwonewinfluences.Alljudicialsystems,includingthatofthe capitols,benefitedfromtheDominicans’perfectionoftheinquisitorialmethod.28 Inthisnewprocess,theauthoritiesnolongerhadtowaitforaccusationsagainst malefactorstobebroughttotheirattention;instead,theycouldactivelypursue and prosecute suspects or other deviants by the power of their office. The Dominicansalsoprovedtobetremendouslyeffectiveinformulatingmethodsof interrogationandwaystoextractconfessionsfrompeopleintheircustody. As moremenweretrainedincanonandcivillawattheuniversitiesofEurope,many

CaliforniaPress,1986),andmorerecently,ElizabethM.Hallam,CapetianFrance,987–1328(New York:Longman,2001). A general history of the University of Toulouse may be found in Cyril Eugene Smith, The University of Toulouse in the Middle Ages: Its Origins and Growth to 1500 A.D. (Milwaukee, Wisconsin:TheMarquetteUniversityPress,1958).EduardMauritsMeijershaspublishedthe debatesoftheprofessorsoflawattheUniversityofToulouseconcerningcanonicalandcivillegal mattersfromhypotheticalsituations,andalistofthefacultyduringthelatethirteenthandearly fourteenth century, in Responsa doctorum tholosanorum (Haarlem: H. D. Tjeenk Willink & Zoon,1938). MenetdeRobécourtisthebestexampleofanotarywhoexploitedandviolentlypersecutedthe inhabitants of Carcassone. See JeanMarie Vidal, “Menet de Robécourt, commissaire de l’inquisitiondeCarcassone,”MoyenÂge16(1903):425–49;JamesB.Given,InquisitioninMedieval Society: Power, Discipline and Resistance in Languedoc (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1997), 145–46. The Fourth Lateran Council in 1215 forbade the use of ordeals in ecclesiastical courts, and systematicallyoutlinedprovisionsofaninquisitorialprocedureintribunalstoprosecutesuspects. Given,InquisitioninMedievalSociety,13–22.

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ofthesetechniquesoftheinquisitioncarriedoverintothecivicjudicialprocedures inFrance.29 Sothecapitolshadadoptedthemechanismstoinvestigateallegationsofcrimes throughquestioning,detainment,andinsomecircumstances,torture.Butatthe sametimethatthecapitolsacquiredtheinquisitorialmethod,theintegrationinto theroyalcourthierarchythreatenedmanyoftheprivilegesandcustomsofthe municipaljudicialsystem.Thecapitolsdidnegotiatewiththekinginorderto preservesomeoftheirtraditionallegalprivilegesandlaws(whichwereeither acceptedorrejectedbytheking).30Oneofthemostcontestedissuesforthecapitols concernedwhohadlegitimatecustodyofthetown,andwhoheldjurisdictionover itsinhabitants.31InOctober,1283,PhilipIIIaddressedthisdebateandworkedout acompromisebetweenthecapitolsandtheroyalvicar.32 Most significantly to this essay was the royal proclamation that granted the capitolstherighttohearallcriminalcasesforoffensescommittedinToulouseand thesurroundingvicariateofLanguedoc,eitherbroughttotheirattentioninthe formofanofficialcomplaint,orifmunicipalsergeantsseizedthedefendantinthe processofcommittingthecrime.Duringthetrial,thevicarorhislieutenantwould sitinontheproceedings,andapprovethecapitols’recommendationforcorporal sentences.Withthisroyalmandate,thecapitolscontinuedintheroleasthefirst resourceforjusticeforthepeopleofToulouse,enforcingthecustomarylawof theirpredecessors.Inthesubsequentyears,themunicipalofficialswouldfight ardently to protect this right against the competing administrations, and to maintainapositionofrelevanceandauthorityfortheirconstituents. Itisintothisenvironment,then,thatwebeginthestoryofStephanusSaletasand BernardusdeBosto.Likemanyothercitizensofasmallercity,Saletascameto ToulousefortheservicesofdeBosto,abusinesslawyer(advocatusnegotiaris).More specifically,SaletasneededtopurchasetheofficialsealofToulouseforadocument

A.Esmein,AHistoryofContinentalCriminalProcedurewithSpecialReferencetoFrance,trans.John Simpson.TheContinentalLegalHistorySeries[V](Boston:Little,Brown,1913),88–93. ManyoftheexchangesandrejectedstatutesarepreservedinAMT–AA3:2,from1274–1275,and ATM–AA3:3,liststheonesthatarerejected.Thecodificationofthecustomarylawispreserved inavarietyoflocations,includingamanuscriptattheBibliothèqueNationale,man.lat.9187.This hasbeenanalyzedanddiscussedingreatdetailbyGilles,LescoutumesdeToulouse. ClaudeDevicandJosephVaissètte,HistoiregénéraleduLanguedoc,ed.AugusteMolinier(Toulouse: Privat,1872–1904),X,doc.26,art.IV,col.154.“Itemsupereo,quoddicticonsulessupplicabant quodinhibereturdictovicario,nedeceterovillamTholosecustodiat,setpermittatdicteville custodiamdictisconsulibus,cumadeossolos,utdicunt,spectetdictacustodia,quodeisnegatur pervicarium,uteiscontrariumasseratur.Responsumest,quoddicticonsulescustodiantvillam, prout consueverunt, et nichilominus vicarius vel subvicarius et servientes ipsorum eam custodiant,cumviderintexpedire.” AMT–AA3:4andAMTAA4:1,datedOctober1283.

