Medieval Miscellany 9780773574014

Table of contents :
Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Illusrations
Foreword
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
I. THE LIVES OF MEDIEVAL WOMEN
Recovering the Ignored, by N.E.S. Griffiths
1. In Search of Medieval Women
2. A Medieval Woman's Advice to Wives
3. Wives, Widows and Wantons: A Medieval Sampler
4. Three Medieval Widows and a Second Career
5. Beatrice, Countess of Provence: Marriage Politics in the Thirteenth Century
6. The Education of Medieval Women Revisited: A Different Pattern from Their Brothers
7. The Status and Power of Medieval Noblewomen
II. ASPECTS OF CULTURE: MEDIEVAL AND MODERN
The Scholar and Her Society, by N.E.S. Griffiths
1. The Cultural Tradition of Canadian Women: The Historical Background
2. Stained Glass: A Reflection of the Thirteenth Century Passion for Light
3. Medieval Travel and Travellers: The Voyage from Pietas to Curiositas
III. HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF SCHOLARLY ENQUIRY
Matters of Curiosity, by N.E.S. Griffiths
1.Saint Louis and the Jews
2.Travels of a Diplomat: Edward 1's Use of Othon de Grandson
3. A Clock to Constantinople: The Travels of Ghillebert de Lannoy
4. Pero Tafur: A Fifteenth Century Spaniard
5. Henry of Lancaster and Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines
6. Pey Berland, Archbishop of Bordeaux, 1430-1456
IV. MEDIEVAL HEALTH CARE
Scholarship as an Expression of Personal Beliefs by N.E.S. Griffiths
1.The Health Problems of Medieval Travellers
2. The Régime du Corps of Aldebrandino of Siena: A Thirteenth Century Regimen for Women
3. Gerontocomia: On the Care of the Aged, A Fifteenth Century Italian Guide by Gabriele Zerbi (1445-1505)
Europe c. 1200 AD

Citation preview

MARGARET WADE LABARGE

With introductions by N.E.S.Gn-iths

CARLETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

Copyright 63 Carleton University Press, 1997 Printed and bound in Canada

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data Labarge, Margaret Wade A medieval miscellany Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-88629-290-5 1.Civilization, Medieval. I. Title. CB351.L32 1997 940.1 C96-900699-3

Cover Design: Your Aunt Nellie Typeset: Mayhew & Associates Graphic Communications, Richmond, Ont. Front cover: Detail, Midwife Attending a Birth, Book of Hours (Bibliothkque Nationale, MS.Lat. 9471, f.127~). Endsheet (map) Q Hammond Inc., Maplewood, NJ, License no. 12321. "Three Medieval Widows and a Second Career," reprinted from Aging and the Aged in Medimal Europe, edited by Michael M. Sheehan, pp. 159-72, by permission of the publisher. @ 1990 by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto. "Henry of Lancaster and Le Liwe dr Styntz Medicines," and "Pero Tahr: A Fifteenth Century Spaniard," reprinted from Fhrilgium: Carleton Univmiry Papers on Latr Antiquiiy and the Mi&& Ages, with permission from the editor. "The Cultural Tradition of Canadian Women" is reproduced with the permission of Status of Women, Canada. Gcrontocomia: On the &re of the Aged, a Fifteenth Century Italian Guide by Gabriele Zerbi," Copyright 8 Rowena E. Archer, from Crown, Government, and People in the 15th Century, edited by Rowena E. Archer. Reprinted with permission of St. Martin's Press, Incorporated. Carleton University Press gratefully acknowledges the support extended to its publishing program by the Canada Council and the financial assistance of the Ontario Arts Council. The Press would also like to thank the Department of Canadian Heritage, Government of Canada, and the Government of Ontario through the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Recreation, for their assistance.

CONTENTS uii

ILLUSTRATIONS FOREWORD

Douglas Wurtele LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

uiii xi

INTRODUCTION

N.E.S. Griffiths

THE LIVES OF MEDIEVAL WOMEN

Recovering the Ignored, by N.E.S. Griffiths 1 In Search of Medieval Women 2 A Medieval Woman's Advice to Wives

3 Wives, Widows and Wantons: A Medieval Sampler 4 Three Medieval Widows and a Second Career 5

Beatrice, Countess of Provence: Marriage Politics in the Thirteenth Century 6 The Education of Medieval Women Revisited: A Different Pattern from Their Brothers 7 The Status and Power of Medieval Noblewomen

ASPECTS OF CULTURE: MEDIEVAL AND MODERN

The Scholar and Her Society, by N.E.S. Griffiths The Cultural Tradition of Canadian Women: The Historical Background 2 Stained Glass: A Reflection of the Thirteenth Century Passion for Light 3 Medieval Travel and Travellers: The Voyage from Pietas to Curiositas

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HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS OF SCHOLARLY ENQUIRY

Matters of Curiosity, by N.E.S. Griffiths Saint Louis and the Jews Travels of a Diplomat: Edward 1's Use of Othon d e Grandson A Clock to Constantinople: The Travels of Ghillebert de Lannoy Pero Tafur: A Fifteenth Century Spaniard Henry of Lancaster and Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines Pey Berland, Archbishop of Bordeaux, 1430-1456

MEDIEVAL HEALTH CAKE

Scholarship as an Expression of Personal Beliefs by N.E.S. Griffiths The Health Problems of Medieval Travellers The Rggime du Corps of Aldebrandino of Siena: A Thirteenth Century Regimen for Women Gerontocomia: On the Care of the Aged, A Fifteenth Century Italian Guide by Gabriele Zerbi (1445-1505)

ILLUSTRATIONS Fmntkpke, Margaret Wade Labarge. p.15, Jeanne d'Evreux (Limestone, French, 1325-28). Collection: CollCgiale, Mantes, France. p.19, detail, The Queen's Chariot, Luttrell Psalter (British Library, Add.Ms. 42130, fol. 181~-182r). p.35, detail, Holy Family at Work (The Pierpont Morgan Library, Hours of Catherine of C l m , M.917, p.149, Utrecht, ca. 1440). p.47, detail, Procopius offers Saint Agnes a Box of Jewels (0The Trustees of the British Museum, Gold Cup of the Kings of England and France, Paris, ca. 1380). p.63, detail, Alms Purse (French, ca. 1335). Collection: Treasury of the Cathe&dl, Troyes, France. p.79, detail, Blanche of Castile, Louis IX of France (The Pierpont Morgan Library, from a Moralized Bible illuminated in Paris, a. 1235, M.240, fol. 8). p.89, detail, Saint Anne Teaching the Virgin to Write (The Cassey Brass, Deerhurst Church M 699). p.103, A Noble Lady with her Daughter (Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, Ms. 2397). p.115, detail, the north rose window, Chartres. p.119, detail, The Stoning of Saint Emmerentkana (8 The Trustees of the British Museum, Gold Cup of the Kings of England and France, Paris, a. 1380). p.147, detail, Stained glass canopy (French, 1285-1307). Collection: Lady Chapel, Abbey Church of La Trinite, F k a m p (Seine-Maritime). p.167, detail, Fiheenth Century Rocking Chariot, Rudolph von Ems, Weltcbronik, ca. 1335 (Zentral bibliothek, Ziirich, Ms. Rhehau 15, f. 54r). p.185, Travelling Chest of Lady Margaret Beaufort (Public Record Office, London). p.189, A Stone Statue of Saint Louis, ca. 1310, church of Maimeville (Eure). Photo: Hurault-Viollet, Paris. p.199, Chess-piece, Knight (Ivory, English, mid-Thirteenth century). Collection: The Visitors of the Ashmolean Museum, O x f o ~ i . p.207, detail, Fifteenth Century Clocks, Horologium Saptentihe, ca. 1448 (Biblioth2que Royale, Bruxelles, Ms. IV, iii f.13~). p.225, detail, Bertrdndon d e la Broquiere Presenting his Ms. to Duke Philip the Good (Bibliotheque Nationale, Ms. Fr. 9087, f.152~). p.237, detail, Sir Geoffrey at Table, LuttrellPscrlter (British Library Add.Ms. 42130 fol. 200). p.247, A benchend in Saint Botolph's Church. Trunch, Norfolk. Photo by author. p.253, detail, Sc2nes d e la vie d e St. Louis (Bihliotheque Nationale, W 603092). Photo: Hurault-Viollet, Paris. p.257, detail, Pilgrims at an Inn, John Lydgdte, PBIetinage de la vie humaine (British Library, Cotton Ms. Tiberius X.A.vii). p.273, detail, Midwife Attending a Birth (Biblioth2que Nationale, Book of Hours, MS. Lat. 9471, f. 127 v). p.281, Bronze lantern, ca. Fourteenth century. London Museum, 71/27.

FOREWORD

t is no exaggeration to affirm that Margaret Wade Labarge, c.M., FHSC, adjunct research professor of history at Carleton University, has long since achieved, and maintained, that level of eminence which it is the hope of all dedicated scholars to reach. This means not only recognition as a renowned authority in her chosen profession, both nationally and internationally, but also personal esteem and affection from all quarters of the world of medieval studies. Professor Labarge embodies that "love of learning" for which, in the eloquent testimony of another eminent medievalist, Dom Jean Leclercq, the monastic scholars of the Middle Ages were honoured. Her own love of learning about the medieval world began early and has never flagged. Born in New York, she received her undergraduate and postgraduate training at centres where the history of the Middle Ages has long been studied with rigour and devotion-Radcliffe College at Haward, where she took her honours B.A. in medieval history and literature, and St. Anne's College at Oxford, where her B.Litt. program in medieval history was supervised by Sir Maurice Powicke. These courses of study started Margaret Wade Labarge on a career that has produced a wealth of historical research of continuing value to medieval scholars both young and old. Her first book, Simon de Montfort, was published in 1962 and reprinted in 1972 and 1975. Next came A Baronial Household of the Thirteenth Century, published in 1965 and reissued in 1980. This was followed by Saint Louis: Louis IX, Most Christian King in 1980. Henry V, 7he Cautious Conquerorcame out in 1975 and Gascony, England's First Colony in 1980. Shortly afterward, in 1982, appeared Medieval Travellers: The Rich a n d the Restless, which was translated into Spanish in 1992. In 1986 she published Women in Medieval L?fe, the U.S. title being A Small Sound of the Trumpet. This book also was translated into Spanish, in 1988. Along with this substantial output of books, Professor Labarge has found time to produce a great many shorter works, including a study in 1971 for the Royal Commission on

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the Status of Women entitled The Cultural Tradition of Canadian Women: The Historical Background. Among these shorter works are numerous public lectures, chapters in books, and articles in journals. Two of the last-named appeared in Florilegium: Carleton Uniuersify Papers on Late Antiquify a n d the Middle Ages: "Henry of Lancaster and Le Livre de Seyntr Medecines" in the 1980 volume, and "Pero Tafur: A Fifteenth-Century Spaniard" in 1983. There is a patticular quality that is the hallmark of every piece of writing, long or short, in Margaret Wade Labarge's published work. Interfused with impressive depth and scope of her research is the manifest joy she takes in her work, a joy that comes out strongly in the gracefulness and zestfulness, the lucidity and readability that bring the Middle Ages to life for her readers. As a random example take the opening sentences of Chapter 10, "The Common in Simon de Montfon: Muttenngs of discontent had been heard throughout the realm for some time, but, in the spring and summer of 1258, natural bad luck and the results of the king's poor judgement swelled their volume to an unbearable pitch. Nature herself added to the chorus of complaint. The wrathrr and harvrsts for 1257 and 1258 were extraordinarily bad. Most of England was threatened with general famine, fa. r worse than the frequent local shortages. Since medieval man never lived in an economy of abundance, but ex~stedalmost from hand to mouth, the result of a general crop failure was disastrous. Professor Labarge's stimulation of our interest in the Middle Ages has, needless to say, by no means been limited to the publishing of her extensive research. She has been a source of encouragement and sagacity to several generations of scholars, both the established professionals and the youthful aspirants in the world of medieval scholarship. Over the years she has played a prominent role in the work of the Medieval Academy of America and in the a ~ u aKalamazoo l conference on all aspects of the medieval period. Of special importance for Canadian medievalists has been her strong support of the newly formed Society of Canadian Medievalists. An active proponent of this long hoped for association, she became its first president in 1993-94. Not only did she play a leading part in its successful inauguration and growth, she was also instrumental in forging the affiliation between the Society of Canadian Medievalists and FloriZegium, the journal mentioned above, of which she has long been a Consulting Editor.

Inspired by her enthusiasm and animated by her energy, Canadian medievalists of all disciplines and all ages now have not only their own society but also their own academic journal. Our country has been favoured in bringing forth many internationally eminent scholars in all areas of intellectual life. Among them Margaret Wade Labarge occupies a warmly respected place. Douglas Wurtele / Editor, Florilegium: Carleton UniversityPapers on Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages

ABBREVIATIONS BEC - Bibliotht?quede l'kcole des chartes BN - Biblioth2que Nationale CChR - Calendar of Charter Rolls CCR - Calendar of Close Rolls CLR - Calendar Liberate Rolls CPR - Calendar of Patent Rolls CR - Close Rolls EETS - Early English Text Society EHR - English Historical Review MGH - Monurnenta Germaniae historica PIMS - Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies RS - Rolls Series SS - Scipturae Sacrae Cursus Completus TRHS - Transactions of the Royal Historical Society VCH - Victoria County History

MARGARET WADE LABARGE: FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE N.E.S. Griffiths

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had the great good fortune to meet Margaret Wade Labarge when I first arrived in Ottawa to take up a position as a sessional lecturer in the History Department at Carleton University. This was in the fall of 1962, and she too was teaching, also as a sessional, in the department. I was 27 at the time, my life going through a rocky period as a young immigrant in a new town and my career not established enough to warrant that name. She was married to a senior civil servant and the mother of four teenagers, two girls and two boys. Her first book, Simon de Montfort, had been published in February of that year. A friendship began which has enriched my life ever since. Margaret Mein Wade was born in New York City on the July 18, 1916, the fourth child and only daughter of Helena Mein and Alfred B. Wade. Alfred had been born on December 21, 1874, also in New York City, and Helena, born on January 5, 1878, was from Philadelphia; they were married June 3, 1307 in Philadelphia. It was, in the terms of the time, a "mixed" marriage: Alfred Wade was an Episcopalian and Helena Mein a Roman Catholic. Their four children were raised in the Catholic Church, and while the three boys received a secular/ Protestant education, Mrs. Labarge was sent to the Sacred Heart nuns for a significant part of her schooling. Her three brothers were Alfred Munroe, born in 1908, Philip Treadwell, born in 1909, and Hugh Mason Wade, born in 1913.

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Alfred Wade's career was in many ways a typical American success story. His own childhood had been one of comfort, but his father's unlucky speculation meant that while his elder brother Herbert went to university and eventually taught at Columbia University, Alfred Wade began life as an office boy in the firm of Parker, Wilder and Co. of New York. He rose to be a partner in the firm, whose business was wholesale dry goods, specifically textiles. He was able to retire in comfort in 1926 to New Canaan, Connecticut at the age of 52. He died on the golf course at the Woodway County Club on July 14, 1949. In part his early retirement was due to the lasting consequences of an accident in his twenties when he was thrown from a horse and kicked in the head in Central Park, New York City. From that point onwards he suffered a continual ringing in his ears and periodic severe headaches. In spite of this physical handicap, Alfred Wade joined the Seventh Regiment of the New York National Guard in 1895 and saw active service on the Texas border. He retired from the Guard in 1916 but continued to be active in the Seventh Regiment Veterans Organization and the New York Society of Colonial Wars. He was also a member of the Sons of the Revolution and of the Pilgrims. Helena Mein was almost exactly three years younger than her husband. She had been born in Philadelphia in 1878 and died in a nursing home near New Canaan in 1966. She was the youngest, by ten years, of three sisters. Her father died when she was four years old, and her family often faced financial difficulties. Helena reached adulthood, however, with an optimistic and courageous attitude to life. While her husband was inclined to be reserved and somewhat shy, characteristics intensified by his physical handicap, Helena Mein was of a lively disposition and made friends easily until ill health struck. She had a major thyroid operation in 1926 and for several years was a semi-invalid. During Margaret's childhood and adolescence, her family's economic situation was comfortable, and her environment was that of a cultured and well-to-do family. It was a family where a number of expectations were subtly conveyed. There was a sense of noblesse oblige. The children's education was seen as a family responsibility, even if a particular child was capable of winning a scholarship. This attitude was reinforced by the impact of the Depression, which confirmed her parents in the belief that the money institutions had available, for student support, should be awarded as much on need as for merit. The family amusements were those of the mainstream upper class of the eastern United States at that time: travel, golf, tennis and

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INTRODUCTION

the contemporary musical and literary scene. The artistic leanings of Philip Wade, the second son, were encouraged. When a social gathering was small, Alfred Wade could enjoy the conversation and the company in spite of the strain on his hearing. Perhaps the home atmosphere can be best described as that of a cultured and liberal humanism with, however, religious life being a matter of serious concern. The divergent religious beliefs of the parents meant a degree of toleration for a diversity of religious creeds. It was toleration, however, founded o n belief in the importance of religious conviction, not upon agnosticism. Catholicism has been an important element and has undoubtedly helped Mrs. Labarge develop a sympathetic understanding of the religious life of medieval Europe. There was a considerable emphasis upon family feeling among the Wades, even if its expression was restrained. Helena Mein brought her considerable social skills and lightness of touch to her husband and children. She had an openness of spirit that mediated her husband's difficulties in expressing his own care for others. In some ways, Alfred Wade was able to be most openly affectionate with Margaret, who was not only the youngest child but the only daughter. He made it clear to her at an early age that she had every right to study and think for herself. When the family moved from New York City to New Canaan in 1926, Munroe went on to Princeton University, and the two younger boys were sent to Choate School in Wallingford, Connecticut. Margaret, 10 at the time, had a year without formal schooling, one in which she learned all the pleasures of reading widely, before being sent to the local school. At the age of 13 Margaret was enrolled at the Sacred Heart Convent in Noroton, Connecticut. Her interest in history in general and medieval life in particular began during these years. On graduation in 1933, she went to Radcliffe College, Harvard University. Her father continued to support her aspirations, believing that she had as much right to cultivate her talents as did her brothers. Margaret chose medieval history and literature as her field of study. Her elder brother, Hugh Mason Wade, had preceded her to Harvard and had also chosen to study medieval history, but he would abandon this field and make his name as a historian of French Canada. Margaret had the good fortune to be taught during her second year by outstanding scholars in her chosen field, among them Charles Taylor and C.H. McIlwain. She spent an enlightening summer in 1936 at the Zimmern School of International Studies in Geneva. In 1937 she graduated from Harvard and that fall was admitted to St. Anne's College, Oxford, then the Society of Oxford Home Students.

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Margaret's attraction to scholarship, particularly medieval history, had developed early. An independent and often solitary childhood gave her both the taste and the opportunity for voracious reading. This interest in the world of books was nurtured by her schooling under the tutelage of nuns, who stressed the importance of using one's mind. Her experience at Radcliffe gave her fine minds as teachers and good companionship among like-minded students. The breadth of education available to her during these years enabled her to combine an interest in literature with a growing passion for history. Finally, the tutorial system of Oxford brought her, at a critical moment in her intellectual development, the distinguished medieval historian Sir Maurice Powicke as a tutor. His great strength as a scholar was a passionate belief in the individual's contribution to the life of the community. He also had a belief that historical enquiry, based upon a thorough grounding in both primary and secondary sources, could be made not only intelligible but also interesting to a wider audience than just professional historians. Later in her career, Mrs. Labarge was to demonstrate the extent to which she had absorbed the training given to her by this renowned scholar. This career would be slow in developing, because of personal as well as public happenings. Margaret graduated with a B.Litt. (the equivalent of a North American M.A.) in 1939. The possibility of continuing her studies for the doctorate was cut short when her family asked her to return to North America as the international situation worsened and the outbreak of war was seen as imminent. As well, while at Oxford she had met a young French-Canadian, Raymond Labarge, who was studying law, after having graduated from McMaster University. He obtained a B.A. from Oxford in jurisprudence in 1939 and on June 20, 1940 they were married. The marriage was a fortunate and happy partnership, broken only by his untimely death in 1972, at the age of 59. Marriage brought, as it is wont to do, significant changes. First, it meant that Margaret Mein Wade now became Mrs. Labarge, a member of a large, bilingual and warm family circle in Ottawa, where her husband's father, Charles Henry Labarge, was well known as a successful businessman and an active leader in the community. He was one of the founding members of the United Way in Ottawa, an initiative which decided that the city's charitable giving should not be divided by either religion or language but brought together by the whole community for all its diverse members. Raymond's mother was a delightful Irish-Canadian from Montreal (who spoke better

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INTRODUCTION

French than her husband). She also had a strong sense of civic responsibility and played an important role in the charitable activities of the community. At the same time, she brought up six children, five sons and a daughter. Two of the sons enlisted in the RCAF and were killed during the war. At the time of their marriage Raymond was working for the War Time Prices and Trade Board, one of the many new agencies that were trying to deal with the challenges that Canada faced after 1939. Until he enlisted in the Canadian Navy in 1942, the young couple experienced life in Ottawa, a city that was rapidly turning from a small, rather stuffy town into a much more lively and vibrant capital. On his enlistment, Raymond was posted to St. Hyacinthe, a small almost totally French-speaking town some 50 kilometres southeast of Montreal. In the middle of a war effort about which francophone Canada was, at best, ambivalent, St. Hyacinthe was host to a naval signal school attended by an ever-changing population of some five thousand English-speaking sailors, most of whom came from backgrounds that did not question the necessity of Canada's military effort. It was a baptism by fire for young Mrs. Labarge in the realities of the French-English tensions, something made even more vivid by her involvement in teaching English to young French girls, eager to learn the language of all those attractive young men now in the neighbourhood. In 1944, Raymond was posted to Naval Intelligence in Ottawa and they returned to what was to prove to be their permanent home town. The next year, when he was demobilised with the rank of lieutenant-commander, Raymond Labarge entered the federal civil service and pursued what was to be a most successful and distinguished career. Between 1945 and 1950, their four children were born: two girls, Claire and Suzanne, and two boys, Charles and Paul. Four children under five and a busy husband determined priorities for Mrs. Labarge. Full-time academic life was out of the question, whether as a doctoral student or a member of faculty. However, Ottawa at this time, while a small city, nevertheless had two universities: the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. As a result, throughout the fifties and early sixties, Mrs. Labarge taught one course a year at one or other of the institutions, thereby not only keeping her knowledge of the work being done in medieval history up to date but also becoming increasingly aware of the need for publications which would make the cutting edge of academic scholarship more readily available to a less narrowly focused audience.

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When her youngest child entered first grade in 1957, Mrs. Labarge set about to fill this need. Her goals were shaped partly by the fact that extended work in non-Canadian archives was not possible for her, given her family responsibilities. She set her sights, instead, upon what she could achieve, and decided to write books about medieval European issues, which would provide a readable distillation of the current advances in scholarship, based upon an exhaustive and meticulous synthesis of available printed sources, both primary and secondary. She hoped that such books might interest not only undergraduates but also scholars whose major preoccupations were in other fields. She envisioned volumes which would introduce the reader to the subject in question and provide them with the scholarly signposts which would allow them to indulge their curiosity further. Mrs. Labarge chose the subject of her Oxford thesis, Simon d e Montfort, as the theme of her first book. De Montfort, Earl of Leicester, became one of the most important men in England in the early thirteenth century, marrying the sister of Henry 111, who ruled the country from 1216 to 1272. De Montfort spent many of his early years in France and his life was almost as much affected by the lands his family held there as it was by the politics of England. In choosing him for her first book, Mrs. Labarge not only started work in an area where she had a good scholarly grounding but also entered upon the complex territory of Anglo-French relations in the Middle Ages. Part of her future success came from her understanding that the political realms of France and England were, in the period she chose to write about, impossible to study in isolation from one another. She was encouraged in her ambitions by friendly medievalists then working at the Pontifical Institute in Toronto, especially by M.M. Sheehan. Through his good offices she was introduced to Bertie Wilkinson, a scholar of international renown and the most important medievalist at the University of Toronto at that time. He invited her to give a seminar in one of his courses, and was sufficiently impressed that, when she mentioned that she had a manuscript, he set about helping her find a publisher for it. With the help of John Gray of Macmillan (Toronto), Simon de Montfbrt was published in 1962 in England and the United States, as well as in Canada. It would be reprinted in 1972 and 1975. The reviews were good, especially in England. Critics in the United States and Canada both took some time to recognize a woman scholar and one without a tenured appointment in a university. Christopher Brooke, writing in the Guardian, called Simon de Montfort a "clear,

INTRODUCTION

readable and sane narrative of Simon's life ... an interesting introduction for those who know not Simon, and a useful corrective for those who d o and are inclined to view him as a liberal reformer of the nineteenth century." Sir Charles Petrie, writing in the Times Literaty Supplement, remarked that it was "both readable and scholarly," (16.3.61) a judgment that would be made again and again about her books. Just before Simon de Montfort appeared, Raymond had encouraged his wife to go to London to meet her publishers and her agent. The latter was interested in her writing a life of Louis IX of France, since the publishing house of Little Brown was actively searching for such a work. The meetings were both pleasant and productive, and Mrs. Labarge returned home with two contracts, having successfully insisted that she would be happy to write about Louis IX, but only after she had completed another work she had already started. This was about the household of Simon de Montfort, the domain of his wife, Countess Eleanor of Leicester. In 1965 A Baronial Household of the nirteenth Century was published in London, New York and Toronto. It is in this work that Mrs. Labarge, without fanfare or dramatics, showed an interest in recovering what could be known about the lives of medieval women, and making the information clearly relevant to other questions about medieval history. The work is based upon the private accounts of Eleanor, Countess of Leicester, during a period of seven months in 1265, when she was attempting to hold her household and family together while her husband battled the king, Henry 111, her brother. Mrs. Labarge moved beyond the details in the primary source, the lists of servants and their needs, the provisions for the political entertainment that was crucial for the survival of the d e Montfort family. The work is filled out with references to other contemporary sources on etiquette and household management. It provides an account of the infrastructure of the domestic life of an elite family during a tumultuous period of English history and clearly and accurately conveys the texture of place, time and personal ambitions. In 1965 the Economist considered it a "close and efficient account of the daily texture of a kind of life that has no parallel in the world today." After the book had been reprinted in 1980 the Times of London (25.2.82) judged that it had become "a firmly established classic. " Nineteen sixty-five was a year of sharp contrasts for the Labarge family. In January Raymond was appointed Deputy Minister of Customs and Excise but within a few months, at the age of 52, he suffered

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a heart attack. From then until his death in 1972, Mrs. Labarge was as much occupied in attempting to make him lead a healthy life as she was in other work. Raymond Labarge was a man of industry, integrity, compassion, intelligence and great charm. He was deeply involved in volunteer work as well as in the demands on him as a senior civil servant. Any attempt to make him slow down and take adequate time for himself was bound to be an uphill battle. His genuine interest in solving problems and in understanding other people's views meant that he was often called upon as a mediator for other people's arguments. The fact that the eldest child, Claire was just 20 when illness struck meant that, as parents, the Labarges were in the thick of guiding four talented and ambitious young people through the last years of childhood, the first of years of adult life. Any friend of the family was aware of the extent to which Mrs. Labarge sought to balance the many demands of the family so that her husband could enjoy his life to the fullest. To achieve this, without inducing an atmosphere of panicky mawkishness at a time when the control of heart disease was in its infancy, required as much common sense as emotional commitment. The enthusiastic reception of A Baronial Household helped Mrs. Labarge as she began work on the life of Saint Louis, King of France. He was more or less a contemporary of Simon de Montfort, and the tangled web of Anglo-French relations in the thirteenth century had given the two men many experiences in common. It was, after all, an era when the monarchs of England often spoke French more fluently than the language of their island realm, and were almost as interested in claiming rights in France as in establishing their rule in England. A life of Louis meant new questions, but it was more the development of an area of research she had centred on for her undergraduate thesis at Radcliffe. This biography would mean that Mrs. Labarge was clearly staking claim to a particular area of expertise in medieval scholarship, the history of England and France in the thirteenth century. At much the same time, she became involved in the research activities which resulted from the establishment of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada in 1967. She was commissioned to write one of the background studies on the historical place of women in Western society (see Part I1 below.) In 1968 Saint Louis: The L?fe of Louis IX o f France was published in London and Toronto and as Louis Ei,Most Christian King in Boston. Not only were the reviews favourable but the book was noticed by a broad spectrum of newspapers and magazines. Once more the English critics praised the work; the Times Educational Supplement summed

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INTRODUCTION

up their attitude, noting that the work was "scrupulously fair to the king" and was "a vivid and lucid account of politics and personalities." (5.12.68) Approving commentary was published by columnists in Canada, including those of the Ottawa Citizen and the Montreal Star. The Wall StreetJournal called the work "learned but lively and readable," while the New Yorker (6.7.68) considered it an "excellent biography." Other reviews appeared in publications as different as the Nashville Times and the Irish Times. Her work was obviously gaining a very wide audience. Further, academic critics were also beginning to grant it recognition. Rosalind Hill, writing in History, thought the work "at once scholarly and extremely pleasant to read." It was not translated into French, but French scholars took notice of it and began to consider her a new expert in the field of thirteenth century Anglo-French history. At this point in her career, Mrs. Labarge confronted a problem that happens at some time or another to most scholars: the intractable subject. There was a demand for a book on Grosseteste, the Bishop of Lincoln and friend of Simon de Montfort. I can remember walking Ottawa streets in spring as Mrs. Labarge wrestled with that hidden character, whose life was recorded only minimally and whose contribution to history has been more in the realm of theology than in politics. To the relief of friends and family, Mrs. Labarge abandoned the good but intransigent bishop and began work on a life of Henry V, a commissioned study for Secker and Warburg. Although this biography took her into the early fifteenth century, it had a kinship with the study of St. Louis. In both cases the men left mythic reputations as important as the factual heritage of their lives. In both cases there was a need to disentangle the icon built by later ages from the solid and impressive achievements these men realized in their lifetimes. It was during her work on this biography that Raymond Labarge died. In 1972, the National Gallery of Canada staged an elegant medieval exhibition called the Art of the Courts. Dr. Jean Boggs, then the curator of the Gallery, decided that some form of publication was needed to supplement the formal catalogue, and commissioned Mrs. Labarge to provide such a work. The result was Court, Church and Castle, which appeared in both English and French. Its sales in both languages rivalled those of the formal catalogue. This work established a link between Mrs. Labarge and the gallery staff which has been fruitful to both. More than anything else, perhaps, it was responsible for the essay on medieval stained glass which is published in Part I1 in this volume.

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INTRODUCTION

ftRetrieba1

Three years later, in 1975, Henry V, the Cautious Conqueror was published in London and New York. The Economist review was typical of its reception. Once more Mrs. Labarge was praised for her narrative skill, and for "writing an accurate and enthralling narrative which illuminates the qualities required for success in those barbarous war games which occupied the energies of the chivalric elite in the later middle ages." (4.10.75) Academic journals noticed the work, with History Today (1 1.75) commenting that it was a "thorough and well balanced" book. By 1976, Mrs. Labarge had published five major works of elegant, sophisticated history. In awarding her an honorary Doctor of Literature that year, Carleton University remarked on her status as a private scholar and went on to say that Mrs. Labarge had upheld "the honorable tradition of writing history that is understandable, edifying and interesting for the lay reader." "Yet," the citation continued, "her works are securely founded on documentary evidence, which has been exploited critically and with ingenuity and they display an exhaustive command of factual detail." In fact, it concluded, "her writings represent an uncommon blend of history as a science and history as an art." It was clear that Mrs. Labarge had developed a unique gift for presenting complex questions of medieval life, interestingly and well, without undue simplification. For her next book, she turned to a study of the English rule of Gascony, something which, as she remarked in her prologue, is a matter that is "frequently brushed aside as irrelevant to the mainstream of either English or French history." This is hardly surprising since for French historians, it has often appeared as a particularly blatant incursion of an alien polity into their domain. For English historians it was a reminder of their retreat from positions once held on the continent. Gascony: England's First Colony, 1204-1453 was published in 1980, again in London and New York. Mrs. Labarge had chosen the subject partly willingly and partly as a result of a common hazard of intellectual life. She had begun work on another biography, that of the eldest son of Edward 111, the Black Prince, only to discover that he was the subject chosen by at least two other scholars, both of whom were much further advanced toward publication. Mrs. Labarge already knew a considerable amount about Gascony, as Simon d e Montfort had been Henry 111's lieutenant there for three-and-a-half years. She had already had an interest in the general political problems of a part of France ruled by an English king, because he was also the Duke of Aquitaine, and thus a vassal of the French court.

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INTRODUCTION

She set out to disentangle the constitutional and jurisdictional web as well as the story of what actually happened. The result was as engaging a work as her previous publications, but one that showed the extent to which she was able to meld biography and politics into an enlivening monograph. The reviews showed that after nearly two decades' work in the field, Mrs. Labarge had won recognition from academics as well as sensible, intelligent people. C.T. Allmand, writing in History, (10.80) recommended the work. Further, it was this book that finally caught the attention of American academics, whose recognition of Mrs. Labarge had been slow in coming. Ever since the publication of Henry however, her reputation had been growing. Now, George Cuttino, writing in Speculum, (10.81) summed up the general view of scholars in the field when he wrote that it was a "a first rate book, eminently readable and one that will stand for a long time to come." By early 1983 there was yet another book in print: this was Medieval Travellers: 7he Rich a n d the Restless. It actually appeared in the 1982 lists but was a December publication. It would be translated into Spanish in 1992, with the title Viajeros medievales. As the reviewer in the Globe a n d Mail remarked, an "unusual feature of this book is that the title and subtitle exactly explain what is it about." It was built upon the knowledge that Mrs. Labarge had gained of the extent to which the religious and political life of both England and France during the Middle Ages demanded that their elites travel. The absence of electronic methods of communication, not to mention railways and the automobile, did not mean no contact between different governments, merely that contact took much time and energy to establish. The wit and learning in the book brings to the reader the tiresome realities of relying on one's own feet, the horse and the leaky boat for transportation in an age when inns were rare and brigands commonplace. The narrative brings vividly to life what packing meant, when supplies would be unreliable at best and unobtainable at worst. At the same time, the work makes the intellectual world of the medieval traveller, whether clerical or secular, seem sufficiently exciting and compelling that the reader can understand why people journeyed for reasons other than the necessities of their governments. This book, with its meticulous presentation of the conditions of elite travel from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries was received with much approbation. The only rub was that at the time of the half-page, illustrated laudatory review of the Globe a n d Mail, the imps that bedevilled publishing ensured that no copies were

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available anywhere in Canada. Even this setback, however, was to be overcome by its sales record in the United Kingdom. In 1983, Mrs. Labarge was invested with the Order of Canada. This centrepiece of the Canadian system of state honours was instituted on July 1, 1967, the hundredth anniversary of the Canadian confederation. Her citation began with her publishing career, remarking that she was "a distinguished medieval historian, [who has] six major books to her credit, including lives of Saint Louis and Henry V." It continued: "Her writing, though scholarly in the best tradition, reflects an ability to bring history to life." In conclusion, it was noted that "in addition she has written a study for the Royal Commission o n the Status of Women and devotes much effort to voluntary work in nursing and the care of convalescents, the disabled and the aged." This recognition of her volunteer work underlined a very important part of Mrs. Labarge's life. Her own family, and that of her husband, had both honoured a tradition of an acceptance of responsibility for the general well-being of the community in which they lived. In recent decades, volunteer activity has too often been dismissed as something that is, at best, a sop to the conscience of the comfortable and, at worst, the patronising of the poor by the powerful. The need of truly charitable action as a necessary lubricant for a civilized society, something which will humanize state action and recall bureaucracies to the reality of the human being who suffers, is slowly being recognized as the twentieth century closes. Mrs. Labarge, in her concern for the elderly and the frail, has been one of those who have kept alive the tradition of true service to those in need. Her talent for administration has been put to great use to the benefit of a number of organizations in Ottawa, including both hospital and university boards. It was, in part, her recognition that before state systems of social welfare emerged, women provided the major part of the care for those buffeted by life that led Mrs. Labarge to write a general work on the place of women in medieval life. Visiting the sick, comforting the dying, succoring the poor, these activities might be carried out by priests and ministers, by members of the male religious orders and by the male-directed political institutions of a community. But charitable work has always been recognized as an appropriate area for women, either as individuals or as members of a group. What Mrs. Labarge recognized, and made the central theme of her book, was the fact during the Middle Ages, women were engaged in many less obvious but equally important aspects of public life. Their participa-

BisceIIanp

INTRODUCTION

tion in charitable work added to the influence of women but that influence had much deeper roots within society at large. Women in Medieval Life was published in 1986 by Hamish Hamilton in the United Kingdom and in the same year as A Small Sound of the Trumpet by Beacon Press in the United States. Maurice Keen, in New York Review o f Book, (15.1.87) wrote that the special quality of the book was that it was a work of "sanity with sympathy," making it clear that the contribution of women to the civilization and the life of the Middle Ages was "neither invisible, inaudible, nor unimportant." He concluded his review by remarking that the work displayed "a golden quality of levelheadedness about it which [he] find[sl very attractive." The Times Educational Supplement (29.8.86) called it "an objective assessment of the role played by the great mass of the female population in northwestern Europe not only in government, but in the convents, the hospitals, the fields, the counting houses and the brothels. Strongly recommended for both sexes." One of the most important reviews was that published in the American Historical Review (7.87). It was by Susan Mosher Stuard, a young feminist who wrote: "The usefulness of this study lies in the author's attempt to place medieval women in their social context, so reconstructions of peasant communities, criminal behaviour and artisan family life, as well as the voices of authorities and female worthies, fill the chapters." It was quickly translated into Spanish and published as L a mujer en la Edad Media in 1988. That was the year that Mrs. Labarge was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada, the senior national organization of Canadian scholars in the arts and sciences. She was acknowledged in her citation as: "One of the most widely read (and readable) historians of medieval history in the world." Five years later, Waterloo University added another honorary doctorate, an LL.D., to the awards she had received, pointing out once more her dual achievements in the realm of public service and as a historian. It was also in 1993 that she was elected as the first president of the newly formed Canadian Society of Medievalists. Throughout her career, but particularly in the last 15 years, Mrs. Labarge has been much in demand as a lecturer and as a speaker at conferences. In the spring of 1987, she was invited to St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick as part of their visiting lecturer series, and in the fall of that year she was the Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Ashville College, North Carolina. That year, she also presented a paper at the annual conference of medievalists held

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INTRODUCTION

in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In 1988 she was the visiting lecturer at St. Francis-Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia and in 1991, she was a visiting professor at the University of Guelph, Ontario. In 1992, she gave a talk at the New York Medievalists Club, another paper at Kalamazoo, and one at the Fifteenth Century Conference, held that year at Manchester College, Oxford University. While certain of these papers have been published, the majority have not, and they form the basis for this present collection. A number of earlier articles have also been reprinted in this volume. Many of these papers, both published and unpublished, illuminate a particular aspect of a subject that has been treated more generally in a monograph. Very often they contain material and ideas that were tangential to the main theme, and yet interesting in their own right. It is hoped that this collection will delight those who have been instructed and entertained by the longer works of this eminent Canadian medievalist. Mrs. Labarge's professional career continues, though at a slower pace. She still gives an occasional speech or paper and remains an adjunct professor of the History Department of Carleton University, which means she is a constant source of advice and encouragement to students, a welcome guest lecturer and a just internal examiner for theses. In the autumn of four of the last six years, she has taught a course on some aspect of medieval history for the School of Continuing Education at the University of Ottawa. These courses have proved so popular that students ask, unavailingly, for the course to be continued after the December break. The influence of her children and grandchildren, who have inherited her energy and general curiosity, has helped to ensure that Mrs. Labarge continues to find fascination in the contemporary world. All four of her children have, by hard work, intelligence and good fortune, made impressive careers for themselves, in the civil service, banking, business and the law respectively. They have applauded and encouraged their mother's continued concern and activity in the community. With a wide circle of friends and activities, Mrs. Labarge maintains the passionate interest in the Middle Ages which first gripped her as a young girl.