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thatwasbeingheldbyanotherMasterPetrusdeErto.WhendeBostoinformed Saletasthattheaskingpricewastwentysixsoltols,Saletasbecameagitatedand, withan“angryexpression,saidthathedidnotoweMasterBernardusmoneyor love.”33Uponhearingthisexplosiveresponse,BernardusdeBostorefusedtodeal anyfurtherwiththeclient.Accordingtowitnesstestimony,Stephanusleftthe lawyer’sofficeandbegantocomplainbitterlytohisfriendsthatthepricehad changed.Heclaimedthattheyhadpreviouslyagreeduponaspecificpayment, andtheyhadswornanoathconfirmingthedeal.StephanbelievedthatBernardus hadbrokenthispromise,andhadchangedthepriceatthelastminute.Thenext day,Stephanusaskedhisfirstcousin(consobrinus)toconfrontthelawyerinthe streetsbeforetheChâteauNarbonnais.34 After several verbal exchanges and grudging negotiations between the two, BernardusdeBostoagreedtomeetwithSaletasonceagain,andtoinvolveanother legal official to resolve the dispute. Unfortunately for Stephanus Saletas, this meeting with a third party also proved unsatisfactory, as he now owed in additionalsixteensolstolstothenotaryforhismediatingservices.35Whathad begunasasimpletransactionbetweenalawyerandaclienthadescalatedinto widespreaddebaclethatleftStephanusSaletasfeelingfrustratedandcheatedby thelegalsystemthatbroughthimtoToulouseinthefirstplace. Itdidnottakelongforthisaggravationtomanifestitselfinadramaticfashion. FromthedayafterthedisputewithBernardusdeBostoandintothenext,Saletas started making verbal threats that very soon he would get his revenge. He informednumerouspeoplethatan“evilpunishment”wascomingtothelawyer. Witnesses remarked that he became so infuriated that he bore an “angry expression and clenched teeth,”36 or that he maintained a “raging and angry face.”37Inmostcriminalrecords,thementionofadefendant’semotion,or“ira,” atthetimeofacrimewasindicativeofanactdrivenbypassionoranirrational impulse.Butinthiscase,itseemstoserveacoupleofdifferentfunctions.Tobegin with, it was a way in which Saletas “performed” his fury to an audience that reinforcedhissentimenttowardthelawyerandthewholeordeal.Heannounced hishostilityandhiscriminalintentions,andmadeitknownthathewouldnot toleratethisperceivedinjustice.Fromapracticalandlitigiousperspective,the witnessesprovidedarhetoricthatclearlyimplicatedSaletasinthecrime.IfSaletas

34 35 36 37

AMT–FF57, 44: “tunc respondit irato animo et dixit pro sibi magistro bernardo non debebat pecuniamnecamorem.” Ibid.:“RaymundusJordaniquidiciturconsobrinusdictumStephanum.” Ibid.,45. Ibid.:“cumvultuiratoexistensetdentibusfremens.” Ibid.:“vultufuribandoetirato.”

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proclaimedinnocenceduringhistrial,hisfacialexpressionsandvocalizationwere specificindicatorsthatestablishedaconnectionandmotivationfortheattack. StephanusSaletasdevisedacalculatedandsymbolicpaybackagainstBernardus deBosto.Hehiredsomemenheknewthroughhissocialnetworksinthecityto stalk and attack the attorney, and enact his vengeance. A close friend, named PetrusCortesii,coordinatedameetingwithtwomenwillingtoacceptmoneyfor theassault.Whentheconspiratorsmetforthefirsttime,Saletasinformedthem that,“acertainlawyercalledMasterBernardusdeBostohasdonemewrong;I wantvindication,andsoIamaskingyoutowoundhimsobadlyinthefacethat hewillbedeformedfortherestofhislife.”38Theactofmutilatingafoeasaform ofvengeancecanbefoundinseveralmedievalrecords.39Perhapsthebestknown exampleisthestoryofPeterAbelard,whowascastratedbyhisloverHeloise’s vengeful uncle who “cut off the parts of my [Abelard’s] body whereby I had committedthewrongofwhichtheycomplained.”40TheGermanhistorianValentin Groebner argues that the concentration on the face, or the severing of a nose, signified an assault against the honor of an individual, both in criminal punishmentssanctionedbythemunicipalgovernments,andthroughduelsfought betweenrivals.Ahusband,forexample,couldpunishhiswifeforinfidelityby cuttingoffhernose.41WeevenfindanexampleofthisactioninMariedeFrance’s storyofthewerewolfBisclavret,whobitoffthenosefromhisschemingwife’s face.42 But an officer wounded or mutilated indicated a real vulnerability of commune’scontrolofacity.43Itrepresentedthepowerfulgroup’slackofcontrol overthesubservientpopulation.Insomefights,mencarrywoundsproudlyas badges of a toughly fought battle.44 In this instance, Bernardus de Bosto was mutilatedtothepointwherehewasnolongerabletoperformhisdutyeitheras a man, or as a contributing member of the social hierarchy. By explicitly

40 41

Ibid.:“bacallarisinlegibusvocatusMagisterBernardusdeBostofecitmichialiquasinjuriasita pro modis omnibus volo ipsos vendicari et ipsos rogano instanter ut dictum Magistrum Bernardumtaliterinfacievulnerarentprototalitervitasuaessetdefformatus.” Forexample,inseveralcasesofvengeancefromfourteenthcenturyAvignon,therecordsrecord actssuchasblindinganenemy,orseveringofthelips,noseandfeet.JacquesChiffoleau,“La Violence au quotidian: Avignon au XIV siecle d’apres les registres de la cour temporelle, ” Melangesdel’EcoleFrancaisesdeRome(MoyenAge)92(1980):354. TheLettersofAbelardandHeloise,trans.BettyRadice(NewYork:PenguinBooks,1974),75. ValentinGroebner,“LosingFace,SavingFace:NosesandHonourintheLateMedievalTown,” trans.PamelaSelwyn,HistoryWorkshopJournal40(1995):1–15. MariedeFrance,“Bisclavret,”TheLaisofMariedeFrance,trans.GlynS.BurgessandKeithBusby (NewYork:PenguinBooks,2003),68–72. Guido Ruggiero, Violence in Early Renaissance Venice. Crime, Law, and Deviance Series (New Brunswick,NJ:RutgersUniversityPress,1980),140–43. RobertC.Davis,TheWaroftheFists:PopularCultureandPublicViolenceinlateRenaissanceVenice (NewYork:OxfordUniversityPress,1994),87.