RECOVERING THE IGNORED

hy N.E.S. Griffiths

IN SEARCH O F MEDIEVAL WOMEN A MEDIEVAL WOMAN'S ADVICE T O \VIVES WIVES, WIDOWS AND WANTONS: A MEDIEVAL SAMPLER THREE MEDIEVAL WIDOWS AND A SECOND CAREER BEATRICE, COUNTESS O F I'ROVENCE: MARRIAGE I'OLITICS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY THE EDUCATION O F MEDIEVAL WOMEN REVISITED: A DIFFERENT I'AITERN FROM THEIR BROTHERS THE STATUS AND POWER O F MEDIEVAL NOBLEWOMEN

RECOVERING THE IGNORED N.E.S Griffiths

T

he 1986 publication of Women in Medieval Life led to a number of speaking engagements for Mrs. Labarge from people who wanted either an encapsulated version of the book or more information about some particular aspect of the subject. The essays that resulted fall into two broad categories: those that consider broad questions of women's experience in the Middle Ages and those that centre upon the experiences of individual women in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. The ideas expressed in "In Search of Medieval Women" were first explored in a lecture given at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick, in 1987. In it Mrs. Labarge has addressed the historiography of medieval women in the late 1980s, and comes to grips with the discomfort many, then and now, felt with writing about the past with a particular emphasis on one half of the human species. Her answer to this difficulty is to be found in her knowledge of what can be known about the lives of women at that time but what, until recently, very few have considered important enough to research. That same year, 1987, Mrs. Labarge followed up this general overview of the lives of women in the Middle Ages with two other papers on particular aspects of the same topic: "A Medieval Woman's Advice to Wives" and "Wives, Widows and Wantons, a Medieval Sampler." The first was presented at the meeting in Toronto of the Medieval Academy of America, the second to the annual spring conference of the faculty at Carleton University. These two papers

explore, more deeply and with more detailed examples, the insights of the paper delivered at St. Thomas university. The impact of all three papers, taken together, is a revelation of how various the lives of medieval women were and the extent to which many historians overlook this diversity. At the conclusion of the 1980s, Mrs. Labarge returned to this theme once more with a paper entitled "Three Medieval Women and a Second Career," which appeared in 1990 in a volume edited by Michael M. Sheehan, Aging and Aged in Medieval Europe, published by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies. This paper is a sharply focused study of three women of the elite, all holding privileged positions among their contemporaries, all long lived and two of them with at least eight children each. It considers, in detail, the impact of marriage and widowhood on elite women at the height of the Middle Ages. In 1992, Mrs. Labarge presented a paper at the annual conference on women's studies held in Binghamton, New York. This was a study of marriage politics of the thirteenth century and centred upon Beatrice, countess of Provence, who was the mother of four queens. The biography of this extraordinary woman is related within the broader context of the place of marriage in the life cycle of noble families and the demands that widowhood imposed upon such women. This biography is of interest both in its own right and as an excellent prologue to the next paper printed here a paper Mrs. Labarge delivered the following year to the history graduate seminar in women's experience at Carleton University. The ideas in this paper, entitled "Education of Medieval Women Revisited: A Different Pattern from Their Brothers," had first been explored when she gave the Florence Bird Lecture in July 1987. This version is both an elaboration and a reconsideration of the theme. Once more, the reader is treated to a historiographical analysis of the question under discussion before Mrs. Labarge presents her own ideas. The material brought together here demonstrates the extent to which certain women were able, even under the most oppressive of circumstances, to gain intellectual training and make the male elite take their ideas seriously. At the same time, the paper shows the extent to which even in a society that attempted to make women subservient, it was conceded that some general education of females must also take place, even if its pattern would be different from that of males. The final essay in this section was first delivered at the conference on medieval history held at Leeds University in 1994. While consid-

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T H E LIVES OF MEDIEVAL W O M E N

ering the lives of Adela of Blois, Isabella de Fortibus and Mahaut of Artois, three women who wielded political power openly after the deaths of their husbands, Mrs. Labarge presents a complex picture of the extent to which elite status so often overcame the handicap of being born female. The essay also contains a perceptive analysis of family life among the nobility in the Middle Ages, the extent to which the men were so often absent, "whether on crusade, wars, pilgrimage, at court or on diplomatic errands," and the resultant power in the hands of the women who stayed at home as a given in medieval political life. In all these seven papers, Mrs. Labarge has woven the reality of the lives of particular individuals into an examination of the broader context of the experience of the generality of women at that particular time. They make a fine addendum to her major work in this field.

he title of this paper may sound unnecessarily exclusive or suggestive of a biased and even trendy approach to a serious scholarly problem, but it is not meant to be so. My own belief in the very real importance of looking quite specifically at the nature and value of women's roles in the Middle Ages, especially from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, springs from the conviction that many historians of the period have not consciously recognized the extraordinarily male nature of the era and of many of the sources we have for it. Much of the focus of earlier historians was on matters of constitutional, political and financial history, and in these public matters women normally had no place. However, as medieval historians have turned to a much closer examination of the less glamorous urban and peasant populations, rather than concentrating on individ~lalkings, swashbuckling knights and powerfill clergy, they have hegun to realize that women were genuinely important in medieval life and not merely decorative presences at social occasions. R.H. Hilton has expressed this new approach most succinctly: "It should not be necessary to write a separate history of half the human beings in any social class. We must, however, d o so, whether or not we Ixlieve that all women through history have constituted a class oppressed by all men or whether we believe that women's class posithan their sex."' tion was more i~~mortant

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Much of my own historical work has been influenced by the approach of the great French historian, Marc Bloch, who wrote that the historian is like the giant in the fairytale of Jack and the Beanstalk: "Wherever he catches the scent of human flesh, there his quarry lies."* This insistence on the central place which should be given to the human reality of historical men and women is a belief that has influenced much of my work. This conviction recently led me to a study of the real nature of life for a wide range of medieval women. I had two main reasons for embarking on this project. One was my fascination with a number of interesting women who had appeared incidentally in my previous books, but who, I felt, deserved a closer and more careful inspection. Second, and perhaps even more influential, was the importance of encouraging both historians and feminists to put aside their respective prejudices in the way they evaluate the place of women in medieval society. Many historians are only beginning to come to terms with the reality and relevance of the newer forms of history which deal with the everyday fabric of society--topics such as diseases and their effect on the population, the history of the family and of women and children as distinct individuals. These matters use different evidence and require different handling from the earlier concentration on the more masculine categories of war, diplomacy, politics, constitutional development and economics which had traditionally interested historians, who were predominantly male. In many cases, these men were content to leave supposedly "soft topics" to students of literature, whose works they then pillaged for items of "human interest." They did not realize that they had overlooked a legitimate historical realm. This concentration on more masculine topics has been particularly true of medieval historians, because almost all their written sources came from the pens of men, usually celibate clerics. The natural bias of such chroniclers was with the affairs of the church, and of the state, especially where it affected the church. Not surprisingly, given the general atmosphere of the time and the social class from which many of these medieval writers came and the patrons for whom they wrote, their chronicles were filled with battles, wars and the social activities of kings, princes and nobles. Such chroniclersuninformed and uninterested in women's daily duties and thoroughly imbued with the belief that women were inferior and a source of temptation-paid little attention to women's activities. They made exceptions, often grudgingly, for powerful queens or noblewomen,

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I N SEARCH O F M E D I E V A L WOMEN

who might affect their own political fortunes or who behaved in ways which the chroniclers deplored, and then denounced, as being inappropriately masculine. Many modern historians continued this policy of overlooking medieval women except when some particularly colourful female character could not be neglected. The result is that everyone has heard about Eleanor of Aquitaine, Heloise and Joan of Arc, often to saturation point, but knows little or nothing of any other medieval women. In the interests of fairness it must be added that some of the best recent male medieval historiansGeorges Duby, David Herlihy, James Brundage and R.H. Hilton, to mention only a few-have tried to redress the balance by exploring in depth such topics as marriage, families and their size, women in canon law, and the work of peasant women. As Hilton suggests, I feel it is impossible to create a balanced picture of the Middle Ages if you leave out half the population. It is important both to try to find out what women of all classes were actually doing in that period, and to see how a wide range of women can be perceived as individuals. It is fortunate that the great increase in the study of social history in the last 20 years, which has emphasized the ordinary texture of life and the activities of the less visible but equally essential groups, has made such investigation possible. Such work would also be valuable for those feminists who have little knowledge of the past. Despite the very real gains in the opening up to women of career opportunities long considered purely male preserves, the move toward more equitable wage scales, the removal of legal barriers, and women's greater control over their own lives, some feminists are still convinced that they are fighting a new battle, and that no women ever did anything outside the home or influenced public policy before the 1960s. This is not only untrue, it does not encourage women to face the real problems they still meet in our society. Feminists too could gain valuable self-confidence if they would broaden their horizons sufficiently to recognize that, even at a time when the theoretical basis of society postulated the inferiority of women-as was certainly the case in the Middle Age.-many women at all levels of society still found ways in which to exercise both power and influence. In these circumstances it seemed to me both a reasonable and absorbing task to try and write a book which might encourage both conservative historians and radical feminists to put aside their prejudices and look at actual case histories. Such an exercise could help both groups to discover the active and, occasionally, even powerful

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place women held in medieval society. It would also underline the fact that women with power and influence have always been part of the world scene, though sometimes in small numbers. The immediate problem became how to organize my research to find the necessary information. I had several advantages on my side. I knew I was looking for information on medieval women of all classes, and I could draw on the accumulation of my researches for previous books. These had given me a pretty good idea of the most fruitful sources to consult, as well as where they could be found. I was also very fortunate in having a network of friendly scholars who were pleased I was tackling the topic and who went out of their way to point out material I might otherwise have overlooked or not known about. For example, I was informed about Ph.D. theses in progress, which were rich in material for those often unreported peasant women at work or at play in their villages or manors. Many scholars generously shared with me unpublished material on a number of women worth attention who had cut across their particular field, and about whom they thought I should know. Since I was basically covering women in the period from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, and made occasional references to a few outstanding earlier women, it is not surprising that different kinds of sources became valuable at different times. Any medieval historian is at the mercy of inadequate documentation-the result of destruction by fire or sword, or loss or abuse over the centuries-but information about women is particularly sparse and scattered. A rapid survey of the different kinds of sources that can be drawn on for the history of medieval women may suggest the avenues which I found useful to explore. Fortunately for the historian, from the twelfth century on in both England and France (my main areas of study), written government records were kept and many have survived, especially in England. These added their share of facts and details to the search for people. Royal records dealing with the marriage of heiresses in the king's gift, grants of favours of the most miscellaneous variety and petitions to king or parliament (or Parlement in France) could be a mine of social information on a wide range of people. Carefully kept court rolls, either of the king's court or of the travelling justices hearing cases in many parts of the country, provide unexpected light on individuals. So d o the manorial records of the lords who had rights of justice in their lands and enforced their own privileges. Then there are the records of the ecclesiastical courts which dealt with all cases concerning Q

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I N SEARCH OF MEDIEVAL WOMEN

marriage, as well as a host of everyday difficulties. The well-known records of such cities as London and Paris, and the gradual opening of the equally valuable archives of smaller English and French towns which also had their own jurisdiction, suggest the peculiar problems and crimes of townspeople. Medieval tax rolls are informative too, for they listed the occupation of everyone, man or woman, on whom tax was assessed. Among more narrative sources, such as chronicles and monastic annals, women were normally included only if they were queens, important noblewomen or generous patronesses, and thus in the public eye. There are actual biographies of women, most frequently in the early Middle Ages. Some were of queens, but many more celebrated saints or abbesses. Most of these writings must be read with a careful eye, since they did not share our emphasis on factual accuracy but considered it proper to make their subject fit the accepted pattern of holiness, which did not necessarily match the reality. It is an interesting footnote that the lives of women, written by women, were much more down to earth and far less conventional than those by male authors. The literature of the twelfth century is full of clues to the activities of women, though they are often remarkably romanticized and stylized. Indeed there were a number of women among the twelfth century poets, and Marie de France was universally acclaimed as a leading author of popular romances. During the thirteenth century, although the chronicles and the annals continued to be of importance, there were also newer types of more factual records. By the middle of the century meticulously kept household accounts (for nobles as well as for kings and queens) begin to survive in ever-increasing numbers. These provide marvellously detailed information as to just how households, both large and medium-sized, were run. Long acquaintance with a good many of these accounts has left me with an astonished admiration for the ladies of such households who could supervize an establishment of perhaps two to three hundred persons, and arrange for a constant supply of essential foodstuffs as well as the necessary purchase of non-local goods, which often had to consider a year's needs. If the lady of the household was a widow, or her husband was absent for a long time at court or at war, as such men were, she was indeed an executive. She had to manage a number of officials and servants and was ultimately responsible for the decisions on how to feed, clothe, transport and maintain the security of all the many men and women who made u p her large household. Her childbearing was usually

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frequent, although she would normally have a nurse for each young child. However, the wife also had the duty of supervizing her daughters closely from the age of 8 until they were married, placed in another household or sent to a convent. In addition, she would be responsible for their education, although a chaplain or a governess might well provide the actual instruction. It was the father's duty to supervise and see to the education of his sons, but this too might become the mother's responsibility if the father was away for long periods or if she was a widow. Wills and inventories provide further detailed pictures, since they often suggest what people wore, the jewels and precious objects they might surround themselves with, and occasionally list the more humdrum domestic furnishings and equipment. Wills rarely dealt with land, except for the freeholds most frequently found in towns, but they not only tell us a great deal about the testator's movablesclothes, jewels, books, household goods, etc.-but also what they gave to charity and to whom, and how they might leave their possessions not only to their children or spouse, but also to their friends. Rich widows often left long and complicated wills, and naturally those of great noblewomen are the most intriguing because of the wide range and wealth of their belongings. Nevertheless, the practice of making a will had become common even to people of very modest social position before the fifteenth century. Sometimes these wills of less well-endowed women are especially fascinating because among their bequests can be found reminders of overlooked facts, such as the value and permanence of clothes. I particularly like the will of an Oxford widow in 1282 which carefully bestowed her best robe on her eldest daughter, but specified that its fur lining was to be removed and given to the second daughter who only got her mother's second-best gown.3 A desire to avoid family conflict? Unfortunately, the historian of medieval women has relatively little personal material to work with, and some of what we have is unexpected. Certainly, the most remarkable early work is the Manuelpour monfils, written by Dhuoda, a Frankish noblewoman of the ninth century, for the instruction of her elder son, a hostage at the court of ~ struggling in vivid but unorthodox Latin, Charles the ~ a l d .Dhuoda, draws her son's attention to his duties as a noble as well as a Christian, and at the same time paints her own portrait as a dignified and deeply concerned mother. Many women mystics in these centuries recorded their visions and sometimes throw considerable light on their authors. This is particularly true of the mystic treatises of the scholarly

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Hildegard of Bingen in the twelfth century15and the remarkable Reuelations of Birgitta of Sweden in the late fourteenth century? Birgitta, for example, not only provided accounts of her visions of Christ and Mary but also included vigorous advice for popes, kings and princes, which she claimed had come to her from on high. The most remarkably personal of all such documents is the dictated autobiography of the self-styled mystic, Margery ~ e m p e . ' Margery was an illiterate fifteenth century townswoman of the merchant class in King's Lynn, East Anglia, a wife and mother of 14 and an unsuccessful businesswoman in her spare time. She felt she had been called by Christ to live a life of chastity, to be a constant pilgrim, and to pray for-and reproach-bishops and clerics who did not live a godly life. She had strong defenders among the clergy and, not surprisingly, equally strong opponents, who saw her as hysterical and probably heretical. Her naive and somewhat confused account of her life, dictated to a friendly cleric, throws considerable doubt on the reality of her mystical visions, but gives a clear and rather touching picture of an unusual, warmhearted and redoubtable English townswoman of her day. Personal letters which have survived from the twelfth century were usually written by queens or nuns. Many were dictated to a male secretary. His help was often essential, but was also a mark of status, and did not necessarily imply an inability to write. We have the prolific correspondence of Hildegard of Bingen, as well as the far betterknown letters of Heloise and Abelard. These not only describe their incandescent love affair but also deal with Heloise's practical problems as abbess of the convent to which she had retired.8 Some early scattered letters of French and English queens have survived, but are not easy to track down.9 However, by the fourteenth century, when the use of the vernacular had been established for non-ecclesiastical and nongovernmental records, women's letters became more general, and there were even collections of family papers. The best-known of these are probably the Paston Letters, because they are very full and cover much of the fifteenth century.'* They give a vivid picture of the lives, loves and struggles of three generations of an important county family, determined to maintain and improve its status in Norfolk. In a disturbed time the wives of such country knights faced endless lethal struggles, physical violence and attack as well as the everyday difficulties of running a household while providing for the education and suitable marriages of their children.

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Finally there is often information to be found in such apparently unpromising sources as sermons and manuals on proper behaviour. Both were in generous supply during the Middle Ages. Sermons were frequently preached to the laity from the thirteenth century on, for the new orders of Dominicans and Franciscans saw this as perhaps their preeminent duty. Since sermons were expected to be long, and the good preacher knew he had to hold his audience, he usually spiced his discourse with humorous, touching or exciting stories, and collections of such exempla circulated widely." These tell us a good deal about the everyday life of the time while, not surprisingly, the exetnpla illustrating the varieties of sins and sinners suggest that our medieval ancestors were just as creative in their ways of circumventing the accepted morality of their day as any modern opportunist. Treatises on proper behaviour especially designed for upper and middle-class women were a recognized branch of medieval literature. It is no surprise that they were usually written by men.'* They provide valuable insights on the behaviour, skills and education expected of women by men. For most medieval men, a woman's one absolutely essential virtue was chastity, though unquestioning obedience to her parents and then to her husband ran a close second. There was a rational explanation for this male outlook in the light of medieval physiological beliefs. Medieval thinkers believed the right of inheritance was immutably based on blood. Royal blood, even noble blood, was, they believed, a totally different fluid from that which ran in the veins of peasants or tradespeople or even rich merchants. Children's fairy tales, such as the story of the incredible sensitivity of the disguised princess to the single pea under all those mattresses, were born from this medieval tradition. In light of such a belief it was essential for the honour, and acceptance, of a king or a noble that there could be no question whatsoever of his legitimate birth from both a noble father and a noble mother. It was his blood line that made his inheritance of.title and honour unassailable. I should add that, although chastity was considered imperative for a woman in order to protect the family lineage, it was not a virtue expected of men. Royal and noble bastard sons and daughters were frequent, and usually acknowledged and taken care of. The girls were married off or placed in convents; the sons, unless they proved to be good fighters, were often insinuated into the higher levels of the church. The most flagrant example I know of this unfortunate habit was the bastard son of the licentious Duke John of Burgundy, who seems to have inherited his father's sexual proclivities. The son was

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first made a canon, became an archbishop and, on one occasion, celebrated mass attended by 36 of his own illegitimate sons and grandsons. '3 Although obedience was the other virtue most prized by men in women, and was much emphasized by male authors, medieval women were not always docile, and there is abundant evidence of their independence and obstinacy. Eileen Power, who wrote with so much insight and common sense about medieval women, once aptly summed up the situation when she remarked that it was poetic justice that the medieval man "whose ideal wife was a Patient Griselda should find himself not infrequently married to the Wife of ~ a t h . " ' ~ In the Middle Ages only one generally circulated treatise on female behaviour was actually written by a woman.15 Christine d e Pizan, whose father had been astrologer and doctor to King Charles V of France, wrote at the very beginning of the fifteenth century, and her different emphasis immediately strikes the eye. For Christine, a woman's essential virtue was prudence. Of course she should be chaste--Christine took that for granted-as otherwise she might endanger her reputation and be unable to marry well or even be beaten or abandoned by her husband. But the basically important thing for a woman, at almost every social level, was prudence: in her personal behaviour, in her relationship with her husband and her method of advising him, and above all in handling the family property and income. The widowed Christine wrote to support herself and her family and found life hard, but reading her advice I am sure she must have been the spiritual mentor of all those formidable French matrons one still meets taking masterful charge of the cash box in any family enterprise. This reasonable amount of material makes possible the description of the activities of women at all social levels, although not always with the same completeness. Because of the nature of the medieval sources it is much easier to build a comprehensive portrait of the women of the more favoured c l a s s e s ~ u e e n and s both secular and religious noblewomen-just because there is a far wider range of information about their activities. For so many townswomen and peasants, a single record may give one clear, sometimes vivid, snapshot but rarely provides the possibility of creating a more rounded portrayal. In fact, the best opportunities for picturing the middle to lower class woman often comes from the full records of a longdrawn-out court case or from a few of the books on behaviour which were as interested in describing the way life was lived as the virtues

it required. Both the book of the Menagier de paris16 for well-off bourgeois and Christine de Pizan's treatise for a wide range of women provide a genuine flavour of the shape of life for women, its exigencies and even its amusements. Particularly in the Middle Ages it is 'important to remember the importance of class and social status, for women as well as for men, in setting the limits of power and influence. A woman was always inferior to her husband, but a queen, for example, was superior to all men below the king, and slavish flattery toward queens, even by archbishops, was common. This view of women as inferior to men of their own rank but superior to those of a lower class continued all the way down the social scale. This inferiority was however sidestepped to a certain degree by the religious women, who had no duty of obedience to a husband. Some of the most powerful and independent medieval women lived one or another form of religious life, and many widows adopted it as a second career. The inferiority of women was also less obvious among townswomen and peasants, because their opportunities for independent trade or their help on the family holding gave them individual economic status. Research, for those of us with that particular cast of mind, is really a pleasure, with the rewards of the unexpected discovery to balance the tedium of sifting through repetitious and sometimes unproductive material. Writing, however, is hard work, and there are many problems to be answered. What is the best way to organize your often amorphous accumulation of material into a coherent whole? In a book which proposes to deal with a considerable number of individuals, how d o you choose whom to highlight? How much detail do you include? What level of reader d o you wish to attract, and how much knowledge of background can you expect? Obviously every author will answer such questions differently, according to his or her particular purpose and style. I knew that my possible audience would come from one of three groups. It might be an intelligent reader who had a special interest in the period or the subject, a professor who needed an accurate synthesis of the state of scholarship in an unfamiliar field, or a student who was just beginning a new subject and wanted an overview which might provide a useful springboard. For the benefit of all these people, I have always attempted to provide full and accurate footnotes and a bibliography which suggests possible lines for further study. The general reader possibly does not bother with such material, but both the professor and the student must have it. In order to give some flavour of how one author has attempted to

resolve such problems, I propose to describe two medieval women of high social status, one a queen, the other an abbess, and to show how the sources used inevitably differed and how I tried to deal with the problems of explanation and organization. Hildegard of Bingen was a twelfth century abbess of extraordinary gifts, who best exemplifies just how effectively a nun could attain a high level of scholarship and also wield remarkable influence in the world around her. Hildegard was a woman of her time and social class and benefited from them both. The youngest child in a noble family of 10, she early showed a bent for mysticism and a desire for the religious life. Her family placed her with a noble recluse attached to the abbey of Didibodenburg at the tender age of 8. This practice of young children being dedicated to religious life at a very early age was common for both boys and girls in the twelfth century, but often had more to d o with the convenience or politics of the family than with any religious conviction on the part of the child. For Hildegard, however, it was a happy choice. Her convent of Benedictine nuns shared in the intense intellectual activity of both men and women Benedictines in the twelfth century. Since the little girl had a scholarly bent, she was able not only to learn Latin and Scripture, but also was made familiar with the current biblical exegesis, the philosophical study of the cosmos, natural science and music. Hildegard was not only one of the earliest and best-known women mystics, she was also a successful abbess and administrator, founding a new convent at Rupertsburg, and corresponding widely with many leaders of the day. In the second half of her long life-she lived to be over 8O-her written work included three treatises on her mystical visions, of which the Scivias was the earliest and established her public reputation. Besides these, there was the Pbysica, a classification of most of the natural elements in the world, and an even more down-to-earth treatise known as Causae et Curae. This is a discussion of physiological matters, based on the medieval theory of the humours as the determining factor. It is a fascinating blend of current knowledge, symbolical analogies and herbal medicine, all combined with a large dose of common sense. Some of it came from her practical experience as infirmarian for her convent, where she gained quite a reputation for successful cures. Much of Causae el Curae is singularly practical, from the benefits of brushing the teeth to the description of the various problems connected with menstruation, but it also includes a very vivid description of the incredible pain of migraine and, most extraordinarily for medieval writing on sex,

approvingly describes the pleasure of intercourse. Besides all these writings, the energetic abbess also wrote some splendid music for her nuns to sing, and even composed an early morality play. Hildegard obviously used her 80 years of life to the full, and it is an amusing footnote, testifying both to her reputation and to her output, that she is the only woman to have a whole volume of that great source collection, the Patrologia Latina, dedicated to her works, and even it does not include them all. Not surprisingly, given the quantity and variety of Hildegard's intellectual activity, we learn most about her from her own writings, although there is a convent life of her." The wide range of her interests and her correspondence, her masterful absorption of the main currents of thought of her own time, as well as her influence on subsequent thinkers, make Hildegard a towering female figure, one recognized and admired in her own time. She stands as a symbol of Benedictine intellectual achievement in the twelfth century. She also illustrates how such a religious woman, buttressed by her noble blood and her control of a convent community with strong ties to the ruling figures of her time, could have both the position and the self-confidence to issue advice and exhortation, even to popes and the redoubtable Bernard of Clairvaux, could embark on four successful preaching tours, and could uphold her abbey's rights even against the fulminations of the local cathedral chapter. She would have been a remarkable woman in any age, but her particular talents were especially suited to the religious life of the twelfth century which she so conspicuously adorned. In the following century a queen of France is equally outstanding. Blanche of Castile, the Spanish wife of Louis VIII and mother of St. Louis IX, was another of these rather larger than life medieval women. She was a n exceedingly strong character-she came by it naturally as the grand-daughter of Eleanor of Aquitaine-and she managed a very difficult role with force and remarkable success. One of the things that is particularly striking about so many of these medieval women is their incredible physical toughness. Hildegard led a strenuous life until her death when she was over 80. Blanche had to struggle with the rigours of medieval childbirth and frequent infant mortality. She had at least 12 children, of whom four died at birth or soon after, and three more before Louis IX came to the throne. Nevertheless, Blanche, despite frequent pregnancies, not only supervised the education of her children, especially Louis, with care and insistent piety, but was also capable of taking over as regent with speed and firmness when her husband died at 42 from dysentery

caught while campaigning in the south. In order to ensure the recognition of the twelve-year-old Louis as the rightful king, and to discourage rebellion among the restive barons, she arranged for her son's coronation at Reims exactly three weeks after his father's unexpected death. She then put down a series of revolts among the barons, who muttered that it was totally unsuitable that she should rule France-after all, she was not only a Spaniard and a foreigner, but a woman!18 On occasion, Blanche even dictated the military strategy of her troops, as in a mid-winter (and thus unexpected) campaign Louis reached the against the recalcitrant court of Brittany.l"hcn age of majority and took over the rule of France in 1235, he headed a kingdom in which his mother had sharply curtailed the power of the great nobles and enhanced the king's strength. In fact, she had so ably filled the office of regent that when Louis left France in 1248 to g o on crusade, he named his mother as regent again. She died in November 1252, two years before her son returned, a woman in her sixties, but trying to increase royal power to the very end. Blanche's position, her ability and her strength ensured her a prominent place in the records of the time2* Obviously, since so much of her life centred around the throne of France and was lived in the public spotlight, her actions are extensively portrayed in the contemporary chronicles, and also in several of the lives written of Louis. The chronicles emphasized her wisdom and force in government, while her son's clerical biographers praised her devout piety and her careful upbringing of the young king. On the other hand, Joinville's life of Louis, much more personal and secular in tone, is outspoken about her domineering tendencies and her appallingly harsh behaviour to her son's young wife. There can be little doubt that she was, to use the modern and totally applicable phrase, a holy terror as a mother-in-law, unwilling to give up her hold over all aspects of her son's life. Sometimes her tendency to push royal power beyond its accepted limits was unsuccessful, as in her long struggle with the University of Paris. There she was finally forced to compromise in order to persuade the students to return to Paris. Nevertheless, despite her harsh and dominating nature, her son and the kingdom of France were much in her debt for her strength at a crucial juncture. Hildegard and Blanche are two women for whom the sources are much more generous than is usually the case. Thus it is much easier to find the available materials to construct a relatively complete picture of them as individuals in an historical framework. This is not always true, but a real effort to seek out new and unexpected sources

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is always a challenge, one which can often be successfully met. I hope that this has provided some flavour of the pleasures and problems of historical research, some suggestions of roads to explore, and above all, a sense of the fascination and accessibility of medieval women, neither as dull nor as distant as they are sometimes portrayed. NOTES

R.H. Hilton, The Ettglish Pernuntry in the Later Middle Ages (Oxford, 1972) p.9. Marc Bloch, The Historian s! CraJt (Manchester, 1954) p.26. Will of Juliana Wyth, Cartulary of Osney Abbey, ed. H.E. Salter Oxford Historical Society 89 (1929), I, p.412. Dhuoda, Manuelpour monJiIs, ed. P. Riche, Sources Chetiennes 225 (Paris, 1975). Hildegardis Abbatissae, Opera Omnia, Patrologia Latina 197. Les R6zl6lation.s c6Ieste.s et diuines de Sainte Brigitte de SU~&,trans. J . Ferriage (Paris, 1859). I;be Book of Margery Kempe, ed. S.B. Meech, and H.E. Allen (Early English Text Society, old ser. 212 (1940). Letters of Heloise and Abelurd, trans. B. Radice (London, 1974). Some are to be found in Lettres des Rois, Rczines, et autrespersonages des cours, ed. M . Champollion-Figeac (Paris, 1839). Paston httetx, 6 vols., ed. J. Gairdner (London, 1904); H.S. Bennett, m e Pastons and their England (Cambridge, 1979), makes a good introduction and uses much of the correspondence. An introduction to sermon literature and its crxemplu can be found in G .R. Owst, Preaching in Medieval England (Cambridge, 1926), and in A. Lecoy d e la Marche, La Chairefrungaise au Moyen Age (Geneva, 1974). Summaries of many of the treatises o n behaviour can be found in A.A. Hentsch, De Iu Litt6ruture didactique du Mqyen Age s'addressant speciulement a mfemtnes (Ca hors, 1903, 1975), and C.V. Langlois, La We en France dhpres les moralistes du t m p s (Paris, 1925, 1970). R. Vaughan, John the Feurkss (London, 1966, 19759, p.236. E. Power, Medieval Women, ed. M.M. Postan (Cambridge, 1975), p.11. Christine d e Pizan, The Treasure of the City of Ladies, trans. S. Lawson (Penguin, 1989, introduces most of her beliefs about women. m e Goodman of Paris, trans. and notes by E. Power (London, 1928). The mystic treatises and the Pbysica and Vita are to be found in Hildegard's Opera Omnia: Causae et Curae, ed. 1.'. Kaiser (Leipzig, 1903). Grandes chroniques de France VlI, ed. J . Viard (Societk d e l'histoire d e France, Paris, 1932)) p.38.

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19. Cbroniques, pp.3-4. Guillaume de Nangis, Uta, ed. N. de Wailly (Recueil des bistoriens des Gaula et de la France) m, 316e. 20. E. Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Castille, reine de France, Bibliotheque des ecoles frangaises d1Ath2neset de Rome 70 (Paris, 1895), is still the fullest biography and discusses all the sources at some length.

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good deal is known about the canon and civil laws, the customs and social practices that defined medieval marriage, but relatively little about actual married life. That evidence is sketchy, often taken from the record5 of ecclesiastical or secular courts, though medieval literature occasionally suggests the feelings of husband and wife and is full of ribald stories of shrewish, lightminded or dominating wives who turned the tables o n their husbands. Leners between husband and wife are rare before the fifteenth century. We have one unexpected source of enlightenment, the popular didactic treatises which had a good deal to say about marriage and the duties of a wife. The male authors, whether clerical or lay, emphasized the need for women to fulfil their religious duties and to practise certain virtues. They saw the essential virtue of any woman as unquestionable chastity, closely followed by immediate obedience to a husband's commands, and indefatigable patience with even his wildest whims. Many years ago A.N. Whitehead reminded us that we cannot understand an era unless we question the presuppositions its thinkers considered immutable laws.' We must ask if a female voice can be found in this male chorus and whether she shared the masculine views. Fortunately, at the beginning of the fifteenth century, there was such a woman, and she proposed quite a different set of requirements for the ideal wife.

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Christine de Pizan, a Frenchwoman of Italian birth, was one of the small group of medieval women authors, and the first whom we know supported both herself and her family by her pen.2 As the daughter of Charles V's astrologer and doctor and the widow of a secretary of Charles VI, Christine enjoyed several advantages. Her father had insisted on educating her and giving her wide access to books, rather to her mother's annoyance. Because of her husband and father, she knew the French court and received patronage not only from Charles VI and Queen Isabeau, but also from Charles's brother and uncles. Some royal officials and distinguished foreigners, such as the Earl of Salisbury, were also her friends and patrons. Guillebert de Metz's description of Paris in the early fifteenth century listed some of the city's outstanding citizens and included Christine as the only woman, mentioning that she "dictoit toutes manieres de doctrines et divers trait& en Latin et en franc;ais."3 Left a widow in 1389, aged 25, she soon gained a reputation as an accomplished versifier. Notoriety came in 1401-03 with her active share in the literary quarrel over the Roman de la Rose in which she first displayed her views on women. Hard working and prolific, she wrote in many fields, since only a constant stream of new works presented to wealthy patrons could elicit the gifts of money she needed for herself and her family. In all these works her views on women were consistent and convinced. Christine mirrored many of the attitudes of her time and class but believed that her contemporaries maligned and undervalued her sex. Although she accepted the social pattern of her day, she felt strongly that women's share in the creation and maintenance of the family and the household at all levels of the social scale was neither recognized nor appreciated. This conviction is most eloquently expressed in m e Treasure of the City of Ladies. Her outlook was essentially practical. Though widely read, she was not a scholar, but she had a wide knowledge of the way contemporary women lived at court and in Paris and was anxious for them to take what she felt was their rightful place. A fluent, well-informed and passionate witness for the interests and concerns of her own sex in the married life that was their usual sphere, she indirectly points out that the male stereotype of medieval wives was both shallow and incomplete. Unlike most male authors, she saw the medieval wife as an individual with her own role to play, perhaps subordinate, but essential to the proper functioning of the marriage. The Treasure of the City of Ladies, or the Book of the Three Virtues, as it is variously titled in the manuscripts14was written in 1405,

following immediately on her completion of The Book of the City of Ladies. This is widely known and has been much discussed. The Treasure of the City o f Ladies was its sequel, specifically designed to inform women about their responsibilities in life. Although it touches briefly o n the requirements of religious life, the work deals primarily with wives and was meant particularly as a handbook for the women of the upper classes. The three virtues so omnipresent in The City of Ladieethe Ladies Reason, Rectitude and Justice-reappear briefly at the beginning of each section and bid Christine a terse farewell at the end, but here they are merely introduced as a connecting link and play no vital part. Although Christine claims to write to their dictation, the work makes it clear that she had abandoned allegory and extensive borrowing from other authors to speak in her own voice. Her advice is practical, based primarily on people and situations she had known, distilled from her own experiences and reinforced by her wide reading. In estimating Christine's importance and influence, it is essential to recognize that The Treasure of the City of ladies, though not quite s o popular as its predecessor, was still widely known and highly praised in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Professor C.C. Willard, the leading authority on the book's manuscript tradition has written at some length about the known manuscripts and the French editions of 1497, 1503 and 1536.5 Christine's contemporary admirers in France included Eugene Deschamps and Alain Chartier, while Martin le Franc in his Champion des Dames (1442) even compared her to Cicero and Cato. The unknown woman author of a similar late fifteenth century treatise went further still. She declared that if she had the knowledge of Pallas, the eloquence of Cicero and had been made into a new woman by the hand of Prometheus, she would not be able to speak as well on the teaching of noble women as Christine had done.6 The French chorus of praise continued into the early sixteenth century, but then stopped. It is interesting to speculate whether this late fifteenth century admiration for Christine was encouraged by the growing idealization of Joan of Arc as the national heroine. Louis XI'S secretary, Matthieu Thomassin, suggests such a possibility, linking his praise of Joan with his recognition of Christine as an author, and quoting her poem on Joan rather than any other "in order always to honour the female sex."' The Treasure was also known outside France, but unlike several of Christine's other works (including m e City of Ladies), there was no translation into English. It is surprising that Horace Walpole, the

eighteenth century man of letters, read many of Christine's works, and even had a copy of the 1536 edition of The Treasure in his library.8 In 1787 he wrote to Hannah More, the well-known author of treatises on the education of women, loaning her his copy of 7he Treasure,suggesting her affinity with Christine because of their learning and moral writing, and nominating her for a place in the City of ~adies.9 This century has witnessed a great revival of interest in Christine. There have been new editions and translations, including recent ones into English of both The Book of the City of Ladies and The Treasure of the City o f ,hdies.1° There is now no excuse for her valuable contribution to medieval didactic literature to be overlooked. How did the views of this popular fifteenth century woman compare with those of two of her male contemporaries who also wrote on proper behaviour for women? The Knight of La Tour Landry, a representative of the French rural nobility, compiled a treatise aimed at the education and edification of his daughters in 1371-72." The MOnagier de Paris, obviously a well-to-do bourgeois, wrote a book of moral instruction and household lore for his young wife in 1392 to 1394.12 A careful comparison of these three works, written within 30 years of each other, uncovers interesting differences in attitude. The masculine assumptions about wives and their duties, even about the desirable feminine virtues, are very different from Christine's convictions. The Knight of La Tour Landry, to allow him the priority to which he would undoubtedly have felt his social position entitled him, was the most conventional of the three. He was a knight-banneret whose His book is above all a military career stretched from 1346 to 1383.~3 random collection of stories, exemplifying the good or evil his daughters should copy or shun, taken from books he had read to him. He suggested moral standards for his daughters by stringing together biblical, literary and historical exempla which he fleshed out with some stories from his own experience.14 Most of his tales were borrowed from that reservoir of common material which represented the conventional wisdom of the time. Great emphasis was put on the proper observance of religious duties, reinforced by reminders of the worldly, as well as the spiritual, benefits such behaviour could bring. Many of the stories were sermon commonplaces, and several of the Knight's chapters sound like sermons, notably the seven devoted to the troubles caused by Eve and the three specifically denouncing the extremes of female fashions.15 The tone of many of these cautionary tales is outspoken-later more squeamish critics called them obscene-and the consequences of sin were luridly described.

The Knight emphasized the absolute necessity of chastity for a woman. It was the touchstone of her reputation, for as knights won renown by courage and pride of arms, women won honour by their virtue.16 They were to avoid even such innocent pleasures as feasts or jousts where censorious observers might, however unjustly, accuse them of wantonness. The Knight shared the general fourteenth century suspicion that pilgrimages had more to d o with amusement and change of scenery than they did with true religion, and he was worried about the occasions for dalliance they provided.'' For him, wifely obedience came a close second to wifely chastity. No matter how foolish a husband's commands, he stressed the importance of immediate compliance, reinforcing this with terrifying tales of husbands' anger and indulgence in cruel physical punishment. A wife's duty could be summed up in the dual requirement to serve God and her husband, praying for him, but never reproaching him, despite any misdeeds. l8 Closer to reality is the report of his discussion with his wife on how their daughters should deal with those who pursued them with protestations of love. The Knight put forward arguments in favour of courtly love, but his wife was severely discouraging. Good manners were necessary, she felt, but talking of love and kissing led to other things, and a woman's good name is easily damaged. The Lady of La Tour Landry felt that all arguments put forward by men under the guise of courtly love were designed for male advantage, and should be distrusted by sensible and discreet women." Although the Knight could write enthusiastically about the pious activities of a widow,z0 he says nothing of a wife's activities or of her domestic responsibilities. His advice is marked by a typical male and noble perspective, seeing the ideal wife as a pure and patient shadow, dutifully supporting a dominant husband, but with no individuality or activity of her own. The treatise by the Menagier de Paris for the benefit of his fifteenyear-old wife is far more sympathetic, personal and p r a c t i c a ~ . ~ ~ Although the Menagier shared the Knight's insistence on the importance of devout religious practice, chastity and unquestioning and willing obedience to one's husband, his emphasis is different. His stories, unlike those of the Knight, do not end brutally, and when he tells the story of Griselda he apologizes for its excesses and says he would never expect such obedience.22 Perhaps the Menagier's more affectionate and reasonable tone can be explained as the uxoriousness of an elderly husband with a young wife-he was certainly over 60 when he wrote. But it also seems likely the well-to-do Menagier was

influenced by the more egalitarian bourgeois approach to marriage. Women's skills and competence had more outlets and were better recognized in cities, for trades and crafts encouraged the work of the family as a unit. Marriage was more easily seen as a form of partnership where one might be the leader but both had roles of importance. Although the MCnagier asserted his final authority in the household, he equally insisted on his wife's active supervision of its affairs: "Apres, chere seur, sachiez que sur elles, apres vostre mary, vous devez estre maistresse de I'ostel, commandeur, visiteur et gouverneur et souverain administrateur: et a vous apparteint de les tenir en vostre subjection et obeissance, les endoctriner, corriger, et c h a ~ t i e r . " ~ ~ The Menagier was obviously a practical man, devoted to his garden, concerned about the buying of foodstuffs and the proper preparation of his meals, worried about the choice and care of his horses. At the same time he was happy to see his wife tending her roses, making chaplets, and dancing and singing with suitable friends. His detailed section on the care of hawks implies that he too enjoyed his leisuremZ4The M@nagierJsobvious affection for his young wife, his description of the skills and activities he expected her to master make his treatise very accessible to modern readers as well as a mine of information for social historians. He represents a more sensitive masculine point of view than the Knight's, but he still sums up a wife's duty as serving God and taking care of the person of her husbandmz5 The Treasure of the City of Ladies sets a very different ideal in quite another style. Christine de Pizan avoids axemplu and proverbial stories, though she refers to historical figures, often French queens, and quotes briefly from the Bible, church fathers and an occasional pagan philosopher to reinforce her points. As well, she treats her readers to remarkably vivid vignettes of the life-style of women in various social classes. Her pictures are evocative, sharp and memorable, though, as in most moral writing, her sinners are far more lively than the virtuous characters. The lazy princess luxuriates like a cat in her warm bed, savours her power to command her slightest whim and spends her days revelling in her clothes and jewels. Ladies of rank, inflamed by pride and arrogance, jostle each other for precedence during the solemn moments of mass.26 A merchant's extravagant wife, typically nouveau riche, revels in her showy display of wealth during the visits which follow her lying-in, while the chambermaid pads her marketing bills and has a little feast in the kitchen for her cronies when her master and mistress are both out and she has access to the best wine.27 The virtuous women seem

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pallid, though intimidating in their efficiency. The lady who runs a country estate with an eagle eye on all the officials and servants, with careful plans for her profits, suggests a hard-pressed e x e c u t i ~ e . ~ ~ The tradesman's wife-a veritable paragon-not only supervises the workshop and the workers when her husband is absent, exercising due caution in giving credit to but also makes home life so pleasant that her husband does not even want to join his drinking companions in the expensive pleasures of the t a ~ e r n . 3 ~ As well, Christine's ranking of virtues is strikingly individual. Since her work was dedicated to Margaret of Burgundy (married when 10 or 11 to the nine-year-old dauphin), Christine's advice is predominantly weighted toward the problems facing a young princesswhat she must learn, how she must behave-and also discusses the qualities needed by the noble lady appointed to act as governess to a young princess.31 Given the licentious nature of the French court under Queen Isabeau of Bavaria, where Margaret resided after her marriage, as well as a woman's need for a spotless reputation, Christine's un-masculine emphasis on Worldly Prudence as the prime virtue is not surprising. Although she certainly agreed with the men that chastity was necessary and that all women, even princesses, should be assiduous in their religious duties and obedient to their husbands, her ideal of womanly behaviour is more active. A wife should have a real concern for her husband's well-being, both spiritual and physical. Since in royal households wives were seldom in their husband's presence, a princess must cultivate the men who surround and serve her husband, especially his confessor and physician, in order to know what is going on and to encourage any necessary changes. Christine is realistic enough to admit that husbands are often rude, difficult and unfaithful, but she feels that a wife's best hope is to dissimulate, putting on a good face on things while praying that her husband will ultimately come to his s e n ~ e s . 3 ~ The governess of a young princess must encourage her charge's love for her husband by praising his virtues, good looks or good manners, while guarding her from familiarity with another man. If she fails in this respect the prudent governess would resign, but send a long cautionary letter only after she had returned home safely.33 Christine even had advice for widowed princesses, but suggested a more dignified existence than poor Margaret of Burgundy would know. Louis' death in 1415 left her a childless widow, though earlier she had become a pawn in the struggle between the Armagnacs and the Burgundians for the control of the dauphin. Christine also

made realistic comments about the danger of even listening to the tempting flattery of amorous nobles, for many of them-including Margaret's own father, John the Fearless-were licentious. Young women living at court in a net of political intrigue and loose behaviour desperately needed informed prudence. Christine also worried about the mother's responsibility for the children's upbringing. With a few exceptions, such as Vincent of Beauvais' treatise on noble childrent3* little had been said about education, especially of girls. By the late fourteenth century, it was accepted that girls should learn how to read carefully selected works. The content and method of education, Christine felt, would vary according to class, but the mother should be involved. Thus in noble families, teachers and governesses should be carefully chosen and supervised, and removed if unsatisfactory models. Girls were to be taught to read, but restricted to prayerbooks and moral treatises. Most of their time was to be spent with their mother, being properly respectful and learning prudence from observing her.35 However, since royal and noble daughters were often married young and then sent to their husband's household, mothers often lacked influence. We are not told how Christine expected such girls to achieve the level of knowledge-f law, custom, agriculture, and even the garrisoning of fortresses-she routinely demanded of great ladies, whose husbands' frequent absences might leave them presiding over councils or in charge of estates. Tradesmen's wives too should make sure their children were sent to school before being apprenticed, since they were more likely to be indulged by their parents.36 As for girls' ability, Christine had previously argued that women were as naturally intelligent as men, but they were not often given the opportunity to learn because society found it convenient to restrict them to running a household.37 Neither she, nor the men, make any mention of monks or nuns teaching children. The most striking difference between Christine and the men is her insistence on the wife's right to handle money. Whether wife of king or noble with large revenues and high expenses, or of a tradesman and pinching pennies to make ends meet, Christine was convinced that every wife should know and share in the management of the family income. Only in this way could the prudent woman ensure that all sources of legitimate profit were fully exploited, servants and bills promptly paid, alms generously but appropriately given, extravagant displays by either partner avoided, and peace of mind a~hieved.3~ She admitted that some husbands would not allow this and such

wives could only obey and pray that the men's consciences would so prick them on their deathbeds that they would leave their wifely paragons all their fortunes.3v Christine had a rare concern for widows, since her own experience of that profound change in status and security colours her advice. She knew that the widow's existence and the future of her children might depend on her familiarity with and protection of the family assets. Male authors might see widows as sexless and pious types, but reality showed frequent remarriages and active widows. Christine warned young widows to be discreet and retiring, waiting for their families to marry them off, but she felt that remarriage for older widows was folly and led to ridicule. The ideal widow upheld her rights without expensive lawsuits, and tended her household soberly.40 The specifically feminine approach of 7%e Treasure of the City of Ladies is explicit on every page. Within the constraints that bore on women in late medieval society, Christine d e Pizan put forward, not a recipe for social revolution, but a strong statement on how women within the existing structure could use their capabilities to make themselves more valuable to their husbands and thus more respected and honoured as wives. Her message was that competence, guided by prudence, was as necessary as the traditional chastity, piety and obedience. 72e Treasure of the City of Ladies held up an unprecedentedly activist ideal for women which was influential for at least 150 years, outside as well as within the court circle to which it was first addressed. NOTES 1. A.N. Whitehead, Science and the Modem World (New York,

1929,

pp.49-50. 2. S. Solente, "Christine de Pizan," Histoire litt&ruirede France (1974), XL, pp.335-422, and C.C. Willard, Christine de Pizun: Her Life and

Works (New York, 1984) provide an overview and bibliography of the current literature on Christine. 3. Guillebert de Metz, "Description de la ville de Paris sous Charles VI," in Paris et ses historiens aux xizF et xiP si2cles) ed. Leroux de Lincy, et L.M. Tisserand (Histoire generale de Paris, Paris, 1867), p.234. 4. I have intentionally preferred the title of m e Treasure of the City of Ludies for Christine's treatise since it is the title used in all the early printed editions and also in the recent translation into English. Its use also underlines the close relationship between Christine's two works on the City of Ladies.