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instructingthementoleaveBernardusdeBostofaciallydeformed,Saletasaimed toleavehismark,andtorenderhimimpotentasarespectedprofessionaland member of the community. The lawyer was meant to suffer this public humiliation,sothatanyonewholookedathimcouldseethathewasdishonored. Because Saletas had expressed his plan for vengeance to an audience, people wouldbeabletomaketheconnection,andknowthateventhoughSaletasdidnot committheacthimself,hishonoranddominanceoverdeBostowererestored throughthismaiming. After they agreed upon the payment of one hundred sols tols for the attack, SaletasleftToulousetoawaitwordthathisrevengehadbeencarriedoutbyhis mercenaries.Thissuggeststhatnoncitizenshadmobilityinandoutofthecity limits,andthattherewassomenetworkofcommunication.Italsobecomesclear fromthecourtrecordsthattheplanwasnotaprivateorconcealedaffair.Instead, asthedaysprogressed,morepeoplebecameentangledintheplotthatcontinued tounfoldinvariouspublicspacesofToulouse.Forexample,whennonoticeofthe attack arrived, Saletas came back to the city on numerous occasions to speed thingsalongwithpromisesofadditionalmoney.Hemetwiththehiredthugsin crowded taverns or in the houses of his friends.45 But the organization of the assaultdoesnotappeartohavebeenthemostsophisticated,becausesuspicious neighborskeptquestioningtheintentionsofthemenwhentheycongregated.The conspiratorsallhidinthesamehomewiththeirwivesandprostitutes,gathering weaponsandtheircourageformonths.46Inoneinstance,allofthemenwerefully armedandexitedthehometheyusedasaheadquartersfortheiroperation.When acouplewholivedclosebyinterrogatedthehomeowner,afriendofStephanus Saletas,heexplainedthatthemenintendedtotakealongjourney,andwerenot a threat to the security to the neighborhood.47 So Stephanus Saletas had allies withinthecityofToulousewillingtolieonhisbehalfandtohousethemenpaid tomutilateBernardusdeBosto.Butthisactivitydidnotgounnoticed:neighbors steppedforwardtoensurethatillicitactivitieswerequestioned,andthattheir communityremainedsafe.

46 47

AMT–FF57,46–47.Inthemedievalcity,tavernsservedasapublicenvironmentwheresocialand professionalactivitiescouldtranspire.B.AnnTlusty,BacchusandCivilOrder:TheCultureofDrink inEarlyModernGermany.StudiesinEarlyModernGermanHistory(Charlottesville:University PressofVirgina,2001),158–82.BarbaraA.Hanawalt,“TheHost,theLawandtheAmbiguous SpaceofMedievalLondonTaverns,”‘OfGoodandIllRepute:’GenderandSocialControlinMedieval England(Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress,1998),104–23.NicoleGonthier,Crisdehainesetrites d’unité:laviolencedanslesvilles,XIIIe–XVIesiècle.CollectionViolenceetSociété(Turnhout:Brepols, 1992),111–49. AMT–FF57,46–47. Ibid.,46.

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WhenthemenfinallyfeltsecureenoughintheirpreparationandinSaletas’s promisesofpaymenttolaunchtheattack,thespectacletranspiredinsignificant portionsofthecityspace.StephanusSaletas’strustedaccomplice,PetrusCortesii, receivedatipfromaninformantthatBernardusdeBostowasheadingtowardthe townhallforwork.Themengatheredtheirarmsandheadedtothecenterofthe city. Much like today, the courtyard around the town hall would have been bustlingwithcityadministratorsandlawyers,pilgrimspassingthroughontheir waytovisitthegreatbasilicaofSaintSernin,universitystudentsheadingtoclass, and merchants selling their wares to eager customers. Why, then, did the conspiratorschoosethismoment,atthislocationtoattackthelawyer?Although therecordsaresilent,wemayspeculatethatperhapstheyhopedthatthecrowd wouldconcealtheirattackandenablethemtocatchBernardusdeBostooffhis guard.Or,theymayhavechosenthisspotforasymbolicpurpose,toreinforcethe initialcomplaintsofStephanusSaletas. There needed to be an audience of Bernardus de Bosto’s peers in order to properlydefameanddisgracethelawyer.Butinmanyrespects,thetownhall representedthelegalsystemthathadfailedSaletas,hadhumiliatedhimamong hisfriendsandfamily.Itwasonlyfitting,then,thattheassaultshouldnotonly bringdownoneofthecity’srespectedlawyers,butalsosignalawarningtothe capitols and their administration as well. It may also have been a means to demonstrate that justice had been served outside of the judicial system of the municipalauthorityofToulouse.Toaddfurtherinsulttoinjury,theperpetrators fledthesceneofthecrimetoachurchwheretheytookadvantageofecclesiastical jurisdiction. Accordingtothecanonicallawofasylum,anyoneseekingrefugefromapublic authoritycouldbeprotectedinanychurchormonastery,wheretheycouldnotbe removed.Thiswasanissuethathadbeenhotlydebatedbetweenthecapitolsand the king, as they tried to establish their own privilege to make sure that the interestsoftheToulousainswereprotected.48Thenotionofasylumwasimportant tothechurch,asitwasameansofcontinuingaphysicalpresenceandauthority inthesecularlegalcomponentofToulouse:theecclesiasticalauthoritieswanted tokeepchurchesasrecognizablyprotectedspacesinordertomaintainpowerin municipaljurisdiction.49Thecapitolsandtheirofficerschallengedthisstipulation in1288,whichcausedthearchbishopofToulousetoissueacomplainttoKing

48 49

AMT–AA1:4(1152).LimouzinLamothe,LaCommunedeToulouse,267–68. See,forexample,anexampleofthenegotiationsbetweenthechurchandmunicipalauthorities in Montpellier in 1332, in Katheryn L. Reyerson’s “Flight from Prosecution: The Search for ReligiousAsyluminMedievalMontpellier,”FrenchHistoricalStudies17(Spring1992):603–26;J. CharlesCox,TheSanctuariesandSanctuarySeekersinMediaevalEngland(London:G.Allenand Sons,1911).

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PhilipIV.50Earlierthatyear,acriminalhadfledfromthecapitolstothechurchof Nazareth, immediately evoking the privilege of asylum. A messenger of the capitolsdisregardedthesafeguardofthereligioussite,brokeintothechurchand draggedtheaccusedtothetownhall.Horrifiedtolearnthatcapitolssubmittedthe mantointerrogationandthetortureof“questioning”inordertohearaconfession, thearchbishopbeseechedthekingtoenforcetheprotectionofthechurch’ssacred space.Theroyalparlementorderedthecapitolstoreturntheprisonertothechurch, thuscontinuingthetraditionofasylumforthechurchandrenderingthecapitols impotentagainsttheroyalprotectionofthechurch. Eventhoughtheassailantsremainedprotectedfromsecularauthorityinthe confinesofthechurch,sixdayspassed,andtheirsponsor’ssilencebecamealltoo disturbing. The most daring of the bunch crept out of the church and fled Toulouse in the middle of the night and located Stephanus Saletas at a small nearbylocationofBoudigos.51TheunnamedmandescribedtheattacktoSaletas, andceremoniouslyhandedovertheswordthathadwoundedBernardusdeBosto asheproclaimed“thisswordhasdonegreatthings.”52Thiswasthemomentthat Saletaswasexpectedtofulfillhispromise,andpaytheonehundredsolstols.Ifhe had,maybehisroleintheattackwouldneverhavebeenrevealedtoToulouse’s authorities. But Stephan Saletas handed over only twentyfive sols tols to this representativeoftheattackers.Itdidnottakelongforthisfacttomakeitsway backtoToulouseasSaletasretiredtohisnativecityofVillamuro.Withindays,the menfrominsidethechurchoftheDauradebegantonegotiatewiththecapitolsof Toulouse. Even Petrus Cortesii, once Saletas most trusted comrade, offered a swornstatementandconfessionaboutthewholeconspiracytothecapitols.53As themenwhoattackedBernardusdeBostowalkedoutofthechurchandintothe custodyofthejailinthetownhall,thecapitolsmayhaveperceivedthephysical assault as an attempt for an “outsider,” a noncitizen, trying to exert his own powerintothestreetsbydisregardingthecapitoul’sauthorityoverurbanspace, and proclaiming it his own. The trial of Stephanus Saletas would signal the restorationofthepowerstructurethroughtheutilizationofcityspacetodisplay themunicipalgovernment’sauthority. Itbecamecrucial,then,forthecapitolsandtheirofficerstoensurethatSaletas was tried within their courtroom in the town hall of Toulouse for a couple of reasons.Fromalegalperspective,thecapitolshadgainedjurisdictionoverthe surroundingterritorywhentheywereassimilatedintotheroyaljudicialsystem, and they could extradite defendants to stand trial for crimes committed in

50 51 52 53

ArchivesdépartmentalesdelaHauteGaronne–1G345,fol.42–43. AMT–FF57,50. Ibid. AMT–FF57,51.

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Toulouse. In September, 1291, the capitols contacted the authorities of Castelnaudry(40kilometerstothesoutheast),tocaptureandhandoveracertain Raymundus Furutrii, so he could be held responsible and punished for his “excessesandcrimes”committedinToulouse.54Butfromasymbolicperspective, thecourtroomwasnotonlyalocationforaccusationsofcriminaloffensestobe recorded and to be considered by the capitols, but it also became a forum for establishingthecyclesofinclusionandexclusionwithinthecommunity.55The authoritieshadtoconductthetrialinapublicandformalizedmanner,sothatthe urbanresidentscouldwitnessthatthecapitolsandtheirofficersdeliveredjustice for the victim. And much like the attack against Bernardus de Bosto was a spectacleintendedforaspecificaudience,thetrialandlegalproceedingswerealso aperformanceofjusticethatinvolvedavarietyofparticipants. Thetwelvecapitolsruledoverthecourtproceedings,butmanyother“good men”werealsopresent,includingbureaucratsandlegaladvisorssuchasnotaries and jurists. In addition, dozens of professional attorneys and notaries were recordedaswitnesses,whichisnotsurprisingconsideringtheattacktookplace closetothebusyandbureaucratictownhall.Intotal,thenotaryrecordedone hundredandthirtyfournamesofwitnesseswhocametothecourtroom,including a fisherman, a tavern owner, a silversmith, a barber, a tailor, several wives (unattended by their husbands), a female servant (ancilla) and a notary accompaniedbyhistrainee.56Clearly,thiswasacasethattranscendedbeyondan interpersonalconflictbetweenStephanusSaletasandBernardusdeBosto:thiswas apublicaffairthataffectedmanylevelsofthesocialhierarchy. As stated earlier in this paper, the criminal register included copies of the capitols’correspondencetotheofficialsofViIllamuroandtheregionalseneschal concerningtheextraditionofStephanusSaletastothecityofToulouse.Fromthese records,weareabletogainsomeinsightintothecapitols’jurisdictionalstrategies and ways in which they negotiated with smaller administrations within Languedoc. In their first official letter, the capitols informed the consuls of VillamurothattheyhadswornconfessionsfromBernardusdeBosto’sassailants

AMT,layettesII,carton84.September21,1291.“ExpartedomininostriregisFrancieetnostra vocarequirimusacRogamusquathinus RamundumFurutriiquemlatorseulatoressubfida custodiatransmittatisinquirendumetpuniendumsuperquibusdamexcessibusetcriminibusper eundemRamunduminTholosaetsubiurisdictionenostracomissiatalitersuperhisvoshabentes utvosvaleatisnocifacturos.” Forexample,ifsomeonewasfalselyaccusedofacrime,hishonorhadtoberestoredinthepublic opinionthrougharitualcleansingofthedefamationbybringingtheaccusertocourt.Thejudicial trialbecamea“trialoftransformation”foranaccusedorslanderedindividualtobereinstated amongtherespectablepeopleofthesociety.Courtemanche,“MedicalExpertise,”123. AMT–FF57,104:“MagisterPetrusdeHertianotaireeteiusdiscipulus.”