44

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C.C. Willard, "The Manuscript Tradition of the Liwe des Trois Vertus and Christine de Pizan's audience,"journal of the History of Ideas 27 (19661, pp.433-40M. Laigle, Le liwe des Trois Vertus de Christine de Pisan et son milieu historique et litteraire (Paris, 1912))p. 39, quoting from BN Fr.19919, f.27r. R. Thomassy, Essai sur les &rites politiques de Christine de Pisan (Paris, 1838), XLVIII. Allan T. Hazen, A Catalogue of Horace Walpole's Libra y (London and New York, 1969); 111, no. 3899. Horace Walpole's Correspondence, ed. W.S. Lewis, R.A. Smith and C.H. Bennett (New Haven, 1961), XXXI, pp.244, 245. Christine de Pizan, 7he Book of the City of ladies, trans. Earl J. Richards (New York, 1982); Christine de Pizan, The Treasure of the City of ladies, trans. Sarah Lawson (London, 1985). Le Livre du Chevalier de la Tour landry, ed. A. de Montaiglon (Paris, 1854); William Caxton, The Book of the Knight of the Tower, ed. M.Y. Offord, Early English Text Society, hereafter EETS supplementary x r . 2.) 1971. Le Mknagier de Paris, ed. G.E. Brereton, and J.M. Ferrier (Oxford, 1981) has replaced the original edition by Jerome Pichon, (Paris, 1846); 7he Goodman of Paris, trans. with intro. and notes by E. Power (London, 1928). Book of the Knight, XXXIV-XXXV. Livre du Chevalier, prologue pp.2-5. Lime du Chevalier, ch. 39-46, 47-49. Livre du Chevalier, ch. 116, pp.225-26. Liwe du Chevalier, ch. 34, pp.73-79. Livre du Chevalier, ch. 101, pp. 196-97. Liure du Chevalier, ch. 124-34, pp.246-65. Livre du Chevalier, ch. 137, pp.274-77. M&nagier,prologue, p. 1. Mknagier, I, p.72. Mknagiq 11, p.128. Menagier, prologue, p.1; 11, pp.137-42; 111, pp.149-62. . Mgnagier, 11, p. 116. Treasure, pp.36-37. Treasure, pp. 135-36. Treasure, pp.154-55, 170. Treasure, pp. 130-33. Treasure, pp.167-68. Treasure, pp.86-94. Treasure, pp.62-64. Treasure, pp.89-105. Vincent of Beauvais, De Eruditione Filiorum ~Vobilium,ed. A. Steiner (Cambridge MA, 1938). Treasure, pp.66-68. Treasure, pp. 167-68.

37. Book of the City of Ladies, pp.62-79. 38. Treasure, pp.76-79,149, 167-68,146. 39. Treasure, pp. 156-59. 40. Treasure, pp.159-60.

%%be$, %%bob$ anb ?Pantons A MEDIEVAL SAMPLER

t is a useful eye-opening effort to explore the less well-known

groups of medieval women who may not conform to the accepted stereotype which considers them to have been subdued, docile, inferior and basically uninteresting, whose only fi~nctionin life was considered to he providing the necessary decorative backdrop for the more exciting activities of medieval men. This attitude toward medieval women is not only prejudiced but bears little resemblance to the realities of medieval life. The description of a sample of some medieval women, colourful in their own right and from various levels of society, who were active, occasionally domineering, with plenty of initiative and a considerable ability to get their own way, helps provide a more realistic picture. Even a brief acquaintance may help to provide a wider understanding of the remarkably varied personalities and occupations of medieval women. It is the accepted commonplace among medieval historians that medieval thought was primarily elaborated by men, mostly clerics, who not only shared in the common philosophical denigration of women so embedded in Greek, Roman and Hebraic culture, hut also saw all women as a dangerous temptation to clerical chastity. Woman's only role, they felt. was as the provider of children. On the

T H E LIVES OF M E D I E V A L W O M E N

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other hand, the romances, the aristocratic secular literature of the time, also usually composed by men, tended to err in the other direction, portraying a noble woman as a beautiful, remote figure who was meant to be worshipped from afar. Nevertheless, the subtext of the romances very frequently suggested a final sexual fulfilment. The fabliaux were popular, primarily bourgeois stories, usually crude and almost always celebrating the cuckolded husband or the amorous clerk. None of these attitudes provides any suggestion of the many activities of able medieval women. In exploring the daily life of medieval women, it is easiest to start at the top of the social scale, where more information about their life and activities is available. Eleanor, countess of Leicester, was a prominent and competent thirteenth century lady. Sister of Henry I11 of England, Eleanor, like so many royal daughters, was married at an early age to ensure political alliances. The nine-year-old's husband was the younger William Marshal, son and heir of the great noble who had been regent for the young King Henry, but already a man of about 35. When he died in 1231, Eleanor was left a childless widow of 16. Originally attracted to permanent widowhood, she spent considerable time at her brother's court while trying to ensure a fair settlement of her dower. Her marriage to Simon d e Montfort, the French claimant to the earldom of Leicester, in 1238 was undoubtedly a love match on her side, and was secretly allowed by the King, but there is little question that Simon was much influenced by his ambition for position and riches. In any case, she remained her husband's partner and loyal supporter to the bitter end. Like Simon, Eleanor was a dominating person with a high temper. Adam Marsh, one of the couple's good Franciscan friends, found it necessary to write her a reproachful letter, suggesting that she should lay aside all contentions and irritating quarrels and act in a spirit of moderation when she had to counsel her husband.' We know a remarkable amount about Eleanor and her way of life during six months of 1265, which included the battle of Evesham where Simon was defeated and killed, because we have her household account for that period. Household accounts of this time dealt not only with daily expenses for necessities such as food, drink and the care of the horses, but often included such interesting matters as the names of visitors of sufficient social rank that they were asked to share the high table. Also added on the back of the roll were long lists of incidental payments for a very wide range of purchases and services. Obviously, these records can be full of fascinating minutiae

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W I V E S , WIDOWS A N D WANTONS

illustrating the characteristic patterns of such great households and the manifold responsibilities of the lady in charge. In the case of the countess of Leicester, the account also suggests the problems of the political situation at the time of the baronial revolt led by her husband, Earl Simon. During 1265 Eleanor and her husband were often separated, and the countess had her own household quite apart from that of her husband. Hers included some 60 servants and averaged 34 horses in her stables. When in the middle of March Earl Simon joined his wife at Odiham Castle with a large band of followers, it is the account that discloses that he arrived with three hundred horses. One of the major problems was obviously to feed not only the extra horses but also the large influx of men who rode them. As it was Lent, fish was required, and the account shows that a massive amount of salt herring was taken from the castle supply and that Eleanor also sent servants to the nearby fish ponds of the bishop of Winchester at Farnham to meet the needs of a hungry retinue. After the first day, the expenses of the combined households of husband and wife were paid by Earl Simon, though Eleanor's fisherman and his helpers had to continue their fishing for the whole 12 days the earl stayed. Her account also records that during this six months husband and wife maintained contact by the frequent travels of their officials between them and by the considerable volume of correspondence their messengers carried. In addition, the account lists a large number of guests, including the countess of Devon, local neighbours of some importance, people seeking favours, and even one old acquaintance from the days of Eleanor's first marriage. Hospitality was often a part of the political process. Even when the Countess Eleanor was leading her household from Odiham to the refuge of Dover Castle, she entertained the burgesses of the more important towns through which she passed. The assorted detailed entries after Simon's death at Evesham show how competently the widowed countess rallied to deal with her new problems. One son was sent to Gascony, with quickly purchased new clothes and shoes. She sought support, not from the angry king, but from her more sympathetic older brother, ~ account breaks off at the time when she Richard of ~ o r n w a l l .The finally surrendered to the inevitable and sailed from Dover with her ~ settled at Montargis, a Dominican daughter to exile in ~ r a n c e .Eleanor convent near Paris founded by a sister-in-law, and was treated graciously by both King Louis and his queen until her death in 1274. After King Henry's death, when her nephew Edward ascended the

49

English throne, he came to a settlement which restored at least some of her lands to his aunt. Nevertheless, it was a sad and lonely ending for a remarkable woman. The second unusual wife was a fifteenth century townswoman best known to us for her autobiography-Margery Kempe of Lynn. She came from the upper class of that town (now known as King's Lynn), for her husband was a burgess and her father had been mayor. Apart from being a wife and mother of 14 children, she had tried her hand at a number of unsuccessful business ventures, but ultimately became convinced that she had a special call from God. The Book of Margery Kempe is her own story of her life as she dictated it to a friendly cleric. This enjoyable manuscript was only discovered in the 1930s and has provided us with an extraordinarily vivid portrait, warts and all, of an unlearned but shrewd and goodhearted townswoman of the early fifteenth century. Its importance lies not in her account of her mystical visions, which remain of dubious authenticity, but in the splendid personal glimpses she gives of the varied men and women she encountered in her everyday life. She illustrates the nature of contemporary religious practice of average people, emphasizing the importance of sermons and of reading aloud for the many pious people who found reading difficult and writing almost impossible. The whole book exudes a kind of homely humanity. It would be hard not to enjoy thoroughly her vivid depiction of the people among whom she lived, perhaps notably the picture she draws of herself and her husband returning from York on a hot June day, Margery armed with a bottle of beer, he with a "cake in his bosom" for their refreshment. They settled down before a wayside cross for their picnic while she tried once again to persuade him to give up his marital rights, as she felt Christ wanted her to do. He ultimately agreed, leaving her free to live a pious life much punctuated by assorted pilgrimages. Despite all her self-important religiosity, Margery retained a soft spot for her husband, for she returned home to take care of him when he had a fall and declined rapidly into senility. She complained a bit about all the washing and wringing of sheets that his incontinent old age caused, and deplored the cost of the firewood required to keep the water hot, but she reminded herself that he was "ever a good man, and an easy man to her."4 Even in her piety Margery Kempe is unlike any stereotype of medieval women, and it is not surprising that both her fellow townspeople and the ecclesiastics who frequently reproached her found her an uneasy companion.

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Margery may have been difficult, but she was kinder to her husband than the peasant wife Agnes Pole, who lived in the early thirteenth century on a Ramsay Abbey manor, Houghton-cum-Wyton. We know about her through the Ramsay Abbey court rolls. Agnes was the wife of a village juror, thus part of the village elite, but had taken a very marginal member of the community, Stephen Note, as her lover. Stephen made himself very unpopular in the village by hanging around the Pole house and even assaulting Agnes's husband. She paid a fine for her misconduct, which does not seem to have been much of a deterrent, for at a subsequent court session she was flatly described as a meretrix--a whore. Two years later matters had still not improved. Stephen and Agnes had continued their liaison, and poor downtrodden John Pole was by this time being physically abused by both his wife and her lover. Agnes was given a major fine of 40d. and made to promise that she would treat her husband with greater goodwill in the future. The court record ends there and we know no more,5 not even whether Agnes finally stopped abusing her husband. She was certainly not the ideal medieval wife. Wives, as these few examples illustrate, were not always the dove-like submissive types the male writers of the medieval treatises on behaviour often tried to set up as the ideal. What were medieval widows like, and can they be fitted any more easily into a pious, docile stereotype? One quick answer to that question is that medieval widows, unlike wives, had a good deal of law and custom on their side, and many proved even more independent and competent than the wives. No matter how dominant a medieval wife wished to be, she could only exercise surrogate power. Her husband was seen, by law and theology alike, as the undisputed head of the household, with authority over all the couple's lands, rents and other rights. In England, marriage wiped out a woman's personal possession of her own goods or property, for as a result of the wedding they became the property of the couple, and the husband was the only one empowered to act for the couple. France's legal system at that time was less totally dismissive of a married woman's rights, but even there wives were severely circumscribed. In England, a married woman acting independently could only be attorney for an absent or perhaps incompetent husband, and could only exercise inherited political power as a widow. The ability of the thirteenth century countesses of Flanders, heirs to that county in their own right, to exercise their power without much regard to their rather ineffectual husbands, could not be paralleled in England, where only a single, or a widowed, countess could actively rule.h

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Life, and certainly the exercise of power, was usually easier for widows, especially if they had wealth or social position. On their husband's death they regained their legal rights over the lands and goods they had taken into the marriage, and by customary law they were entitled to the lifetime use of normally a third of the husband's lands and rents. Many of the women, not only from the high nobility but also the widows of more or less wealthy country knights, found widowhood a rather more comfortable state than matrimony. At least that is the reasonable inference to be taken from the relatively large sums many medieval widows were willing to pay to safeguard themselves from the king's selling their marriage or granting it to some royal favourite or useful fighting man? The same satisfaction with widowhood as opposed to married life appears further down the social scale too, if we are to believe Mrs. Noah in the Towneley Plays. She answers Noah's complaints about her lack of meekness with the immediate riposte that she would find ease of heart if only she was a widow. She would be glad to pay the masspenny for his soul and so, she is sure, would many other wives, because of the hard lives they lead.8 It needs to be remembered that many medieval widows were not old. Important heiresses were often married between the ages of 5 and 10 and might find themselves widowed while still in their teens. Many of these young widows married again, sometimes unwillingly. One of the more remarkable cases of multiple marriages, which throws considerable light on masculine greed, is the marital history of Elizabeth de Burgh, sister of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester and the richest noble in England. When Gilbert was killed at the battle of Bannockburn in 1314, he left neither sons nor brothers, so his widespread estates were divided among his three sisters, of whom Elizabeth was the youngest. Her first husband was the heir to the earldom of Ulster, a suitable match. Married at 13, she was widowed five years later in 1313, leaving her with a very young son. In 1316, and now a valuable heiress, she was abducted by the justiciar of Ireland without the king's consent. His efforts to benefit by such a rich marital prize were ended by his death within the year. King Edward I1 took a possessive interest in the twice-widowed heiress and rewarded one of his household knights, Roger Damory, with the grant of this profitable marriage. In his turn, Roger was executed in 1322 when he fell out with Edward's new favourites, the Despensers. By the age of 27, Elizabeth had been widowed three times, her lands were confiscated after Roger's death and she was even impris-

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oned twice by her older sister's greedy and ambitious husband, the younger Despenser, to make her surrender her claims. It was not until after the accession of Edward I11 in 1327 that she was able to gain possession of the lands to which she had become entitled after her brother's death.9 Under such circumstances it does not seem surprising that she was happy to spend the 30 years that remained to her as a widow based in Clare Castle, the centre of her lands. There she lived most comfortably, entertaining her relatives, including the royal family into which her grand-daughter had married, and many friends, both secular and religious. She also extended her liberality to nearby Cambridge, becoming the founder of Clare college.lo Admittedly, Elizabeth's married life was more troubled than most, but other women, even without so much justification, found widowhood equally dignified and satisfying, and were often generous and intelligent patronesses of both religion and culture. Marie d e St.-Pol, the widowed countess of Pembroke, who was a good friend of Elizabeth d e Burgh, was typical of this group.ll In the early fourteenth century, marriages between English and French noble families were still quite frequent. Marie was the daughter of the count of St.Pol who, as Butler of France, was a high royal official. In 1321, aged about 17, Marie was married to Aymer de Valence, earl of Pembroke, a widower in his fifties. Aymer was a half-brother of King Henry I11 and had a French father. Although he made a distinguished career for himself in England, he also retained his father's lands and interests in France. In 1324 Aymer died suddenly while on a diplomatic mission, leaving the twenty-year-old Marie a childless widow, and a very rich woman with extensive holdings in both England and France. She never remarried, spending over 50 years as a widow, only dying in 1377. With some skill and the advantage of her very high social rank, she managed to avoid being entwined in the ongoing struggle between England and France, and held on to her possessions on both sides of the Channel. She spent most of her time in England, but also had a house in Paris which she visited. When King John of France was captured at the battle of Poitiers in 1356 and kept a captive in England for some years, Marie seems to have made a point of offering him various kindnesses. Although she was rich and comfortable, owning lands and castles in various parts of both England and France, much of Marie's energy was put into her various benefactions. She was particularly fond of the Minoresses, the English name for the Franciscan nuns, and must often have been the bane, as well as the patroness, of their house at

53

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Waterbeach. Over considerable opposition from some of the nuns, she forcibly moved their house there to Denny, one of her own, nearer manors. Marie also followed the unusual example of Elizabeth de Burgh, her friend and neighbour, and founded a college at Cambridge, named Pembroke in honour of her husband. It too showed her sympathies for France as well as England, for she included in her statutes for the new college a preference for French scholars who might already be studying at Oxford or Cambridge. The young college profited handsomely from her will and from her constant efforts to wring from the pope new privileges for the college as well as the convent at Denny. There seems little doubt that Marie d e St.-Pol was a formidably organized and competent administrator. When it came time to make her will, she declared that most of the distribution had already been written up in schedules which she expected her executors to observe.12 Her life suggests a contented and fruitful widowhood, helped by all the advantages of wealth and unassailable social position. Others were less lucky, or comfortable, but many showed considerable initiative and a good deal of control over their lives. Christine de Pizan, for example, moved among the royal officials at the court of Charles VI in Paris at the end of the fourteenth century. Her husband, before his early and unexpected death, had been the king's secretary, while her father had been the king's doctor and astrologer. Widowhood robbed her of social position as well as income.l3 She records that her early years as a widow who supported her mother as well as her own three children were financially very difficult. Unlike other town widows, who were able to carry on their husband's trade or craft upon his death, she had to find some other way of earning the family's living. Fortunately, Christine had been well educated by her father, had some skill in writing, and benefited from her contacts at court and among the royal relatives. She succeeded in combining these assets so as to enable her to support her family be her penthe first known woman to d o so. There is an interesting sidelight to all this. The only way an author could be paid in those days was by presenting a manuscript to a wealthy patron who then gave a grant. Christine worked very hard, and wrote prolifically and in many genres. However, she was sufficiently worldlywise to know that the royal dukes who accepted her work (or even commissioned it) were likely to be far more generous if the manuscript was illuminated in a style which would d o credit to their libraries. Fortunately, Christine also knew enough of the copy-

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ists and illuminators of Paris to make many of her manuscripts quite luxurious, especially that of the City of Ladies, her most popular work. There can be little doubt that Christine was a most unusual widow, for she wrote frequently and sadly of the loss of her husband, mourning the love they had shared. Here was one widow who did not echo Mrs. Noah's sentiments. Peasant wives, whom one tends automatically to lump into the category of "poorn widows, often seem to have had more resources and freedom of action than would be expected. Peasant landholding customs were often very generous to the widow, especially in England, and a widow, like a single woman, couId find a niche in village life and activities. She might well have her children nearby too, though this could be a mixed blessing. Sometimes the widow's relations with grown-up children were extremely frosty and--especially in France-the whole question of the widow's access to the house, or even to the kitchen, was carefully specified in notarial contracts.'* The occasional peasant widow might even be able to buy herself out of serfdom, though this was certainly rare.15 On the whole, though, even at the end of their lives, peasant widows were able to manage their affairs to their own best advantage and generally with due regard for the needs of their children. Wanton women were a very visible part of medieval society, appearing in a number of guises. There were the married women who took one or two lovers; the recognized concubines or mistresses; the officially labelled public prostitutes; and the large group of underpaid and exploited servant girls, many of whom were unpaid prostitutes. Theologically, all of them were equally disapproved of, since sex outside marriage was always treated as a sin. In fact many medieval theologians and canonists had a good deal of trouble with it even in marriage. It must be remembered that medieval men were convinced that women were by nature far more sexually inclined than men. A married man was forbidden to leave his wife for long periods without her consent, since to do so would contribute to her temptation. In pursuit of this belief, the canonists originally ruled that a man was not allowed to take a crusading vow without his wife's acquiescence unless he took her along.16 Although many medieval assumptions appear odd, their practical record was not too bad. The woman who took the occasional lover might end up doing penance for her sin, but would not be publicly shamed.17 The long-term concubine was not considered promiscuous, as she maintained a stable relationship with one man. In fact,

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because of the rather fluid ideas of marriage until the fourteenth century, she might have the status of a common-law wife, unless she was that still frequent but harshly pursued figure, the concubine of a cleric. Prostitutes formed a visible group in medieval society, especially in the towns. They were seen as publicly promiscuous, and as far as possible were confined to specific quarters of the town where the brothels, both private and public, were located. Town ordinances were often enacted to regulate their trade.lg It is interesting to discover how taken-for-granted the prostitutes were, despite the constant theological thunders. In this matter, as in so many issues concerning women, medieval men, and especially clerics, found themselves wildly ambivalent. They struggled with the inherited Roman law which treated prostitutes as useful, lowerclass women who were, and who remained, outcasts from society. Christianity introduced a new complication with its portrayal of the reformed and saintly prostitute. The prominence in the gospels of Mary Magdalene and her conversion, added to the medieval conflation of Mary Magdalene with Mary, the sister of Lazarus and friend of Jesus, helped to he1 enthusiasm for the converted harlot-saints, such as Mary of Egypt and Thais. Thus the twelfth or thirteenth century theologian trying to deal with prostitution often found himself engaged in a delicate hair-splitting operation. Thomas of Chobham is a splendid example of this rather cautious casuistry, since he gives voice to both the secular and the religious sides of the debate.lg The Romans and the later civil law saw the payment made to a prostitute as a contractual affair, based on the rendering of a service. The woman was entitled to her fee as just payment for her labour. Many of the canonists agreed with this secular view, but felt-and here the ambivalence comes in-that if a prostitute took pleasure in what she did, then she should not be paid, since in such a case it was not work. Obviously the canonists, and even the civil lawyers, got themselves into all kinds of extraordinary complications as they struggled with the moral and practical problems. There was, for example, the vigorous argument as to whether prostitutes should pay tithes. Thomas Aquinas settled that one with his unusual gift for the middle ground: the prostitute was indeed required to pay tithes, but the church should not accept them, since they were the product of sinat least until the woman repented. Even the alms of prostitutes were seen as a moral problem. There was the case of a window in honour of the Blessed Virgin, which was offered by the prostitutes of Paris to the rising cathedral of Notre Dame. The bishop agonized

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over what to do, but finally turned down the proposed donation, fearing that such a visible and public gift might cause scandal.20 Medieval prostitution was an accepted and often highly organized part of everyday life. Many twelfth and thirteenth century thinkers relied on Augustine's belief that prostitution was necessary, in order to maintain the sexual and family patterns of society. In the later Middle Ages, clerics often used prostitutes, despite the continuing attempts to require celibacy for priests as well as bishops. Ambitious clerks in minor orders, though still allowed to marry, tried to avoid marriage since it closed the door to ecclesiastical promotion. Certainly clerics, though celibate, were not chaste, for the injunctions against their use of brothels and the penalties levied not only continued but increased. Although the attempt to create accurate statistics from medieval numbers tends to be a delusion and a snare, there can be little doubt of the large number of prostitutes. In Dijon, in the fourteenth century, there were over a hundred prostitutes for a population of less than ten thousand.21 Prostitutes in Paris, attracted by the ready market of students, seem to have been a combative group. Jaques d e Vitry, the cardinal, preacher and historian, wrote in his Historia Occidentalis that prostitutes were everywhere in Paris, soliciting clerics and scornfully shouting "Sodomite" at those who refused them. He added that a scholar's hall and a brothel might share quarters, the master instructing his students upstairs while the prostitute entertained her clients below. With a fine, even-handed disgust, the cardinal reported that the arguments of both groups were equally noisy.22 London provides the most complete set of ordinances on how brothels should be run. The most extensive quarter for prostitutes was in Southwark, in the manor of the bishop of Winchester. It is an interesting comment on the pragmatic character of medieval attitudes that it was the bishop's officials who were charged with enforcing the ordinance made by the secular authorities for maintaining public order. They inspected the premises for cleanliness, made sure no women were being held against their will, and collected the fines imposed for any breaches of the regulations. Then as now, politics and sex went together, for these Southwark ordinances forbade prostitutes to open their chambers while parliament was sitting. This was at the express desire of the king, who was concerned with the absentees from Westminster. London, like the French towns with organized brothels, put great emphasis on the keeping of the peace in the brothel

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T H E LIVES OF MEDIEVAL W O M E N

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quarter. The penalties for brawling, as well as for such offenses as assault and theft, were very high.23 Despite all the disapproval and regulations, prostitution still seems to have provided its practitioners with some wealth. The number of sumptuary laws attempting to restrict prostitutes to plain and cheap clothing suggest that the city fathers-and perhaps their wives and daughters-were not at all pleased to see known prostitutes parading to church in more elegant and expensive clothes and jewels than honest women could afford.24 From the number of laws, the display of the profits must have been a continuing problem. It was fairly frequent for medieval prostitutes, as they passed 30 and were less sought after, to attempt to rejoin the mainstream of medieval society, and many were quite successful. Some saved enough money to be able to arrange a legitimate marriage, not necessarily in the same place. Others benefitted from the convents set up for women who wished to abandon prostitution. Such foundations were often made by devout kings or queens, or even concerned preachers, but they might have difficulty in keeping their supposedly reformed inhabitants on the path of virtue. There is an unusual case in the mid-fifteenth century at the convent of the Madeleines at Perpignan, which had been founded by Queen Esclarmonde of Aragon. One of the sisters, Beatrice de Moryons, was so violent and irascible that an inquiry was held. The report stated that Beatrice had knocked an elderly woman down with a box on her ear which deafened her and attacked another with a hoe and was barely restrained from hitting her enemy over the head with it. Beatrice maintained her grudge and later tried to stalk the same unfortunate sister through the cloister with a club. As well, she had a spare set of keys which she used both to leave and enter the convent without permission and to let men in. It is an extraordinary commentary on the state of the institution, or perhaps a most unlikely change of behaviour in Sister Beatrice, that by 1450 she had become the second in command of the community.25 The saddest of these wanton women, since they were often pressured into the life, were the servant girls, who came primarily from the large marginal population which flowed into the towns from the surrounding countrysides. They were often distant-and poor-relations of their masters, who worked for no wages but the promise to marry them off with a guaranteed dowry at the end of their contract of service. Most such contracts were for at least seven years, and if the household was cruel and the master dominating, sexual abuse of

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such girls was only too likely. Many medieval writers, among them Christine de Pizan, identified these girls' difficult situation and deplored the fact they had no time even to go to church.26 Certainly such servants as chambermaids were at the very bottom of the social heap. Nevertheless, another example of the medieval ambivalence about such women was the elaboration in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries of the cult of servant-saints, who inspired a large group of legends. Their sanctity consisted in serving faithfully a grudging, cruel master; being charitable to the poor and lepers; and, above all, being unyielding in the face of sexual temptation. St. Zita of Lucca, who died in 1278, was perhaps the most famous example of the type. There was great enthusiasm for her cult in Italy, and she was credited with spectacular miracles.27 But chambermaids, like prostitutes, could often succeed in cawing out for themselves an adequate, even comfortable niche in their society. It seems appropriate to round off this sampler with Christine d e Pizan's vivid description of the very satisfactory situation of the female servant who knew how to manipulate the medieval household to her own advantage. Christine portrays the dishonest chambermaids who are given responsibilities in the great houses of the rich or the middle class, because they pose as splendid managers: They get their position of buying the food and going to the butcher's, where they only too well "hit the fruit basket," which is a common expression meaning to claim that the thing costs more than it really does and then keep the change ... they put to one side a little tidbit, have a pie made and baked, charging it up to their master, and then when their master is at court or in town, and their mistress at church hearing high Mass, a delightful little banquet is spread in the kitchen, and not without plenty to drink, and only the best wine! The other housemaids in the street who are part of the crowd of cronies turn up and God knows how they plunder the place!

Such chambermaids not only seemed to have friends happy to join in their clandestine feasts, they often were able to recruit what w e might call a helpful female nemork to share their work: Sometimes when the laundry is done at home, the mistress, preoccupied with something else, will think that her maid is at the river to wash the laundry, but instead she is at the baths in peace and ease, and has her friends doing her work for her. She does not pay them, or her relatives and her pals who sometimes come asking for her at the house, and

59

wanting to see her, but God knows that the relatives and the many cronies she has in the town cost the house many bottles of wine!28

It may well have been a life of hard work and exploitation, but obviously there were shrewd and irrepressible chambermaids at the bottom of society, as well as competent and managing ladies at its highest levels. The variety of women I have sketched should suggest the inadvisability of relying on a stereotype, or a s\ ries of stereotypes, to describe either sex in any historical period. Human nature is fascinatingly various, and it is one of the pleasures of history to track down the material that illustrates this truth. NOTES 1. "Adae d e Marisco, Epistolae," Monuments Franciscans, ed. J.S. Brewer, Rolls Series 4 (1858) I, p.295.

2. Manners a n d Household Eqetzses of England in the 'Ihirteenth a n d Fifienth Centuries, ed. H.T. Turner, intro. B. Botfield (Roxburghe Club, 18411, pp.13-16, 17; 24, 31, 65; 15, 16; 5.11; 19, 12; 47, 50, 52; 73, 75, 67. 3. Annales Monastici, ed. H.R. Luard, 11, Wawfy, Rolls Series 36, p.367. 4. Manners, pp. XXIV, 47-50, 264-66, 59. 5. J. Bennett, Gender, Family and Community, a Comparative Study of the English Peasantry, 1287-1344, Ph.D thesis (Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto 1981) p.320. 6. Some discussion of the English and French legal treatment of women may be found in the chapters by Jouon des Longrdis in Lu Femme, Recueils d e la societ6 Jean Bodin 12, pt. 2. 7. A whole list of such widows whose marriages could be sold was compiled as early as 1185 (Pipe Roll Society 35, ed. J.H. Round 1913). Actual payments by women are scattered through the Patent Rolls and elsewhere. 8. Towneley Plays, Early English Text Society n.s. 71 (1987) play 3, 11.388-96. 9. M.W. Labarge, Women in Medieval Lfe (London, 1986) p.86. 10. C.A. Musgrave, Household Administration in the Fourteenth Century with special reference to the Household of Elizabeth d e Burgh, M.A. thesis (University of London, 1923). For Clare College, see H. Rashdall, Unizmities of Europe in the Middle Ages, new ed. rev. by EM. Powicke, and A.M. Emden (Oxford, 1936), 111, pp.302-04. 11. Rashdall, Universities, pp.304-06; H. Jenkinson, "Mary d e Sancto Paulo, Foundress of Pembroke College, Cambridge," Archaeologiu 66 (1915), pp.411-46. 12. Cal. Papal Letters, 111, pp.285-86, 433. Her will is summarized in R.R. Sharpe, Calendar of Wills Proved a n d Enroled i n the Court of Hustings London, 1258-1688(London, 1899-1900), I1 pp.194-95. It appears in full in Jenkinson, pp.432-35.

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13. S. Solente, "Christine d e Pizan," Histoire littgraire de France 40 (Paris 1974), pp.335-442, and C.C. Willard, Christine de Pizan: Her Life and Work (New York, 1984) provide an overview and a bibliography of the current literature o n Christine. 14. M.T. Lorcin, "Portraits des veuves et filles au convent," Annales de De'mographie Historique (1 975) pp. 190-97. 15. J.G. Greatrex, "Church, Society and Politics in a Fourteenth Century Rural Setting," paper read to the Ecclesiastical History Society, July, 1974. 16. J.A. Brundage, "The Crusader's Wife," Studia Gratiana 12 (1967), pp.427-41. 17. J.A. Brundage, "Prostitution in the Medieval Canon Law," Signs 1, no. 4 , pp.825-45. 18. V.L. Bullogh, "The Prostitute in the Middle Ages," Studies in Medieval Culture 10 (1977), pp.9-17. 19. Thomas of Chobham, Sumtna Confessorum, ed. F. Broomfield (Louvain, 19681, pp.346-53. 20. Thomas of Chobham, Summa, p.349. 21. J. Rossiaud, "Prostitution, jeunesse et societe dans les villes du sud au W siecle," Annales 31 (1976)~ pp.290, 292. 22. Jaques d e Vitry, Historia Occidentalis, quoted in Rashdall, Universities, pp.439-40. 23. J.B. Post, "A Fifteenth Century Customary of the Southwark Stews," Journal of the Society of Archivists 5 (1976), pp.422-28. 24. M.T. Riley, Memorials of London and London Life 1276-1419 (London, 1868), pp.458-59, 535, 647-48. 25. L.L. Otis, "Prostitution and Repentance in Medieval Perpignan," in Women of the Medieval World, ed. J . Kirshner and S.F. Wemple (Oxford, 1985), pp. 152-55. 26. Christine d e Pizan, Treasure of the City of Ludies, trans, S. Lawson (Penguin, 1985), p. 169. 27. M. Goodich, "The Servant as Saint," in Women of the Medieval World pp. 119-25. 28. Christine d e Pizan, Treasure, p.170.

GI

edieval witlows were not all elderly, nor all endowed with the freedom of action that the term "a second career" implies. Nevertheless, among the upper classes widowhood could provide for tlie first time in a woman's life a freedom of action and choice she had not previoi~slyenjoyed, and the personal control of resources that came to her through dower, marriage portion, or her own inheritance. Many widows, especially in their thirties and forties (considered old for women in medieval terms), wanted to avoid remarriage, panicularly if they hatl children whose inheritance might be compromised by tlie actions of a second husband. They devoted themselves to managing their estates, to safeguarding the heir's inheritance until he reached the age to assume full control, and to properly placing the younger children. Such maintenance of family position was recognized as an overriding obligation, and also provided valuable security for the woman herself. Some took on the widow's mantle, soleliinly pro~iiisingto remain continent and not remarry, but continued to live in ordinary society. OLhers, after their family tasks had been achieved, i~seda nunnery as a convenient place of retirement, boarding themselves and some of their retinue in a religious house to which they hat1 ties of family or patronage and where they hatl been able to arrange a suitable corrody. Such secular boarders often caused consitlerahle uproar among the nuns, and if the terms of the

corrody were too generous the nunnery obtained some ready money but carried a heavier burden than it could support. Bishops on visitation usually disapproved because the ladies' fine clothes, little dogs, and very worldly behaviour gave a bad example to the nuns.l However, some widows turned to an active religious life and, in reality, took up a new career. Because of their superior social position these women had the luxury of a choice among several patterns of religious life, as recluse, or nun, or mystic living a devout life in the world. Three noble widows of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries provide an example of each type and illustrate such a decision in concrete terms. Loretta, widowed countess of Leicester, became a recluse by 1221 and her sister Annora followed the same route 11 years later. Ela, countess of Salisbury in her own right, founded Lacock Abbey in 1232, entered it as a nun, and served as its abbess for nearly 20 years. St. Birgitta, wife and daughter of high-ranking Swedish nobles, was critic and warning voice to popes and kings of the second half of the fourteenth century through her mystical Reuelations, written in her widowhood. These widows exercised influence, not only as religious, but also in the life of their time. Although we cannot now be certain of their motives for choosing a religious life, it is reasonable to suggest the possible mix of religious and secular considerations that influenced them. The terms of documents by the countess Loretta and Ela demonstrate their concern to ensure continued prayers for their own souls and those of their husbands and relation^.^ The expanding influence of the Cistercians, then the Franciscans and Dominicans, encouraged a more personal religion among the laity. Upper-class women were especially affected by these orders because their own relations had joined them and their families were often founders or patrons of their houses. These contacts and the growing popularity of the books of hours for lay use extended the new emotional emphasis on the humanity and sufferings of Christ and on devotion to the Blessed Virgin and increased personal piety.3 At the same time these widows, despite frequent clerical denigration of marriage, did not look back on married life with distaste. However, they saw the advantages for a widow of the religious state, which not only provided the opportunity for a devout life but also offered legal and moral safeguards against physical harm at a time when violence was prevalent. As well, life in a nunnery was not only stable but socially acceptable, allowing outlets for female talents and the continued exercise of authority. By the mid-fourteenth century, female mystics were both popular and influential among the highest ranks.

These three widows had certain common characteristics. All were part of the medieval establishment, and thus benefited from the privileged physical, educational, and social conditions that the upper classes enjoyed. They were also survivors with great physical stamina. In an era when women frequently died in childbirth, or from its effects-and both Ela and Birgitta bore at least eight childrenthey lived with apparent vigour into their seventies, often outliving their children. Ela's son and heir was killed on crusade, and her grandson at a tournament, while she still ruled as abbess. Three of Birgitta's sons and a daughter predeceased their mother. Even the childless Loretta lived to hear of the death at Evesham of her greatnephew, Simon de Montfort. These women also shared other advantages from their social position. The tenacious links of marriage and relationship, extended to a degree incomprehensible to us, allowed them an important place in the tightly woven social fabric of their time, They could marshal powerful friends and relations to find the resources and support that they needed to carry out their ideas. All had access to the revenues that allowed them to do what they wished and to support their chosen vocation. In addition, long years of social command had gained them respect in the wider world and enabled them to hold their own against their critics. Sir Richard Southern, in describing the attraction of religious life for women, spoke of the early abbesses as "masterful and formidable ladies ... [who] did not " ~ the statement was forget that they belonged to a ruling ~ a s t e , and equally true of these three. Relevant information is widely scattered for the affairs of the countesses Loretta and Ela; only for Birgitta are the sources voluminous and personal. The process for her canonization inspired much testimony from eye-witnesses, while her Revelations, though edited and occasionally updated by the clerics who put her Swedish into Latin, retain a verbose naivete and an earthy turn of phrase that suggest the experienced and shrewd woman, rather than her more scholarly secretaries. The information about Loretta's early days is very ~ p a r s e . Her ~ birthdate is not known, nor is the exact date of her marriage to Robert Beaumont, earl of Leicester, though 1196 seems likely. In 1204 the earl died and Loretta was left a widow. She was childless and probably less than twenty, since she survived till at least 1266. The Leicester inheritance was divided between her husband's two sisters: Margaret, wife of Saer de Quency, earl of Winchester, and Amicia, married to Simon de Montfort, lord of Montfort-1'Amaury in the Ilede-France and father of the Albigensian crusader. Not surprisingly,

the attempted settlement was the subject of continuing litigation. However, Loretta's life interest in the Leicester lands assigned to her as dower, and her control of the lands designated by her father as her maritagium, was arranged expeditiously. Loretta and her sister Annora were among the youngest children of the large family of Maud and William d e Briouze, a powerful marcher lord. William had energetically supported King John, and appears to have been closely associated with the king in the murder of Arthur at Rouen in 1203.~At the time of the Interdict John turned against William, confiscated his lands, and pursued the family to Ireland. William managed to escape to France, where he died in 1211, but his wife and eldest son were captured and starved to death in Windsor Castle. Loretta's lands were confiscated and Annora was imprisoned in England. Both of the sisters reappear in the records by 1214-Annora being released from prison at the request of the papal legate, as she was the sister of the bishop of Hereford, and Loretta regaining her dower lands and swearing that she was not married and would not marry without the king's consent.' Loretta was not anxious to marry, for she appears to have already been contemplating religious life. In 1219 she committed her dower lands to the bishop of Winchester and Philip d'Aubigny for three years, after which they would return to the king's hand.* Such a commitment suggests that she was arranging for a sufficient sum to provide for her support as a recluse. In addition, in an undated charter probably of about this time that was witnessed by several clerics but also by Philip d'Aubigny, Loretta granted much of her land in the manor of Tawstock (Devon), an important part of her maritagium, in "pure and perpetual gift" to the Hospitaller sisters of Buckland (Somerset) to find and support a w hap la in.^ By 1221 Loretta had been enclosed at Hackington, only a mile or so from Canterbury Cathedral by the old path across the fields. The village is on the rise of the hill from the River Stour, a location described by an early historian of Kent as "tolerably healthy but very damp."I0 Archbishop Langton, who would have to give permission for Loretta's enclosure, had presided at William d e Briouze's funeral while the cleric too was in exile. It has been suggested that Loretta spent part of the time between 1210 and 1214 in France and got to know Stephen Langton then. It appears reasonable that there was some link of friendship between them. As well, six years after Loretta had retired to her cell, Simon Langton also came to live at Hackington, as the archbishop had appointed his brother archdeacon of Canterbury and allotted the church of

St. Stephen, Hackington as part of the endowment of the archdeaconry. Simon enlarged the church and built himself a house near it and close to the recluse's cell in the churchyard.ll Loretta may have adopted the life of a recluse out of devotion, with the desire to pray for her dead, but it is likely that she also regarded it as a stable refuge in a world that had treated her harshly. Even the highly spiritual Ailred of Rievaulx, in his letter of advice to his sister and other recluses on their proper behaviour and life of prayer, suggests several reasons for taking u p such a life-not only the desire to cling more closely to Christ, but also the wish to escape the dangers of life or to avoid its troubles.12 The difficulty and dangers of Loretta's early years of widowhood, and the knowledge that, as a childless widow and a member of a family in disfavour she lacked strong natural supporters, would have made her decision seem eminently reasonable to her spiritual advisers. Similar circumstances, reinforced by her sister Loretta's example and the influence of the author of the Ancrene Riwle, l 3 may have encouraged Annora's decision to become a recluse at Iffley a few years after the death of her husband, Hugh Mortimer. Annora then disappears from public sight, except for royal gifts of firewood annually until 1241 and one warm robe, but Loretta's existence and activity during more than 40 years as a recluse at Hackington have left a number of traces. Her friend Alice, countess of Eu and lady of Hastings and Tickhill sent her annually two quarters of wheat, two of barley, one of oats, and two sides of bacon-rather luxurious fare for a recluse. Henry 111 continued the grant after Alice's death and also provided her with lambs, cheese and eggs from the revenues of the archbishop.I4 Even in her cell Loretta continued to have a number of contacts with the people around her. Most unusually she had a male servant, who in 1235 was exempted at her request from serving on juries, assizes, or recognitions during her lifetime.15 From the records it would appear that she kept him busy, for she frequently interceded with the king or his officials for her neighbours. The prioress and nuns of St. Sepulchre, Canterbury, were quit of suit of court in lands that Hubert d e Burgh had given them in Romney Marsh. Also, at her request, a man was given a royal pardon for his brother's death, since the inquest Loretta had asked for had proved it was misadventure; a local woman was pardoned of her outlawry; and a poor couple was allowed exemption from tallage.16 Such traces in the records suggest Loretta's continuing knowledge of and interest in what was happening around her, even in her old age. It is likely, but not provable,

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that some of the visitors from France to Becket's shrine in Canterbury-perhaps especially her nephew Amaury de Montfort in 1239may also have gone the extra mile to visit the distinguished old lady with French family connections who spent more than 45 years in her recluse's cell. Two documented occasions show that she was still regarded as a person of influence and importance on the public scene. In 1224 she hrthered the cause of the first Franciscans to come to England. Their historian, Thomas of Eccleston, when he listed the early benefactors, mentioned three special patrons: Simon Langton; Sir Henry of Sandwich, a well-respected Kentish knight; and the "noble countess, lady recluse of Hackington." Thomas wrote with enthusiasm that "she cherished them in all things as a mother her sons, sagaciously winning for them the favour of magnates and prelates by whom she was held in the highest regard." l7 It is reasonable to suggest that Simon Langton, then based in France, had known their leader, Agnellus of Pisa, who had been custos at Paris, and smoothed the way for them with his brother the archbishop and also with Loretta, still a woman of considerable consequence. One of the magnates whom she influenced may have been Hugh Mortimer, whose nephew later became a friar in the Shrewsbury priory.18 More than 40 years later, in April 1265, the elderly Loretta received a letter from Henry 111, then under the control of Simon de Montfort, asking her to expound to the abbot of St. Augustine's and the prior of Christchurch all she knew about the rights and liberties of the stewardship of England as they pertained to the earldom of ~eicester.'~At this time Earl Simon was searching desperately for a way to legitimize his government, and it is perhaps indicative of his desperation that he should seek such information from an aged recluse whose connection with the earldom of Leicester was 60 years in the past. After so long a time the Countess Loretta had not totally disentangled herself from secular concerns. Ailred might well have thought that she spent far too much time at her parlour window. Ela, countess of Salisbury, was more independently important than the Countess Loretta, her contemporary. The only child and heiress of Earl William of Salisbury, she became countess in her own right on her father's death in 1196, when she was still young.20 In 1198 King Richard gave her in marriage to his illegitimate half-brother William Longespee, a respected knight, who was thus rewarded with a title suitable to his status. Ela grew up into an active, energetic woman and bore eight surviving children. There are two glimpses of

her during her married life suggesting the religious and secular sides of her character. Edmund Rich-scholar, preacher, archbishop of Canterbury, and later saint-was named treasurer of Salisbury in 1219. Countess Ela appears to have been much influenced by him. Although the earl and countess as the local magnates had followed the bishop in laying the foundation stones for the new cathedral at Salisbury in 1220, Ela worried at her husband's neglect of the sacraments and persuaded him to listen to Edmund's warnings. According to the saint's monastic biographer, the earl was deeply impressed by Edmund's holiness and, moved by his reproaches and prayers, soon returned to his religious duties. The grateful countess was convinced that her husband's soul would otherwise have been doomed to eternal torment.21 Ela's secular side is displayed in the vivid narrative of the St. Albans chroniclers. In 1225 Earl William had been fighting in Gascony in the expedition officially headed by Henry 111's sixteenyear-old brother, Richard of Cornwall. Returning from this expedition across the Bay of Biscay, the earl's ship was so buffeted by high winds and turbulent seas that he had to take refuge for a time on the Ile-de-Re. A rumour came to the English court that Earl William had died, and Hubert de Burgh, the ambitious chancellor, saw the supposed widow as a glittering prize to be captured for one of his relations. With the king's consent he at once commissioned his nephew to go off "in noble knightly array" and try to incline the countess' heart to love. Ela haughtily informed the brash young man that she had now received the news of her husband's safety, but that in any case she would never have married him, since the nobility of her birth prohibited such a union. The embarrassed suitor slunk away, pursued by a final taunt on the foolishness of his errand.22 Earl William died in 1226, some three months after his return, following a stormy scene at court with the presumptuous Hubert de Burgh and wild-and unfounded-rumours of poison. From the time of her husband's death until her entrance as a nun at Lacock Ela dealt simultaneously with the requirements of upholding her secular position for the benefit of her eldest son, William Longespee 11, who was still a minor, and with her growing interest in establishing a nunnery. One of her secular struggles is particularly interesting, as Countess Ela was one of the few medieval women to hold the position of sheriff, which she normally exercised by deputy. - In 1231 she paid a fine of 200 marks to have custody of the county of Wiltshire and Salisbury Castle for life, though she was required to agree that neither she nor her son could claim hereditary rights to

either.23 On at least one occasion she exercised her rights in person. At Marlborough in 1234 the king heard a case between Countess Ela as sheriff of Wiltshire and the abbess of Romsey over their claims to hold the pleas of the hundred court at Whorwelsdon. The royal decision was to have the view of frankpledge and the major pleas, while the abbess retained Romsey's rights over less important matters where felony did not apply and there was no king's writ.24 Some years before this suit the widowed countess had decided to found a nunnery o n her own manor of Lacock and ultimately to enter it herself. Such a monastic foundation, though less usually made by women, who did not normally command the resources necessary, was an accepted charity by which magnates ensured prayers for the deceased members of their families and gained both the social and religious benefits that flowed to the kin of patrons and founders. The less frequent creation of nunneries (since women might pray but could not offer masses) was usually undertaken by fathers looking for a suitable place to bestow superfluous daughters,25 or by a widow combining family feeling for her dead with suitable recognition of her own religious concerns and social position. With the advice and encouragement of Edmund Rich, who remained in Salisbury until 1233, the process of getting agreements and royal and episcopal permissions was set on foot in 1229. In 1230 the bishop of Salisbury confirmed Ela's own foundation charter, which had also been confirmed by her son as heir, and declared the house was to follow the Augustinian rule.26 Although Countess Ela shared the general English preference for the Cistercians, their general chapter of 1228 had refused to accept convents of women. Despite this the house was dedicated to Blessed Mary and St. Bernard, and more than twenty years later Ela was successful in obtaining from Citeaux letters of confraternity for herself and her ~omrnunity.~'The countess formally founded her abbey on 16 April 1232, on a twenty-acre meadow known as Snaylesmead, bordering the Avon in her manor of Lacock, although by this time the buildings were almost certainly underway. The first nuns were veiled at Lacock in the same year and the new community began to establish itself. A series of grants show Ela using her influence to acquire oaks from the nearby royal forests for building and lime for the mortar, as well as stones from a local quarry. The abbey's revenues were enhanced by grants of an annual three-day fair in July, a weekly market, and further acquisions of land.28 Sometime during these years there was further proof of her continuing friendship with Edmund Rich. The life by a monk of Pontigny

tells how the countess ran a high fever and Edmund promised to send a doctor who would quickly heal her. He sent a relic of St. Thomas's blood, which indeed worked a rapid cure. The archbishop humbly ascribed Ela's recovery to the martyr's merits, but his biographer stoutly asserted that "no one of sane mind" denied it was due to Edmund's own virtues. The monk underlines his humility by reporting that the archbishop would hardly look at, much less accept, the gift of precious jewels that the countess wished to give him in thanks29 It has also been suggested that the Anglo-Norman version of Edmund's Speculum ecclesie can be connected with Lacock. Given the material on which it draws, it would appear to have been composed while Edmund was preaching in Salisbury, and might well have been written as a mark of friendship towards Ela's foundation, which he had enc0uraged.3~ Probably at the end of 1237, certainly before April 1238, Ela surrendered her secular position-she had already given up custody of the county and castle by January 1237~~-and entered her nunnery at Lacock. By August 1239 it appears that she had already been chosen abbess, an office she held until 31 December 1257. During this time, according to the annals of Lacock, she "strenuously governed" her house and nuns and "served most devotedly ... in fasts, holy vigils, meditations, assiduously strict discipline, and in other good works of ~harity."3~ Nevertheless, her life does not seem to have been unrelievedly austere, for the rolls show frequent gifts of venison for the abbess and oaks for her hearth. Even after she retired as abbess the king continued to send his kinswoman such special gifts.33 A final personal glimpse of Ela as abbess comes late in her life, when her son, William Longespee 11, led a group of English nobles to join Louis IX's ill-fated crusade in Egypt. Matthew Paris-always eager to taunt the French-blames William's death at Mansourah on the insolence of Robert of Artois, Louis' younger brother, who derided the English as cowards so that William joined in the rash expedition led by Robert. The impetuous group was overwhelmed by superior force and all killed. The night of the battle, Paris asserts, Ela had a vision of heaven opening to receive a knight with all his arms. Recognizing the escutcheon, she asked who the knight could be who was so gloriously received by the angels and heard a voice telling her, "William thy son." She noted the night and, when she later heard news of the great disaster, prostrated herself in memory of her vision, praising God that she, an unworthy sinner, had been privileged to be the mother of a son thus given the crown of martyrdom. Paris ends his account with one of his typical flourishes: "praising the constancy

of a non-womanish woman, astounded at the maternal piety of such a great lady, not breaking down into words of lugubrious complaint but rather more readily exulting with spiritual joy."34 According to the Historiafundatorurn in the Register of Lacock, Ela had retired in 1257 when she felt the pressure of old age, and died 24 August 1261 in her seventies.35 She was buried in the choir of the abbey church, where she was ultimately surrounded by the bones or the hearts of her other three sons. Lacock was very much of a family house. Two granddaughters (children of her daughter Ida) became nuns there, while the family concern and protection continued throughout the century. Ela, the daughter named after her mother, who married Thomas, earl of Warwick, and after his death Philip Basset, continued to interest herself in the affairs of Lacock almost until her death in 1297. She intervened at court to help them gain privileges and to maintain their claims.36 The family connection, always on the female side, was carried on by the daughter and heiress of William Longespee 111, Margaret was only an infant when her father died in 1257, and on Ela's death she inherited her great-grandmother's title, though the earldom had been in abeyance since the death of the original William Longespee. Nevertheless, after her marriage to Henry de Lacy, earl of Lincoln, Margaret acted as patron, friend and protector of the family house. Her death in 1309 was recognized as depriving them of powerful aid and counsel in both internal and external affairs.37 The tradition inaugurated by Ela in her years as abbess, when she safeguarded her abbey's interests as she had earlier protected her family's, was carried on by her descendants for almost a century. Ela, in erecting some of its buildings, improving its revenues, managing its properties, and working for further privileges, used her secular prestige and friendships to advance her well-run and prosperous house of some 20 nuns. Both she and her descendants who carried on her work would have seen as suitable to her dual position and social status that her nuns at Lacock should mark the anniversary of their foundress with the distribution to one hundred poor of a wheaten loaf and two herrings each. They themselves celebrated with simnel cakes, wine, three courses at dinner, and two at s~pper.3~ Finally, in a less conventional form of religious life, there is St. Birgitta of Sweden, who had an extraordinary career of widowhood. Her unusual importance in England has led to the description of her as "that most popular of Lancastrian saints."3Y Her Reve[ations, embodying frank and unpalatable advice to kings and popes as well

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as lesser individuals, and her semi-religious life and conception of the new Brigittine order are well known. Two facets of her life are relevant here. One is her strong emphasis on widowhood as an estate pleasing to God, a conviction she felt had been divinely reinforced by Christ's revelation to her that "a humble widow is more pleasing to me than a proud virgin."40 The other is her enormous popularity in contemporary England. Birgitta aroused considerable controversy, but, like other mystics of her time, wielded substantial moral and political influence on a wide stage. The main facts of her life can be quickly stated.41 She was born in Finnsta, Sweden in 1302/1303 and related to the royal house of Sweden through both her parents. Her bent for mystical experience began early, for at the age of ten she had an always-remembered vision of Christ crucified. At 14 she was married to an eighteen-yearold Swedish nobleman, and they had eight children. King Magnus called her to the Swedish court in 1335 to serve as mistress of the royal household for his young bride from Namur. Her hopes of influencing the royal pair towards a serious and pious life proved vain, so after two years she returned home to supervise the education of her children and share with her husband in a life of increasing piety and asceticism. In 1341 the couple went on a pilgrimage to Compostela. After an illness on their way home her husband died at the Cistercian monastery of Alvastra in 1344, soon after their return. Birgitta then turned whole-heartedly to a life of prayer and penance, and began receiving mystic revelations, many of which included warnings to be transmitted to kings and the pope. These were able to gain wider distribution and effectiveness through her social importance in Sweden and her ability to ensure their forwarding to the important people involved. In 1349 Birgitta felt divinely impelled to go to Rome. She was accompanied by Prior Peter of Alvastra and the Augustinian Peter Skenninge, her spiritual advisers and the translators into Latin of the visions she had written down in Swedish. They were later assisted by Alphonse of Pecha, a Spanish bishop who had originally retired to a hermitage but became part of Birgitta's household, probably in 1368, and acted as prime editor of her ~ e v e l a t i o n s .She ~ ~ remained in Rome at the head of a devoted company, leading a quasi-monastic life, until her death in 1373, although she went on occasional pilgrimages to shrines in Italy and in 1371 made a trip to the Holy Land. Her canonization was pushed vigorously by her devoted followers, led by her daughter Catherine, and despite opposition, especially

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from the French, was achieved in 1391. The Scandinavians insisted on having it confirmed by John XXIII at the Council of Constance and again by Martin V in 1419. Despite the problems of the Schism and the competing popes, they wanted to be sure of their saint. Birgitta's voluminous Revelations, usually in the form of dialogues with Divine Persons, the Virgin, and assorted saints and devils, are vivid and dramatic, with homely similes and lively conversations. They express her passion for the reform of both church and lay society and bear a strongly personal imprint. Much of the English enthusiasm for Birgitta and her visions came from her message to the English and French kings in Book IV, chapters 103-105.~~ In a discourse by the Blessed Virgin, the sad state of the kingdom of France is discussed, along with the argument over the rightful king. The final text, which emphasizes Christ's wish that the kings should proceed to peace by way of a royal marriage, is actually a heavily revised version, probably by Alphonse of Pecha, of the original revelation of 1348. Birgitta had persuaded King Magnus to send this to Edward I11 and Philip VI. The early version declared that the king of England was closer to the throne of France than Philip, but that, as Philip had not taken the throne by violence, he should keep it for his lifetime. However, he should consider Edward as his eldest son and take him as his successor. Although plausible in 1348, when the English victory at Crecy was fresh and Edward young and vigorous, it bore no relation to the situation after the deaths of Edward and the Black Prince.44 The poet Thomas Hoccleve paraphrased the later version in 7%e Regement of 4 ~English negotiators Princes, destined for the future Henry ~ , and used it as a tool in their negotiations with the French at Arras in 1435 and four years later at Oye. In an apparent battle of the mystics, the English use of Birgitta's visions encouraged the French to put forward a visionary hermit who prophesied the final destruction of the English. Cardinal Beaufort, whether in exasperation or with a rare ray of humour, suggested that a marriage between Birgitta and the hermit might be a good idea.46 When Henry V decided to found two monasteries at the beginning of his reign, one was confided to the double order conceived by Birgitta. The king had probably been influenced in their favour by his sister Philippa, wife of King Eric of Denmark, who had Birgitta's granddaughter as the mistress of her household. The queen herself also had close ties with the Brigittine motherhouse at Vadstena. An earlier English enthusiast was Adam Easton, Benedictine monk of Norwich and cardinal, who had come to know Birgitta during her last

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years in Rome. He became her devoted admirer and defender, writing a long refutation of criticisms against her rule for her proposed order when her canonization was being pursued. It is possible that h e circulated some of Birgitta's writings to his old monastery in Norwich, as he bequeathed them six barrels of his books.47 In any case, they had become known in England by the beginning of the fifteenth century, for Margery Kempe had the Revelations read to her and went to visit St. Birgitta's chamber when she was in Rome in 1 4 1 4 . ~ English ~ translations of some of the Revelations became fairly common, and retained their place among the spiritual reading of such devout fifteenth-century English laity as Cicely of York, mother of Edward IV and Richard I I I . ~ ~ These brief sketches of the second careers of three upper-class medieval widows remind us that not all aging medieval women can be regarded as poor or passive. The fortunate accidents of birth in a class accustomed to the exercise of power, some wealth, physical good health (including survival of childbirth), and individual ability and initiative provided some women with the ability to arrange for themselves a different but very satisfying life during the years of their widowhood. It can be presumed that these women were reluctant to consider remarriage, whether from religious conviction, fear of disparagement in a second marriage, or concern for the successful launching of the children of the first marriage. Remaining unmarried could be difficult-the rich widow has always been a prize-especially in the thirteenth century, but a widow's choice of one or another form of religious life was legitimate and plausible. It would be approved and respected by her peers and considered suitable for her social level. The women discussed here had all been born to power and influence. Widowhood freed them to act as individuals, and they had the ability to adapt to their own desires and requirements the form of religious life each found most suitable. In so doing they made a secure and respected path for themselves in their later years, slightly separated from but not completely alien to the world in which they had originally moved. They also retained a considerable amount of the influence and power to which they were accustomed. Even the Middle Ages, with its much shorter life expectancy, occasionally had to face the problems of the aged in its society. These women worked out their own individual solutions to deal with aging. In so doing, they suggest some of the possibilities that might also have been adopted by other contemporaries, whose lives, unlike these, are unknown.

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NOTES

Eileen E. Power, Medieval English Nunneries c. 1275-1535 (Cambridge, 1922), pp.306-08, details the excesses of a somewhat later period. For Loretta see Calendar of Charter Rolls (henceforth CChR), vol. 1, Henry 111, 1226-1257 (London, 1903), pp.52-53; for Ela see William Dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum, ed. John Caley et al., 8 vols. (London, 1817-1830), 6502. Richard W. Southern, Westem Society a n d the Church in the Middle Ages, Pelican History of the Church 2 (Harmondsworth U.K., 1970), pp.228-30. Southern, Western Society, pp.309-10. Frederick M. Powicke, in "Loretta, Countess of Leicester," in Historical Essays in Honour ofJames Tait, ed. John G. Edwards et al. (Manchester U.K., 1933) pp.247-72, has gathered most of the available information. M. Dominica Legge, "William the Marshal and Arthur of Brittany," Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research 55 (1982) pp.18-24. Powicke, "Loretta, Countess of Leicester," pp.260-61. Calendar of Patent Rolls (henceforth CPR), Henry 111, vol. 1, 1216-1225 (London, 1901), p.195. CChR 1226-1257, pp.52-53. Edward Hasted, 7be Histoy a n d Topographical Suruey of the Country of Kent, 2nd ed., 12 vols. (London, 1797-1801), v. 9, p.42. J. Hayes, Ihe Church of St. Stephen Protomartyr, Hackington, Kent (1978). Aelred de Rievaulx, "La Vie de recluse," ed. Charles Dumont, Sources chrktiennes 76 (Paris, 1961), p.44. Eric J. Dobson, The Origins of the Ancrene Wisse (Oxford, 1976)) pp.307-09, argues forcefully for Annora and Hugh's patronage of the three sisters for whom the treatise was originally written, and believes that the Anglo-Norman version was arranged specifically for Annora when she was planning her life as a recluse. Close Rolls (henceforth CR), Henry 111, vol. 5, 1242-1247 (London, 1916)) p.425; CR 1231-1234, p.194. Calendar of Patent Rolls (henceforth CPR) 1237-3247, p. 133. CPR 1258-1266, pp.10, 351; CPR 1266-1272, pp.51, 32, 727; CR 12541256, p.48. Thomas de Eccleston, De aduentu minorum in Angliam, in Monumenta Franciscana, vol. 1, ed. John S. Brewer, Rolls Series 4 (London, 1858), p.16. Dobson, Origins, p.305. Leveson W. Vernon, His Grace the Steward a n d Trial of Peers (London, 1907)) pp. 125-26. George E. Cokayne, 7?je Complete Peerage, 12 vols., ed. Vicary Gibbs et al. (London, 1910-1959), v. 11, pp.377-84, gives her birthdate as ca. 1191; the Lacock record, Dugdale, Monasticon, 6501, says 1188.

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Edmond Marthe and Ursin Durand, 7hesaums novus anecdotomm, 5 vols. (Paris, 1717), v. 3, p.102, 1790-1791. Matthew Paris, Cbronica rnajora, ed. Henry R. Luard, 7 vols., Rolls Series 57 (London, 1872-1884), v. 3, pp.102. Rose Graham, "The Civic Position of Women at Common Law before 1800," in her English Ecclesiastical Studies (London, 1929), pp.366-67; CPR 1225-1232, p.431. Curia regis Rolls, vol. 15, 17-21 Henry III, 1233-1237 (London, 1972), No. 1070, pp.240-41. Janet E. Burton, 'Ihe Yorkshire Nunneries in the Twelfth a n d 7%irteenth Centuries, Borthwick Papers 56 (York, 1979), pp.18-27, illustrates for Yorkshire the family role in establishing nunneries. CPR 1225-1232, p. 328; Dugdale, Monasticon, v. 6, pp.501-03. Victoria County History, Wiltshire (henceforth VCH Wiltshire), vol. 2 (London, 1959, pp.303-04. CR 1237-1242, pp.39, 41; CChR 1226-1257, pp.274, 225; VCH Wiltshire, v. 2, pp.304-05. Martkne and Durand, i%esaurus, v. 3, 1798-1799. M. Dominica Legge, Anglo-Normun in the Cloisters: 'Ihe Influence of the Orders on Anglo-Nomn Literature (Edinburgh, 1950), pp.91, 94-96. CPR 1232-1247, p.172. Dugdale, Monasticon, v. 6, pp.502. CR 1247-1251, pp.138, 315, 381, 479; CR 1251-1253, pp.97, 118, 388, 402; CR 1256-1259, p.247. Matthew Paris, Cbronica rnajora, v. 5, pp.150-54, 173. "... demum vero cernens se senio et nimia debilitate affectam, cum non potuit, ut voluit, religioni suae prodesse, renunciavit et recusavit praeesse," Dugdale, Monasticon, v. 6, p.502. CChR 1257-1300, p. 29; Calendarium genealogicum, ed. Charles Roberts, 2 vols. (London, 1869, v. 1, pp.336, 351. VCH Wiltshire, v. 2, pp. 308. List ofAncient Correspondence of the Chancery a n d the Excbequer, revised ed., Lists a n d I?zd~xes 15 (London, 1969), 27/74, 27/75. Power, Medieval English Nunneries, p. 121. Joycelyne G. Dickinson, m e Congress ofAwus, 1 4 3 5 A Study in Medieval Diplomacy (Oxford, 19551, p. 146. Les RtWlations c6Iestes et devines de Sainte Brigitte de Sugde, trans. Jaques ferraige, 4 vols. (Avignon, 18591, v. 3, p.461. P. Debongnie, "Brigitte de Suede," in Dictionnaire d'bistoire et de ggographie eccl&iastiques, vol. 10 (Paris, 1938), pp.719-27. Eric Colledge, "Epistola solitarii ad reges: Alphonse of Pecha as Organizer of Birgittine and Urbanist Propaganda," Mediaeval Studies 18 (1956) pp.19-49. RGtklations, v. 2, pp.401-07. Colledge, "Epistola, " pp.32-33. Thomas Hoccleve, Work, ed. Frederick J. Furnivall, Early English Text Society (henceforth EETS) e.s. 72 (London, 1897), p.194, stanza 771.

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46. Christopher T. Allmand, "Documents Relating to the Anglo-French Negotiations of 1439," in Camden MisceIIany 24, Camden Fourth Series 9 (London, 1972), p.116. 47. William A. Pantin, The E?zglish Church kz the Fourteenth Century (Oxford, 1959, pp.122, 181. 48. m e Book of Margery Kempe, 1436:A Modern Version, ed. and trans. William Butler-Bowdon (New York, 1944), pp.215-16, 82. 49. ReueIations of St. Birgitta, ed. William P. Cunning, EETS o.s. 178 (Oxford, 1929); Pantin, E~zglishChurch, p.254.

seatrice, ao~rntes'e'of 3robente MARRIAGE POLITICS IN THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY

omen in tlie thirteenth century have generally been thrust into the shadows by the overwhelming figure of Blanche of Castile. Nevertheless, there were a number of equally Fascinating and influential women of the time who deserve attention. One of these lessknown but extremely interesting women was Beatrice of Savoy, countess of I'rovence. Her life and activities epitomize the closely woven and extensive web of family relationships which should never be underestimated in the effort to understand ihe sometimes haffling twists of medieval politics. Beatrice was famous in her own day primarily because she was the mother of four queens. This was such a visible and unusual occurrence that it much impressed contemporary chroniclers such as Matthew Paris and the Franciscan Salimbene. Even Dante has a glancing reference to this achievement in tlie Paradise, although he uses it to sing the praises of the count of I'rovence's chief councillor, who is given all tlie credit for tlie great diplomatic successes.' In fact Beatrice was not only the mother of queens hut also exercised considerable influence in the affairs of England and France. Her life has been called "tlie triumph of a handsome and strong-willed woman

over the obscurity of mamage and widowhood, culminating in the attainment of an international position that was the fruit of energy and intelligence, not merely the fruit of the womb."2 The tribute is just, but I would add that for Beatrice, like so many other medieval noblewomen, widowhood did not always have to be a time of obscurity. Her activities in the 20 years she survived her husband give ample proof of her own interests and wide influence. Beatrice of Savoy was one of two daughters and eight sons born to Count Thomas of Savoy and Marguerite of Geneva. Thomas had succeeded to the rule of the county in 1189, when he was about 12, and married Marguerite in 1196. Countess Marguerite was not only a physically strong woman-she had ten children and was at least in her seventies when she died in 1258-she was also a cultured woman well known for her encouragement of the troubadours of her time. Beatrice's father was very able, both as a ruler and a fighter, and used to great advantage the strategic position of his county, which controlled the western passes through the Alps. Good political relations with Savoy were of major importance to popes and emperors, with their dual Italian and German interests, as well as to the ecclesiastical and mercantile interests of France and England. Thomas's sons inherited their father's political skill for maintaining Savoy's interests and continued to raise the family's prestige. In a strategic attempt to link and strengthen the related interests of Savoy and Provence, Beatrice was married in 1219 (when she was about 12) to the fourteen-year-old Raimond-Berenguer, count of Provence. Beatrice never lost her love for Savoy. She always kept close ties with her many brothers, returned to live in Savoy during her last years and was buried there. She used her position as countess of Provence and mother-in-law to kings to further the efforts of her brothers, who successfully sought power and riches in England and France, as well as maintaining their hold on and even extending Savoy. Her husband, Raimond-Berenguer V, was the son of Alfonso 11, younger brother of King Peter of Aragon, and Garsende, heiress to the county of Forcalquier, who can be identified as one of the women troubadour^.^ Alfonso died young in 1209 and King Peter immediately took over the guardianship of his four-year-old nephew and swept him off to Aragon where he was held in the castle of Moncon. Garsende retired to her lands in Forcalquier, while Provence was neglected in King Peter's struggle to maintain Aragonese power and interests against both the Saracens in Spain and the growing

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turmoil in southern France, which was spurred on by the growing influence of the Cathar heresy. The northern French were happy to enrol in a "crusade" against the heretics which promised both spiritual and worldly rewards. King Peter was killed in 1213 at the battle of Muret, the victory which opened Languedoc to penetration by the Capetian kings. Three years later a group of Provencal nobles freed their young count from Aragonese custody and took him back to Provence. His mother then resumed her guardianship until RaimondBerenguer reached his majority at 14 and married Beatrice. I have consciously emphasized the youthfulness of these noblemen and women embarking on marriage and government. We often forget that in the Middle Ages adolescence was almost unknown, for adult life began early. Girls might marry and move to a strange country at 12, and bear children by 15. Boys were serving in arms by 14 and could be ruling, at least formally, between 14 and 20. This oftenoverlooked reality of youthful high spirits helps to explain the medieval exuberance in the royal or noble households which so often displayed boisterous naivete, gusts of temper, opulent display and the popularity of games and jokes we label childish. The authoritative historians of medieval Provence declare that the documents on Raimond-Berenguer's and Beatrice's court describe it as "rollicking with youth,"4 a place where poetry received a warm welcome in a peripatetic forum. Beatrice and Raimond-Berenguer had four daughters but no surviving sons, often a recipe for disaster, but in this case a situation successfully exploited as a diplomatic opportunity. The girls' extremely prestigious marriages were no doubt aided by the fact that they all seem to have been very beautiful, as their mother was, but far more important was the strategic geographical position of Provence, eyed with greed by all its neighbours. The earliest (1234) and most distinguished marriage was that of the eldest daughter, Marguerite, to Louis IX of France, some eight years her senior. The political motivations were clear. Louis' mother, Blanche of Castile, was still a powerful figure in her son's council. She saw the link with Provence as doubly attractive. It was a way to outflank and contain the territorial pretensions of the count of Toulouse, but also Marguerite, as the eldest daughter with no brothers, might well inherit the independent county of Provence. In such a case, Provence would come to France through Marguerite. For the count of Provence, the resulting alliance with the French king meant prestige, but even more important, ongoing support in his expensive

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struggles against the claims of the count of Toulouse, the Aragonese rulers, and the count's own rebellious towns. It also weakened the feudal tie between Provence and the Empire. This French marriage encouraged Henry 111, anxious to counter French expansionist ambitions and dreaming of greater English power in Aquitaine, to marry a younger sister, Eleanor, in 1236. The importance of the Savoyard-Provengal family connection was amply illustrated in the years after Marguerite's marriage. The young bride had been accompanied to her wedding at Sens by two of her Savoy uncles. William of Savoy was bishop-elect of Valence, and the younger brother, Thomas, made his first appearance at the French court on this occasion. William, who was also active in the arrangement of Eleanor's marriage to Henry 111, was until his death in 1239 one of the English king's leading councillors. Thomas appears to have been favourably received by Louis IX and the formidable Queen Blanche, for in 1237 he was proposed by the French ruler as a suitable husband for Jeanne, countess of Flanders in her own right, who had been recently widowed. Queen Blanche had distrusted Jeanne's current suitor, Simon d e Montfort, because he was close to the English king. Thomas of Savoy was a good compromise. Uncle to the queens of both France and England, he paid attention to the real commercial interests of the English as well as the political concerns of the French until the death of Countess Jeanne in 1244. Thomas, pursuing his own territorial ambitions in Piedmont, then married Beatrice d e Fieschi, niece of Pope Innocent IV. As still another example of the complex web of connections arising from marriage, Thomas's brother-in-law was Cardinal Ottobuono, the legate appointed by Pope Clement IV to help in the pacification of England after the Barons' Revolt of 1264-65. Indeed it was Ottobuono who conducted Queen Eleanor, his niece by marriage, back to England in October 1265. The Savoyard influence in England after the death of William continued, for his position as friend and councillor to King Henry was filled by his younger brother, Peter. Peter was knighted and enriched by King Henry, who found him a loyal and effective diplomat and adviser for many years. The death of his nephew in 1263 without heirs required Peter to return to Savoy as its new count. Still another of Countess Beatrice's brothers had been named archbishop of Canterbury as early as 1241. He was heartily disliked and resented at first but before he died in 1270, he had finally gained acceptance and respect.

King Henry's reliance on his Savoyard and Provengal in-laws was particularly heavy in 1242-46, when he mounted his unsuccessful campaign in Poitou and struggled with rebellions in Gascony. The English connection with Provence was reinforced by the marriage of Sanchia, Beatrice's third daughter, in 1243 to Earl Richard of Cornwall, Henry's younger brother. Peter of Savoy had helped to negotiate the marriage and was in high favour at the English court where Henry had knighted him. There are many records of Henry's generosity to his mother-in-law. In January 1241, she was given the town of Manosque in Forcalquier, then held by the prior of St. John of Jerusalem in ~ n g l a n d .Once ~ Sanchia's marriage contract had been arranged in July 1242, further gifts followed. In February 1243, Beatrice and Sanchia, accompanied by Philip, still another of the countesses's brothers, travelled to Bordeaux to meet Henry, and Beatrice profited by the grant of the manor of ~ e c k e n h a m .While ~ there she encountered at the court her mother-in-law Garsende, by her second marriage the mother of Gaston de Bearn, a thorn in the English side. There must have been a notable contrast between the two women-the beautiful Beatrice and Garsende, described by Matthew Paris as a "singularly monstrous woman and prodigiously fat."' Many other royal favours marked Beatrice's trip to England in November as she accompanied Sanchia to her wedding with Richard. The king paid all the expenses of their voyage, ordered English nobles to meet them at Dover, and the citizens of London to decorate the processional route from London Bridge to Westminster where the wedding took place.8 The Christmas and New Year's festivities were marked by further gifts, including a New Year's present to Beatrice of a solid gold eagle set with precious stones, made by Henry's favourite g ~ l d s m i t h . ~The countess used this occasion to appeal to Henry's generosity for a loan of 4000 marks for her husband, who was always short of money. She achieved this by mortgaging Raimond-Berenguer's castles of Uzes, Lauzet, Mende, Forcalquier and Valonne to be held in Henry's name.1° In this season of goodwill and royal generosity, she went so far as to rebuke her son-in-law for his unwillingness to give any lands or goods to his own sister (married to Simon d e Montfort) "when he had given s o much to others to whom he was not as bound as to his sister." At her request, the king, rather grudgingly, gave Simon and his wife Eleanor 500 marks a year." The warm relationship with Henry continued until the death of Beatrice's husband in August 1245. Henry ordered elaborate commemorations for his father-in-law as soon as he heard of his death

(including the feeding of 10 thousand ~oorl*),but trouble arose soon afterward over the terms of Raimond-Berenguer's will. In his will, drawn up in 1238, the count had dowered his wife most generously. She obtained the usufruct of the whole county of Provence, holdings in Forcalquier and Gap, and some castles along the Durance. The real surprise was that he had named his youngest daughter-and at the time of his death the only one unmarriedheiress of the'whole county of Provence. He claimed that this was proper since the older sisters had already received their share in dowries. Marguerite and Eleanor were particularly angry, since their dowries had never been fully paid, and put forward their own claims, but with little success. This turn of events made the rich and beautiful Beatrice a most desirable bride and encouraged several insistent suitors among Provence's neighbours. The tenacious count of Toulouse, who had bid unsuccessfully for Sanchia, now sought her sister, but he was handicapped by the closeness of their kinship, which required a dispensation the pope was unwilling to give. Emperor Frederic I1 dispatched a fleet to try and kidnap the lady for his son Conrad, while the king of Aragon sent an army to push the claim of his own son. In the midst of all this threatening activity the dowager countess, accompanied by her daughter, prudently took refuge in the castle at Aix. She also put both the county and their own persons under the protection of the pope. Meanwhile Emperor Frederic 11, Pope Innocent IV's sworn enemy, had gained allies in Savoy who might be willing to open the Alpine passes to imperial troops anxious to make a show of force against the pope and the council meeting at Lyon. The solution of the knotty problem posed by the marriage of the young Beatrice, with its concomitant possession of the strategic county of Provence, was finally settled by Louis IX, anxious to sweep away any obstacles to peace which might delay the crusade to which he was already vowed. In a parley between Louis IX and the pope at Cluny in November 1245, at which Blanche of Castile was also present, papal approval was given for the marriage of young Beatrice to Charles of Anjou, Louis' youngest brother. Pope Innocent IV was much indebted to Louis for help and protection, and this solution would both ensure French influence in Provence and officially maintain the independence of the county. The pope paid no attention to the vigorous complaints from King Henry and Earl Richard of Cornwall, who felt that their rightful claims had not been recognized. The marriage took place in January 1246 in Provence with several of the bride's Savoyard uncles present.l3

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Charles was both ambitious and tactless after his marriage as he hurried to consolidate his hold on Provence. His officials were sent into the county, highhandedly disregarding the legitimate rights of his mother-in-law, the dowager countess. A time of considerable tension followed. Countess Beatrice felt bound to maintain both King Henry's lawful claim o n the castles in Provence which were both the security for his unrepaid 4000-mark loan to the dead count and the protection of her own inheritance. After two years of acrimonious arguments, Louis pushed Charles of Anjou into making a settlement with their mother-in-law. A tentative compromise was reached in March 1248, followed by a detailed and ferociously argued sentence of arbitration by Cardinal Hugh of Saint-Cher, sealed and signed at Beaucaire '~ was at last achieved and an impatient in early ~ u ~ u s t .Concord Louis IX and Charles embarked at last on the long-planned crusade. The famous family reunion of Beatrice and her daughters in Paris in November and December of 1254, so enthusiastically described by Matthew ~ a r i s , was ' ~ indeed an unparalleled occasion. The royal gathering which brought together the French and English kings and their-wives with the sisters' mother was a remarkable event. Louis had returned safely to France from his crusade. The harsh and pious Blanche of Castile had died in 1252 and no longer inhibited the court festivities. Marguerite and Eleanor met with real joy after 18 years, and Louis and Henry forged family bonds. The dowager countess was surrounded by all her daughters, since both Charles of Anjou and his wife were present at the French court, and Sanchia, having heard in England of the proposed visit, had joined her sisters. To be able to bring together a whole family was exceedingly unusual in the Middle Ages, since daughters married off to distant lords could not count on seeing any member of their families again. Despite the prestige and general goodwill of the meeting there were the normal undercurrents of dissatisfaction and envy common to family reunions. Marguerite was hrious with Charles of Anjou, whom she felt had overlooked her rights in Provence, an opinion Eleanor shared. Sanchia and the young Beatrice resented the higher status of their sisters-a matter which time ultimately remedied. Nevertheless the warmth of the whole occasion underlines a salient feature of the relations between France and England from 1254 to 1270, particularly on King Louis' part. There was a sense of trying to reach accommodations because this was a matter between relatives. The dowager countess, for her part, helped to encourage such an attitude, spending much of her time after Louis' return from crusades at

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or near the French court, but with visits to England as well. The dowager countess was a strong-minded woman where her own rights were concerned, and she had no hesitation pursuing with vigour her complaints against her son-in-law, Charles of Anjou. The peace-loving Louis went far in his efforts to arrange a final settlement between his determined mother-in-law and his greedy and irascible brother. The evidence of the Rkgime du Cops,a regimen of health composed by Beatrice's physician, Aldebrandino, of Siena, suggests that the family gatherings continued. In its introduction the doctor claimed that his inability to accompany the dowager countess on a trip to see her daughters in 1256 was the reason for the book's production.16 We know that in November 1256 Beatrice came to a final agreement with Charles of Anjou which paid her generously to abandon all her claims and holdings in Provence, with the payment guaranteed by King Louis himself. She had already discussed with King Henry the continuing matter of the mortgaged castles, and agreed on their return to Provencal control on terms satisfactory to both her and the English king. A truly final settlement was achieved early in 1257." Beatrice probably remained in France after 1257, though she was actively planning her retreat to Savoy and the refurbishing of her castle of Menuet. She had already ceded the castle at Les Echelles to the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem for the establishment of a new hospital. Three years later she amplified the grant to make sure the hospital received and cared for poor persons. She observed the growing struggle in England between Henry and his barons and was probably at the French court when Eleanor and her brother Peter sought shelter there and were aided by Louis and Marguerite. She was certainly in Arniens supporting Henry against his barons. This was her last family meeting with her daughters, Marguerite and Eleanor, her royal sons-in-law, Louis and Henry, as well as her brother, Peter, and probably Archbishop Boniface. The countess fell ill at Arniens and had to write a hasty will.18 Heeding the warning that her time was running out, she returned to Menuet in her native Savoy where she died on 17 January 1265. A long and detailed codicil to her will provided specifically for the causes most dear to her-the repair of roads and bridges, funds for religious orders, hospitals and almshouses, 'dowries for unmarried girls-as well as proper bequests not only to family and friends, but also to the 67 members of her household with due regard for their status. She chose to be buried in the chapel of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem at Les Echelles which she had founded and to which she left her lands and other irnmoveables.l9

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A statue of Beatrice in the Hospitallers' church in Aix, shows her as a very handsome woman. Even a brief glance at her life suggests that she was not only the beautiful mother of queens but an active and influential participant in the political and cultural life of her time. NOTES 1. Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Paradiso, canto 6, 11.130-43. 2. Eugene L. Cox, The Eagles of Savoy: l%e House of Savoy in l%irteentbCentury Europe (Princeton, 1974), p.454. 3. Meg Bogin, The Women Troubadours (New York, 1980), pp.108-09, 170-73. 4. V.L. BouriIly, and R. Bousquet, La Provence au Moyen Age (Marseille, 1924), p.249. 5. Cal. Patent Rolls Henry 11. 1232-1247(hereafter CPR), p. 243. Matthew Paris, Cbronica Mujora, Rolls Series 57, IV, pp., 85-86. 6. CPR 1232-1247, p.364. 7. Close Rolls Henry II1 (hereafter CR), p.96. Paris, Cbron. Maj., IV, p.230. 8. CR 1242-1247, pp.41, 53. Paris, Cbron. Maj., IV, pp.261, 263. 9. Cal. Liberate Rolls Henry 111 1249-1245(hereafter CLR), p.213. 10. CPR 1232-1247, p.416. Names of the castles in CPR 1247-1258, p.83. 11. Charles Bemont, Simon de Montfort (Paris, 1884), p.335. 12. CLR 1240-1245, p.324. 13. Cox, ~uglesof Savoy, pp.146-53. 14. Treaty in F. Viard, Beatrice de Sauoye (Lyon, 1942), docs. 6 and 7, pp.72-86. 15. Paris, Chron. Maj., V, pp.467-68, 475-82. 16. Rbgime du Corps de Mre Aldebrandino de Sienne, ed. L. Landouzy, et R. Pepin (Paris, 1911, 1978), p.3. 17. Viard, Beatrice, doc. 9, pp.90-105. 18. Viard, Beatrice, docs. 16, 17, pp.129-65. 19. Viard, Beatrice, p.147.