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(whowereintheircustodyinthemunicipaljail),andthatthemenhadspecifically implicatedStephanusSaletasinthecrime.57 ThecapitolsrequestedthattheconsulsandbailiffofVillamurosurrenderSatelas into their custody, and to cease the protection and the concealment of their resident.TheletterspromisedthattheywouldgiveSaletasafairtrial,andthathe wouldbetreatedwell.Whenthiswrittenreassurancefailedtoyieldaresult,the capitolsofToulousedeployedthreemunicipalsergeants,anotary,andseveral juriststoVillamuroonmultipleoccasionstoconvincetheadministrationthatthe capitols’hadproperjurisdictioninthematterbecausethecrimehadtakenplace inToulouse.58ApparentlythepresenceofToulouse’sofficialsdidnotintimidate theconsulsofVillamuroeither,sothecapitolsdrewfromtheirroyalprivileges andappealedtothecourtoftheseneschalofLanguedoc.59Theyarguedthateven thoughSaletaswasnotinToulousewhenthecrimetookplace,heshouldbeheld responsiblebecauseSaletashadorchestratedandpaidfortheattack.Althoughthe records do not contain the responses of Villamuro’s officials, the issue of contention between the two administrations seems to have been surrounding whetherornotconspiracytocommitacrimewarrantedanextradition. AsthecorrespondenceandpoliticalwranglingforStephanusSaletasdragged onforweekswithoutanyresults,thecapitolsbegantoreleasenewchargesagainst Saletas.ItseemsasthoughtheywereabsolutelydeterminedtohaveStephanus Saletas come back to Toulouse to stand trial, regardless of the offense. It also demonstratesthecapitols’firmbeliefthattheyhadtotakeactivestepstoward achievingjusticebothtosatisfytheirconstituentsandtomaintaintheirplaceinthe local and region judicial hierarchy. The capitols revealed to the consuls of Villamuro that Stephanus Saletas had also terrorized some local land holding families around Toulouse. For example, he had robbed several families with weapons,andhehadstruckonemaninthefacewithhisfistandasword.60The starwitnessfortheprosecution,PetrusCortesii,alsotoldthecapitolsthatduring StephanusSaletas’sreignofterroragainstBernardusdeBosto,Saletassetfireto a large pile of the lawyer’s wood that was situated outside of the walls of Toulouse.Ittookseveralhundredmentoextinguishthefirewithwaterandto make sure that the city and its inhabitants were safe.61 By adding these new offensestotheirinitialchargesagainstSaletas,thecapitolswereperhapstryingto establishthathewasathreattothecommunityatlarge;BernardusdeBostowas

57 58 59 60 61

Ibid.,32. Ibid.,33–5. Ibid.,36. Ibid.,52. Ibid.

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not the only victim of Saletas’s evil intentions, but anyone in Languedoc was vulnerabletohismanipulationoroutrightviolence. IntheexampleofStephanusSaletas,royalinterventionworkedonthebehalfof the capitols. Pressured by the authority of the royal seneschal, the consuls of Villamuro handed Saletas into the custody of the capitols’ officials. The city sergeantsescortedtheprisonerbackintothecityspacethathehadviolatedtobe heldaccountableforhiscrimes.DespiteallofthepromisesofToulouse’scapitols, itwasveryunlikelythathadafairtrial.StephanusSaletasalwaysmaintainedhis innocenceinthecase.Heinsistedthathebarelyknewthemeninvolvedinthe attackagainstBernardusdeBostoandthathehadnoinvolvementintheattack.62 But Saletas was submitted to the torture of the “question,” even though his attorneys protested that this violated their jurisdiction.63 Torture (quaestio or tormentum in the documents), was considered part of the legal process in the thirteenthandfourteenthcenturies,andanotherelementofjurisdictionthathad been secured as a legal privilege by the administrations of Toulouse.64 Unfortunately,thisisasmuchinformationthattherecordscontain.Thearchives ofToulousedonotprovideanyindicationastowhetherornotSaletaswasfound guilty,andifhewasconvicted,whatwasthedesignatedpunishmentforhisrole in the attack that left a prestigious lawyer in mortal peril and perpetually deformedintheface.Nordoweknowthefateofthemenwhoactuallyperformed thedeed. Buteventhoughweareleftwithmorequestionsthananswersintheresolution ofthisdramaticcase,theextantrecordsestablishtheimportanceofutilizingcity space to perform justice. Stephanus Saletas had come into Toulouse to take advantageofthelegalsystemthatToulouseprovidedasthecapitalofLanguedoc. WhenhebelievedthatBernardusdeBostohadfailedhim,hesoughtvengeance throughaspectaclethattranspiredbythetownhallofToulouse.Thisoffereda blowagainstthehonorofdeBostoandthewholejudicialstructureofToulouse. After Saletas fled to his home in Villamuro, the capitols mobilized their administrationtobringhimbacktoToulousewheretheattackoccurred,sothat theycoulddisplaytheirsovereigntyandauthority.Thecapitolsusedthetrialto demonstratetotheirconstituentsthattheyhadrestoredordertothecommunity, andthattheyhaddominanceoverthesmallermunicipaljurisdictionsintheregion of Languedoc. The trial of Stephanus Saletas, then reveals much more than a

62 63 64

Ibid.,41–42. Ibid.,56. EdwardPeters,Torture(NewYork:BasilBlackwell,1985),40–73.Historiansdebatehowoften torturewasadministeredinsecularcases.Forexample,KennethPenningtonbelievesthattorture wasnotpracticedasoftenduringthethirteenthandfourteenthcenturiesaspreviouslysuspected. The Prince and the Law, 1200–1600: Sovereignty and Rights in the Western Legal Tradition. A CentennialBook(BerkeleyandLosAngeles:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1993),42–4,157–60.

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randomactofmedievalviolence:itisasublimeexampleofthenegotiationof urbanspaceandpower.

JeanE.Jost (BradleyUniversity,Peoria,IL)

UrbanandLiminalSpaceinChaucer’sKnight’sTale: PerilousorProtective?