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%be abutation of flebiebal @omen Bebisiteb A DIFFERENT PAITERN FROM THEIR RKOTHERS

t is cheering to note that the growing interest in women's history as a whole also includes the field of women's etlucation. Many rarlier scholars took it for granted-as had most of their medieval forebears-that it was the education of boys and young men which was important and real, and that the education of girls was deficient and uninteresting. However, since the mid-80s much more attention has heen paid to what education was actually given to girls in the Middle Ages. Both male and female scholars have begun to realize that there were indeed medieval ideas about the education of girls and that it is worthwhile to try and find out what they were and how they were put into practice. Nicholas Orme, for example, in his hook, E~zglisl?Scbool.~in theilfiddie~ges(1973).'which passed as the standard account, barely ~nentionededucation for girls, ancl implied that if there was any, it was just a fluke. A decade later his F ~ m n Childhood~o~hitialy,'which deals with the education of English kings and the aristocracy from 1066-1530, recognizes that girls too were educated, though not in the same way as their brothers, and devotes considerable space to this discussion. Peter Dronke has put valuable emphasis on the work of women writers in the Miclclle Ages in his

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series of highly regarded studies on medieval literature, emphasizing the education they must have had to write what they did. These are merely a couple of examples of the fruits of more open-minded scholarship of the late 'eighties produced by highly regarded male scholars. Such work has helped to encourage a continuing exploration of the subject by a number of women scholars. Naturally, such a new f a ~ h ion, which has produced some very good work, has also encouraged some rather trendy studies on the most famous icons in this field, especially Hildegard of Bingen and Christine de Pizan. However, the genuine advances have made it possible for medievalists to have a deeper and more realistic understanding of this truly basic subject. It has always been easier to study schooling for boys, since the education of girls did not follow the same pattern and had far fewer records. Even to discover the fact that there were primary schools for girls in thirteenth century Paris and London requires hard slogging through city tax rolls and records. While universities were growing in power and influence from the thirteenth century on, women were not allowed to enter them. This was true not only for the Middle Ages but for several centuries afterwards, thus making female scholarship a very difficult task only tackled by the occasional exceptional woman. When the rigid class structure of the medieval period, which encouraged education only for the upper classes and aspiring clerics, was added to the conviction of a masculine society that the only really necessary thing for a woman was to be chaste and obedient, there was little pressure for the education of girls. Unlike the possibility of clerical education and patronage for the intelligent lowerclass boy, there was no such avenue of opportunity for the bright lower-class girl. Nunneries were only open to the upper classes, quite often as a respectable alternative to marriage or as a peaceful refuge for widows. In the eleventh and twelfth centuries some convents encouraged nuns with scholarly interests to attain a high level of knowledge, which implied both good teachers and a sizeable library. In fact, the history of the education of girls in the early Middle Ages has to be primarily based on the knowledge of the teaching given to upper-class women, often in convents, which reached the height of their scholarly influence in the twelfth century. By the thirteenth century both noblewomen and townswomen had other opportunities available for their education, both in more extensive education at home and in the primary schools developing in the fastgrowing towns. It continued to be true, however, that what girls were encouraged to learn depended very much on individual decisions

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within families and their willingness to spend time and resources o n the education of their daughters, as well as their sons. Despite these obstacles there was a continuing if rather restricted ideal of education for girls in the Middle Ages, at the least for women of high social status. It is one of the fascinating anomalies in the education of medieval women that the supposedly barbaric Frankish period of the sixth and seventh centuries was much more advanced than originally believed. A study of female hagiography, some of it written by women, is now pushing back our theories about the first appearance of educated medieval women. JoAnn McNamara, already recognized for her work on Frankish women, has recently coauthored Sainted Women of the Dark Ages, which provides a translation of some 17 contemporary biographies of such women, some as well-known as Radegund of Poitiers and Queen Clotild, wife of King Clovis of Gaul, others unknown to all but the specialist^.^ McNamara emphasizes their power and influence as well as the high level of their education, all closely related to their impressive social status. Not only the Continent provides such early female exemplars. The Anglo-Saxon women of the seventh and eighth centuries also provided some remarkable characters. There was the Abbess Hild of Whitby, w h o was an important participant in the synod of Whitby in 664 which imposed the Roman calendar o n the Celtic church. She also fostered the talent of Caedmon, the first English poet in the vernacular. Another such educated and formidable woman was Lioba, correspondent, friend and confidante of Boniface, sent from England to convert the Germans. He insisted that Lioba join him in this missionary endeavour by founding convents for women in ~ e r m a n ~ . ~ The pattern of educated, indeed scholarly, women and women writers continued from the time of Charlemagne to the end of the twelfih century. Dhuoda, a noblewoman of the eighth century, displaying her knowledge of earlier Latin writers in a manual of instruction written for her son, laid emphasis on both the secular and spiritual virtues his status required.5 Hrosvitha, a German canoness of the tenth century, wrote comedies modelled on those of Terence, as well as a life of Emperor Otto 11.~ The twelfth century marked the apogee of the learned and scholarly woman who owed her education to the convent, where the abbess was a respected public figure. This period was marked by a number of woman scholars and authors, best exemplified by Hildegard of Bingen, and the learned Heloise. Hildegard was surely the greatest woman scholar of the Middle Ages. She explored every field of

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knowledge open to her time and created a remarkable number of works revealing her many interests. She is perhaps most famous for her mystical treatises, but she also authored a book of natural science and one on physiology, which are a truly remarkable amalgam of common sense, herbal and classical knowledge, the medieval theory of the humours, and symbolic applications. In addition, Hildegard wrote music and a morality play for her nuns to present, and corresponded with the most important figures of her day, including popes, kings and queens and leading clerics. Heloise, on the other hand, despite her undeniable scholarship and learning, is most famous for her incandescent love affair with Abelard. Their letters, after Abelard's castration and Heloise's entry into a convent, are particularly relevant in their discussion of the level of knowledge nuns might be expected to have and the kind of study that they should undertake.' Abelard felt the daily routine should include generous amounts of time given to individual reading and study but recognized that many of the nuns would not understand Latin. This is a notable difference from Hildegard, all of whose works were written in Latin. By the thirteenth century, education for girls was not limited to convents. The tradition of girls going to convents for some education continued, though the intellectual stimulus nunneries could provide declined rather rapidly. It is fair to say that from the thirteenth century on such education was rather of the "finishing school" typestrong on polite behaviour and ladylike accomplishments but short on serious study. Again, German convents appear to have been more serious than the English or French nunneries. A thirteenth century German monk has a delightful story of two little girls enrolled as students in a Cistercian nunnery. They were both eager students and eager rivals for the top place. When one fell ill she was so worried that her companion might get ahead of her that she tried to keep the prioress from going ahead with the lessons by bribing her with 6d she had begged from her m ~ t h e r .An ~ edifying story, if true! How did the educational pattern of the thirteenth century differ from the earlier model? Certainly the newer religious movements for women, such as the recluses and the beguines, were less active in the education of girls than the earlier convents. It appears that mothers were given a more active role in teaching their children. They had always been responsible for the moral training of the youngest children, both boys and girls, and for introducing them to their prayers and the beginning of reading. Now noblewomen, with the rise of the vernacular, began to read more books and to take a some-

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what more active role in teaching their own daughters. Wills, which become so much more frequent from the thirteenth century on, give considerable evidence of the number of books that were to be found in noble households. They also underline the fact that mothers frequently bequeathed specifically named serious books to their daughters, as well as the ever-present primers which were passed down through the generations. Conscientious noble parents often saw to it that their daughters got some further teaching from a resident chaplain or governess. Although reading was normally emphasized for both boys and girls, there seems to have been much less urgency in teaching girls how to write. One explaination for this is that in the noble educated household there were normally a number of resident clerks to whom letters would be dictated. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the didactic treatise on proper behaviour was a popular literary form and often covered a remarkable range of subjects. The advice tended to differ quite notably, partly in response to the needs of the social class they were addressing, and partly due to the particular biases of their authors. Francesco de Barberino, an Italian who travelled in southern France from 1309 to 1313, wrote a popular treatise in Proven~alfor the instruction of women. He very carefully distinguished the levels of education needed according to social class, and felt that queens and princesses needed to be able to read because of their future responsibilities. The skill would also be useful for noblewomen and the wives of rich merchants, but Barberino was rather dubious about its necessity for the daughters of squires, judges and others of middle rank. He felt it was more important for them to learn to sew and perhaps to cook. As for the daughters of peasants and poor servants in the town, they only needed to know how to fulfil any domestic duties required of them but, unlike their social betters who were enjoined to show sobriety and total self-control, lower-class girls were allowed to laugh, sing, weep and play with complete freedom.9 Other thirteenth century writers were less specific. Vincent of Beauvais, writing for the French queen, emphasized a girl's moral training and thought she should read, but only good books.1° Philip of Novara, 75 and crotchety when he authored his treatise, saw all kinds of evils stemming from girls' learning to read and write, since they might then receive and send messages of love and make assignations. He reluctantly excepted nuns from this general ban. Robert of Blois was far more concerned with etiquette than morals, but it is interesting to note how he describes the accomplishments of the

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heroine in a romance he wrote. She knew the skills of falconry and how to play chess, carried and behaved herself well. She could also read romances and tell stories, sing songs and enjoy herself "as every gentlewoman should know."ll The Knight of La Tour Landry, a minor French noble of the late fourteenth century, wrote to instruct his daughters and was enthusiastic about their learning to read and occupy themselves with books. He obviously expected them to study the book he had compiled for them, but like other cautious advisors, he wanted them to read books of virtue and science, rather than those that dealt with "love fables or other worldly vanities." l2 The book of advice by a bourgeois of Paris, written at the end of the fourteenth century, suggests the more relaxed outlook of the newly important commercial classes, and perhaps the slightly greater freedom of the married woman. The author had a love of books and encouraged his young wife to read the Bible, the Golden Legend, and other books of piety, as well as "diverse other good books in French which I have." l3 None of these treatises suggest any consistent pattern of education for girls, but a fourteenth century lawyer elaborated a fascinating, if theoretical, blueprint for schools for both boys and girls as part of his scheme to recover the Holy Land, lost to the Christians at the end of the thirteenth century. One of his main suggestions was the setting up of a veritable network of separate schools for boys and girls which would teach the subjects useful for such an enterprise. These would be boarding schools, set up on the properties of the Templars and the Hospitallers, and would be free to the students. Those who left, however, or who were successful later in life, were expected to repay their expenses. The ideal was to create an elite of both men and women who would understand the Eastern languages and yet be fully grounded in their own religion, laws and culture, so that they could serve as dissemination points for Western influence. The girls were to be specially trained, with a careful choice of the noblest and most beautiful, as possible wives for important men of the East. The emphasis Dubois puts on the female knowledge of surgery and medicine was intended to make them welcome sources of help and advice to the women in the East who, out of gratitude, might adopt the Christian faith. The course of study for the boys was extensive and wide ranging, the girls' rather less so. However, Dubois did expect the girls to be taught Latin grammar, logic, one foreign language, the fundamentals of natural science and finally surgery and medicine. Logic, natural science and medicine should be reserved

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for those who proved most apt, and should be taught as plainly and easily as possible, "owing to the weakness of their sex." Dubois also envisaged that the most intelligent of such girls, who might be too delicate to be sent overseas but were particularly learned and experienced in medicine and surgery, should be retained to instruct the others.'* He wanted the girls to have practical experience as well as theoretical knowledge before they left school for, unlike the university faculties of medicine in his day, he felt that "in school, rather than afterwards, they can learn more easily and get much experience, without which such theoretical knowledge would be of little use."15 So far as we know, Dubois's scheme, with its practical emphasis on languages, medicine and surgery and a good grasp of the principles of their faith, was never adopted for girls or boys. It remains a fascinating fourteenth century educational dead-end with its emphasis on higher education for women and their aptitude for medicine and surgery-attitudes his contemporaries did not share. Unfortunately, Dubois's exciting vision had as little to do with reality as the moralists' belief that girls who knew how to read would only read moral treatises. Of all women, queens were expected to be well educated in order to fulfil their duties. They had to be both literate and leaders in the cultural life of the court. Because of their high status, they also benefited from the friendship of important and often learned clerics, w h o found it politic to flatter and praise an influential queen. Margaret, wife of King Malcolm of Scotland, was often cited as a model and even canonized. Her intellectual activities were much emphasized by her biographer, who wrote at the request of Margaret's daughter, Matilda, queen of Henry I of England. The author praised Margaret's zeal in taking every free moment to study scripture and to discuss even the most subtle questions with the learned men of her coun "in a way which often fatigued her biographer."16 Margaret insisted on a serious education for all her children, so Matilda was well read in both pagan and Christian literature, as well as being a vigorous and prolix correspondant of some of the outstanding clerics of her day. It is nice to know that Matilda was somewhat less pedantic than her mother, for she asked the author of 7;be Voyage of Saint Brendan to provide an Anglo-Norman version of the original Latin for her ladies and the members of her household who did not know Latin. Since it was a remarkably good story, it proved very popular. l7

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The French and English queens of the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries generally read Latin in their prayerbook, enjoyed both serious and popular works in the vernacular, and graciously accepted various specially written works dedicated to them. They also wrote many letters. Eleanor of Provence, queen of Henry 111 of England, even wrote a verse romance, Blandin de Cornouailles, in the first years of her marriage, and she and her sister Marguerite, the French queen, had an active correspondence. Cultured courts gave an example to their nobles, helping to ensure that a certain level of literacy and culture was considered important for the nobly born. An important factor in raising the level of education in the courts and the noble families was the growing availability of books from the thirteenth century on. It is difficult for us in these days of the ubiquitous paperback to realize just how rare and cherished manuscripts were, and how much knowledge was picked up, even in the lower classes, through the general practice of reading aloud to a group. Even when vernacular manuscripts became more common, and less expensive paper could sometimes be used to replace parchment, one book might be a compendium for all the needs of a household. Some surviving manuscripts suggest what a miscellany one book could contain. There might be recipes, memoranda, treatises on courtesy and dreams, as well as selections of both prose and poetry for entertainment. One strictly practical such miscellany was compiled by a landholder in 1322. Henry de Bray of Northamptonshire wrote for his heirs-in his own hand and in Latin-an estate book which provided not only a list of tenants, copies of charters dealing with his lands and a list of expenses but also a summary description of the world, a more extensive one of England, extracts from the royal records and various matters of local interest.lx There is no question that landholding families, including the wives, needed to have some skill in dealing with the charters which defined their lands and rights as legal challenges became more common, but Henry de Bray's estate book suggests that a fairly extensive education for both boys and girls had become a necessity. Availability of books was encouraged by the growth of the book trade. In northern Europe, this began in Paris near the end of the thirteenth century. Paris had the advantage of possessing a fairly settled royal court as well as having a vigorous and wealthy merchant class and a rapidly expanding university to encourage the book trade. The introduction of paper, the creation of guilds of scriveners dedicated to the copying of manuscripts, as well as the growing number

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of booksellers all extended the availability of books to new buyers. Not only nobles, but also the newly prosperous commercial class, like the Bourgeois of Paris, started to have libraries. Occasionally some incident gives us an inventory of a particular library. In 1306, Earl Guy of Warwick gave some 40 volumes, all in French, to Bordesley Abbey. These included various books of the Bible and some other pious works, romances and histories, a book of medicine and one of surgery, a child's primer, an encyclopedia and "a little red book in which are contained many diverse things." l9 Reading became for some nobles an important part of life. Countess Mahaut of Artois travelled with her books, safely disposed in stout leather bags. When her nephew seized her castle in Hesdin in 1320, he not only took jewels and gold cups, but a chest with 13 French books-a law book, a chronicle of the crusades, lives of the saints, several romances and one of the earliest copies of the Travels of Marco Around 1450 an inventory of the Paston family's books at Caister showed a large library. It was primarily serious, with the Bible, a meditation by St. Bernard, several chronicles, the popular encyclopedia by Bartholomew the Englishman, a book on agriculture and four on astronomy, Ptolemy's Almagest, two works of Aristotle, Justinian's laws, Peter Lombard's Sentences, and-as a little light reading-the Roman de la Rose and a book on King ~ r t h u r .It~is~ interesting to see, even by these few examples, how much book owning had increased since the beginning of the fourteenth century. At least some nobles had become real booklovers and may have followed the example of Duke Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy at the end of the fourteenth century, who had his eyeglasses, in a silver case, attached to his reading desk so that they would not be broken or In the later Middle Ages, education in the upper classes, particularly for girls, was organized by the family, either using their own resources in the household, where the availability of books made a difference, or occasionally using a nearby convent as a safe, if not stimulating environment for a few years before marriage. There were, however, actual schools for girls run by lay people in towns from the thirteenth century on. They were created to meet the growing needs of the new urban population whose girls, as well as boys, needed at least an elementary education in reading, writing and arithmetic in order to take their place in the family business. In the midthirteenth century, Humbert of Romans, the head of the Dominican order which did so much of its work in the towns, laid great emphasis on the importance of such education and the need to instruct girls in

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their faith whenever the opportunity arose. He acknowledged the new access to education for girls by specifying that this instruction should take place either in the schools or, among the rich, in their homes.*3 There is concrete evidence of schools for girls by the end of the thirteenth century. The tax roll of Paris in 1292 listed Typhaine as "mistress of a school." Half a century later we find the first statutes for the small grammar schools of Paris, which were now licensed by the Precentor of Notre Dame. Each master or mistress of such a school had to take an individual oath "to exercise faithfully the office of teaching children, diligently instructing them in letters, good customs and good example." Teachers had to formally request a school each June, and certain types of people were considered ineligible as teachers. These included the proctor of any court or any chaplain or benefice holder, unless they received a dispensation from the Precentor. Only women were to teach girls or men boys, although here too the precentor could dispense. The regulations governing the schools were quite restrictive. Each master and mistress was warned to stay within the limits of their licence, and to exceed neither the numbers and sex allowed nor a set quality of books. The sanction for exceeding the allowable number was the seizure by the precentor for his own use of all the fees paid by the surplus scholars. School teachers appeared to have their own guild under the patronage of St. Nicholas with the usual guild requirements to celebrate his feast. The moral character of the teachers had to be high and there were detailed regulations disallowing payments to get a school, trading one's licence to another or even hiring an extra teacher. No numbers were given in these statutes of 1327, although the implication is of a fairly generous network of small schools with fee-paying students. By 1380, the minutes of an assembly of masters and mistresses held in the precentor's house recorded that there were 43 masters and 21 mistresses of such schools.24 Since Paris put such emphasis on its schools being single sex, it would be interesting to know if the fourteenth century description by Froissart of his early years of coeducational schooling at Valenciennes was a common practice in the smaller cities. It sounds as if the future chronicler had enjoyed himself: And when they put me to school Where the ignorant are schooled There were little girls there

EDUCATION OF MEDIEVAL WOMEN

Who were playmates of my own age; And I, a little boy, I presented them with brooches, With an apple or a pear Or just a little glass ring; And it seemed to me, if the truth be asked, Great prowess to win their ~ a v o u r . ~ ~

Our information about schools for girls in England is much more fragmentary, matter-of-fact, and rather later. In 1390, the school fees for the orphaned daughter of a London chandler were 25s for the five years from 8 to 13, when she was considered grown up and ready to be married. The will of a wealthy London grocer in 1407 left the generous sum of 20s to E. Scolemaystresse. A period of four to five years of schooling may have been the norm, since a London mercer left instructions in his will for his daughter to be sent to school for four years-the same amount of time as her brother. We d o not know what they learned, but Reginald Pecock in the mid-fifteenth century advocated sending girls to school to learn to read English treatises, but felt they could also learn a little Latin. Other English towns probably had schoolmistresses, but they are harder to find. In 1404 Matilda Mareflete, schoolmistress, was a member of the Corpus Christi guild in Boston, and we can reasonably presume she ran a school for girls.26 It is clear that by the fifteenth century, the various possibilities for the education of medieval girls had become considerably more visible and somewhat more organized. The extremely articulate Christine d e Pizan, who wrote so extensively for and about women, always admits her gratitude that her father had given her such a wide education. Since her father was the doctor, as well as astrologer, of King Charles V of France, Christine also benefited from access to a most highly cultured court. Certainly there was no question in Christine's mind that women above the peasant and servant class should be taught to read, and that all children in towns should be sent to school. She also took for granted that the children of the rich and powerful would be taught at home by well-chosen tutors or governesses. It is interesting that despite her own wide reading, Christine warned mothers to be very careful of the books their daughters were allowed to read. She felt that a prudent mother should only provide books of devotion or on good behaviour and should not tolerate those containing "any vain things, follies or dissipation" since they might lead the young girl astray.27

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This quick look at some educated medieval women and our relatively little knowledge about the scholastic methods and available materials in the schools that trained them suggests the still limited state of our knowledge. The result is further questions rather than firm answers. A few things seem clear. The level of education for girls was lower than that for boys, since there was no structured system through which the bright and bookishly inclined girl could expect to further her education. There were, as we have seen, some learned women, and quite a number with intellectual interests, but it is fair to say that they generally owed their education primarily to the good fortune of having been born into a noble or rich cultivated house- . hold, or to the advantage of life in a convent with educated nuns and a well-stocked library. Since many medieval women married very young by our standards, the influence of an educated husband might also awaken a young wife's nascent curiosity and interest in books, as the Mitnagier d e Paris obviously hoped. The education of medieval women continues to be a fruitful subject for detailed research, since s o many major questions are still unanswered. We can hope that a new generation of researchers will probe further into the specific details of how girls of various classes were actually educated and thus provide a more complete and nuanced picture. NOTES 1. N. Orme, English Schools in the Middle Ages (London, 1973, pp.52-55. 2. N. Orme, From Childhood to Chivalry (London, 1984), pp.106-09, 212-13, and passim. 3. JoAnn McNamara, Sainted Women of the Dark Ages (Duke University Press, 1992). 4. "Life of Lioba," in n e Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, ed. C.H. Talbot (London, 1954), pp.205-26. 5. Dhuoda, Manuelpour monfils, ed. P. Riche, Sources chretiennes 225 (Paris, 1975). 6. K.M.Wilson, "The Saxon Cannoness of Gandersheim," Medieval Women Writers, ed. K.M. Wilson (Athens GA, 1984), pp.53-60. 7. Letters of Abelard and Heloise, ed. and trans. B. Radice (London, 1974). 8. Cesarius of Heisterbach, Dialogue on Miracles, tr-ans. H. von E. Scott, and C.C. Swinton Bland (London, 1929), I, pp.49-53. 9. Francesco da Barberino, Def Reaimento e constumi de Donna, summarized in A.A. Hentsch, De la littkature didactique de Moyen Age s'addressant spt2ciulement aux femmes (Cahors, 1903; Geneva, 1975)) pp. 104-07.

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10. Vincent of Beauvais, De Eruditione Filiorum Nobilium, ed. A. Steiner (Cambridge MA, 1938), pp. 176-81. 11. C.V. Langlois, L a Vie en France au Moyen Age ... d 'apres les moralistes du temps (Paris, 1925), pp. 195-96, 214-35. 12. 7Be Book of the Knight of La Tour-Landy, ed. G.S. Taylor (London, n.d.), p.171. 13. n e Goodman of Paris, ed. and trans. E. Power (London, 1928), p.93. 14. P. Dubois, n e Recovery of the Holy land, trans. with intro. and notes by W.I. Brandt (New York, 1956). 15. Dubois, Recozney, pp.138-39. 16. "Vita S. Margarita," in Symeon of Durham, Opera et Collectanea, Surtees Society 51 (1868). 17. M.D. Legge, Anglo-Norman Literature and Its Background (Cambridge, 1963), pp.8-11. 18. Estate Book of Hen y de Bray, ed. D. Willis, Camden Society 3rd Series, (London, 1916), XXVII. 19. M. Blaess, "L'abbaye d e Bordesley et les livres d e Guy d e Beauchamp," Romania 78 (1957), pp.511-18. 20. C. Dehaisnes, Documents et extraits concernant I'histoire de I'art dans la Flandre, I'Artois et le Hainaut avant le X V si2cle (Lille, 1886) p.236. 21. Historical Manuscripts Commission, 8th Report and appendix (1881) p.268. 22. P. Peigniot, Catalogue d'une partie des livres composant lu biblioth2que des ducs de Bourgogne au X V secle, 2nd ed. (Dijon, 1841), p.32. 23. Quoted in B. Jarrett, Socidli75eories of the Middle Ages, 1200-1500 (Westminster MD, 1942), pp.87-88. 24. M. Felibien et G.A. Lobineau, Histoire de la ville de Paris (Paris, 1725), pp.447-49; text of licence for a schoolmistress in 1484 in C. Jourdan, "Memoire sur l'education des femmes au Moyen Age," Excursions historiques etphilosophiques b travers le Moyen Age (Paris, 1886; Frankfurt, 1966), p.495. 25. Froissart, "L'espinasse amoureuse," 11.35-44; trans. in D. Gardiner, English Girlhood at School (London, 19291, p.38. 26. S. Thrupp, The Merchant Class ofMedieva2 London (Ann Arbour, 1962), p.171; S. Thrupp, "Aliens In and Around London in the Fifteenth Century," Studies in London History presented to Philip EdmundJones, ed. A.E.J. Hollaender, and W. Kellaway (London, 1969), p.269; VCH London 2, pp.450-51. 27. Christine d e Pizan, me Treasure of the City of Ladies, trans. S. Lawson (London, 1985), pp.168, 67, 68.

I01

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Q

he ways in which women exercised power in the Middle Ages has been increasingly explored over the last few years. Its fascination for historians arises from the fact that the general legal, philosophical and theological opinion of the medieval centuries united in theoretically denying to women the right to exercise public power, although it was recognized that in reality noblewomen and queens could often be very influential indeed-a fact often bemoaned by disapproving chroniclers. Barbara Hanawalt suggests, in writing of the sixteenth century Lady Honor Lisle, the ways in which power might be applied by such a woman and pass unnoticed by chroniclers or political histories. She could, and did, use her influence and act as a patron in order "to place people in offices, resolve lawsuits, or form marriages."' Such interventions were commonplace at rhe higher levels of society all during the Middle Ages and were quite consonant with the accepted dichotomy: women could exercise private power and influence but were shut off from all public power. However, there were some cases in which medieval queens and noblewomen were not only influential but personally powerful. As scholars have begun to investigate more closely what medieval women were actually doing, it has become obvious it was not only a queen, named as regent for an under-age heir to the throne, who exercised power. Other important noblewomen, such as heiresses to counties in

their own right, or those appointed regents on the death or absence of their husbands, ruled actively and were seen as doing so legitimately. Three women embody this reality particularly well: the twelfth century Adela, countess of Blois; the thirteenth century Isabella d e Fortibus, widowed countess of Aumale, and countess of Devon by inheritance; the fourteenth century Mahaut of Artois, countess of Artois after her father's death and regent countess of Burgundy on the death of her husband the count. These women illustrate the various circumstances which might propel noblewomen into becoming legitimate and recognized ruling figures and also illustrate their different ways of using their power. The common factor was the early death of the husband, leaving young children, s o that the widow became guardian of the lands and resources, and, if a major fief was involved, regent. Widowhood also added to a woman's personal riches since her dower was normally one third of her husband's lands and rents. As well, his death returned to his wife her personal power over any inheritance or dowry which she had brought to the marriage; if that had included a county because of lack of male heirs, she as countess legitimately exercised rule and enjoyed its revenues so long as she did not remarry. Our three exemplars demonstrate that a strong woman, with sufficient resources and support, could carve out a satisfactory life as a widow. They also remind us of medieval family patterns that are sometimes overlooked. Kings and noblemen were frequently absent for long periods of time, whether on crusade, wars, pilgrimage, at court or on diplomatic errands. The stay-at-home wife was expected, with the help of officials and knights, to maintain the good governance of the lordship during the husband's absence. As well, these important active men were often killed at quite a young age-in battle or on crusade, but also in tournaments, while hunting or even from the perils of travel. Medieval noblewomen, when absence, death or underage heirs required them to, acted as head of the family and protected its interests. Many wielded their power effectively. The work of Queen Blanche of Castile as regent of France is well known. The choice by Louis VIII in his will of his wife as regent, and the renewal of that mandate when Louis IX left on crusade, was copied by other nobles and implies considerable confidence in the woman's abilities. Adela of Blois was one of several daughters of William the Conqueror and his wife Matilda. The women of the family seem to have shared the energy and ruling ability of their father. Adela was married to Stephen, count of Blois-Chartres, in 1080, probably when she

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was very young. He was an easygoing man, who was easily manipulated by a dominating and ambitious wife. As close and wealthy neighbours of the French court, the counts of Blois in the eleventh and early twelfth centuries had exercised a low-key but effective lordship and had an extensive network of alliances over the miscellany of territories which made up their demesne. Of Adela's six surviving children, four sons and two daughters, no son was yet of age when Stephen died in 1102. As was so often the case for noble wives in those days, Adela's husband was frequently away. In Count Stephen's case it was the crusade that called. In 1096, having left Adela as regent of the county, in addition to her responsibility for the children, Stephen set off with the fourth army forming part of the First Crusade, which was jointly commanded by Stephen, his brother-in-law, Duke Robert of Normandy, and the count of Flanders. When describing this motley group, the great historian of the crusades, Sir Steven Runciman, tartly remarks that Stephen had no personal desire to go on crusade, but after his marriage to Adela "in their household it was she who made the decis i o n ~ . "While ~ on crusade, the count wrote to his wife in a tone which suggests his character and his expectations. On 29 March, 1098, he reported that he was healthy and safe and in the greatest prosperity. He ended on a rather didactic note: "1 strongly advise you to act firmly, to watch with care over my lands, to do your duty duly as it should be done to our children and vassals. You will see me as soon as I can return to you. ~ d i e u . " 3 Count Stephen's voluminous letters to his wife are unusual and provide many sidelights on the places and people he encountered. Never an enthusiastic crusader, he left the army besieging Antioch in May 1098, at a time when the capture of the city seemed almost impossible against the strong Moorish resistance. His timing was incredibly poor. What the unhappy Stephen had thought was a prudent way to avoid massacre his fellow crusaders regarded as a cowardly flight which smirched his reputation-and infuriated his warlike wife. In fact, the day after the count's departure the Norman knight, Bohemond, aided by a turncoat within the city, successfully captured Antioch and held it proudly. Stephen arrived home to be met by a wife who felt personally demeaned by her husband's lack of military prowess and loss of reputation. The dishonour was more than the haughty Adela could bear, and she seems to have spent the time after his return in goading him into another crusading adventure to prove his bravery. Orderic Vitalis,

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the Norman chronicler, describes how Adela used the privacy of their bed-chamber to intersperse "conjugal caresses" with appeals to her reluctant husband to return to the fight. Finally worn down by wifely nagging and curtain lectures, Count Stephen again departed on crusade in 1101. He reached Jerusalem, but died soon after fighting bravely in a minor ~kirrnish.~ It is obvious that Adela was the dominating partner in that marriage. She was also a formidable regent, both in her husband's absence and after his death, when her sons were not yet of age. Her talents were many. She supervised the education of her sons, who included the future King Stephen of England and Henry of Blois, the powerful bishop of Winchester. In public affairs she introduced to the governance of Blois some of the Norman and English administrative advances, such as the development of a chancery and firm enforcement of justice. Politically she worked closely with her brother, King Henry I, although the alliance better served his interests in Normandy than hers in Blois. Adela also added considerably to the prestige of her county by the splendour of her court and her friendly connections with some of the greatest scholars and clerics of her day. Her correspondence with Hildebert of Lavardin, scholar, poet and bishop of Tours, brought her good advice and praises for her prudent government in letters which were buttressed with quotations from Seneca. She corresponded with the great canonist, Ivo of Chartres, and in 1103 even entertained Pope Pascal I1 in her own palace at Chartres when the pope was spending Easter with Bishop Ivo. Baudri de Bourgueil, monk and poet, sought her favour in a long, flattering poem designed to show off his own classical knowledge and compliment hers. In a long and rather tedious poetic exercise, he depicted her chamber as a marvellously decorated room hung with rich tapestries, the richest of which depicted the battle of Hastings where her father's reputation and fortune had been made. All of this appears to have been rather cumbersomely borrowed from the classics in the hope that it would persuade her to help him to a bishopric, or at least provide him with a personally embroidered cope.5 As her sons grew to majority, Countess Adela was influenced by the religious reformers of her time and began to contemplate the suitability of retiring to a religious life. Her decision was influenced and encouraged by advice from Archbishop Thurstan of York when he paid a visit to her court. In 1120 when she decided to lay aside her secular concerns and enter the severe and aristocratic convent of

Marcigny, it was Thurstan who accompanied her. She died there in 1137. Orderic Vitalis suggested she wished to d o penance for her previously luxurious life,6 but it would seem more consonant with Adela's character and the spirit of her time that she shared a common conviction that when one's secular responsibilities had been completed with dignity, then it was proper to pay total attention to the needs of the soul. Both her striking exercise and abdication of power conformed to the model of her time. Isabella d e Fortibus was less easily visible and, from the evidence, less cultured than Adela of Blois. In the thirteenth century, particularly during the troubled years of the baronial revolt, few English noblewomen had much leisure for concern with arts and letters, as compared to their contemporaries in France. Isabella's most notable attribute was her great wealth, for she was the richest woman in England and one of the wealthiest of all the barons. Most of her energies seem to have been spent on upholding her claims to a bewildering variety of lands and rents and avoiding unwelcome and importunate suitors. Such a wealthy young widow was quite naturally a favourite target. It seems appropriate that we gain most of our information about Isabella from the records of her many legal struggles in the courts and of the highly organized structure of her finances. Isabella was born in 1237, the daughter of Baldwin d e Redvers, earl of Devon, and his wife Amice, a daughter of Gilbert de Clare, earl of Gloucester. Isabella's father died when she was 8 and her only brother succeeded to the earldom. Isabella married (by 1252) William d e Forz, the count of Aumale. She had three sons and two daughters, though she was to survive all of them by almost 20 years. Her husband's French holdings, from which he drew his title, had been seized by Philip Augustus in 1204 but he was also lord of Holderness (Yorkshire) with extensive lands there.' After Count William's death in 1260, Isabella, her children and her mother lived together for a few years at Burstwick, the administrative centre of the estate, expanding their holdings in Holderness and sharing the rents and revenues. When Earl Baldwin, Isabella's brother, died without issue in 1262, Isabella became coutess of Devon with a further large inheritance of land, including the whole of the Isle of Wight. Since Isabella had dower rights in Holderness while both her mother (d.1284) and her sister-in-law, Margaret of Savoy (d.1292), had dower rights in the Devon inheritance, the opportunity for disputes over the three women's conflicting rights was very great. Such women were not reluctant to use the courts for their own purposes, and litigation was often prolonged. Court rolls report some of these cases.8

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After her brother's death Isabella spent most of her time in the south and made Carisbrooke Castle her normal headquarters. She appears to have been a supporter of Simon de Montfort, for she spent three days in April 1265 with the countess of Leicester at Odiham, and letters passed between them in M ~ Y It. ~is odd that in 1267 Isabella was to be found in court claiming that she had been seditiously sold for 500 marks to Simon the Younger, who had pursued her with horses and arms seeking to abduct her. She claimed that when she took shelter in the family priory of Breamore she was threatened until she provided the priory with a charter confirming her father's gift of the manor of Lymington. She succeeded in winning her case against the priory in court and regaining her charter, apparently the real reason for the case.1° Isabella's longest-running legal case was the one brought against her mother and sister-in-law before the barons of the Exchequer in 1267, claiming that Amice had unlawfully detained issues owed to Isabella to the extent of A3950 and owed damages of &I000 for the years they had lived together in Holderness. The quarrel was bitter because in 1267 Isabella and her mother and sister-in-law were political adversaries. Amice and Margaret were vigorous royal supporters, encouraged by Luke d e Tany, the castellan of neighbouring Knaresborough, while Isabella's officials, also baronial supporters, deprived Arnice of her fair share after Evesham. The case dragged on with numerous postponements as each side jockeyed to have its particular supporters on the council present on the appointed day. Not until Easter 1274 did Isabella and her mother appear at the Exchequer to be formally reconciled, each renouncing her claims and agreeing to remit the "contentions, angers and rancours which were between them." Formal courtesy was reestablished but they did not live together again. By the time the case was settled, the holdings of Isabella were of prime interest to King Edward. Her son Thomas had died in 1269 without issue, and her only remaining child, the ten-year-old Aveline had immediately been married to King Henry's younger son, Edmund, to safeguard the royal interests in the Isle of Wight, so necessary for the defence of the southeast coast. Aveline died childless within five years, leaving the fate of the Devonshire lands a legitimate royal concern. Isabella did not feel obligated to her nearest heir-a Courtenay cousin 40 years younger than she who was so remotely related they could legally marry. She was willing to reach an agreement with King Edward, but even in 1293 the king was in no hurry, feeling it could

be settled after her return from Canterbury. This was a miscalculation, Isabella fell seriously ill before reaching London, and Walter Langton, the royal treasurer, had to rush to Stockwell to conclude the matter. The countess was so weak and the matter so pressing that Langton sat in the garden and personally wrote out the charter which conveyed the Isle to the king at a cost of &4,000. It was literally a deathbed settlement, read to Isabella so she could signify her approval, but the countess was so weak that her most trusted and long-serving damsel, Agnes de Monceaux, had to affix her mistress's seal.12 We know almost nothing personal about Isabella, and she was very much alone by the time she died. Agnes d e Monceaux, who had been part of her household for nearly 30 years and was at her deathbed, was perhaps closest to her. We know Isabella was shrewd and litigious. She was aided by extraordinarily able and ambitious officials. The most famous was Adam d e Stretton who has been described as "the greatest and probably most unscrupulous of thirteenth century m0ne~lenders."~3 She participated in the rapid growth of more sophisticated administration of the medieval household and certainly exacted as fully as possible the payment of all revenues due to her. The third example of a powerful noblewoman, Mahaut d'Artois, was a remarkably resilient and active figure who exploited her advantages of inheritance and social position with great success. Her grandfather had been St. Louis' brother, and received Artois as his apanage in the will of Louis VIII. He went on crusade with Louis in 1248 and died in Egypt in a rashly courageous but disastrous skirmish.14 Mahaut's father, and later her brother continued to fight loyally, not only for Saint Louis but also for his son Philip I11 and Philip the Fair. The date of Mahaut's birth is not known, but she was married in 1285, probably quite young, to Count Othon of Burgundy, a much older man whose judgment was less highly regarded than his bravery. Mahaut's brother died in 1297, her father in 1302, and her husband a year later, leaving her a considerable heiress. She inherited the county of Artois and also served as regent of the county of Burgundy for her five-year-old son. Her links with the royal family were further strengthened by the marriage of both her daughters, Jeanne and Blanche, to Philip and Charles, the second and third sons of Philip the Fair, in 1307 and 1308 respectively. None of this guaranteed her a peaceful rule over Artois or an untroubled relationship with the royal family to which she was s o closely linked.15 The period between 1314 and 1320 was particularly difficult for Mahaut. Her nephew contested her right to Artois over several years

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and used the revolts in 1314 to launch heavy attacks on the county, even in 1316 capturing and sacking her major castle of Hesdin. She needed the help of royal troops to repel these invasions and reassert her position as countess. As well, in 1314 the French court was rocked by a scandal which involved both her daughters. Philip the Fair had all three of his daughters-in-law arrested for misbehaviour. Blanche and the wife of the heir to the throne were accused of adulterous relations with two knights of the royal household, while Jeanne was accused of having known of the affairs but kept silent. An inquest cleared Jeanne and returned her to her husband, but Blanche, Mahaut's younger daughter, was found guilty of adultery and imprisoned in the gloomy fortress of Chateau-Gaillard. It was only after some years of imprisonment, and when Charles had succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother, that royal officials were encouraged to use the loophole available to free him from his erring wife, and allow him to marry again. According to canon law, since Blanche's husband was also his mother-in-law's godson, his marriage was invalid and could be annulled. Blanche was then freed from ChateauGaillard and allowed to become a nun at Maubuisson, the strict Cistercian abbey popular in royal circles. Louis IX's pious mother, Blanche of Castile, had gone there to die, and Mahaut herself was to be buried there only a few years after her daughter's death. Mahaut was involved in a further scandal in 1317 when she was charged with having poisoned Louis X so as to accelerate the accession of King Philip and her daughter Jeanne as queen. A full inquest came to a decision agreed to by the more important members of the royal family, including Queen Clemence, the widow of the supposedly murdered Louis X, and found Mahaut innocent.16 In 1319 Mahaut was again required to defend herself in King Philip's court when her nephew tried for the last time to have his claim to Artois recognized. It was a bitter struggle, and Mahaut adopted, somewhat incongruously, the pathetic demeanour of the poor widow hounded by hardhearted officials, and loudly appealed to the king. The royal self-interest in the ultimate acquisition of Artois though its inheritance by Queen Jeanne may well have been more persuasive than Mahaut's histrionics in confirming once and for all her indisputable possession of ~rt0is.l' Charles Wood has recently described another contemporary accusation against Mahaut arising from the death of Louis X. He cites a 1354 charter of Cola di Rienzi, which claimed that Mahaut, having been named godmother and guardian of the newborn King John, Louis' posthumous son, was responsible for the five-day-old king's

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death. According to Rienzi's charter, another baby had been substituted for the royal infant s o the real king survived to be brought up anonymously in Siena and became a merchant banker there. After the French defeat at Poitiers and John 11's captivity in England, the fatal secret was made known to the Sienese banker who endeavoured to push his claim to the throne, but was never taken seriously by the ~rench.'" Charles, the husband of the disgraced Blanche, held a grudge against his mother-in-law. It seems likely that it was he who had encouraged the poisoning accusation of 1317, and as soon as he became king in 1322 (for Philip V too died without issue), when he had succeeded in having his marriage with Blanche annulled, he presented his former mother-in-law with a bill for 770,000 livres tournois. Her immediate response was an itemized list of the moneys Charles owed her which came to almost the same amount. She also reminded him that, since his marriage to Blanche had been annulled, he had to return Blanche's dowry of 200,000 liures. Charles did not pursue the subject, but in 1329, soon after his accession, Philip VI (younger brother of Philip the Fair and first of the Valois kings) presented her with an even higher bill. Mahaut, still unintimidated, responded with an equally detailed bill of what she was owed and proved an excellent, tough negotiator. In the end, both sides agreed that the matters between Mahaut and the king were obscure and now long past. It seemed time to drop these mutual claims. In April 1329, the agreement was finally officially notarized and the family squabbles put aside.19 By the end of November, Mahaut was dead, but she had skilfully maintained her freedom of action and her position to the end-and also managed to die debt-free. Despite the scandals and family tragedies that clouded so much of her life, Mahaut had a very active part in the governing of Artois. She was firm handed and severe with recalcitrant vassals. She named and paid her own baillis in Artois (agents in charge of administration and justice), making their own goods, and their heirs, liable for any misdeeds. These men were recruited from the ranks of the lower nobility and the bourgeoisie, who answered both to the receivergeneral for their accounts and to the countess and her council for their administration. Thierry dYHiregon,ultimately bishop of Arras, was Mahaut's chancellor, long-time official and friend. It is an interesting footnote to the many interests of these medieval people that Thierry was so taken by the copy of Marco Polo's Travels which the countess had had copied in Paris, that he immediately ordered another for himself.*O

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Even this rather cursory account of these women's activities displays, especially for Isabella de Fortibus and Mahaut d'Artois that, despite their high status, the exercise of power was often difficult, but was pursued with single-mindedness. In the case of Mahaut, there is also considerable information, since her household accounts have survived, about how she actually lived and where she found her pleasures. She lived in a relatively restrained style with only about 40 persons in her household. Her primary home was the H6tel d'Artois in Paris, though she also spent much of her time on the road, and most of her household went with her. Some of the necessary supplies, such as beds, were left in the frequently visited castles at Hesdin and Arras. She had quite a substantial library, and took many of her books on her travels carefully packed in leather bags. After the death of her only son in 1317, she no longer bought romances but only books of piety.21 Another facet of Mahaut's character visible in her accounts is her genuine and practical concern for the poor in her lands. The medieval principle, which was firmly preached, was that noble blood required a suitable care and generosity toward the less fortunate. Mahaut's charity was extensive and intensely practical. Especially in Artois she made general distributions among the county's charitable institutions, but also maintained personal supervision over the 500 livres she gave annually to the poor for clothes and shoes. She insisted both that the distribution should take place before November 1 to anticipate the bad weather and that the same persons should not be favoured two years in a row, since she felt clothes and shoes should last longer than that. She founded several hospitals in Artois and put her own stamp on the way they were built and on the statutes by which they were run. Her practical generosity and concern for the old and the sick in her household was as important a part of her character as her determined upholding of all of her own rights, for which she fought almost literally to her death. As a final practical charity she left 1000 livresin her will to provide dowries for poor girls in Artois who would otherwise be unable to marry. Even in brief summary, the activities of these three noblewomen provide an interesting glimpse of the different ways in which such privileged women proved skilful in using the instruments of power their circumstances provided: both political power and the consolidation of wealth through the legal system. Like their male contemporaries, they relished power and used it effectively, but it is worth noting that they were, on the whole, more heavily influenced by the predominant religious and cultural currents of their time.

NOTES Barbara Hanawalt, "Lady Honor Lisle's Networks and Influence," in Women a n d Power in the Middle Ages, ed. M. Erler, and M. Kowalski (University of Georgia Press, Athens and London, 1988), p.188. S. Runciman, A Hfstory of the Cwades, 3 301s. (Penguin, 1951), I, p.165. Quoted in R. Pernoud, La femme a u temps des cathidrales (Paris, 1980), p.218. Runciman, Crusa&s, I, pp.232-33, 240-4 1; 11, pp.20-24. Orderic Vitalis, Ecclesiastical History, trans. and ed. M. Chibnall (Oxford, 19721, V, p.325. Jaques Delarun, "The Clerical Gaze," in A History of Women in the West, N Silences of the Middle Ages, ed. Christine Klapisch-Zuber (Haward University Press, Cambridge MA, 1992), pp. 15-42. Orderic Vitalis, History, VI pp.42-45. Oeuvrespoetiques de Baudride Bourgueil(l046-1130), ed. P. Abrahams (Paris, 1926), pp.196-231, 253-55. Orderic Vitalis, Hfstoty, VI, pp.44-45. Complete Peerage, I, pp.355-56. N. Denholm-Young, "The Yorkshire Estates of Isabella de Fortibus," ~orkshire~rchaeologicalJournal31(193I), pp.389-420. Seltct Cases of the Exchequer of Pleas, ed. H. Jenkinson, and B. Farmoy, Selden society 34 (1932) pp.58-60. Manners a n d Household Expenses of England in the i%irteenth a n d Fifteenth Centuries, ed. H.T. Tanner, intro. B. Botfield (Roxburghe Club, 1841), pp.15-16, 31-33. VCH Hampshire IV, p.645. Denholm-Young, "Yorkshire Estates," pp.410-15. Select Cases, pp.58-60. N. Denholm-Young, "Edward I and the Sale of the Isle of Wight," English Historical Reuiew 44 (1929), pp.433-38. N. Denholm-Young, Seignorial Administration in England (Oxford, 19371, p.62. Layettes d u Trisor des Chartes, 5 vols. (1866-1902), 1, no. 1546; 11, no. 1710. Joinville, Lve of Saint Louis, trans. R. Hague (London, 1955), nos. 218-19. The most complete account of Mahaut is J.M. Richard, Unepetitenigce de Saint Louis: Mahaut, comtesse d'tlrtoise et de Bourgogne, 1302-29(Paris, 1887). Godefroy-Menilgaise, Mimoires & la sociitk des antiquaires de France 28 (1865) gives the documents which are summed up in P. Lehugeur, Histoire de Philippe le Long, roi de France (1316-22) (Paris, 1877, 1975), pp. 168-78. C.T. Wood, "Where is John the Posthumous, or Mahaut d'crtois Settles her Royal Debts," in Documenting the Past, ed. A.S. Hamilton and P.J. Bradley (Boydell Press, 19891, pp.99-105. Wood, "Royal Debts," pp. 106-17. Richard, Mahaut, pp.40-47, 17.

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20. C . Dehaisnes, Documents et wtraifs concernant l'bistoire de l'art dans la Flanclre, l'Artois et le Hainaut avant le X V sizcle (Lille, 1886) pp.207, 272, 276. Richard, Mahaut, pp.99-105. 21. Richard, Mahaut, pp.89-98.

Bs'pects' of Culture: flebiebal anb flobern

THE SCHOLAR AND HER SOCIETY by N.E.S. Griffiths

THE CULTURAL TRADITION O F CANADIAN WOMEN: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND STAINED GLASS: A REFLECTION O F THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY PASSION FOR LIGHT MEDIEVAL TRAVEL AND TRAVELLERS: THE VOYAGE PROM PIETAS T O CURIOSTAS

THE SCHOLAR AND HER SOCIETY N.E.S Griffiths

n the essays brought together in this section Mrs. Labarge responded to three very different demands: from a Royal Commission; from those organizing a cultural event in her home town; and from colleagues within her own professional field. What these pieces have in common is the accomplished synthesis of a broad sweep of both time and theme: all cover a number of centuries and present a clear pathway through thickly forested landscapes, giving the reader a way to come to grips with complex issues. At no point does Mrs. Labarge make the error of confusing ignorance with stupidity. The Royal Commission on the Status of Women in Canada was established by a minute of the Privy Council on February 16, 1967. Its task was to "inquire into and report on the status of women in Canada and to recommend what steps might be taken by the Federal government to ensure for women equal opportunities with men in all aspects of Canadian society." It reported in 1970, and it is arguable that its work was the most important single event for Canadian women in late twentieth century Canada in terms of public awareness of the prejudice that confronted women in many areas of their lives. The commission given to Mrs. Labarge arose because the commissioners understood that the phrases "history shows" and "history proves" had and have immense power and influence in public argument. Further, the commissioners were well aware that it is not always what has happened in history that has been the most powerful influence at any given time on public debate, but what people

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consider has happened. Mrs. Labarge was asked, therefore, to present the cultural heritage of Canadian women, encapsulating Western history from the Greeks to the mid-twentieth century-in less than fifteen thousand words. Her essay trod the delicate path between too much emphasis on the difficulties women have faced from prejudice and misogyny and too great rejoicing about the achievements of exceptional individuals. The long view of the place of women in the traditions of Western society, which is the core of this essay, provides contemporary women with the knowledge that history includes their experiences much as it does that of the male. In 1986 Mrs. Labarge returned to the theme of the general cultural assumptions of medieval Europe, which she had addressed in her monograph Court, Church a n d Castle, and in a lecture given as part of a series organized by the National Gallery. In it she presents an overview of what has been called "the age of the coloured wall of glass," the thirteenth century. The perspective Mrs. Labarge chose was the importance of light, as a theological, philosophical and scientific topic during the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The use of the stained glass window as a text and a method of instruction as well as an aesthetic delight is explored in the context of who the patrons of art were. The essay gains considerable strength from the way in which Mrs. Labarge conveys the place of light at a time when the naked flame was the sole means of combating the dark. The last essay in this section is the address delivered to the infant Canadian Society of Medievalists in Montreal in 1995. Surprisingly, although medieval studies are widespread in Canada and those carried out in Toronto, especially, have an international reputation, no country-wide association of medievalists existed until the 1990s. In the fall of 1992 some medievalists in the English Department at the University of Western Ontario decided to fill the obvious gap. An enthusiastic group spearheaded by Jane Toswell of the University of Western Ontario succeeded in gathering both members from across the country and seed money from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council to stage a session at the Learned Societies meeting of 1993 at Carleton University. The annual meeting of "the Learned Societies" is a peculiarly Canadian institution. It is a term given to the coming together, once a year, of the major scholarly organizations of the country, and takes place from late May to mid-June at different universities. The practice began in the 1930s, and 60 years later roughly 70 disciplines join in the gathering. It is the occasion for a meeting of scholars in particular

fields to hear papers on the latest research, to renew contacts, to assess each others' ideas and share common concerns. By 1993, the fledgling Canadian Society of Medievalists had over two hundred members, and the organizing committee, in drawing up the first slate of officers, asked Mrs. Labarge to serve as its first president, since she was felt to have not only a national but also an international reputation. She spent her year in office solidifying the new society and trying to make sure that the 1994 session at the Calgary Learneds represented the breadth and bilingual nature of medieval studies in Canada. In 1995 she was asked to give the opening plenary address to the meeting of the association at the Learneds, held that year in Montreal. The presidential address is, once more, a work of synthesis and of meticulous observation. Its theme is the way in which medieval culture came to terms with the questioning of the physical world in which it existed, the root for the development of what was to be modern science. It is a fine example of the combination of art and method-the art of imagination and the method of careful analysis of factual data, which is the hallmark of good history. The reader is given a clear sense of the world of medieval Europe, of the ways in which common assumptions about the meaning of life, the demands of day-to-day politics and the technological level of the economy came together into the mental landscape of medieval men and women. By using the reality of travel, actual and imaginary, Mrs. Labarge has made an esoteric subject-the pattern of medieval intellectual history-understandable. The address could be seen the closing chord of a career--except that invitations continue to arrive and Mrs. Labarge continues to respond. So if it is in some sense an essay which brings together a good number of professional concerns, it is also an essay that leaves room for a coda. One of the most important contributions Mrs. Labarge has made in her long career is that of the generalist. This term is not used in opposition to the term expert, but as meaning someone who sees that trees do make a forest, and are in fact shaped by their position in that forest. One looks forward to more studies which chart the tides of an era and yet delineate the important eddies of individual effort within those tides.

%be aultural %cabition of Canabian Bornen THE HISTOR~CAL13ACKGROUND

brief historical summary of the cultural tradition inherited by modern Canadian women must concentrate on the legacies of those societies that have been most influential in forming our own patterns of thought and behaviour. We have inherited philosophical, legal and theological concepts from the ancient world of Greece, Rome and Israel, as well as legal structures developed in Europe during the Middle Ages and maintained and modified over the centuries. It has seemed right to put particular emphasis on the French and English patterns and values, since so many of our social attitudes as well as our laws have been drawn from these mother countries. Although Canada has also been enriched by a multiplicity of national traditions brought in by the great surge of immigration during the nineteenth century, the resulting ethnic groups, despite their great local importance, have not set the general social climate of the country. Finally, it has seemed important to illustrate the mutations that Canada imposed both on it. European models and on the ideas that it borrowed from the United States, with which it shared an understanding of frontier conditions and a considerable exchange of population. The cultural influences that originally ordained a subordinate position for women have long and complex roots. Although their earliest

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genesis may be attributed to the biological handicaps from which women suffered in nomadic life and the basic importance of physical strength in primitive societies, inequality soon became justified in more philosophical terms. Philosophy, however, has usually managed to permit the simultaneous existence of contradictory statements and this has certainly been true on the subject of women where abuse and admiration have consistently coexisted. Women are burdened with the weight of inherited customs, attitudes and laws. These mainly invisible pressures have strongly influenced, if they have not in fact dictated, both women's own understanding of their place in society and men's attitudes towards women and their activities. However, a distinction needs to be made between "woman" as she is described in theory at any particular time and those individual women who can be observed actively functioning in that same society. The abyss between theory and practice is often both wide and deep, and what was said should not automatically be equated with what was done. Of course, it was usually the most important and dominating women who left a historical record, but even in Greek and Roman times it is possible to get at least a glimpse of the common woman, as well as the common man. As the centuries pass, the average woman leaves more and more visible traces in the records. Because the present situation of women has been shaped by so many historical factors, a true understanding of some of the privileges and deficiencies of women's status in Canada requires some knowledge of this cultural tradition. It is often hard to draw the line between history and current events, between the rightful province of social history and that of sociology, but in this case there seems to be a logical dividing line. Woman suffrage was indeed an important landmark, but even more decisive for Canada was the 1929 decision of the British Privy Council, on an appeal from the Supreme Court of Canada, which stated that "the word persons includes members of the male and female sex," and that therefore women were entitled to be summoned to the ena ate.^ The formal Canadian acceptance of women as entitled to the rights and privileges, as well as the responsibilities, that accompany the suffrage, marks the great divide between past and present. THE PLACE O F WOMEN IN ANTIQUITY

Three of the civilizations of antiquity have given Western man most of his intellectual inheritance. Many of our ideas of philosophy spring

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from Plato and Aristotle, much of the basic foundation of our law from Rome, and of our theology from the Hebraic roots of Christianity. In describing these civilizations it is unwise to treat them as monoliths. In each case there was development and shift in attitudes over the centuries, as well as notable variations between accepted theory and acknowledged practice. Ancient Greece has always been regarded, with much justice, as a masculine society. In fact, the Greek city has even been described as "a men's club."2 Hesiod, the primitive poet, suggested the Greeks' utilitarian view of women when he described the essentials for life as: "First and foremost a house and a wife and an ox for the ploughing." This order of precedence was emphatically supported by Aristotle three centuries later when he quoted Hesiod approvingly, and insisted that woman's essential virtue was subordination.3 Unfortunately his biology, which was the accepted authority for centuries, was as antifeminine as his philosophy. Aristotle taught that woman's part in generation was purely passive, the womb serving only as a shelter. Woman herself was a misbegotten and defective male resulting, in his belief, from some deficiency in the male seed or the unfortunate effects of a moist south wind.* Thucydides, the great Athenian historian, when he recorded Pericles' speech at the state funeral of those lost in the Peloponnesian War, had only one sentence for the sorrowing widows: "Great will be your glory in not falling short of your natural character; and greatest will be hers who is least talked of among the men whether for good or bad."5 But these negative opinions, and the recognition that women had no share in the public life of the city, d o not represent all the Greek belief, nor d o they d o justice to the growing freedom and education for women which developed in the Hellenistic period. Plato planned to include women among the guardians of the state and to provide them with the same education as men for, as he said, women varied as much in their aptitudes as men and were distinguished only by being weaker. Xenophon wrote a little treatise on the care and training of wives which is rather patronizing but nevertheless lays great stress on the wife's importance and utility for the peaceful and prosperous ordering of the household. The retort of the onlooker who listens to the praises of this paragon of wives has a familiar ring: "Your wife has a truly masculine mind!"6 But it is above all the dramatists who convince us that not all Greek women could have been merely superior and silent servants, confined to the house, uneducated and unconcerned. Medea and Antigone, for example, dominated the

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tragedies to which they gave their names and the dramatists portrayed them as forceful personalities who upset the societies of their day. In fact, Euripides put Medea's claims so sympathetically that her songs and speeches were recited by the militant suffragettes in England to hearten themselves during their meetings.' Lysistrata, in Aristophanes' comedy, was an eloquent and loquacious speaker, the original and effective organizer of peace demonstrations. She suggested that wives should shut themselves off from their husbands until the men made peace, and her campaign was so successful that it was she who dictated the peace terms.8 Such examples suggest that all Greek women were not silent, ignorant and ignored. Nevertheless, the influential Aristotle reinforced a general emphasis on a low esteem for marriage, the distinct subordination of women, and their total separation from political and intellectual society. When the Greeks later played an important part in Roman education they passed on their own philosophical ideas, including those on the position of women, but they encountered a very different pattern of society. Roman life put much less emphasis on masculine friendship than had the Greek, and glorified the concept of the family. Most conservative Romans-like conservatives of any period-idealized a past golden age when the old Roman matron, austere and self-controlled, completely subject to her husband, still held an honoured and busy position in the family. In fact, change had already begun by the third century B.C. The old strict forms of marriage were gradually superseded, women gained almost total control of their own property, and, more and more, girls received the same education as boys. Roman women exercised a powerful influence in public affairs, too, and not always for the good. Livia gave useful counsel to the Emperor Augustus, but Agrippina and Messalina by their unbridled intrigues and vicious pursuit of pleasure built reputations for evil which equalled even that of the unsavoury Nero. This kind of feminine political influence was not restricted to the upper classes, but also appeared in provincial administration where the wives of generals and governors had a considerable voice. Naturally such freedom for women stirred up opposition. The satires of Juvenal are amusing proof that many complaints against women appear to be timeless. He complained for example, about the havoc wreaked by mothers-in-law, about how intolerable a rich woman was, "worse still is the well-read menace."g Other Roman writers were not so virulent. Tacitus praised the German women,

probably to underline their primitive virtues which he felt the Romans lacked, but Pliny the Younger in his letters sketched real people. His eulogy of Fannia, who was twice exiled with her husband and once banished because of him, not only emphasized her virtue and her energy, but insisted that she was also charming and kind and "loved as much as respected."1° The evidence of the contemporary historians and authors indicates that by the end of the Empire Roman women were, in fact, remarkably emancipated compared to other women of antiquity. However, the most permanent influence of Rome was to be exercised through its code of law. Here again there was a long process of development and change from the early enactments of the Republic to the final crystallized body of laws which was gathered together in the sixth century at the order of Emperor Justinian and was known as the CopusJuri~Civilis. In early Roman law the position of the husband and father, the paterfamilim, was extraordinarily powerful. An undisputed domestic judge, he had complete control over his wife, could order the exposure of infants, could sell his children into slavery or civil bondage, could kill his son for certain transgressions, could veto marriage and control divorce, as well as hold almost all the property rights belonging to anyone of the family. During the ensuing centuries most of these powers were lost or abridged. A woman was gradually allowed to inherit by will, although the property was frequently put under some form of trust so that she was not totally independent. Officially a woman remained under perpetual guardianship according to the formalities of the law, but this impediment was bypassed by the creation of nominal guardians who could not refuse to act on a woman's request. Gaius, one of the great Roman lawyers, says that this perpetual guardianship was due to the "lightmindedness" of women, but then rather gallantly remarks that this argument is "more plausible than true." l 1 Where the early law had also denied the capacity of women to make a will, by the time of Hadrian, women were allowed to devise, although they needed the consent of their guardians. In fact, by the fourth century the Roman woman had gained valuable rights and almost practical equality, although in theory and the strict terms of the law her position was still noticeably inferior. To our inheritance of the philosophy of Greece and the laws of Rome are added the theological thunders of Israel. Most of our knowledge of ancient Israel comes from the Old Testament with its clear portrayal of a primitive and nomadic society where polygamy was

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practised, where woman was inferior, and where her legal rights were few and difficult to enforce. But Hebrew society seems to have had much the same contradictory attitude towards women that has already been visible in Greece and Rome. The legal position of women in Hebrew society left much to be desired, but their social position seems to have been one of considerable dignity. There are some extraordinary women described in the Old Testament: Sarah and Rachel, the respected wives of the patriarchs; Esther, who saved the Jews by her wisdom and ability with Ahasuerus; Deborah, the prophetess, who led a victorious Israelite army against the Canaanites. Contrasted with these vivid portraits, much of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament-Proverbs especially-exhibits a strong strain of misogyny. There is a frequent harking back to the responsibility of Eve for the departure from the Garden of Eden, much emphasis on the constant temptations by seductive women, and the usual diatribes against a nagging wife. The rabbinical literature and the apocrypha exhibit this misogynous strain even more clearly. Men must have mothers, so women are a necessary evil, but daughters are a disadvantage and the Talmud piously exclaims: "Blessed be God who has not made me a heathen, a slave, or a woman."'* Yet it is also in this same wisdom literature that we find the magnificent portrait of the valiant woman "whose works tell her praises at the city gates."l3 CHRISTIANITY AND ITS EFFECT ON THE STATUS O F WOMEN

The original impact of Christianity on the ancient world was minimal. To most of the contemporaries of Jesus and the Apostles this new sect was merely another of the mystery religions which then abounded throughout the Empire. But Christianity soon proved itself more than a minor sect: it grew rapidly in numbers and influence despite frequent persecutions in the fourth century; when the Emperor Constantine himself became a Christian and decreed official acceptance of the Christian religion throughout the Empire, Christianity moved into the mainstream of political importance and cultural influence. Christ's teachings had considerable effect on the status of women, although their later elaboration by the theologians tended to be strongly dualistic. Jesus emphasized in his gospels the equal value of every human soul, rich or poor, male or female. He was as concerned with the outcast Samaritan woman as with the rich young Jew. There is in his teaching no trace of the misogyny so common in the earlier Hebraic literature, and his relations with women, as described

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in the New Testament, illustrate an acceptance of them as equal and worthy individuals. But the men who interpreted the mind of Christ to the infant church-first and most importantly Paul, then Augustine and Jerome-were not only followers of Jesus, they were also men of their time and culture. Unconsciously perhaps, they were strongly influenced by their own experience and by their inherited tradition of the necessary subjection of women. Paul displays this dichotomy particularly clearly. He emphasizes the mutual love necessary between husband and wife, compares the bond between them to that between Christ and his church, even insists that in Christ there is neither male nor female, but at the same time he insists on the subjection and silence demanded of women. Above all, influenced by the new element of asceticism introduced by Christianity, he regards marriage as a poor second-best to virginity. These inherent contradictions in Paul herald the continuing Christian dilemma. The early fathers found it very difficult to strike the balance between their emphasis on the importance and indissolubility of monogamous marriage and their praise of virginity as inherently a better thing. This stress on virginity, for both men and women, often trapped the fathers into an obsession with women merely as sex objects, a constant source of the greatest temptation to men and therefore evil. Augustine, probably the greatest and most influential of all the early fathers of the church, illustrates these tendencies most clearly. Before his conversions Augustine had been a Manichaean, one who believed that anything to d o with the flesh was essentially evil. When he became a Christian he accepted, and taught with fervour, the belief of the church that marriage was good and sanctified by a sacrament. But, in his old age, his distrust of the sexual side of man's nature made him insist that the only legitimate use of intercourse in a marriage was for immediate procreation, anything else was a weakness and even sin. He also argued that virginity was superior to marriage, and that even married couples could achieve salvation more easily if they abstained from sexual relations. Generally, Augustine regarded women as the weaker sex, blamed Eve for her weakness in listening to the serpent in the Garden of Eden, but did not lay all the blame on her. His attitude seems to have been that concupiscence and the lack of equality in the world both sprang from the effects of original sin, and weighed heavily upon all men and women because of their inherited share of the sin of Adam and Eve. Jerome, the irascible hermit who translated the Bible into Latin, was more intemperate than Augustine. His letters not only show his

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enthusiasm for those men and women who adopted a life of consecrated virginity but also pour scorn on those who had abandoned the ideal to marry. Since Jerome had an extensive vocabulary of denunciation and a brilliant satirical pen, his letters gained great popularity and served as a useful armoury for later antifeminists. More importantly, however, Jerome occasionally manipulated the text in his translation of the Bible to suit his prejudices. Both the book of Tobias and the story of Onan in Genesis have been slightly altered to bring them in line with the Stoic-Jewish emphasis on procreation as the sole justification for intercourse. l4 When Chaucer's Wife of Bath was attacking masculine prejudices she naturally put Jerome at the head of her list-their feelings on marriage sprang from very different roots.

WOMEN IN THE MIDDLE AGES Christian theology, Roman law, and Greek philosophy were all part of the heritage of medieval Europe. Yet it must be remembered that the phrase, "the Middle Ages," covers a period of more than a thousand years and a patchwork of lands where tribal customs and the development of law varied greatly. Generalizations are perilous and subject to many qualifications. The barbarian invaders had brought to Europe a tradition of rough equality and liberty for women, though the emphasis on physical strength and warlike prowess had necessarily put women in a somewhat subordinate position. As the barbarians settled into their conquered lands, they took over many of the laws and attitudes they found among the indigenous population. They became slightly Romanized and ultimately Christianized which brought them into contact with the heritage of the ancient world. It is not really until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries that we are able to generalize with some clarity about the position of women in medieval society. The attitude towards "woman" in the Middle Ages was marked by extreme duality, not only in religious but also in secular terms. The elaborated structure of Catholic theology recognized two legitimate states of life for women-they could be wives or they could be nuns. This new acceptance by society of the single woman had secular as well as religious consequences. Some nuns were among the most intelligent and capable women of their time, and life in the convent left them free to develop their administrative abilities and business skills, as well as giving them considerable prestige. There was the abbess Hilda of Whitby in the eighth century who ruled a monastery

as well as a convent, saw to the education of five bishops, encouraged the scholar and historian Bede, and even aided the cowherd Caedmon whose moment of vision flowered into the first English poetry. There was the German Hildegard of Bingen, who was not only a scholar and a playwright, but also designed and supervised a proper plumbing system for her convent. Catherine of Siena, in the fourteenth century, lived a religious life in her own house and was acclaimed throughout Italy for her charity and holiness. Her advice was sought by the rich and powerful and she did not shrink from telling attentive popes exactly how they should mend their ways. Such women were obviously recognized as important in the life of their times. The position of the wife was less untrammelled. The church and its preachers constantly reminded her of her duty of obedience and held up the ideal of Patient Griselda, who obeyed her husband no matter what the provocation. Nevertheless the canon law of the church upheld the rights of the married woman. It encouraged the practice of the dowry, so that the wife would not be left penniless on the death of her husband. It heard cases involving widows before the ecclesiastical courts, on the grounds that most widows were poor and could not afford to plead before the king's courts. The ecclesiastical courts also dealt with all matters regarding marriage and wills. Common law argued that a married woman had no ability to make a will, since legally her personality was completely submerged in that of her husband, but canon law refused to recognize this restriction. The church encouraged wills as a means of insuring that debts were paid, and also because gifts were made for the good of one's soul, usually to the church. In England, for example, until the end of the fourteenth century, when the common law tradition became too strong, married women with living husbands made wills and these wills were admitted to probate. l5 At the same time as the church encouraged these notions of equity and moderation, it also harboured two currents of extremism among the clergy. One was the new development of the emotional cult of the Blessed Virgin, which began in the twelfth century and paralleled the secular development of courtly love. The extraordinary honours to Mary, which have added so enormously to our artistic heritage from the Middle Ages, implied an especial respect for women, but only as a nonsexual being. On the other hand, there was a consistent and often virulent antifeminist tendency both on the philosophical and the popular levels. The emphasis on celibacy and virginity, and the gradually enforced requirement that clerks should

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not marry nor live in open concubinage, encouraged efforts to portray women as unpleasant and dangerous beings, a constant source of physical temptation who could cut ambitious men off from the avenue of advancement which the church offered. For clerks-as in the case of Abelard.and Heloise-feminine affections offered only disaster. Compilations of the most notable antifeminist texts, culled over the centuries, appear to have circulated quite generally through the universities, then reserved for clerks. One of the most intemperate of the attacks illustrates the general tone of this propaganda: "What is woman? Woman is the confusion of man, an insatiable beast, a continual worry, a never-ending battle, a daily injury, a house of fury, an impediment to chastity, the shipwreck of incontinent men." l6 The philosophers were less intemperate, but equally uncomplimentary. They were m,uch influenced in their treatment of women by the thought of Augustine and of Aristotle. Both these men had emphasized the subordinate position of women. In the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, the most influential of all medieval philosophers, was less extreme than many. In those sections of his Summa I;beologica which deal specifically with women he constantly sought a way to circumvent Aristotle's flat statement that woman was merely a misbegotten male, and that therefore in a state of perfection she would never have existed. Thomas argued that woman was an essential helpmate to man in the work of generation-although he refused to admit that she could be a real help to him in any other way-and thus was an essential part of the order of creation. According to Thomas, women had no jurisdiction over men, but neither were they men's slaves-woman was drawn from the side of Adam to serve as his helpmate." These contradictory currents of denigration and exaltation also existed in secular literature. The new heroines of romance praised by the troubadours were as remote from the reality of medieval women as those "insatiable beasts" of whom the clerics spoke. The bourgeois of the rising towns were almost as brutal as the clerks in their treatment of women in the fabliaux or stories, but their broad humour spared none of their contemporaries. The actual position of women in medieval society did not necessarily correspond to any of the extreme theories. When we look at what can be determined of women's actual place and activities it is obvious that there was much variation, generally in relation to their place in the social structure. No matter what the law decreed, the poorest peasant and village women managed their own affairs,

inherited freely, and showed no practical marks of subordination. In the towns too, many women had earned their independence as heads of commercial enterprises. Even if married they traded as single women and were free to make contracts and buy goods without the assent of their husbands. So normal was it for women to be involved in such commercial endeavours that one author even suggested to men that it was wise to encourage their wives in a business or a craft, as it kept them from talking too much and bothering their husbands.18 The woman of the upper class, who was the heiress to valuable land, was in a much more restricted position. Under the feudal system all land owed military service to the lord from which it was held. It was imperative for his security that this service should be performed by someone favourable to him, and he had a natural interest in whom the heir married. The wealthy woman was a good deal of a pawn in the hands of her lord since feudal practice allowed the buying and selling of marriages and the wardships of minor children as a means of acquiring land and wealth. However, these same women, who could in effect be sold off to the highest bidder, still had considerable actual power. They ran large and complicated households, organizing both their supplies and their movements on a longterm plan. They often found themselves taking legal, or even military, action because of the long absences of their husbands on campaigns or crusades. A competent wife exercised a practical influence which was often most far-reaching. The lot of a widow was even more secure. She was assured the possession of one-third of her husband's lands until her death, even if she remarried-a much-married widow could be an extremely rich matrimonial prize. Nevertheless, the widow often maintained her independence and power by buying from the king the right to remain single. Such queens as Eleanor of Aquitaine and Blanche of Castile throw little light on the average situation but were generally admired for their extraordinary energy and competence. Thus the position of women during the Middle Ages was shot through with inconsistencies. Much of the theoretical writing about women was both destructive and offensive, and if we were to judge only by this we could well be convinced of their complete subordination. However, when we turn to look at common practice it becomes obvious that the position of women was in reality very varied, and provided much more freedom and actual direct poweras well as the perennial indirect influence-than has usually been believed. Perhaps the most important legacy of the Middle Ages in

this regard was its success in integrating the single woman into society, and giving her a real, useful, and often important role which had nothing to do with her sexual function. Against this accomplishment must be placed the medieval denigration of marriage in the writings of the clerks, which tended to obscure the orthodox theology which regarded marriage as a worthy sacrament.

NEW CURRENTS OF THOUGHT: RENAISSANCE AND REFORMATION The new currents of thought loosed by the Renaissance and the Reformation included several notable changes in the attitude to women. Although the new humanism and the rise of Protestantism were almost simultaneous they differed extensively in their philosophical premises and basic concerns. The humanists of the Renaissance were primarily interested in scholarship and, springing from this, education. They encouraged the ideal of the truly educated man, learned in the classic literature and tongues, as the essential training for even the man of action. In the sixteenth century, Thomas Morescholar, lawyer, and chancellor of England-was for many humanists the perfect example. More's household also set an example, for he introduced both his son and daughters to the new learning. They were taught Latin, Greek, logic, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and astronomy. The great Dutch humanist and a friend of More, Erasmus, also encouraged the education of girls. One of his Colloquieshas a pleasant dispute between an abbot and a learned lady (thought to be modelled on Margaret More). The abbot disapproved heartily of women knowing Latin, since he felt that it did not safeguard their chastity and was of no use to them. The lady was left with the last word when she argued that if it was right to know French to talk with the French, then a knowledge of Latin allowed her to converse with elegant, learned, and wise authors.lp Still another scholar active in England, the Spaniard Vives, who had Catherine of Aragon as a patron, wrote a celebrated treatise on The Education of a Christian Woman. Although Vives lost his place in England after Catherine's divorce from King Henry VIII, his treatise was translated into English before 1540 and was very popular during the sixteenth century. A century earlier, the French Christine de Pizan had put forward an impassioned defence of women and their need for education. Her successors, the sixteenth century humanists in France, shared the common Renaissance devotion to scholarship and education. Their

ideal was the development of both character and intellect through absorption of the great classical writings. Montaigne, for example, carefully mapped out such a program of studies in his Essays. Nevertheless, little specific attention was given to the education of women. If girls held an exalted social position or were blessed with a determined father they received a good education, and there were a number of well-educated, even scholarly, women during the sixteenth century. However, the general level was low. The elementary schools which had developed during the Middle Ages were frequently churchsponsored and church-run, though they also served the needs of secular society. The religious upheavals of the sixteenth century destroyed many of these establishments. In England, such protected foundations as Winchester and Eton continued unharmed and the grammar schools founded in the reign of Edward VI helped to fill the gap, but all these schools were only for boys. In the Catholic countries of Europe an attenuated education was still available to girls through convents, but in England and other Protestant lands, girls were taught by their fathers, or by tutors, or not at all. The reformers, Calvin and Luther, were not particularly interested in pure scholarship or education, especially of women. They were concerned with a much wider segment of society than the humanists and followed the older theological tradition, insisting on the necessary and divinely ordained subordination of women. Calvin, for example, argued that the subjection of inferior to superior, including that of wife to husband, was part of an inviolable order established by God the Father. Woman was given to man as "an inferior helper" and, according to the law of nature, could neither rule nor teach since she was born to obey. When asked about the legitimacy of Queen Elizabeth's rule, Calvin did admit that God was not bound to observe this order and was free to make extraordinary exceptions to the rule, like Deborah, "in order to despite and humiliate men."20 John Knox shared the feelings of his master Calvin when he wrote his violent Blasts of the Trumpet against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. His tract was aimed at Mary Queen of Scots but also offended Queen Elizabeth with its denial of women's right to rule. Luther too, although warmer in his outlook than the bloodless Calvin, emphasized that the man was the head of the wife and that she must honour and obey him. In fact, in one of those down-to-earth similes which added greatly to Luther's likability, he added that women had been created with large hips so that they should stay at home and sit on them!21

The glorification of marriage in the Protestant ethic, in reaction to the medieval emphasis on celibacy and virginity, had certain definite effects. First of all, it raised the prestige of matrimony, which it regarded as the usual and proper Christian vocation. Indeed the average Christian woman was taught that she gained salvation through the pains of childbearing, and the unmarried woman was regarded with suspicion and distrust. However, in the Protestant insistence on the man as the head of the household, as indeed the divinely ordained minister for this group, a new and heavier burden of subordination was added to the load already carried by the wife. The husband, rather than the priest, became the authoritative intermediary between her and God-a belief which was carried to its extremes by the Puritans and put most lucidly in Milton's famous statement: "He for God only, she for God is him."22 In these centuries, and especially among the strict Calvinists, men's attitude towards women was rather that of the Old Testament patriarch than of the New Testament Christ. WOMEN OF THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England and France show rather clearly the different patterns of development between a predominantly Protestant and predominantly Catholic society. In both countries there were unusual women who went far beyond the conventional stereotype, but the legal and cultural patterns were limiting. In England, women were warned of their duty of subordination and total obedience by the Homilies read in rural parishes, or the tracts on marriage of the eloquent William Whateley. The preachers suggested that all the knowledge a woman needed was that required for the immediate concerns of her household, but not all women were subordinate or ignorant. There was the royalist Ann Fanshawe, for example, who lived through the Civil War. She managed the family affairs and finances, both in England and abroad, and procured her husband's deliverance from gaol after he was captured at Worcester. All of this she achieved while bearing 21 children-f whom only five survived--during 23 years of married life. On the Puritan side, there was Lucy Hutchinson whose father gave her a careful education. She knew enough Latin to translate Lucretius into English verse and had also acquired a knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. Accepting the conventional Calvinist position, she wrote a most laudatory account of her husband, praising his generosity and

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his prudent rule over his wife. There were a number of such characters at almost all levels of society. The rich and powerful, like the Lady Mary Wortley Montague, could be as independent and learned as they liked, since the eccentricities of the upper classes were regarded with tolerance. More unusual, and with greater influence for the future because they served as possible models, were such middle-class scholars as Elizabeth Carter, who translated Epictetus during the eighteenth century, or Mrs. Catherine Cappe, who came from a poor minister's family in the north of England. She not only worked actively to promote charity in schools, but also encouraged the appointment of female visitors23 for the poor women confined in public hospitals or insane asylums. France too had its outstanding women of character. Much of the tone of the first half of the seventeenth century was set by the regents, Marie de Medici and Anne of Austria. In the struggle between Cardinal Mazarin and the Prince of Condk, the Princess of Conde and the Duchess of Chevreuse inspired armies for their cause, as well as intrigues. But since, from the time of Louis XIV to the Revolution, most of the political activity as well as the social life of France centred around Versailles, the influence of the most important of the king's mistresses was felt at many levels of French life. Madame d e Pompadour and Madame du Barry, and their equivalents at lower levels of the scale, exercised very real power, controlling appointments and expenditures. The woman who is the mirror of the best of French civilization at this time is Madame d e Sevignk, whose witty, urbane and affectionate letters have preserved their charm and their appeal for many generations. In France the education of girls was reasonably widespread, though not particularly intellectual. Popular schools for the lower classes were often run by groups of devout ladies, and there were also the convents. These schools tried to teach the poor a way of supporting themselves, and the rich proper supervision of their households. For both rich and poor a strong religious foundation was considered essential. The seventeenth century saw some real improvements in this system. Fenelon's treatise On me Education of Girls was something of a landmark in its insistence on the need of making education enjoyable. Although the bishop argued that there was no need to make savantes of the girls (like the ones lampooned in Moliere's Femmes Savantes), he insisted strongly on the importance of education for girls if unhappy families and disordered households were to be avoided. The girls could learn Latin if they liked, but not

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Italian or Spanish, since Fenelon felt that there was already enough deplorable literature available to them in French. However, he argued that they needed basic arithmetic so that they could handle the family accounts and revenues-which thrifty Frenchwomen have obviously been doing for centuries-and should also have an understanding of the legal terms and principles that affected everyday life." More widely influential was the famous school at St. Cyr, founded by Madame de Maintenon and favoured by Louis XIV. The school was well-planned and well-organized, but it mirrored the traditional attitudes of its patroness. Madame de Maintenon condemned all novels "because they dealt only with vices and passions" and felt that Roman history was dangerous "because it puffed up the mind."25 Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings, St. Cyr was a useful and influential model for girls' schools in France until it was closed down by the Revolution. Middle-class women in France were able to exercise a certain professional activity, especially the widow who inherited the right to exercise her husband's mastership in his craft. This right was much debated, however, and seriously circumscribed. There was the occasional unusual woman like Barbe Lequeux, who had the title of "plumber of Paris" and was in charge of the city w a t e r ~ o r k s . ~ ~ The contrast between England and France was probably most marked in their attitudes towards works of charity and women's place in providing them. In England the Puritan tended to regard poverty as a mark of God's displeasure and such elementary social services as existed were provided by the Quakers and Unitarians. In France, on the other hand, the Catholic religious revival encouraged charitable activity. The women were particularly active in this, inspired by such men as Francis de Sales and Vincent de Paul. The followers of Vincent de Paul, who became known as the Sisters of Charity, were often drawn from the highest levels of society and developed to a practical system the idea of going to take care of people in their own homes. The difference between the French and English cultural traditions also appeared in their approach to marriage. Blackstone, the English jurist whose Commentaries became the accepted textbook of English law, summed up the attitude of the English common law in the middle of the eighteenth century. He stated that, "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage."27 He carried this belief to its most rigorous conclusion. Not only could the

husband not make a covenant with his wife, (since this was equivalent to making a covenant with himself), but, Blackstone argued, all previous covenants between them were voided. Thus, despite any premarital contract, all the property, wealth, and chattels of the wife fell into the sole and undisputed possession of the husband, to be used, or abused, as he alone saw fit. In one of the more extreme deductions from this principle Blackstone claims that a wife's murder of her husband was petty treason, punishable by drawing and burning, but no particular punishment was invoked for killing one's wife. Blackstone followed these statements with the comment that it was obvious that ~ French the law of England was excessively partial to w ~ m e n .The legislation on marriage was rather more generous, although marriages were even more strictly controlled by the parents. It was normal to have a marriage contract regulating the use and succession of property. Where there was no contract the customary law applied: in the north, there was community of property under the control of the husband; in the south, the territory of the written law, the inalienability of the wife's dowry was guaranteed by the law. In general, the civilization of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England and France was not favourable to the general advancement of the status of women. Although it was a time of great feminine influence in France, the philosophers, Montesquieu, Diderot, Voltaire, and especially Rousseau, all wrote of women as inferior beings designed only to please and be useful to men. In England, the general lot of women was very constricted, although the extraordinarily determined or the exceptionally talented could make a reputation for themselves. In both countries, marriage was important to women because it gave them some freedom of action in fact, if not in law, and the woman in the best position of all was a comfortably endowed widow, for she was independent and secure.

THE AGE OF THE REVOLUTIONS Despite all these legal and social hindrances, despite the common attitude which regarded women as charming playthings designed only for the amusement of men and as the necessary producer of offspring, women in real life had, until the end of the eighteenth century, maintained a position of considerable economic value. In the upper classes this was obvious. Marriages were normally arranged to achieve wealth and/or social position. They often resembled a merger rather than a human union. Prudent fathers tried to secure their

daughters' financial security from the inroads of an extravagant husband by premarital contracts or the newer device of a trust. At lower levels of the social scale the ability of the wife to run a large and complicated household, to provide by her own labour and foresight for most of the needs of the family, was a crucial factor in the family's comfort and solvency. No matter what the law and the preachers might say, the women who held the responsibility for the practical comfort of the family could not be ignored or too badly treated. The Industrial Revolution was to effect a major change. In an ever-increasing spiral the new inventions and processes took much of women's work out of the home and handed it over to factories. A wife, except among the poorest classes where her labour was still essential, became an ornamental adjunct, necessary to provide children but with no intrinsic value for the family unit. Although practical housekeeping duties had become much lighter, there was for the time being a generous supply of domestic servants who would carry out the remaining household chores with only slight supervision from the mistress of the house. Thus a new middle-class stereotype developed which encouraged idleness and reduced the activities open to women. To emerge from the stifling corset of imposed respectability required either unusual energy and ambition, a helpful husband or father, a sufficient income, or preferably a combination of all three. The ardent pleadings of Mary Wollstonecraft, who had argued that "if women are not permitted to enjoy legitimate rights, they will render both you and themselves vicious to obtain illicit privileges,"29 fell on deaf ears. The effect of the Industrial Revolution, felt most immediately and deeply in England, was reinforced in France by the ultraconservatism which followed the French Revolution. The Revolution had preached liberty, equality and fraternity, and many of the revolutionary women had taken the equality and liberty seriously. They had called meetings, been active political agents, and adopted a strong revolutionary pose. Napoleon wanted, here as in other things, to undo the work of the Revolution and above all to provide stability for the family as the microcosm of the state, with every father a small-scale emperor. His personal attitude toward women was almost Oriental, and of great importance because of its influence on the law. The Code Napoleon finally codified and organized French law, laying down the principles which until recently have been accepted in France and those other countries whose law stems from her's. Napoleon's comments show his supreme disdain for women:

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They [women] ought not to be considered as being on an equality with men, for they are, in reality, only machines for bearing children.... Woman is our property ... she bears us children ... the wife is his property just as the fruit tree is the property of the gardener.... To women belong beauty, grace and the art of seduction, her obligations are dependency and subjection.... There would have been a complete revolution in society if women had emerged from that state of dependence in which it is their duty to remain.... One sex must be subject to the other.30

The natural result of this attitude was that the complete subjection of the married woman to her husband was written most specifically into the Civil Code. Most of the legal incapacities of women embodied in the Code were, in fact, due not to their sex but to the effect of marriage. So obvious was Napoleon's bias in these matters that a modern French jurist writes succinctly: "I1 faut certes regretter que le sort des institutions d'un pays ait pu dependre aussi ktroitment des experiences du mari trompe d'une femme sterile."3' CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT: THE NINETEENTH CENTURY AND PRE-WAR SOCIETY The opening of the nineteenth century found women even more harshly restricted by both law and custom than had been the practice in preceding centuries. The rich retained some freedom of action, though they were handicapped by the law, but the women of the middle-classes were not only constrained by the law, they also bore the weight of a heavy-handed Puritanism which shut them off from any real contact with the outside world. In the lower classes the employment of women in the factories and the mines aggravated their poverty since the conditions were appalling, the wages infinitesimal, and the wife's scanty earnings were paid to the husband and became his property. Both in England and in France, as the restrictions multiplied and the dead weight of legalism became more oppressive, energetic men and women began to oppose the accepted order and to attempt to bring about change, and the feminist movement came into being. In England, the reform movements that battled against slavery, against inhuman working conditions, against the restriction of the suffrage, were led by many great and warm-hearted men who realized that an improvement in the condition of women was an equally necessary reform. The humanitarian Elizabeth Fry helped to give

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force to these demands. In fact, the pressure towards easing women's position under the law and ultimately procuring the suffrage for her was aided as much by the support of some enlightened men as it was by the hard-working enthusiasm of the militant female leaders. Such burning treatises as John Stuart Mill's The Subjection of Women, in which he argued that viomen were treated worse than any slave, since they had no rights over their property, their earnings, their bodies, or even their children, could not be dismissed by the legislators as the emotional outpourings of an hysterical woman. These leaders helped to change the climate of opinion and to make possible the necessary legislative changes. There were strong currents of feminism in France too during the first half of the nineteenth century. Followers of Saint-Simon found in his radical metaphysics a new and determined feminism. His feminine disciples, such as Flora Tristan and Claire Dkmar, denounced the chains of conventional matrimony and sought freedom in "free love." Less picturesque but more influential for the future was the Christian feminism preached by the journal des Femmes which, although it avoided any demand for political rights, insisted on the need for reform in the education of women so that they could be adequate wives, mothers and educators of their children. Still another newspaper, the Gazette des Femmes, founded by Madame de Mauchamps, took the middle way. Less extreme than the theories of the followers of Saint-Simon, Madame de Mauchamps sought not only education, but also greater legal and commercial opportunities for French women. A romantic feminist like Georges Sand gave literary force to the movement. Georges Sand, like the English George Eliot, sought in the masculine pseudonym an escape from the stifling convention that women could not write on certain aspects of life, or turn their backs on accepted morality. All feminist theories in France, however, suffered a serious setback with the coming of the Second Empire, which looked askance at their close connection with socialist theories. In both England and France there were outstanding, capable and energetic women who struggled desperately for reform, and who achieved some success against very heavy odds. Nevertheless, in both countries there was general feminine indifference to the struggle, and even considerable opposition to it from women themselves. Many women were satisfied with a system which did not bear heavily on them personally, and they had neither the imagination nor the wish to realize that others were not so fortunate, and were not protected by law or society.

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Nevertheless, the general tides of reform and the slowly growing importance of women's paid labour in a more complex industrial society continued to favour the case of women's rights. In England the nineteenth century saw the beginning of a gradual removal of the legal disabilities that had plagued women, including loss of their property at marriage. The barriers that held women back from useful work above the level of factory and domestic service were gradually cleared away as the cause of more advanced education for women was espoused by a continually wider circle, including such influential figures as Beatrice Webb and the great head-mistresses, Miss Buss and Miss Beal. The suffragettes sought to achieve women's right to vote by militant tactics which included protest marches, hunger strikes and other violent demonstrations. In the end, woman suffrage was achieved peaceably, almost as a by-product of women's wholehearted and invaluable share in the war effort of 1914-18. Even then there were some lingering doubts-women between 21 and 30 did not finally receive the vote until 1928. It should be pointed out, however, that most of the reforms and changes were demanded and welcomed primarily by the middle class, which was rapidly developing in both size and influence. The aristocracy in England had always been slightly set apart from the mainstream of English life. Wealth and social security often encouraged them to flout the conventions and it has always been easy to find women as well as men among the noble English eccentrics. The women of the laboring classes have been more conservative in their outlook on women's rights, and relatively uninterested in education, having little energy to spare from the struggle for survival. The French were much more reluctant to encourage women's rights and the suffrage. Since the backbone of the country, the petite bourgeoisie, has always been extremely family-centred and conservative, anything that might upset the accepted pattern of family life has taken a long period to gain approval. Then too, the French woman has always preferred to exercise individual influence, rather than group pressure, and she regarded as exceedingly undignified the militant tactics of the English suffragettes. Despite this conservatism, the pressures of industrialization and of war ultimately brought these reforms to France in 1944.