Barbara A. Hanawalt and Michael Kobialka have eloquently defined the new postmodernconceptofspacewithinliterarycontexts: Eversincetheword“space”lostitsstrictlygeometricalmeaning,ithasacquiredand beenaccompaniedbynumerousadjectivesornounsthatdefinedits“new”useand attributes.Mentalspace,ideologicalspace,literaryspace,thespaceoftheimagination, thespaceofthedreams,utopianspace,imaginaryspace,technologicalspace,cultural space, and social space are some of the terms that have emerged alongside the Euclidian,isotropic,orabsolutespace....thepossibilitythatspacecanbeproduced alteredhowonetalksaboutandenvisionsthatwhichusedtobeanemptyarea.1

Themethodofutilizingspacerevealsmuchabouthowauthorsconceptualize, design, and execute their literary art, as well as shape the meaning and significanceoftheirartifact.Inparticular,spacewithinbothfictiveandrealcities offers uniquely effective landscapes on which to scribe the literal and fictive humanstory.AsMichaelCamillepointsout,“Manyhistoriansofthecity,asa modeofexperienceaswellasanarchitecturalsite,havedescribedhowurbanlife putsmoreemphasisuponvisualrecognition,andtheimportanceofvisualsigns certainly suggests another kind of quotidian literacy, based not upon textual learningbutanothersystemofunderstoodsymbolsandstructure.”2Thatseriesof

MedievalPracticesofSpace,ed.BarbaraA.HanawaltandMichaelKobialka.MedievalCulture Series,23(LondonandMinneapolis:UniversityofMinnesotaPress,2000),Introduction,ix. MichaelCamille,“SignsoftheCity,”inMedievalPracticesofSpace,ed.BarbaraA.Hanawaltand MichaelKobialka.MedievalCultureSeries,23(LondonandMinneapolis:UniversityofMinnesota Press,2000),1–36;here9.Unfortunatelyfewerliterarystudieshaveconsideredtheroleofurban spacewithinspecificliterature.SomeofthemostinterestingincludeDavidWallace,“Chaucerand theAbsentCity”inChaucer’sEngland:LiteratureinHistoricalContexts,expandedinhisChaucerian Polity:AbsolutistLineagesandAssociationalFormsinEnglandandItaly(Stanford:StanfordUniversity Press,1997);CraigBertholet,“UrbanPoetryintheParliamentofFowles,”StudiesinPhilology 93.4(1996):365–89;John.H.Fisher,“CityandCountryintheFabliaux,”MedievalPerspectives1

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visualsignsrevealsandispartofthebroaderspatiallandscapeofthemedieval city,anditsmeaning.Camilleclaims,“Signsareindicatorsoflivedsocialplace, notdisembodiedabstractspace.”3Infact,accordingtoEdwardS.Casey,medieval societywasconcernedonlywithplace,nottheabstract,postmedieval,expanded category of space—mental, ideological, literary, imaginative, dream, utopian, technological,cultural,andsocialspace—4mentionedabovebyHanawaltand Kobialka.Nevertheless,modernconceptsofspacecanbeappliedtoliteratureof theMiddleAges,whetherthewriterscalledtheirsetting“space”or“place.”As DavidNicholsindicates, thephysiognomyandspatialdistributionofurbanlifeinmodernEuropewerefixed essentiallyduringtheMiddleAges....EnglishistheonlywestEuropeanlanguage thatdistinguishes“town”from“city”functionally,although“city”inFrenchmayrefer onlytotheareaenclosedbythelateRomanwallwhiletherestofthesettlementisthe “town.” German scholars in particular have used an allembracing definition of urbanisationthatlumpstogetheras“towns”everythingfromthegreatmetropolises tothetiniestofsettlementsthathadchartersofprivilege....Thecitytowndistinction is admittedly arbitrary and depends to a great degree on the level of regional urbanisation.5

JohnMichealCraftonrecognizestheseoverlappingusages,claiming“thewords cityandtown,usedalmostcompletelysynonymously,appearmostofteninTroilus andsecondmostintheKnight’sTale.”6Withthiscaveatofthearbitrarinessofthe citytowndistinctioninmind,wewillconsidertheurbanspatialarrangementof Chaucer’sKnight’sTale,intheancientcitystatesofThebesandAthens,ascarefully delineatedlociwithaspectsbothperilousandprotective.Thefictivenatureofthe tale,orfictioningeneral,usuallyfollowstheactuallayoutofrealcities,andinfact, medievalauthorsmayevenhaveexperienceofthoserealcitiesfromwhichthey maydrawtheirdesign. DavidWallacepointsoutthat“Chaucer’sCanterburyTalesdoesnotbeginin London:itbeginssouthoftheThamesinSouthwarkandmovesussteadilyaway from the city walls.”7 The body of fictive tales and its fictive construct of pilgrimageismeanttobeliminal,spanningthedistancebetweenLondonand

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(1986):1–15;CityandSpectacleinMedievalEurope,ed.BarbaraHanawaltandKathrynL.Reyerson. MedievalStudiesatMinnesotaSeries,6(Minneapolis:UniversityofMichiganPress,1994);John MichealCrafton,“ChaucerandtheCity,”MedievalPerspectives17.2(2002):51–67. Camille,“SignsoftheCity,”9. EdwardS.Casey,TheFateofPlace:APhilosophicalHistory(Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress, 1997),103–15. DavidNichols,TheGrowthoftheMedievalCityFromLateAntiquitytotheEarlyFourteenthCentury. AHistoryofUrbanSocietyinEurope,4.(NewYorkandLondon:Longman,1997),Preface,xiv,xv. Crafton,“ChaucerandtheCity,”52. Wallace,“ChaucerandtheAbsentCity,”59.

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Canterbury;mosttalesdescribespaceswhicharenotLondon,butrepresenta widearrayofplaces.Wallacecontinues,describingthesignificanceofbeginning theventureinthisliminalsuburbofLondon: ThechoiceofaSouthwarktavernasthegatheringplaceforChaucer’spilgrimageis at once realistically plausible and arrestingly eccentric. Pilgrims from London to CanterburyoftenspentthenightinSouthwarksothattheycouldbegintheirjourney before the city gates were opened for the day . . . . The effect of assembling at Southwarkistoemphasizetherandomnessofthisencounter....[Further,]Southwark functionedasadumpinggroundandexclusionzoneforearlymodernLondon:messy ormarginaltradessuchaslimeburning,tanning,dyingbrewing,innkeeping,and prostitution flourished there; criminals fleeing London courts and aliens working aroundLondontraderegulationsfoundahome....ThenameofSouthwark,inshort, identifiesgovernanceasaproblematicissue,takestheissueoutofthecity,andyet cannotquiteleavethecitybehind.8

Bothappropriatelyandironicallyinthisraucousandsubversiveliminalspace,a ragtagassemblygathertogetherandtelltheirequallyunconventionaltales.Inthis unruly place, the rules of taletelling are established, themselves to be both disorderedandbroken;herethetalesofgameandearnest,solasandsentence,will besetandinterrupted.Herethesacredandprofaneadventurebegins,butdoes notend.Here,theconditionofperilisasprominentasthatofprotection.Theact ofpilgrimagingitselfconsistsofmovingfromoneurbanspace,throughliminal ruralspace,9tothenexturbanspacewithaneverfluctuatingseriesofeventsand narratives punctuating those spaces. The goal of pilgrimaging may well be a religious or spiritual space at its conclusion, and reflect a psychological progressionofthespirit,inyetanotherkindofemotionalspace. Butwhathappens,fictivelyandliterarilyinthoseintermediateliminalspaces aretherealobjectofthepoet’sscrutiny.Here,Tellersfromvariedculturaland hierarchicallocicompeteforthespacetotelltheirtalesofsolasandsentenceand wintheprize.Craftoninterestinglycontendsthat“Chaucerplacestheproblemof thecityasaproblemofmargins,notamarginalproblembutmarginsthatsetout, thatframe,thespacesofinscription;”10thepilgrimageframesChaucer’snarrative spaces,highlightingtheimportanceofthoseliminalmaterialborderspacesaswell 8

Wallace,“ChaucerandtheAbsentCity,”60,61.Wallacealsonotesthat“Suchadetailedconcern withtheregulationanddivisionoftimeandspaceinthecityisaconstantfeatureoftheLetter Books....theserecordsattesttoasophisticatedunderstandingofthefunctioningandgovernance ofurbanspace;theysuggest,inshort,anurbanconsciousness”(64,65)TheLetterBooksare found in H. T. Ridley, ed. Memorials of London and London Life in the XIIIth, IVXth, and XVth Centuries,AD1276–1419(London:Longmans,GreenandCo.,1868),492. TheItalianwordcontadosignifies“surroundingcountryside;”captains(orgreaterknights)and valvasours(ortheirvassals)arethetwolevelsofurbanandruralnobility.SeeDavidNichols, GrowthoftheMedievalCity,117–20and282–86,forfurtherdiscussion. Crafton,“ChaucerandtheCity,”65.

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astheliterarylinksconnectingtales.ThesespacesprotecttheintegrityoftheTales andthecomposite,despiteitsfragmentednature.11 Within the fictive Canterbury Tales’ pilgrimage, material, emotional, and psychologicalspacemayexpand,limit,define,contrast,evoke,givemeaningto, and diminish narrative situations. The evolving setting of The Knight’s Tale alternatesbetween,largecity,smallvillage,uninhabitedforest,andnearenvirons of each, with concomitant emotional volatility. It encompasses battlefields, gardens,towers,groves,castles,andchamberswithin.AsV.A.Kolvepointsout, “Chaucer’ssubject[intheKnight’sTale]isnothinglessthanthepaganpastatits mostnobleanddignified,imaginedfromwithin.”12Thatnoble,paganpastoffers richandvariedloci,eachwithitsownchallenges. Thespaceofthecity,imaginedfromwithinthatcityandwithout,bothindoor andoutdoor,artificialandnatural,andevenonthebordersspanningboth,isthus publicandprivate,democraticandautocratic,militaryandinclusive,personaland intimate.Butthequestionnarrativelylinkingthemallremains:“Arethoseloci perilousorprotective?”And“Cantheybemademoreorlessso?”Outdoorspaces indeedappearthemostperilousandpitiful,fortherebattlesandtournamentsare fought, there sorrowing widows bemoan their losses, there suppliants pray at temples,thereinternmentforunfortunateeventsoccurs.Butinsidecityspaces, suchasprisontowers,deathbedrooms,andinternalpsychologicalplacesmay confineanddebilitateaswell.Conversely,withinexternalspacesofgardensand groves,naturerulesbeneficently,freedombeckons,andjoyappearspossible. The entire complex structure of the Knight’s Tale in particular hangs on its multiple loci, revealing both their physical and emotional significance, interspersing political, legal, and personal landscapes to deepen their impact. Additionally,humaneventsoccurringwithinthesespacesmaychangethenature oftheirprotectionorpreservation,asnewemotionalperspectivesmodifythose sites of Nature. Thus the Knight offers a complex pattern of sites to explore persistence,ritual,andfinallyresolution,allpredicatedontherelativeusesof multipletypesofspace. ThetalebeginsasDukeTheseusjourneysonasecularpilgrimagefromthenow conquered reign of Femenye13 to his native Athens. As John H. Fisher notes 11

Chaucer’sCanterburyTalesaredividedintotenfragments,assembledafterhisdeathaccording tovariouseditorialprinciples.ThoseTaleswithlinkstopriororsubsequentTalesareputtogether intoafragment.ThoseTaleslackinglinkscomprisetheirownfragment,andareplacedintothe wholebasedonaneditor’ssenseofwheretheybelong. V. A. Kolve, Chaucer and the Imagery of Narrative: The First Five Canterbury Tales (Stanford, California:StanfordUniversityPress,1984),86. JohnH.FishersuggeststheplacenameofthehomeofAmazons,inthe“regneofFemenye”(from Lat.femina,woman),wasevidentlyinventedbyChaucer.[Boccaccio’sTeseida]makesTeseo’swar againsttheAmazonsa‘purgation’oftheir‘sin’offeminism”(TheCompletePoetryandProseof GeoffreyChaucer,ed.JohnH.Fisher(NewYork,Chicago,etal.:Holt,RinehartandWinston,1977),