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THE CANADIAN EXPERIENCE AND THE NORTH AMERICAN SETTING The status of women in Canada has been influenced by a number of factors. The first settlers brought with them as invisible baggage the philosophy, traditions and customs of the class and country from which they came, and these included the attitudes toward women which had already developed in Europe. However, all these ideas were profoundly affected by the physical conditions found here. A process of colonization and settlement that took centuries in Europe has, in Canada, been so telescoped in time that primitive conditions of settlement often coexisted with advanced social and cultural backgrounds. For example, in the mid-nineteenth century the daughters of the leading Hudson Bay managers at the Red River were frequently sent to England to school, returning home by sailing ship to Hudson Bay, and then by dogteam and canoe down the 800 miles from Fort York to the Red River settlement. Their orders for the newest fashions followed the same route.32 The settlement of Canada has been achieved by men and women working together to try and gain a foothold in a harsh land. The process begun in the seventeenth has continued into the twentieth century as the tide of colonization has moved west and north. Canadian women have benefited from the fact that their share in the hardships of the early years gave them a position of economic importance. In fact, life in the early days of settlement, east or west, was almost impossible without a cheerful, capable, and hard-working wife, a fact highlighted by that acute observer Mrs. Jameson. The first provision for education in the English-speaking parts of Canada often came from casual classes gathered round a settler's wife or sister, one who had a special interest in, and perhaps a greater supply of, books. These dame schools, often allied with Sunday schools initiated by the more active ministers, opened the way for the establishment of common elementary schools open to all the children of a district. Some girls learned to read and write but the practical arts of running a household, which they learned from their mothers, were in the early days considered by far the most important aspect of their education. However, during the nineteenth century, the more settled parts of Canada were affected by the growing demand in England and the United States for the more thorough education of girls. English influences were spread by the circulation of many English magazines and books, while American ideas and experiments

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could be observed from close at hand. Education meant the opening of new doors for the energies of women no longer engulfed in the never-ending work of settlement. Industrialization, with its substitution of the machine for physical strength, made the wider employment of women more practical. The opportunities for employment and the possession of some independent financial resources were important factors in improving the status of Canadian women. The general tradition and the laws in Canada have derived directly from the two major founding races, but on both sides there has been divergence from the European tradition. The French Canadians of Quebec were cut off from French influences after the fall of the French regime. For more than a century after the French Revolution the conservative farmers, and still more conservative clergy, felt little kinship with the new-and they felt irreligious-France. However, Napoleon's Civil Code became the civil law of Quebec, though the criminal law was the same throughout the country. Both their innate conservatism and the restrictive articles of the Civil Code have put many legal restrictions on the women of Quebec until very recent times. Nevertheless, the status of women in Quebec has normally been much better than the laws would have implied, as the wife and mother in French Canadian society has held a most important place. Also in French Canada, the tradition of the value and usefulness of the single woman, especially in her work as a nun, has continued. Quebecers have not forgotten Marguerite Bourgeoys, who ran the first school in Montreal and founded an order that still educates thousands of Canadian girls; nor Mere Marie de l'Incarnation, founder of the Ursulines who provided a civilizing influence in the tiny settlement of Quebec; nor Jeanne Mance, who founded the first hospital in Montreal. The figures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are less individually notable, but the work of teaching and of caring for the sick has been until very recent times almost completely the province of the religious. Nevertheless, until relatively recently, the French attitude has been homogeneous and very conservative in its views on the status of women. The English tradition in Canada is less distinct than the French for many reasons, but particularly because the English-speaking colonists were a less homogeneous group. Besides the settlers directly from Great Britain-and there are considerable differences among English, Scots and Irish--there was also a heavy influx into Canada from the American colonies. The United Empire Loyalists, the most publicized of all immigrants, included the most conservative elements in the colonies. Their abhorrence of republicanism and of anything that

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smacked of revolution helped to harden their social attitudes-and those of their descendants. But the Loyalists were not the only immigrants, and their views not the only American ones known in Canada. The relationship between Canada and the United States has always been compounded of almost equal amounts of disapproval and fascination. In the early days of colonization, such settlers as the Strickland sisters and observers like Mrs. Simcoe and Lucy Isabelle Bird commented with satisfaction on the better manners of the Canadians compared with those of the rude, republican Yankees. At the same time, the more clear-sighted admitted that the Yankees had proved more competent settlers and energetic businessmen. The influence and example of the U.S. assumption of independence were particularly strong on those who opposed the more orthodox, conservative and privileged adherents of the colonial regime. Such early American proponents of female rights as the Puritan Anne Hutchinson or the delightful Abigail Adams, who cheerfully advised her husband during the Continental Congress to "remember the ladies and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestor^,"^^ had little publicity in Canada. However, during the nineteenth century the intellectual ferment of North America was little hampered by the formality of the border. During the abolitionist agitation most Canadians shared the attitude of the reformers and helped to set up the terminus of the Underground Railway for escaped slaves at Windsor, Ontario, where the fugitives were safe from the restrictive U.S. legislation. As was the case elsewhere, the movement for Negro emancipation encouraged other reform movements in which women acted as pioneers. The social and hospital work of Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton, the intellectual and literary influence of Margaret Fuller, and the educational pioneering of Emma Willard and Mary Lyon led to the growing involvement of women as a pressure group in politics. At first the main line of attack was moral-the primary enemy was the Demon Rum!-and the fight against liquor was led by the Women's Christian Temperance Union. This crusade soon turned into a demand for female suffrage, also led by the temperance advocates, since the vote of women was required to achieve prohibition. In the move for prohibition and for the vote for women, American leaders and ideas came to Canada to influence and encourage. It is more difficult to judge the importance and effect of the continued flow of people back and forth across the border. This was, of course, most common in the West where settlers looked primarily for good land, and in search of it wandered back and forth across the

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49th parallel. But in the East too there were numerous ties, though most of them led south. French Canadians went to New England to gain better wages in the textile mills, but their family ties with Quebec remained strong. Maritimers sought the easier conditions of the "Boston States," but often returned home when they had made a nest egg. As well, there were numerous families in which Canadian married American and moved south, or American married Canadian and moved north. These transplants kept their special interest in and concern for their country of origin and insured a free and rapid flow of ideas and sentiments. These informal ties and connections between the U.S. and Canada are incalculable, and it is almost impossible to assess their influence, but it certainly has been great. Other races too have added to the Canadian mosaic. In the nineteenth century there were notably the Icelanders, the Germans and the Ukranians, who all became part of the English-speaking, as opposed to the French-speaking, section of the country. These groups imported some distinct attitudes and nuances of their own, which had considerable local influence on social customs but were not strong enough to force a general shift in outlook. No matter what their national heritage they were bound by the social restrictions inherent in the English common law. English-speaking Canada had taken its law in its entirety from England and continued to amend it and change it in strict conformity with decisions arrived at in London. It has been a general pattern in North America that as the first rough equality of pioneer days is replaced by small-town life, the political and social attitudes of both men and women become much more conservative. The further development into urban living, however, again brings a liberation of outlook. Much of the history of the progress of women's rights and status in Canada in the nineteenth and early twentieth century reflects this general rule. It is an interesting historical irony that the first Canadian women to have the vote were those of Quebec, who exercised the suffrage between 1809 and 1834. The Constitutional Act of 1791 had set the property qualifications for voting, and had not specifically denied the vote to women who held sufficient property. Joseph Papineau's mother voted for her son in 1809, for example, but this freedom did not endure. In 1834 the continually more conservative opinion of Quebec put through an act which specifically legislated against women voting in any country, city or borough and by 1855 the definition of "person" had been restricted to "a male person, including an Indian, and excluding a person of Mongolian or Chinese r a ~ e , " and 3 ~ only "persons" could vote. Quebec retained this ban on women voting provincially until 1940.

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In the rest of Canada, beginning with the prairie provinces, women received the provincial suffrage with little bitter agitation. The Maritime provinces were some years behind the federal suffrage which was granted in 1918; as in England, this right was almost a byproduct of the war. The outstanding legal landmark for Canadian women was the "Persons Case," that long-drawn-out judicial process which finally went to the British Privy Council for decision. The Lord Chancellor's ruling in October 1929 that women were indeed "persons," and thus had the right to be summoned to the Senate, marked the culmination of a generation of feminist effort. It is a pity that some of the outstanding personalities who achieved these legal successes or proved women's competence in new fields have been so overlooked. The life stories of Emily Murphy of Alberta, the force behind the appeal to the Privy Council and the first woman police magistrate in the British Empire; of Nellie McClung, the witty and dynamic suffrage advocate and popular author; of Dr. Maude Abbott, one of the earliest women doctors and a world-recognized pathologist; of E. Cora Hind, whose uncanny ability to predict the wheat harvest made her a power in farm circles here and abroad-to mention only a feware full of colour and fascination. It is not only the colonial heroines like Madame de La Tour or the rather over-advertised Laura Secord who deserve to be remembered. CONCLUSION

This rapid summary of the factors that have shaped the status of women through the centuries and have influenced our Canadian customs and attitudes must end before it slides from history into current events. Certain theoretical trends appear clearly. The philosophers, with the exception of Plato and, much later, John Stuart Mill, have generally been uninterested in, or opposed to, a rational view of women. The theologians, both Catholic and Protestant, influenced by the Bible, have consistently taught the subordination of women to men, with particular emphasis on the wife's necessary obedience to her husband. On the other hand, they have balanced this with the recognition of woman as an individual, and have attempted to insure the stability of marriage-which for the great majority of couples has proved of more benefit to the wife than the husband. They have also had a considerable distrust of women as a sex, most obviously shown in the misogamy of the medieval clerks. The status of women under the law has varied a great deal during the centuries and in different countries, but

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more than either philosophy or theology, the law has been susceptible to change when social conditions have obviously made this necessary. The theorizing of our civilization about women has tended to describe them as charming, attractive, useful inferiors, though at many times their actual status has differed considerably from the theories. Of course, there have always been the small minority of unusual women who by birth, position, talents, or mere force of character have left their mark on the history of their time. Of more general importance are the opportunities which society leaves open to the average woman. The shrinkage of woman's sphere and influence in the early nineteenth century inspired in reaction a more determined insistence on women's rights. This feminist effort continued and had achieved notable legal successes by the early twentieth century. But the removal of disabilities is not the whole answer. The Canadian woman has emerged into the changed conditions of postwar life burdened by a furtive cultural tradition of inferiority. Subconsciously she feels that she is considered a second-class citizen, a role which no longer satisfies her. Essentially conservative in outlook, many Canadians have not adjusted their thinking to the new role of women, or attempted to modernize their own social attitudes which they formed on an outdated tradition. NOTES 1.

2.

3. 4.

5.

6. 7. 8.

9.

Cleverdon, C.L. The Woman Suffrage Mouement in Canada, (University of Toronto Press, 19501, p. 154. Marrou, H.I., A History of Education in Antiquity, (New York: New American Library, 19641, p.59. Aristotle, Politics, trans. by B. Jowett and T. Twining. (New York: Viking Press, 1957), pp.1, 2, 5. Aristotle, De Animalium Generatione, trans. by A.L. Peck (London: Loeb Classical Library, 1953), 11, p.3. Thucydides, 7he Complete Writings, trans. by R. Crawley, intro. by J. Gavorse, (New York: Random House, 1934), p.109. Plato, 7hRepublic, trans. A.D. Lindsay (London: J.M. Dent, 1945), bk. V; Xenophon, Memorabilia and Oeconomicus, trans. by E.C. Marchant (London: Loeb Classical Library, 1959), X, p.1. Murray, Gilbert, Euripides and His Age (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1913, reprint 1969, p.44. Aristophanes, Lysistrata in Works vol. I11 ( London: Loeb Classical Library, 1950). Juvenal, 7be Sixteen Satires, trans. by Peter Green (London: Penguin, 1967), VI, 1, p.434.

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10. Pliny the Younger, The Letters, trans. by W. Melmoth, revised and corrected by F.C.T. Bosanquet (London: Collier, 1908), VII, p. 19. 11. Buckland, W.W., A Textbook of Roman Law from Augustus to Justinian, 3d ed. rev. by P. Stern (Cambridge University Press, 1 9 6 3 , p.165. 12. Prohl, R.C., Woman in the Church (Grand Rapids MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1957), p.50. 13. Proverbs 3131. 14. Noonan, J.T., Contraception, a History of its Treatment by the Catholic Z5eologians and Canonists (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1965), pp.80-81, 101-02. 15. Sheehan, M.M., "The Influence of Canon Law o n the Property Rights of Married Women in England," Medieval Studies, XXV (1963, pp. 109-24. 16. Pratt, R.A., "Jenkyn's Book of Wikked Wyyves: Medieval Antimatrimonial Propaganda in the Universities," Annuale Medievale (Duquesne Studies) 111, 1962, pp.26-27. 17. Aquinas, Thomas, Summa Theologica in Basic Writings of Thomas Aquinas, ed. and annotated by A.C. Pegis (New York: Random House, 19451, pp.92, 99. 18. Lorris, G. d e and Meun, J. de, Romance of the Rose, trans. by H.W. Robbins, ed. by C.W. Dunn (New York, E.P. Dutton, 1962), 11, 16570-77. 19. Erasmus, Desiderius, m e Colloquies, trans. by C.R. Thompson, (University of Chicago Press, 1969, pp.219-23. 20. Wallace, R.S., Calvin's Doctorine of the Christian Ltfe (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1959), pp. 158-60. 21. Bainton, R., Here I Stand, a Life of Martin Luther (New York: Abingdon Press, 1950), p.233. 22. Milton, Paradise Lost, Bk. IV, 1.299. 23. Stenton, D.M.,The English Woman in History (London: Allen and Unwin, 1957), pp.153-55, 164-66, 155-58, 286-95, 302-06. 24. Fenelon, Fran~oisd e S., De l'education desJi1fe.s(Paris: LeCottre, n.d.). 25. Tilley, A. Madame de SevignB (Cambridge University Press, 1936), p.153. 26. Fagniez, G., La femme et la socit5tt5 fran~alsedans la premGre moitt5 de X W .si2cle (Paris: Bamber, 19250, p. 100. 27. Blackstone, W., Commentaries on the Laws of England, ed. by W.D. Lewis, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Geo. T. Bisel, 1922), I, 15, p.442. 28. Blackstone, Commentaries, IV, 15, p.204. 29. Wollstonecraft, Mary, m e Rights of Women (London: J.M. Dent, 1929), p. 12. 30. Kircheisen, EM., Memoirs of Napoleon I, trans. by Frederick Collins (London: Hutchinson, n.d.), pp.153-55. 31. Carbonnier, Jean, Droit civil, vol. I. 5th ed. rev. (Paris: Presses Universitaires d e France, 1964), p.51. 32. Healy, W.J., Women of Red Riuer (Winnipeg: Peguis, 1923, 1967). 33. Douglas, E.T., Remember the Ladies (New York: Putnam, 1966), p.7. 34. Healy, Women of Red River.

Staineb @La$$ A REFLECTION O F THE

THIRTEENTH CENTURY PASSION FOR LIGHT

y interest in stained glass is not that of the an historian but of the medievalist who is convinced that the arts of the Middle Ages grew from the fertile soil of a hody of accepted ideas, employed the techniques currently available to embody such ideas, and were frequently catalyzed by the enthusiasms and vigour provoked by specific historical circumstances. The combination of these three factors channelled artistic activity in specific directions. The development of Gothic architecture with its newly expanded windows and unprecedented emphasis on light--one expert has even described it as "transparent, diaphanous architecturem'-meant that in the new churches stained glass took over the primary decorative function which Romanesque architecture had allowed to wall paintings. Stained glass itself evolved between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries. The thirteenth century has been described as "the age of the coloured wall of glass; the fourteenth century of the coloured perspective; the fifteenth century of the transparent wall with fancy additions."' I propose here to discuss thirteenth century stained glass, primarily in its historical context. I will not attempt a detailed analysis of specific styles of windows, their attributions or artistic values. These tasks are more properly the province of the specialist in the field. As the title of this paper suggests, I am convinced that the fascination with light

as a theological, philosophical and scientific topic of great importance in the late twelfth and thirteenth centuries had a major effect on the development and extension of stained glass in the great Gothic churches built between 1140 and 1250. It is also true that recently developed techniques had just begun to make such windows possible and that wider groups of patrons were happy to fund this new art for their own purposes. Some background in these three fields will help in understanding of the various forces which combined to create this new and splendid art form. Any discussion of stained glass faces several difficulties and some practically unanswerable questions. Thus we can debate, but have no conclusive thirteenth century evidence, as to whether it is a separate art or a craft carrying out the ideas of the controlling architect. We can neither identify the creators and designers of glass nor be sure even about the architects. We can, however, explore the relation of stained glass to painting and painters. Stained glass exploits a medium very different from painting on an opaque surface, and glass-painters who must use translucency as a third dimension in their work require different skills from other painters. The annual fall glory of the turning leaves provides a good analogy to the particular glories of medieval stained glass. Both vary enormously in their effect on the beholder, according to the vagaries of sun and cloud, and the greater or lesser intensity of light. As well, each person's eyes will perceive slightly differently the depth of colour, the luminosity, and the contrasts which have been created directly by nature in the one case, and in the other by human skill working in harmony with nature. The constant variation in effect created by changing conditions increases our fascination with stained glass, since the substance of the glass remains the same while it appears to beholders to change profoundly. Chartres is a perfect example, for its windows in morning or afternoon, on a day of sun or cloud almost seem to be different creations, since the depth and radiance of the colours vary so much under different conditions. It is worth noting that the best medieval stained glass was created in France, England and Germany where changeable weather conditions and frequent grey skies intensified its effects and provided an atmosphere of treasured warmth and colour. Unfortunately, because of its dependence on changing light, even the best slides, pictures or museum panels, though necessary aids for close study, do not truly convey the effect of stained glass in its original settings. One further warning. It is impossible to discuss medieval society or its art without recognizing the pervasiveness of Christian belief,

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Christian symbolism and Christian forms. They were an integral part of what I tend to call the mental furniture of the men and women of the time, though they coexisted with many enduring pagan and magical beliefs and practices. Although the structure of twelfth and thirteenth century Europe was a Christian one, the understanding of Christian thought varied enormously, depending on intelligence, education and often social status. The educated men of those centuries were monks or clerics, while scholarly women were nuns. For them the bible and religious treatises were the preferred and most available reading matter. Literate lay people, always to be found among the upper classes and later among the middle classes too, were also steeped in religious material, for prayer books were normally their primers. As sermons were more generally preached to the laity in the thirteenth century, even the poor, especially in the growing towns, heard popularizations of bible stories, legendary saints' lives and cautionary moral tales. These lessons were reinforced by what they saw in their churches, whose magnificence contrasted vividly with the bare poverty of their tiny houses. Let us turn then to the fundamental question of light, since for medieval people light was an ever-recurring miracle. We in the twentieth century are so surrounded by adequate artificial light, as well as by the new technologies harnessing light-lasers for surgery, fibre optics in many fields, even a new computer where light will substitute for and speed up the old microchip-that we have lost any sense of the miracle of light. It requires an enormous effort of the imagination to understand how deeply our thirteenth century forebears treasured natural light, and how profoundly they were influenced by it and by the concomitant difficulty of banishing darkness. Think back to the last blackout and what it felt like when you only had a candle or two in the darkness. Then remember that in the thirteenth century, only the rich had candles or torches; most people made d o with dim rushlights or a flickering fire, if they were lucky. Perforce most of the population went to bed soon after sunset, for darkness was dangerous and uncontrollable. Thus it is not surprising that the basic physical passion for the warmth and clarity of sunlight was first seen in theological terms. After all, the first action of God reported in the Old Testament description of creation was to order, "Let there be light," and Genesis reports that there was light and the light was good. In the Christian New Testament, both John's gospel and the Apocalypse, or Book of Revelations, emphasize the close and intimate relationship of light

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with divinity. John, for example, began his gospel by declaring that Christ's life was the light of man, a light which shone in the darkness and which darkness could not overpower. The Apocalypse, that inexhaustible source for many of the wilder flights of medieval symbolism, carried John's emphasis on light even further. It describes the descent of the New Jerusalem in terms of intrinsic light, of light reflected and increased by gold and precious jewels, which did not need the sun or the moon but shone from the radiant glory of God. Apart from this strictly theological emphasis on light, medieval thinkers found the primacy of light embodied in a philosophical tradition which had its roots in Plato, was expanded by the neo-Platonists and remained an important intellectual current throughout the thirteenth century. Most twelfth and thirteenth century scholars were generalists: theologians and commentators on the bible were often philosophers as well, and some were also actively concerned with science. Because of the theological and philosophical emphasis on light, thirteenth century scientists were encouraged to make its nature and properties a primary topic for exploration. Since medieval science sprang from the study of mathematics and geometry, it tended to be far more interested in abstract deductive theory than in practical experiment, but it was particularly fascinated by and occupied with the problems of optics, and especially of the rainbow. Fortunately, we can put not only a name but a personality to one of these thirteenth century encyclopedic scholars, the very one who is most specific about the importance of light. Robert Grosseteste was an extraordinary Englishman whose list of activities and achievements is s o long and varied that it exhausts most of us even in the reading. Probably the first chancellor of Oxford University and lecturer to the Franciscan students there, he was also, from 1235 until his death in 1253, the energetic, reforming bishop of Lincoln, the largest diocese in England, and was deeply involved in the turbulent politics of his day. In addition, Grosseteste wrote works for the laity in the vernacular, including a popular allegorical poem and a down-to-earth treatise on household and estate management. He also translated important Greek works into Latin, produced some theological commentaries of his own, and somehow found time for several scientific studies on the rainbow and on tides. He made a start on defining scientific method and encouraged scientific study as a proper branch of intellectual endeavour. We d o have a few references which help put a human face on this intellectual dynamo. On one occasion, when Grosseteste was

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around 80, he insisted on travelling across France to the church council at Lyons s o that he could personally upbraid Pope Innocent IV for his deplorable habit of staffing English benefices with Italian clerics, who happily took the revenues but provided no pastoral care. The bishop saw this as deplorable and told the pope so in rather bloodcurdling terms. Back home in England, Grosseteste was on most friendly terms with the leader of the baronial party, Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, and his wife Eleanor. He brought up two of their sons in his own household, thus ensuring their education, and was so close a friend that he borrowed the countess's cook when his own died. A final glimpse discloses him relaxing at night to the music of his private harpist-ne of the few luxuries he allowed in his ho~sehold.~ Robert Grosseteste expresses most clearly what might be called the thirteenth century metaphysics of light and illustrates how the idea dominated the minds of such as Suger in his work at St.-Denis. Although Verdier has suggested that Grosseteste saw the universe as did the impressionists and the cubists, the thirteenth century scholar had a much more theological approach. In his treatise on optics he praised light as "the most noble of natural phenomena ... the mediator between bodiless and bodily substances; a spiritual body and an embodied spirit." The abbots, bishops and cathedral chapters who were the administrators generally responsible for setting up the major building programs which created the new Gothic churches were rarely theologians, philosophers or scientists, but they had been exposed to and deeply influenced by their ideas. A great church was meant to suggest to the senses of those who entered it the vision of ultimate glory which was the reason for its existence. Within such a church light must be given an important place since, as Grosseteste says, "light is the most noble of natural phenomena," the least material, the closest approximation to pure form.4 How could such beliefs be transformed into physical expression? From the fifth century, Christian churches, especially in the Byzantine Empire or influenced by it, had been extensively decorated with mosaics, whose small cubes in gold and brilliant colours reflected and extended any available light in the dim churches. However, until the middle of the twelfth century, windows, even in the most important churches, were small and often not glazed. Suddenly the new Gothic architecture discovered how walls with much larger windows could be reinforced by flying buttresses. What techniques had the glass-makers been developing that would allow them to make use of

IJI

this new space, and how could the intellectual passion for light be translated into that extraordinary branch of art we call stained glass? Luckily there is a very specific handbook of the twelfth century by a German monk named Theophilus that describes the techniques of the arts of his day. Theophilus had great respect for the gifts of the artist, and it is obvious that he himself was a practising craftsman who was anxious to pass his knowledge on to others. His book, On the VariousArts, is a mine of information about assorted techniques in a wide range of artistic fields. The monk also uses the prologues to the three books of his treatise to explain the Christian philosophy and value of such artistic work. In his first book Theophilus talks of the various forms of painting on an opaque ground, including frescoes, wall-paintings, manuscripts and even the decorating of doors, altar panels and saddles. The prologue to Book 2 emphasizes that those kinds of painting were not by nature translucent. He therefore had sought to discover the techniques by which a building could be embellished with a variety of colours without, as he says, "excluding the light of day and the rays of the sun."5 Since he now understands the nature of glass, he can explain its correct use, devoting almost all of Book 2 to the making of windows. His careful account allows us to see how a twelfth century glass-maker would set to work. Theophilus was a careful teacher and believed in beginning at the beginning-his first instructions are on how to prepare the necessary kiln for the making of glass.6 He then goes on to explain in relatively simple and direct language the making of potash by burning dried beech wood in an iron pot. The potash was then mixed, in the proportion of two-thirds potash to one-third clean sand, and gradually roasted until completely melted. His description of the manner of glass-blowing by mouth still applies today, and to watch such a craftsman at work is fascinating. Depending on how the blown glass was handled from the blowpipe, the resultant product was either softened and flattened into sheets or made into round discs. The early sheets of glass, known as "tables," were about 24 inches by 15 inches, with variations in thickness and colour. The round discs might be as much as 24 inches in diameter, with a thick boss at the centre where the iron rod, to which the molten glass had been transferred from the blowpipe, had been attached. These centres were often used for the bulls-eye glazing of domestic windows. This process made clear glass. For coloured glass metallic oxides were added to the molten glass before it was blown. The addition of copper produced a ruby red; cobalt oxide, blue; iron oxide, green; and so on. Since the oxide earths, and indeed even the sand used,

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had many impurities, there was often a wide variation of colour, even in the same piece of glass. Glass intended to be clear might end up yellowish, or even tawny, and coloured glass would vary in intensity. Theophilus suggests that such irregularities and differences in thickness might be put to good use by employing them to provide the shading which made the designs more effective. Glass-makers and the glass-workers who designed and put together the windows practised two separate crafts. Glass-makers naturally congregated where the needed natural materials were easily available. Normandy was one of the great centres of production in France, and most glass used in important medieval building projects in England was imported from France. As late as 1447 the contract for the glazing of the elegant and expensive Beauchamp Chapel in St. Mary's, Warwick, specified that only glass from "beyond the seas" was to be used, and that it was to be "the best, cleanest, and strongest glass of beyond the seas that may be had in ~ngland."' Even when glass-houses were set up in Surrey and Sussex in the thirteenth century, they were founded by workers from Normandy. There are occasional later records of the costs of glass which, though not accurate for the thirteenth century, at least give some idea of the difference in cost between plain and coloured glass. For example, the accounts for the glazing of St. Stephen's Chapel, Westminster, in 1351 show that five pounds of white glass cost ad; the same amount of red glass, 2s 2d; and of the highly prized blue glass, 3s 7d.8 A supply of glass, both plain and coloured, would be bought and taken to the building site, or more probably to a glass workshop set up nearby, where the work of designing the window would already be in hand. How was it done and who was responsible? The master mason in charge of the building, in effect the architect, controlled the basic nature of the windows, since he regulated the space to be glazed and would also decide whether it was to be divided and reinforced by stone mullions. In this period we know tantalizingly little of how either the architect or the glass-painter worked, or of how they divided their responsibilities for the finished windows. Master mason and master glazier must have shared their knowledge and experience in the use of their respective materials. The cooperation might have been more or less intimate. Rose windows, for example, which are among the most stunningly effective of all cathedral windows, gain much of their impressiveness from their stone structure and the remarkable interdependence of stone and glass they display. To appreciate them fully, it is often as necessary to study their stone

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structure from without as to admire the glass within. However, in the regular procession of similar windows in nave or clerestory where the glass-painter knew he had so many spaces of such and such a size to glaze, he might be influenced in his choice of subjects by the desires of his employers, the wishes of individual donors or his own artistic ideas. He would normally have a supply of stock designs which, slightly modified, could be used in several situations. The whole question of design in the Middle Ages-who was responsible for it, and how patterns used in one medium were adapted to quite another-is an exceedingly involved one. A few points are clear. Medieval painters, like medieval thinkers, were not specialists. A craftsperson could be described as a painter whether he or she worked on the creation of painted altar panels, the illumination of manuscripts or even the painting of saddles and banners. Generally they clustered into workshops where the master would be surrounded by a number of journeymen and apprentices and individual talents were subordinated to the group. Glass-painters only slowly became a recognized separate craft, and the first records of their own gilds are only found in the fifteenth century. In the earlier, and more fluid, situation-and given the medieval conviction that borrowing the ideas of others was both flattering and proper-it is not surprising that similar stylistic influences can be traced between, say, manuscript illumination and stained glass design. It is typical of this crossfertilization, for example, that the singularly lifelike birds found in English illuminated manuscripts can be parallelled by equally realistic, and almost identical, birds in English embroidery. It appears that painters were willing to adapt a striking pattern to different forms of artistic creation. Windows, embroideries and ultimately tapestries took many of their subject and styles of depiction from the same sources. All windows began with a cartoon, or careful drawing, of the subject to be represented. From the time of Theophilus until paper became easily available in the late fourteenth century, the cartoon was drawn on a smooth wooden board, which had been carefully whitened and was large enough so that one or two complete sections of a window could be laid on it. The exact size would then be carefully marked out. Within this frame the design was drawn, carefully specifying the colour of each section, and incorporating as part of the design the lead line that was necessary to separate the different colours from each other. The lines of emphasis of drapery would also be carefully marked on the cartoon where they would later have to be painted on the glass. The completed cartoon for a window, with its

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preset divisions and specification of colours, would bear a family resemblance to a sophisticated "paint by number" kit. Once the design was settled, all the craftsmen of the workshop would proceed with the cutting of glass to fit each of the small sections. Since there were no diamond glass cutters, the workmen heated an iron, shaped rather like a soldering iron, to red hot and used that to cut the glass. Each piece would then be laid on its appointed place on the cartoon and a grosing iron-a short piece of iron with hooked ends, looking rather like a cheap bottle-openerwas used to trim and fit the glass to the exact size. The decorative lines and accents which showed through the glass from the cartoon were then painted on the glass with a form of enamel, which combined metal oxide with soft glass to make it flow. The ever-useful Theophilus gives the recipe to make this and also suggests that brushes of hog's or badger's hair should be used to apply it. The finished pieces of glass would then be laid on trays and put in the finishing kiln to fuse the enamel to the glass. After the glass had been annealed in this manner, it would again be laid on the cartoon in the proper place and anchored with what were called closing nails until the lead strips, made of a mixture that was one part lead to four parts tin, could be made and fitted to the glass. Wherever the strips met they were soldered together, thus holding the glass in place. As soon as a section was completely leaded and soldered, the closing nails would be removed and transferred to the next section to be worked on. Meanwhile a type of putty would be rubbed into the cracks between the lead and glass to make a waterproof seal. When one whole pane was finished, the panel would be turned over, and the soldering and cementing applied to the other side. Lead strips, or copper wire, would be soldered at suitable points to act as ties to fix the finished window to the supporting bars already set in the masonry to support them. The particular characteristic of twelfth and thirteenth century windows was the major importance of the leads as necessary to the design as well as the structure of the window. Because of the relatively small size and uneven thickness of the available panes of glass, the lead provided essential strengthening against wind and storm, and thirteenth century glaziers used it with artistry. This was less true in the later Middle Ages when the use of actual coloured glass gave way to windows of painted scenes. Once installed, stained glass windows were exposed to hazards beyond wind and weather-accidental breakage, wearing of the lead,

15s

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religious or political indignation and, in our day, the cumulative effects of atmospheric pollution, which eats away the actual substance of the glass, as Canterbury Cathedral recently discovered to its horror. Thus, the problem of maintenance was acute. Suger, in his report on the windows of St.-Denis, declared that he had appointed an official craftsman for their protection and repair because the windows were "very valuable because of their wonderful execution and the profuse expenditure of painted glass and sapphire glass."g Such a man, known as a vitrearius, was to be.found in other churches too. For an annual fee, and some extra perks, he was responsible for the care and, if necessary, replacement of the glass and lead. The work was reasonably well-paid. At St.-Denis in the 1220s, the vitrearius received an annual wage of &8, flour from the monk's storehouse and a share in the offerings left on the altar, while the abbey paid the costs of the required glass, lead and iron. By the end of the century, St.-Denis's master glazier Guillaume's wage had risen to &16, with extra allowances for his house and clothing. By this time, too, as much as &35 to 639 a year were being spent on glass and lead.1° In a foundation charter for Ste.-Chapelle in 1246, Louis IX not only endowed a college of canons to guard the relics and carry on the liturgy, but also set up funds for the maintenance of the windows as well as the treasures. Having pointed out the seminal ideas which encouraged the new emphasis on stained glass and described the techniques and working patterns of the glass-workers of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, it is time to concentrate on a few of the particular glories of the period. Why did certain churches concentrate so heavily on stained glass? I would like to discuss three examples with somewhat different histories: St.-Denis, Chartres, and Ste.-Chapelle. The abbey church of St.-Denis may seem an odd choice for discussion since most of its windows no longer exist in their original form. In 1799 about 140 panels of its stained glass were removed from the disestablished abbey and sent to Paris to a new museum of historic monuments. Many were broken in the jolting ox-cart transfer to Paris, and the museum director sold others to private collectors; only 31 could ultimately be returned to the church. Viollet-le-Duc, the famous nineteenth century restorer, combined many of the available fragments, and added new glass when he restored St.-Denis. He did his best to follow the pre-revolution drawings of the originals, but it is not surprising that what we now see is only a poor approximation of the original plan. The real interest of St.-Denis is not the relatively

little glass that has survived, but the extent of its influence in spreading the new Gothic style, its original emphasis on the windows, and the existence of a contemporary description of its building. The catalyst of this development was one man, Suger, abbot of St.-Denis from 1122 to 1151. He was personally responsible for the new church and, unusually for the Middle Ages, he provided his own story of how he went about it. Both the abbey of St.-Denis and its abbot had special royal connections. Originally the abbey was a few miles north of the royal capital of Paris (now it has been swallowed up in a working-class suburb which is strongly Communist). For centuries it served as the mausoleum for French kings and thus had an important place in the mystique of the monarchy. It also enshrines the Oriflamme, the great banner which was believed to have belonged to Charlemagne and was the battle standard carried by the French king when he led his armies. The abbot of St.-Denis was often an important figure in the royal council, just as his monks were responsible for royal propaganda, since they wrote the official history. Suger was the most distinguished of all its abbots, becoming not only the trusted advisor of both Louis VI and Louis VII but the successful regent of France when Louis VII was absent on crusade.12 Born of poor, unknown parents c. 1081, Suger was given to St.Denis as an oblate at the age of ten. The studious and intelligent young peasant was happy as a monk. He shared the abbey's schoolbenches with young noblemen and royal princes, developing useful friendships for the future. Suger's career and achievements are a striking example of the medieval church's ability to provide a bright young boy, of whatever class or birth, with access to positions which entailed great political as well as ecclesiastical importance. Suger was naturally devoted to the abbey which gave him his opportunity for advancement. During his almost 30 years as abbot he worked to increase St.Denis' power, riches and beauty as strenuously as he struggled to ensure that France had peace without and fiscal responsibility and good government within. His permanent achievement was the rebuilding of the old abbey church-too small, he felt, for the growing crowds who flocked to the abbey's relics and its great Lendit fair. His arnbition was to ensure that the church would be so beautiful that it would adequately reflect the glory of the abbey, which Suger had no difficulty identifying with the glory of God. Suger's detailed description of the building and furnishing of the church is fascinating as our only contemporary account of what a

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single organizing mind behind a structure was trying to achieve, and is particularly valuable in our context because of its specific details about the windows. He tells us how he arranged to have them painted "by the exquisite hands of many masters from different regions, a splendid variety of new windows." l3 Suger describes the subjects of the new windows with enthusiasm, beginning with the one devoted to the Tree of Jesse, that symbolic and popular record of the descent of Christ from David which appears so frequently in thirteenth century glass. Other windows were based on the Old Testament, and Suger himself wrote verses to be inscribed on the glass tracing the symbolic relation of each Old Testament scene to its completion in the New Testament. To make sure the windows would be as splendid as he wished, Suger had provided a rich supply of sapphire glass and ready funds of about &700, so that the work could be done swiftly. The abbot'worked, and drove his craftsmen, to allow his church "to shine with the wonderful and uninterrupted light of the most sacred windows, irradiating the interior beauty." l4 One man in an influential position with intellectual drive, financial resources and sufficient energy could be responsible for guiding the design of the whole structure. It was an impressive achievement, even if we can no longer see the full range of his work, and it seems eminently suitable that he managed to include a small, identified portrait of himself at the base of one of the great windows he had planned. Chartres, which is for many of us the most glorious and emotionally affecting of all the Gothic cathedrals, is as magnificent for its ensemble of stained glass as for its superb sculpture. Its construction, and the provision of its windows, was sparked by a wider popular support than at St.-Denis. The surprising catalyst which encouraged the construction of the new Gothic church after the disastrous fire of 1194 and motivated the financial liberality, not only of the bishop and cathedral chapter, but also of the royal family, local noblemen and the townspeople, was an intense attachment to Our Lady of Chartres. Chartres had a long tradition of Marian devotion and revered as its most precious relic what was believed to be the Virgin's own tunic. When the 1194 fire destroyed the old Romanesque church where the tunic had been displayed, it spared the precious relic which was discovered undamaged in the crypt. Not only the chapter, but the whole community felt this was a sign that the Blessed Virgin wanted her church rebuilt, and as beautifully as possible. They worked together to accomplish this, with secular advantages as well as theological ones. Chartres was a thriving commercial centre for the Beauce region, and relations between the chapter and the townspeople were partic-

ularly good. The chapter sympathized with the economic interests of the townspeople and encouraged economic activity which benefited both the cathedral and the town. For example, Chartres had four major fairs a year, organized by the chapter on the four great feasts of the Virgin, at a time when such fairs were essential for trade and had something of the pulling power and chance of profit of our Expos. The town's feudal lord was disliked locally because he resented the bourgeois push for exemption from feudal dues and tolls, which they found a drag on trade. Since the cathedral chapter divided the control of the town with the count of Chartres it was always happy to downgrade the count's importance and even wooed the most important bourgeois with the offer of affiliation to the cathedral chapter with all its prestige and spiritual benefits. The French king was involved in the equation too, since he was happy to provide benefits for the growing towns as a way of curbing his over-powerful nobles. Such economic and political facts had enormous influence on the stained glass at Chartres. The beauty and artistic force of the Chartres glass was due partly to an extraordinarily talented group of glaziers, but also to the fact that these people were given a huge expanse in which to display their skill because of the extensive donations which financed so many windows. It has been suggested that the second architect at Chartres, known as Master B, indeed provided much larger window spaces in his design so as to provide the cathedral with light, but that he had expected to use much more grisaille (clear glass which has been faintly coloured, often with repetitive foliage patterns and decorative leading).15 G~saillecouldbe very beautiful, as its most famous example, the great Five Sisters window at York Minster, demonstrates, but it used relatively inexpensive glass and required less time and care to execute. Such windows did not appeal to donors, who instead, at Chartres, flocked to provide for windows in which the expensive and beautiful reds and blues predominate and which are the rule there. Some architectural and sculptural purists are unhappy with the overpowering importance of the stained glass at Chartres which so modifies the light entering the church that it creates a luminous atmosphere which is almost unparalleled. They would prefer more unfiltered light in order to be able to scrutinize the architectural details, but many of the rest of us are happy to experience Chartres in its totality. The donor of a window was usually able to ensure that his or her gift could be immediately recognized and the donor identified. Many

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of the gifts at Chartres were indeed munificent. Queen Blanche of Castile, mother of Louis IX, gave the northern rose and the lancets beneath it, identified by her badges of the castles of Castile and the fleurs-de-lis. Count Peter of Brittany, great-grandson of Louis VI, who was anxious to gain royal approval as well as show his identification with the flourishing Breton community at Chartres, financed the south porch. He also gave the southern rose and its lancets, which included portraits of himself, his wife and his children, so that he would have full publicity for his generosity and, he hoped, prayers for all their souls. Local nobles, who can be identified by their heraldic bearings, were responsible for many of the great clerestory windows. It was not only the rich and mighty who made such gifts. The townspeople were equally anxious to contribute to their Virgin and her church, and the list of associations that donated a window is almost a commercial directory of the thirteenth century town. There were clothiers, drapers, farriers, haberdashers, tanners, armourers, carpenters, cartwrights, coopers, masons, sculptors, money-changers, apothecaries, fishmongers, wine merchants and even the lowly watercamers. Most of these windows were in splendid positions in the clerestory or nave, and the five great windows in the chevet honouring the Virgin, which had perhaps the most strategic location of all behind the altar, were almost totally the gift of the down-to-earth butchers and bakers. These windows sponsored by the guilds usually included an activity or symbol of the donating trade or craft in juxtaposition with a great image or tale of sacred history. For some the symbolism was very easy-thus the story of Noah and the building of the ark was given to the carpenters and displayed both their tools and their activities, while the central place of the wine at mass was illustrated in a large medallion on the wine-merchants' window. The influence of available financing on the elaboration and provision of stained glass in a church is illustrated in a slightly different fashion at Canterbury. There getting donors was more of an uphill struggle, but the cathedral benefited richly from the gifts of the pilgrims who came to pray and hope for miracles at Becket's shrine. The Trinity Chapel, which housed the rich shrine, has splendid windows illustrating Becket's life, primarily paid for by gifts left by satisfied pilgrims.l 6 The stained glass of Chartres is the most complete and homogeneous of that of all the great cathedrals. It includes the magnificent twelfth century lancets below the west rose, one of which is the famous Tree of Jesse. These survived the great fire of 1194 as did the

glorious panel known as La Belle Verriere, which was reset with a thirteenth century border and placed in the choir. Its stupendous collection of the thirteenth century windows have fortunately survived weather, war and revolution. An early medieval catechism asked: "What should one d o in a church?" The answer given was: "Take holy water, pray to the Almighty, then wander around the church and look at the stained glass." l7 The best comment I know on doing just that at Chartres is a statement from Jean Bazaine's Le Vatrailfran~ais. He says: "Nobody takes in all the details of the windows at Chartres (except with binoculars and a guide, which are not indispensable accessories of the Christian). But the subject is 'there' all the same, and what sinks into the faithful is not just an empty play of lines and colours, nor is it the stories themselves, it is the emotion of the artist who dealt with the stories, the sum total of the love they aroused in him."I8 Just as the art historian would urge someone exploring such a church to decode the stories and symbolism of these complex windows, I would encourage you also to remember how much these windows were the product of not only extraordinary glaziers but as well of the enthusiasm, devotion and undoubtedly the one-upmanship of the people of that place and time, who were willing to finance an artistic whole of quite remarkable impressiveness. Ste.-Chapelle in Paris is the final monument of the great century of stained glass, from 1140 to 1250. Unlike St.-Denis and Chartres, designed for great crowds, Ste.-Chapelle was essentially a private royal chapel used by the king, his household and visitors, to which the general populace had very rare access. It owes its existence to a specific historic fact-Louis IX's purchase of relics of the Passion of Christ from the Latin emperor at Constantinople. The most important of these, the Crown of Thorns, arrived in France in 1239 and was given, quite literally, a royal welcome. The royal messengers transporting the relic were met at Villeneuve-l'Archeveque, the border of royal territory, by the king, his mother and brothers, and various nobles to inspect their precious freight. At Sens the next day, Louis and his brother, Robert of Artois, barefoot and clad only in their tunics as a sign of proper humility, carried the reliquary chest on their shoulders and led a singing and praying procession to the cathedral. Once the relic had arrived at Paris, it was deposited in the royal chapel of St. Nicholas. When the emperor sent other relics of the Passion to France in 1241, King Louis seems to have decided that a new royal chapel for the proper safeguard and display of his treasures was needed.Ig

Ste.-Chapelle as we now see it, hidden away in the court of the Palais de Justice, does not evoke its original site which was so close to the royal apartments that a gallery linked the chapel to the king's own chambers. Ste.-Chapelle was a royal creation, inspired by Louis' piety and funded most generously from the royal exchequer. The building itself seems to have cost &40,000 and at least another &100,000 were expended for the shrine for the relics and the precious jewels adorning itm2*Only a king-and in the thirteenth century only the French king-would have that amazing sum of money which could ensure completion in a mere five years. The very architecture suggests the chapel's function as a shrine, for the building itself is bejewelled by the light and colour transmitted by the stupendous expanse of glass-some 6500 square feet.21 St.-Denis had received its impetus from Suger, but could grow only as further funds were collected. Chartres successfully tapped the resources of its community to complete the main body of the cathedral and most of its windows in 35 years. In medieval terms the less than five years it took to build and decorate the Ste.-Chapelle was an exceedingly rushed job, driven by the insistence of an eager king and his ability to pay the enormous bills. However, it was an enormous success, renowned from the beginning as one of the great beauties of Paris. Henry I11 of England, a lover of fine building who encouraged the construction of Westminster Abbey, when he was on a visit to Paris in 1254, admired Stem-Chapelleso much that he was reputed to have wanted "to roll it away in a cart."22 Even in its present secularized state as a public monument and overcrowded tourist attraction, where only the stained glass still proclaims the glories of Louis' original chapel, the effect can be stunning. The translucency, that hallmark of the twelfth and thirteenth century windows, is here carried to its hrthest extreme in the high windows which seem to have pre-empted the walls. The outstanding colours are, not surprisingly, the thirteenth century's favourite reds and blues but deployed in a unique way. In the overwhelming detail of the biblical and historical narratives that fill the panels, there is an extraordinary profusion of small pieces of glass, whose reflections of the changing light suggest that the glass itself was made up of precious jewels which constantly change in tone. In this way they emphasize the status of the chapel as a reliquary for its precious contents. Stained glass windows, however, were not designed purely for aesthetic satisfaction or to make an artistic point. Their teaching pro-

gram was equally important and was made clear in the choice of subject. Although one was devoted to illustrating the voyage of the relics to France, Ste.-Chapelle's windows deal primarily with biblical history. In all the windows there is a remarkable insistence on the royal theme of coronation and the royal lineage of Christ. Medieval French thinkers often claimed a peculiarly exalted position for the French ruler, encouraging his title as "Most Christian King." They believed that the consecrated oil used in his anointing had been brought directly from heaven at the time of the baptism of Clovis and gave a crowned king certain supernatural powers. A legend popular between the tenth and fourteenth centuries stated that the last and greatest of the French kings would unite Romans and Greeks, convert the Jews, and finally lay down his crown and sceptre on the Mount of Olives as tokens of the surrender of the earthly kingdom to the rule of christm23The windows of Ste.-Chapelle seem to have explicitly suggested an integral link between the Crown of Thorns and the crown of France, so that the king of France could be perceived as the rightful heir to the line of biblical royalty. In this light, Stem-Chapelle's windows can be viewed, not so much as a propaganda campaign to influence the general public (who were only rarely admitted), but as a constant reminder to the king and his court of the quasi-sacred royal function and the king's identification with the church. It is, to put it in more modern terms, a very Gallican formula. We have no idea who set the iconographic pattern for these windows, or was responsible for their emphasis. It can only be said that the original designer expressed ideas which were current in French intellectual circles close to the court and which perhaps expressed Louis' own theories of kingship. In any case, Ste.-Chapelle provides another moving example of how medieval art was inextricably intertwined with the intellectual culture and historical events of its own day. Because of my historical focus, I have attempted to look at the magnificent stained glass of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries rather less as a pure work of art and more as the artistic expression of widely held beliefs which skilled, anonymous craftsmen transmuted into a universal heritage. Dante as the fourteenth century's greatest poet can fairly claim the last word in describing his contemporaries' passion for light. His description of light from one of the final cantos of the "Paradiso" at the climax of the Divine Comedy not only celebrates light as part of the divine-it evokes the glory of the stained glass. He says:

I saw a light that was a river flowing

light within light between enamelled banks, painted with blossoms of miraculous spring; And from the river as it glowed and rolled live sparks shot forth to settle on the flowers. They seemed like rubies set in bands of gold.24 NOTES 0 . von Simson, m e Gothic Cathedral, 2nd rev. ed. (New York: Harper's, 1962), p.4. J. Piper, Stained Glass: Art or Anti-Art (London, 1968), p.68. Matthew Paris, Chronica Majora, ed. H.R. Luard (Rolls Series 57) V, pp.389-93; Adam Marsh, "Letters," Monumenta Franciscana, ed. J.S. Brewer (Rolls Series 4), I, 110; Robert Mannyng, Handlyng Synne, ed. F.J. Furnivall, Roxburghe Club (London, 1862) 11.4756-57. Quoted in W. Swaan, 7be Gothic Cathedral (London, 1969) p.185. Theophilus, De Diversis Artibus, ed. C.R. Dodwell (Nelson's Medieval Texts, London, 1960, p.37. Theophilus, pp.36-58. B. Coe, Stained Glass in England, 1150-1550 (London, 1981), p. 18. Coe, Stained Glass, p.17. Abbot Suger on the Abbey Church of St.-Denis, ed., trans., and annot., E. Panofsky (Princeton, 1946), p.77. L. Grodecki, and C. Brisac, Gothic Stained Glass, 1200-1300 (Ithaca NY,1985) p.31. L. Grodecki, Suinte-Cbapelle (Paris, n-d.), p.14. Panofsky, Abbot Suger, pp.1-37. Panofsky, Abbot Suger, p.73. Panofsky, Abbot Suger, p. 100. W. Swaan, 7be Gothic Cathedral, pp.118-27. Christian Canterbury: City of Pilgrims, ed. Michael St. John Parker (Pitkin Pictorials), pp.18-22. A. Dierick, 7be Stained Glass a t Chartres, (Hallwag Berne) p.6. Quoted in J. Piper, S&ained Glass: Art, p.5. R e c u d des historiens des Gaules et de la France, XXII, pp.27-32, 601. Grodecki, Sainte-Chaplle, p. 14. Grodecki, Sainte-ChapeZle, p.85. m e Political Songs of England, ed. and trans. Thomas Wright, Camden Society, (Old Series 6, 1839), p.67. J. DePange, k . ~ otres i chrgtin (Paris, 1949, pp. 262-63. Dante Alighieri, Diuitze Comedy, Paradise, trans. John Ciardi (New York, 1970) canto 30, 11.61-66.