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“MedievalpeoplelookeduponAthensasthefountainheadofsecularsocialand political theory;”14 perhaps Chaucer is juxtaposing a medieval conception of illegitimate or unnatural lawlessness—rule by women—with orderly law by Theseus, which nevertheless ultimately brings peril and disaster. The Duke rejoices in his victory and his upcoming marriage to Ypolyta, Queen of the defeatedAmazons.Thesiteofbattlehastreatedhimkindly.However,wehave noevidenceofherdesiretobedethronedfrompower,tobelongtoTheseus,orto bemovedfromhercityintohis.ForYpolyta,thecityspacehasprovenperilous, inthatshehasunwillinglylostherlibertyandindependencethroughTheseus’s conquestofherlands.AsLauraKendrickseesit,“Theseuscurtailsandrepresses outrageous, unlawful, erotic and aggressive desires: first, he conquers the AmazonsandturnstheirQueen,Ypolyta,intohisobedientwife.”15Iftheproofis inthepudding,wemightask,doesTheseus’sreignfinallyproveprotective,or perilous,lawfulandpeaceable,ormilitaristicanddeadly,tohiscitizens?Wedo knowYpolyta’ssisterEmily’sdesire:shewantsnopartofmarriage,asonewould expectfromanAmazonian;presumablysheandYpolytawouldprefertoremain intheirownqueendom.Nevertheless,fromaperspectiveoutsidethetale,the voicelessYpolytaisforcedtoleaveherhabitatbehind,accompanyherimposed husbandtohernewcity.Bothexternalurbanspaces,“Amazonia”andAthens bringTheseusjoy,however,despitehisQueen’sperilousexile. On the outskirts of Athens, however, Duke Theseus is met by his initial provocation.“Whanhewascomealmoostuntothetoun,”16 keeningwidowsin blackgarbwho“bisekenmercyandsuccor”(918)presenthisfirstdifficulty.They are in a miserable emotional space. Beseeching his help, they place him in a similar, empathetic position, on the edge of their pain. A repeated pattern of complicationemergesinwhichthemostevocativeandemotionaleventsoccuron thebrinkof,butnotintheheartofaputativelywellgovernedcity.Theliminal spacebetweentheoutskirtsandthecityshouldprotectthecommunityandensure urbanharmonyisnotdisturbedbythedisharmonyofitsinhabitants.Inthese border spaces, conflict is acknowledged, negotiated, and perhaps resolved, protectingthecityatlargefrominvolvement.Thelocusofthesekeeningwidows, formerly powerful Queens, suffering battle scars and emotional trauma, is a physically and emotionally desperate place. Kneeling abjectly at the feet of a powerfulfiguretobegreprisalfortheirhusbands’deaths,andneedinganew

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25,notetol.866.ChaucerhasnotfullyremovedthestigmaofthatsiteforTheseus’sconquestis acceptedaslegitimatewhileignoringthereasonsfordoingso. Fisher,CompletePoetryandProse,25,notetoll.860–61. LauraKendrick,ChaucerianPlay:ComedyandControlintheCanterburyTales(BerkeleyandLos Angeles:UniversityofCaliforniaPress,1988),118. Riverside Chaucer, ed. Larry D. Benson (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin,1987), I.894. This and subsequentquotationsaretakenfromthisedition.

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socialorderforasaferfuture, these weakandvulnerablewomenareavisual representationoftheirplightintheirowncity.Theirsituationrecapitulatesthe military and amatory experience Theseus has just completed: in militarily overcomingandemotionallywooingYpolitainthatlandofFemenye,andnow, inseekinganewinclusivesocialorganizationathiscourt.Theseusisinchargein allthreeplaces. IfoneChaucerianmotifhereisthevalueofastablesocietyrunbyawiseand astuteruler,hisphysicalreign,particularlyitsurbanspace,mustexemplifythat excellent governance soon to be prized in Renaissance “Rules for Princes” Handbooks.Suchurbanspace,then,musteschewunstablebrawlingandoutof controlexcesswhichplaguesthewidowQueens,relegatingsuchabominationsto other, more suburban regions, there to be resolved. But enemy cities such as FemenyeseemnotalwaystofallwithinTheseus’sprotectivepurview. Theseprostratewidowsbegareprieve;Theseuspolitelydismountsandraises themupintohisroyalspace,gentlyliftingthemfromtheearthintohisdomain wheretheybelongbybirth.Heleaveshiselevatedplaceastridehishorse,and“in his armes he hem alle up hente/ And hem conforteth in ful good entente” (I A.957–58). Jill Mann brilliantly reveals the meaning of the carefully arranged iconography:“ChaucerplaceshisTheseusonhorsebackandmakeshiminstantly dismountunderhis‘pitous’impulse,soastoillustratedramaticallythelevelling ofconquerorwithvictims,theabandonmentofhistriumphforidentificationwith their grief.”17 This is most appropriate, for Theseus has, after all, conquered Femenye,justasCreonhasconqueredAthens,albeitwithlesscrueltyweassume. TheDuke’selevationoftheQueenstohismorecomfortablespaceofdignityand respectforeshadowsthecareandhealingactionhewillsoonperformontheir behalf,inthespaceoftheircity,ashewillattemptlaterinThebes. Thisliminalspaceoutsidethecityisasafeplace,wherethesovereignisnot symbolicallyandliterallyabovethem,butisintheirspace,toeffecttheirbusiness. Theblackgarbedmournersonthe“heigheweye”(1.897)representdeprivation, injustice,andviolation:1)deprivationofhusbandlysupport,wisegovernance, opportunitytoleavethepastbehindandmoveontothepresent;2)injusticein unfairtreatmentagainstthem,forCreonhasnotonlykilledtheirhusbandsinthis locus,buthasleftthemunburiedcarrionforthebirdsandroamingdogs,avery badlocusforthedead;and3)violation,indenyingthemtheirburialpracticesand rituals, their proper place as mourners and Queens, thus disrespecting their culturalmoresanddesecratingvictims’afterlives.Theunconfinedenvironsofthe roadneitherfreesnorprotectsthewidows,humblykneelingontheground.But itoffersthemTheseus’sgestureofpity,andhopeofreparationandregeneration.

JillMann,Feminiz

Urban Space in the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Age 3110223899, 9783110223897 - EBIN.PUB (2023)