STAINED GLASS

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY GENERAL Coe, B., Stained Glass in England, 1350-3550.London, 1981. Cowan, P., Rose Windows. London: Thames & Hudson, 1979. Grodecki, L., "Le Vitrail et ]'Architecture au XIIe et au XIIIe siecles." Gazette des Beaux Arts 36, (19491, pp.5-24. , Brisac, C., Gothic Stained Glass. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press, 1985. Lee, L., G. Sedden, F. Stephens, Stained Glass, NY: Crown Publishers, 1976. Souwers, R., 7I.w Language of Stained Glass. Forest Grove OR, 1981. Theophilus, De D i m i s Artibus, ed., trans. C.R. Dodwell, London: Nelson's Medieval Texts, 1961. Viollet-le-Duc, "Vitrail." Dictionnaire raisonge de I'architecturefran~aisedu XIe a u X I P sigcle, vol. 9. Paris: 1878, pp.373-462. von Sirnson, O., me Gothic Cathedral, 2nd rev. ed. NY: Harper's, 1962. ST.-DENIS Levasseur, F., La basilique de Saint-Denis, n.d. Suger, Abbot, On the Abbey Church of St. Denis, ed., trans., annot. E. Panofsky. Princeton: 1946. CHARTRES Adams, Henry, Mont St. MicheI and Cbartres, numerous editions from 1905. Johnson, J.R., The Radiance of Chartra. London: 1964. STE.-CHAPELLE

Bottineau, Y., Notre-Dame de Paris and the Sainte-Chapelle. London: 1967. Grodecki, L., Sainte-Chapelle. Paris: n.d.

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or modern travellers, curiosity is considered not only a normal hut praiseworthy incentive for the worthwhile discovery and unclerstanding of the new and strange. Thus, it is a genuine surprise to many, even to medievalistc, to discover that, for a very long period, curiosity was not only not considered a proper motive for the medieval traveller, it was in fact thought of as, at the very best, an encouragement to sin. While early medieval travel might have been allowed or even encouraged because of itr spirihlal connotations, with emphasis on the uplifting nature of pilgrimage or missionary activity, reports of late medieval travellers suggest that curiositas played a growing part in their wanderings. Two questions arise: How, in fact, did the Middle Ages define cz~,z'ositasto make it so suspect? and What were the other strong elements which encouraged the medieval helief in the rightness and importance of at least some kinds of travel? Since the Middle Ages spanned several centuries, how did these two antithetical mindsets change ant1 develop during the period between 1100 and 1500? This paper attempts to point out some of the influences which first formed the medieval outlook in this matter, and then those which helped to modify it, as illustrdted by some representative medieval travellers.

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It seems best to begin with the medieval concept of the innate danger of curiositas, since it resonates so surprisingly in our ears. This was still another bequest from Augustine, whose influence was so pervasive in medieval thought and theology, and he had nothing good to say of curiosity. The famous denunciation is in the Confmions, where he distinguishes between pleasure and curiosity as the object of the senses. Since he has already described the general experience of the senses in a rather derogatory fashion as "the lust of the eyes," it is not surprising that he launches into a full-blooded denunciation of curiosity as pursuing objects "for the lust of making trial and knowing them": From this disease of curiosity, are all these strange sights exhibited in the theatre. Hence men go o n to search out the hidden powers of nature (which is besides our end), which to know profits not, and wherein men desire to know nothing but to know. Hence also, if with that same end of perverted knowledge, magical arts be enquired by. In how many most petty and contemptible things is our curiosity daily tempted, and how often we give way, who can count? How often d o we begin, as if we were tolerating people telling vain stories, lest we offend the weak; then by degrees we take interest therein!l

Although Augustine does not actually label curiosity as a sin, he certainly sees it as what the old ecclesiastical vocabulary used to describe as an "occasion of sin." Later, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Augustine's denunciation of curiosity was accepted by other important figures. That redoubtable abbot, Bernard of Clairvaux, in his treatise, m e Steps of Humility, listed curiosity as pride's first step as well as the first visible sign that a monk was weakening in his vocation. A curious monk, he insists, can be easily recognized, since he lets his eyes roam, holds his head erect and pricks up his ears wherever he is standing, walking or sitting. Bernard is even more specific in assigning blame-Eve's curiosity was responsible for all men's evils: For were not thy mind too careless of itself, thou wouldst have no free time for curiosity. Though it be no crime, yet it is the occasion of crime. This is the whole matter in a nutshell, through curiosity, he [Lucifer] fell from truth because he first curiously observed what he then unlawfully coveted, and boldly aspired to. Curiosity therefore, rightfully claims the first place among the steps of pride, for it is shown to be the beginning of all sin. But it will quickly fall, unless more quickly checked, into frivolity, which is the second s t e p 2

In the thirteenth century Aquinas, as might be expected, is more measured in his approach, but is still condemnatory, though in a less harsh fashion than Bernard. In his discussion of curiositas, which he contrasts with studiositas, he chooses to derive the word's root from cura, which he feels implies taking pains about the adornment of dress or other bodily matters. Aquinas argues that curiosity is seen in such fleshly concerns because of the element of "finding out," or knowing, and quotes Augustine as saying, "we are forbidden to be curious." In his specific discussion of curiosity,' he insists that it lies in the appetite and hankering to find out, not in knowing precisely, since knowing a truth is essentially good. He still considers as vices studying only in order to show off or to be considered sophisticated. Aquinas argues that an inordinate appetite and effort to find out is blameworthy, since even the desire for good should be regulated. He goes on to state that studying to find out facts concerning the sensible world may be sinful in two ways: either when it serves no useful purpose but defeats it or when sense knowledge is directed toward something harmful, such as prurient inspection of women or prying into the doings of other^.^ It is an interesting footnote to this medieval theological disapproval of curiosity to find the same reproof being voiced in the sixteenth century. In the appeal of Jaques Merlin in the 1520s against the decision by the masters, dean, doctors and regents of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Paris condemning Merlin's Apology for Origen, the faculty expressed their dismay that Merlin would accuse his "mother" faculty. They added (echoing Abbot Bernard) that "curiosity among theologians is a species of pride, and commonly mortal sin when it insists that we have the unknown for the k n ~ w n . "They ~ were sure that Merlin had only put forward this "curious dispute" to scandalize the popes and detract from the holy Fathers of the church. Obviously, the ultraconservative tradition of the moral dangers of curiositas had a long life, even in the Renaissance. With all this theological thundering in the Middle Ages and beyond on the moral dangers of curiosity, why does it become more and more visible among medieval travellers? There had to be other strong motives and need for travel, as well as a concurrent theological acceptance that travel could indeed be an expression of the admired pietas. There were, in fact, a number of such factors that helped to encourage the medieval acceptance of travel as a natural, even praiseworthy, part of life.

It should not be forgotten that many of the inhabitants of medieval Europe had come there from someplace else. They were the descendants of the succeeding waves of tribes from beyond the borders of the ancient Roman Empire who swept into imperial territory as Roman power declined to search for new lands and better living conditions. The ultimate blend of invaders and invaded arrived at over the generations gradually settled down to develop into separate political organisms with very different patterns. Nevertheless, the people of the Middle Ages retained a willingness to respond enthusiastically to mass dispersions, such as the crusades or the Norman conquests of England and Sicily, as well as to the fascination of wandering anarchical mobs such as the Pastoureaux of thirteenth century France. A certain amount of wanderlust seems to have remained in the medieval bloodstream. It is equally important to recognize that these restless people were also the heirs to a fundamental and continuing religious motivation, not only for planned travel, but even for constant wandering. The early Christians inherited from the Jews a sense of the rootlessness in any one land that is s o heavily emphasized in both the Old and the New Testaments. There was the example of the Book of Exodus for the Jews, and the emphasis in the Gospels on Christ's homelessness and continuous travel during his public life. Christ had enjoined his disciples to "Go, teach all nations" (Matt. 28:16), which inspired the missionary character of medieval Western culture and encouraged its dynamism. The constant journeys Paul related in his letters, and his insistence (Hebrews 13:12), "We have here no abiding city but are seekers of the one to come," when added to Christ's command to his disciples, helped to enshrine for the Middle Ages the dual ideas of the importance and piety of purely missionary travel, and even of less structured wandering in the name of religion, and of pilgrimage to holy people or the places where they lived or died. The flight from civilization by the early Desert Fathers of the third and fourth centuries had encouraged the admiring but less committed Christian, who had early discovered the religious value of tracing the steps of Christ's life in Jerusalem and Palestine, to add a further expedition to the desert to admire the ascetic hermits. This excursion, and the difficult trip to Mt. Sinai, became in the Middle Ages an accepted part of the prime pilgrimage--that to Jerusalem. There can be little doubt that the wandering Irish saints of the sixth and seventh centuries were the most restless wanderers of all. Often leaving little clumps of monks and a new monastery at their stopping places,

they always moved relentlessly onward. Columbanus, perhaps the greatest of such Irish saints, describes in a lyric his understanding of the nature of human life and its proper object: road to life art thou, not Life.... And there is no man who makes his dwelling on the road, but walks there; and those who fare along the road have their dwelling in the Fatherland.... So thou art that nought, o mortal life, nought but a road, a fleeting ghost, an emptiness, a cloud uncertain and frail, a shadow of a dream6

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This early Irish idea of the essential holiness of wandering even left its imprint o n early literature. The Nauigatio Sancti Brendani abbatis, about whose date there is considerable controversy, but which may g o as far back as the ninth century in its first Latin form, puts into real terms Columbanus's idea of life as a constant wayfaring toward paradise. It also tells a wonderful story that has enchanted centuries of listeners and readers, and in our own day even sparked a re-creation of the Brendan voyage.' Certainly, the Voyage of St. Brendan, despite all its pietas, is also full of curiositas, about birds and animals, icebergs and the characteristics of the islands on which the travellers landed. As well, it is interesting to note that Brendan had embarked on his voyage neither as a missionary journey nor as a penance. Although Brendan was a notable Irish monastic wanderer, his view of travel was rather more notable for its extensive curiosity than for an excess of pietas. The attitudinal changes in Western Europe caused by the great missionary expansion of the sixth to the eighth centuries are reflected in the gradual linguistic modification during these years in the meaning of peregrinur. The meaning of the Latin word began to shift from "alien" or "foreigner" to "pilgrim," which became the accepted term for the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, Gerhard Ladner usefully reminds us of the ongoing medieval suspicion of the local for the stranger, and thus for the traveller: "As regards the foreigner or stranger in the literal sense, the outsider in relation to a community, the Middle Ages were on the whole not very favourably disposed toward him, except if he was privileged either for spiritual reasons as in the case of the pilgrims, or for intellectual reasons, as in the case of the universities, or for material reasons, as in the case of rner~hants."~ Pietas might motivate the pilgrims-some wholeheartedly, many less so-but it was a lesser factor for the other groups. The wandering scholars and merchants who became ever-present on the

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medieval roads and ships from the twelfth century onward as well as the officials and diplomats who added their retinues to the growing traffic, were by nature and of necessity more curious than pious. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that many of these secular travellers, as well as the peripatetic clerical officials, took advantage of their travels to pay their respects at some nearby shrine of local fame. Indeed, quite a few have left records of just how far they were willing to stray from the accepted route to visit a famous shrine. Their attitude toward such excursions seems to me to have much in common with those contemporary tourists who clutch their Michelin bible and dutifully follow its recommendations of certain sites-or restaurants-as "vaut le voyage." One of the early travellers who demonstrates very clearly how curiositas and pietas might mix is Godric of Finchale (c. 1070-1170), English merchant and then hermit. Around the age of 35, after an active career as a pedlar, then shipowner and finally captain and merchant, he decided to become a hermit. His earlier travels had included a number of pilgrimages. He had gone three times to Rome and twice to Jerusalem. He may have been the "Goderic the English adventurer" who is credited with getting King Baldwin of Jerusalem safely to Jaffa through the Egyptian blockade in 1101.~ On this trip he seems to have come back by way of Compostela, and later went off to the shrine of St.-Gilles in Provence, a saint remarkably popular with crusaders and travellers. When Godric had already begun to contemplate the eremitical life, he made still another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, visiting the Holy Places, living with other hermits in the desert, and even working in a hospital. By 1115 he had settled at Finchale, near Durham, where he established his hermitage and remained until he died. We know so much about him because one of his youthful admirers, the monk Reginald of Durham, wrote a very full life of him.1° Godric in his later life can certainly be seen as a splendid example of pietas, but it is interesting to note how in his eremitical days he totally abjured curiositas, and lived a life of austerity and penance for the sins he had committed in his earlier days. He felt his life as a sailor and merchant had led him into impurity and dishonesty-those sins which Aquinas felt might easily come from curiositas. In trying to discover where the balance between pietas and curiositas was struck for the average medieval traveller we are inevitably driven back to the often pedestrian reports of the travellers themselves. However, before looking at the average, we must inevitably

recognize the basic travel theme of the two greatest authors of the Middle Ages: Dante and Chaucer. Dante was inspired by the fundamental idea of Christian life itself as a journey in search of God, and is a shining example of a great poet who used the intellectual framework of his time to structure his work. His great visionary journey, chronicled in the flowing triple rhyme of the Divine Comedy, which took Dante himself, with Virgil as his guide, through the horrors of the Inferno and the sufferings of Purgatory in order to achieve Paradise with its vision of God and his saints, still holds its place as one of our great classics. Its vivid portrayals of specific and named individuals have always been a major element in its popularity, though their poetic focus and intensity have little to do with any judgment on the individual's moral worth. Thus, for example, Dante places Homer in Limbo, or the first circle of hell, as the leader of the virtuous pagans, but he is only briefly alluded to." Ulysses, however, although consigned to the lower levels of the eighth circle as an evil counselor,12is allowed to speak for himself in Dante's superbly evocative description of a man whose urge to seek constantly for the unexplored and the unknown ruled his life-the .classic incarnation of curiosztas. Chaucer, on the other hand, made inspired use of the recognized importance of pilgrimage in the lives of his contemporaries. He knew the fourteenth century pattern of frequent pilgrimages made in fairsized companies to a number of shrines-Jerusalem, Rome, Compostella and, for the English pilgrim, Canterbury. It certainly provided him with a splendid framework for his varied tales. Although he accepts a religious motive for at least some of his remarkable company, most of his pilgrims seem to be using their springtime religious exercise as a good opportunity for secular inquisitiveness.'3 When w e put aside, somewhat reluctantly, the great medieval literary classics which reflect both the spiritual and the very secular influences characteristic of all medieval life, we are faced with a proliferation of more pedestrian accounts of travel. These cover many aspects of medieval travel and were produced by a wide variety of (almost invariably male) writers. They range from brief and colourless to verbose and romantic, from remarkably accurate and probing accounts by eye witnesses to those which are primarily fictional and fabulous. In this last category, the best-known example is that whose author claims to be the remarkable but still mysterious Sir John Mandeville. His extraordinarily popular book was patched together from reports of voyages by genuine travellers, along with major borrowings

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from the Golden Legend, bestiaries and romances to add further reader appeal.14 Pre-eminent among the only somewhat embroidered accounts of very distant and truly exotic places are The Travels of Marco ~olo.lS Polo dictated his own account to an Italian writer of romances, Rustichello of Pisa, during a period of shared captivity in Genoa in 1298; the first version appears to have been in French. Marco had travelled with his uncles, both Venetian merchants, in China, Japan, India and parts of southeast Asia. His narrative is clear, not always exact, and popularized, almost certainly by Rustichello, with fabulous and chivalrous additions which helped to ensure its popularity. The manuscript was quickly and widely copied, translated into several languages and widely spread. Polo was not a geographer, yet his descriptions of what he himself saw are generally factual. As so often in medieval writings, although personal observations are acute and accurate, second-hand fables are easily accepted. Both Marco Polo and the fictitious Sir John Mandeville already put curiositas before pietas, and they also demonstrate the remarkable popular appeal of travel literature to the growing number of medieval readers. We need to return from the exotic, the fictional and the fabulous to the less amusing but more factual accounts to uncover the attitudes of the more everyday traveller, whose writings were meant to report rather than to amuse. In such works and among the travellers who penned them, we can hope to find the reasons for their travels, and why they wrote of them. Were they pious and/or curious? And, if curious, did any sense of the moral evil of such inquisitiveness remain in the later medieval centuries? Of the three acceptable categories of travellers Ladner suggestedmerchants, students and pilgrims-it is primarily the pilgrims, and the occasional merchant who have left written traces. Apart from Marco Polo, merchants generally kept meticulous accounts of their profits and losses, but did not detail their travels. Francesco Datini, the merchant of Prato, was vividly brought to life by Iris Origo who recreated the man by skilful use of a mixture of miscellaneous records from an extraordinarily rich archive16 so that he becomes an intelligible and sympathetic figure. The travels of medieval students are less well known since they, in common with students throughout the ages, were more likely to write songs or poetry on the joys of drink and the pursuit of women, though they occasionally added a plaintive prayer for help to the Blessed Virgin, well known as generous to poor sinners.17 The wandering scholars were both too impecunious and too absorbed in their immediate concerns to provide much infor-

mation about their travels. Ambition or amusement was likely to have been their ruling motive, along with the search for the currently admired master, whom they would gladly follow from school to school. In the earlier medieval centuries pilgrims naturally tended to be the most pious travellers. From the late eleventh to the end of the thirteenth century, individual crusaders, if especially devout, might also be pilgrims. Quite a number took advantage of a lull in the fighting and their proximity to the Holy Places to visit some particularly attractive shrine. Such a visit could even have comic overtones, as on the occasion when Joinville, during Louis M's first crusade, took Queen Marguerite a gift of camel-hair cloth after his pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin at Tortosa. The queen, believing the carefully wrapped package was one of sacred relics, fell to her knees in proper piety, but then burst into laughter when she discovered the prosaic the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, pilnature of the gift.'Qy grims seem to have been one of the most common sights along the roads of Europe or as passengers on ships to the Holy Land or to Compostela, although it is not possible to make any realistic estimate of their numbers. These large companies of pilgrims in the Later Middle Ages provided new opportunities for merchants and entrepreneurs. Venice, for example, profited handsomely from its position as the leading port for ships destined for the Holy Land. Local merchants and ship's captains worked together to attract and outfit the would-be pilgrim, and sent off convoys in the seasons suitable for crossing the Mediterranean. As the number of pilgrims rose, so too did the numbers of journals and reports, especially as the growing literary use of the vernacular allowed secular pilgrims to record their reactions in their own language. The extant material is uneven, both in accuracy and in interest, but it sometimes seems as if every literate pilgrim felt the need to record his or her experiences. The very different accounts of the Gascon noble, Nompar de Caumont; the inveterate pilgrim, Friar Felix Fabri; and the noisily pious Margery Kempe suggest the remarkable variety of fifteenth century pilgrims.I9 Piety, in greater or lesser amounts, remained but lay and clerical pilgrims alike describe with pleasure the natural and historical wonders they saw, and describe in colourful terms the perils they faced on land and sea. Some devoted pilgrims added practical advice to make the trip easier. For them, piety and curiosity could easily travel in double harness.

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To describe medieval travel only in terms of pilgrims, merchants and students (large though these groups were), however, is to overlook some of the most constant medieval travellers of all: the clerical and lay diplomats who were forced to travel extensively on the business of their sovereigns, the popes, bishops or other important lords. Such men were sent on an extraordinary range of missions, which might take them well beyond the borders of Europe. On many such occasions, they were required to make fairly complete reports, some of which have survived to allow us to follow their travels. For example, the earliest and most factual reports of the Mongols, whose thirteenth century invasions into the Near East had sent shock waves through Europe, were provided by two modest Franciscan friars, one sent by Pope Innocent IV to the court of the Great Khan in 1245, the other on a similar mission by Louis IX eight years later. The European concern was justified, since at its peak the Mongol empire stretched from China through India into Asia Minor. Threatening forays had already been made to the Near East and toward eastern Europe. Both the pope and the king realized the need to have accurate information about those who could be formidable enemies, and dispatched the friars as unlikely to offend but also able to provide an intelligent overview of the nature of the Mongol threat to Europe. Both parties of Franciscan friars were equipped with letters to the Great Khan. Both John of Piano di Carpine's Histoy of the Mongols, written for the pope, and William of Rubruck's very full account of his journey, given to King Louis, gained very wide circulation. Besides being presented to the pope and the king, they were soon included in the popular thirteenth century encyclopedia, Vincent of Beauvais's Speculum, where John Mandeville found and appropriated them.20 Pietas and obedience were the motives that animated these men, but both Brother John and Brother William were acute and careful observers who brought their personal knowledge of the Tartars into the European mainstream. Ecclesiastical officials, as well as assorted bishops and seekers of favours, frequently appeared along the roads to the papal court, whether at Rome or at Avignon. When highly trained clerics were used by their sovereigns as diplomats, they, like the laymen, had to file reports and often expense accounts, too. Quite a number of these still exist and enable us to gain some insight into the difficulty of their travels, and often into the temperaments of the travellers. Some of them were verbose, not only about their work, but also about their personal hardships. Complaints were frequent. Walter Mauclerc, bishop of

Carlisle, was perhaps the most vehement on the sufferings he endured during a midwinter mission to Germany in 1225 where he was to try and arrange a mamage for the young English king. Admittedly, crossing the Channel in January was likely to be uncomfortable, but the unhappy bishop talked of "being afflicted beyond telling by the hry of the sea and the storms," and then reminded the king "that we have laboured under continuous infirmity and have lost many horses on the journey." He concluded with the announcement that he needed more money if he was to continue his rni~sion.~'Diplomacy, even when unsuccessful as Mauclerc's was, was an expensive business even centuries ago. On the other hand, the indefatigable traveller, Eudes Rigaud, archbishop of Rouen and counselor of Louis IX,spent close to half of each year on the road, usually on episcopal visitations but also to serve and advise his king. It has been estimated from his itineraries that he averaged some 2500 miles a year, mostly on horseback. He was so little concerned by weather that even when crossing the Alps in February, where he was held up for some days by heavy snow, he pushed on to tackle the Simplon Pass. His terse comment was only that the trip "was not without danger."22 There can be little doubt that Rigaud embarked on his multifarious trips motivated by a strong sense of duty. He has nothing to say about what he saw, any curiosity seems to have been disregarded, even though he also went on pilgrimage whenever the opportunity offered. In his case, pietas reigned. The third of the clerical diplomats was a very different and notably curious traveller. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-64), Pope Pius I1 for the last six years of his life, was the son of a noble but impoverished family and was both a humanist and an avid traveller. He started his career as a secretary to a bishop and gradually rose to become a diplomat for cardinals and the emperor, positions that required extensive travel. By the time Piccolomini became pope, he had covered much of Europe. His Commentariesshow good humour, a zest for life, and unquenchable curiosity about people and places.23 A forerunner of Renaissance enthusiasms and attitudes, Pius was a superb example of curiositas decisively winning out over pietas. By the thirteenth century the role of diplomat to serve as negotiator or ambassador to and from the pope and/or other rulers had already been well accepted. Many such missions were intended to solve a particular problem and would be assigned to a trusted knight, assisted by an equally trusted clerical official in whom the king had confidence. Sometimes an embassy was primarily for show, requiring a

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high-ranking noble at its head to reflect royal prestige and power. A lay official was occasionally so valuable that he served his lord in a number of capacities, and in recording his activities went beyond the immediate report of his designated missions to describe his peripheral travels. A brief description of a representative of each of these types of diplomat can suggest the wide range and varied interests of these most indefatigable of medieval travellers. Sir Othon de Grandson can serve as a prime example of the trusted knight as hard-working and much-respected negotiator, for he served Edward I of England for some 50 years until the king's death in 1307. Othon was a Savoyard noble who, like other young Savoyards of the 1250s, went to England in the train of Count Peter of Savoy, uncle of Queen Eleanor of Provence and friend and counselor of his brother-in-law, Henry 111. Count Peter took advantage of this relationship to insert young Savoyards into promising positions. Othon became part of the household of Prince Edward, the King's eldest son, and was one of the prince's most trusted intimates. He was part of Edward's company on the ill-fated crusade of 1270, and was even named as an executor when the prince drew up his will at Acre in 1272.~~ Once Edward succeeded to the throne Grandson became a knight of the royal household, never of higher rank but obviously trusted and put into service in a number of capacities. He was rewarded generously with lands and grants, including the office of keeper of the Channel ~ s l a n d s .Although ~~ he served the king in a variety of places and offices, his primary occupation was as a diplomatic negotiator, most often involved in Gascon affairs, in which he was both knowledgeable and experienced. Edward had a special concern for his duchy of Aquitaine, and the problems which arose over French incursions in Gascony required innumerable discussions with the French and also with the popes who kept hoping to arbitrate a stable peace between the two kings. Grandson frequently served in Gascony, both as administrator and negotiator, and spent weary months on the roads connecting London, Paris, Bordeaux and Rome. Frequent travels on business over familiar routes need not imply any motive of either piety or curiosity, but Grandson was noticeably pious. He visited pilgrimage shrines in Rome during this working trip, and a vigilant wardrobe clerk disallowed his expenses for the three days he spent as a pilgrim. Grandson also returned to the Holy Land soon after this long mission to give support to the defenders of Acre, besieged by the Moslems. When it fell, he escaped to Cyprus,

spent time in Armenia, and made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before returning to England in 1293. It has also been suggested that it was at this time Othon composed a popular text on how a crusade should be organized.26 Even in 1312, when Othon was in his seventies, he started off on still another crusade, but the expedition collapsed when he and his retinue were attacked and robbed on their way down the hone.^' A traveller to the last, the ninety-year-old Grandson left his castle in Savoy for the road to the Alpine passes and Italy, fell fatally ~ piety ill and died at the abbey of Aigle on April 5, 1 3 2 8 . ~Obviously, played an important part in his travels. The most attractive of the high-ranking nobles who were pressed into service to lend prestige to embassies designed to "show the flagn at important occasions such as coronations, weddings, the installations of popes or the solemn proclamation of treaties was Henry of Grosmont, earl, and later duke, of Lancaster, cousin, friend and confidant of Edward 111. Earl Henry loomed large in the Europe of his day. He was widely admired and respected both for his military abilities and for his knightly behaviour, and served his king on many occasions as soldier and working diplomat, as well as in more formal appearances, such as his embassy to the pope at Avignon late in 1354. This occasion was meant to solemnly ratify a peace with France, which Henry had spent months negotiating with Cardinal Guy of Boulogne and the French. The meeting brought toget her important nobles and leading bishops from both England and France in formal splendour. The difference between this prestigious affair and Grandson's more spartan travels was reflected in the size and the elegance of the entourage provided. Lancaster and his party made their formal entIy into Avignon on 32 magnificently caparisoned horses, followed by another 165 horses carrying the less important members of the party and the baggage. When Lancaster and his impressive company approached the town, protocol encouraged many dignitaries, bishops and everyday citizens to go two miles out of the city to greet them. They then conducted Earl Henry ceremoniously to the papal palace. The crowd was so thick that Avignon's great bridge over the Rhone was jammed for hours. The English ambassadors stayed for six weeks. The need to offer lavish and expensive hospitality had been foreseen, as 100 barrels of wine had already been stored in the cellar of the house provided for them. Despite well-lubricated festivities, the embassy achieved nothing, and the impasse between France and England c ~ n t i n u e d . ~ ~

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Earl Henry was a striking example of the medieval ideal of chivalric behaviour. Yet along with his military skills, his passion for tournaments (at which he was very successful), and such opulent luxuries as his great palace of the Savoy, Earl Henry had an unexpected fund of pietas which he displayed most notably in Le Livre de Seyntz ~ e d i c i n e s , 3a ~pious, sincere and attractive treatise which, he tells us in his introduction, he himself wrote in Anglo-Norman during Lent 1354. The book is primarily an allegory in which the penitent Earl Henry describes himself as a man mortally wounded by sin, and lays bare his life before Christ, the divine physician, and the pitying Virgin Mary. However, this spiritual saga is also full of acute accounts of everyday life, lively vignettes and personal comments which make it enjoyable reading, even for the secular. It is startling to realize the Livre d e Seyntz Medicines was actually written while Henry's mind was also absorbed in the difficult diplomatic negotiations with Cardinal Guy of Boulogne. Henry's piety was real and fervent, but it did not divorce him from active engagements in the secular affairs of his day. Finally, there is Ghillebert d e Lannoy (1386-1462), perhaps the outstanding example of the all-purpose diplomat and official who added crusades, pilgrimages, and just plain curiosity to his neverending travels. We know a great deal about him because he left a written record, not only of his diplomatic work for the duke of Burgundy, but also of his various pious and secular wanderings, providing remarkably detailed descriptions of the places to which he was sent or explored on his own." His passion for exact information, whether it be about the peculiarities of the Hussites, the slave markets in Novgorod, or the actual appearance of St. Patrick's Purgatory, illustrates his intense curiosity about his world but also testifies to his continuing piety. One journey to Constantinople and the Holy Land in 1421-23 suggested by both Henry V of England and Duke Philip of Burgundy, was most extraordinary. Henry and Philip still harboured the desire to go on crusade, but both recognized the need for adequate information on conditions in the Holy Land were there to be the slightest chance of success. Lannoy seemed the ideal person for such a rnission-known and respected by both king and duke for his military abilities and diplomatic skills, and also an experienced traveller who had already made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. King Henry provided Lannoy with diplomatic letters, money, jewels and gifts for the various rulers he would encounter as their ambassador. One gift was

truly extraordinary, a gold clock destined for the sultan of Turkey. It requires a considerable leap of the imagination to try and envisage the fact that, in the 1420s, a man could successfblly transport a gold clock by land from Danzig to Constantinople. It is even more startling that Lannoy, finding that the sultan had died and had no acknowledged successor, brought the clock back safely to England and returned it to the king's c0uncil.3~ Lannoy's own careful notes make it obvious that he had been commissioned to reconnoiter the Holy Land and the nearby ports and report on how and where a crusading army might be successfully launched. He claimed to be an ordinary pilgrim, so left the major part of his retinue in Rhodes, and took only the herald, who was necessarily knowledgeable on military matters, with him to the Holy Land. Although Lannoy openly listed all the possible shrines and holy places in a splendid mix of genuine historic places, legendary sites and popular spots canonized by f0lklore,~3he also prepared a secret report, destined only for King Henry and the duke, which dealt with his real missi0n.3~ The report listed some 15 cities and ports, each judged by a series of practical criteria dealing with size, identifying marks of ports to help the pilots, ease of access, proper anchorages, protection from the winds, the nature of existing fortifications, quality and availability of water and s o on.35 Lannoy's report is concise, clear and full of first-hand information impersonally presented. It was clearly the work of a seasoned observer, and one who was willing to use a supposed pilgrimage to mask the discoveries which could only be made by active curiosity. So far as we know, Lannoy rounded off his travels, which had crisscrossed Europe and the Holy Land for a half a century, by making his last recorded journey as a pilgrim to Rome in 1450, when the celebrations of a jubilee year attracted many pious souls.36 This final public expression of Ghillebert's piety, perhaps formal but obviously an important element in his makeup, helps to suggest an answer to the dilemma posed at the beginning of this paper. Certainly by the time of Lannoy's death in 1462, many of the earlier medieval thought patterns had undergone enormous change, especially in their understanding of the mixed motives, value and secular importance of travel. The early belief that missionary action and pilgrimage were the only proper pious excuses for travel, that curiositas was, if not a sin, certainly dangerous for a Christian, had become much diluted. Merchants, sailors, explorers and the fledgling diplomatic service which kept the new power structures in contact all

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felt the need for accurate information. Such knowledge could only be acquired by constant, inquisitive travel, a lively curiosity about others and some understanding of their ways. The technical advances of map and chart makers, the seamen and geographers made everlengthening journeys possible. Concurrently, such knowledge, and the discoveries which came from it, became available to an ever-widening public whose taste for travel literature-and for travel and exploration-continued to grow and feed on the reports from afar. By the sixteenth century it was only the arch-conservatives who decried curiosity as sinful, and they were out of step with their time. The farranging and very varied travellers, especially of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, had been able to harmoniously combine piety and curiosity. They left as an inheritance to their sixteenth and seventeenth century descendants the conviction that the curiosity which inspired much travel was good, but that piety still should-and could-remain. The "Age of Discovery" was an expansion, not a revolution, in the history of the longstanding medieval enthusiasm for travel. NOTES 1. Augustine, Confessions, trans. E.B. Pusey (London, 1930)) bk. 10, ch. 35 paras. 54, 55, 57. 2. Bernard of Clairvaux, The Steps of Humility, trans. with intro. and notes by George R. Burch (Notre Dame University Press, 1963)) pp.180, 182, 183, 197. 3. Thomas Aquinas, Summa i%eologiae, Latin and English (New York and London, 1972) 44, bk. 2, ii, q.166, pp.195, 197; 2, ii, q.167. 4. Aquinas, Summa 7heologiaq bk. 2, ii, q.167. V siGcle ~ (Documents ~ ~ et~ 5. J.K. Farge, Uparti conseruateur au X inedits du Coll2ge de France, 1992)) p.91. 6. H. Waddell, More Latin Lyrics, ed. with notes by Dame F. Corrigan (London, 19761, pp.126-27. 7. Nauigatio sancti Brendani abbatis, ed. C. Selmer (Notre Dame University Press, 1959); 7he Voyage of St. Brendan, trans. J.J. O'Meara (Dublin, 1976); T. Severin, The Brendan Voyage (London, 1978). 8. Gerhart B. Ladner, "Homo Viator, Medieval Ideas on Alienation and Order," Speculum 42 (1967)) p.244. 9. S. Runciman, History of the Crusades (London, 1969, 11, p.79. 10. Reginald of Durham, Libellus de vita et miraculis S. Godricf, heremitae de Finchale, ed. J. Stevenson, Surtees Society 20 (1847). 11. Dante Alighieri, The Divine Comedy, Inferno, canto IV, 11.85-88. 12. Alighieri, Inferno, canto XXVI 11.86-130. 13. Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbuv Tales, especially the Prologue.

The Travels of Sirjohn de Mandeville, trans. A.W. Pollard (London, 1900; New York, 1964). The Travels ofMarc0 Polo, trans. R. Latham (Penguin, 1982). Iris Origo, The Merchant of Prato, (London, 1963). H. Waddell, 7he Wandering Scholars, rev. ed. (New York, 1934). Joinville, Lve ofst. Louis, trans. R. Hague (London, 1955), paras. 597-600. Le Voyage d'oultremer de Nompar, seigneur de Caumont, ed. P.S. Noble, Medium Aevum monographs, new ser. 7 (Oxford, 1975); m e Book of the Wanderings of Felix Fabri, trans. A. Stewart, Palestine Pilgrims Text Society (London, 1892-97) VII-X; The Book of Margery Kemp, trans. B.A. Windeatt (Penguin, 1982), esp. chs. 28-30. John of Pian Carpine, History of the Mongols, pp.3-72; 'yourney of William of Rubruck," in The Mongol Missiotz, trans. a nun of Stanbrook Abbey and ttd. C. Dawson (London, 1955). Royal a n d other Historical Letters, ed. W.W. Shirley, Rolls Series 27, (18621, I, pp.249-54. The Register of Eudes Rigaud, trans. S.M. Brown, ed. with intro. and notes by J.F. O'Sullivan, Records of Civilization 72 (New York, 1964), p.196. Re distance travelled, see O.G.Darlington, 7he Travels of Odo Rigaud, Arch bishop of Rouen 1248- 75 (Philadelphia, 1940) pp.74-77. The Commentaries of Pius 11, trans. F.A. Grogg, intro. and notes by L.C. Gabel, Smith College Studies in History (Northampton MA, 1937). Rymer, Foedera (London, 1816), I, ii, p. 123. Cat. Pat. Rolk Edw. I 1272-81, 125, 188, 193. Ch. Kohler, "Deux projets de croisade en Terre Sainte," Revue de l'orient Latin 10 (1903-04), pp.406-57. Regestum Cletnmt V; VI, no. 8205. E.R. Clifford, A Knight of Great Renown (Chicago, 1950, 274-76. Chronicon Henrici Knighton, ed. J.R. Lumby, Rolls Series 92, 11, pp.78-79; F. Bock, "Some New Documents," Bull.John Ryla~zds Library 15 (19311, pp.94-97. Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, ed. F.J. Arnould, Anglo-Norman Text Society no.2 (Oxford, 1940). Ghillebert de Lannoy, Oeur~es,ed. Ch. Potvin (Louvain, 1878), Voyages et ambassades, pp.9-178. Lannoy, Voyages, p.67; Rymer, Foedera, V i, pp.118-19. Lannoy, Voyages, pp.73-97. hnnoy, Voyages, p.68. hnnoy, Voyages, pp.99-162. Lannoy, Voyages, p.178.

Bigotnaps anb @ptuaps of @c~olarlpanquirp

M A T E R S O F CURIOSITY

Ry N.E.S. Griffiths

SAINT LOUIS AND THE JEWS TRAVELS O F A DIPLOMAT: EDWARD 1's USE O F OTHON DE GRANDSON A CLOCK T O CONSTANTINOPLE: THE TRAVELS O F GHILLEBERT DE M N N O Y PER0 TAFUR: A FIFTEENTH CENTURY SPANIARD HENRY O F LANCASTER AND LE UWE DE SEYm

IMI!DICINES

PEY UERMND, ARCHBISHOP O F BORDEAUX, 1430-1456

MATTERS OF CURIOSITY N.E.S Griffiths

T

he essays in this section are arranged chronologically in terms of the era of their subject, rather than in relation to their author's life. They encompass a series of topics from the mid-thirteenth to the early fifteenth centuries. They were not written to make a unified statement but in response to requests for an essay on a subject on which Mrs. Labarge was deemed to be an expert or in response to particular invitations to speak at a university or at a conference. They are bound together by a strong, if never explicitly stated, wish on the part of the author to convey as accurately as possible the texture of the time and place to which each refers, to give the reader a sense of the ways in which the present and past differ and at the same time to indicate the common humanity that links then and now. In one way or another, the centre of all of them is biography, the reconstruction of another's life. In all of the papers there is an appreciation that the swirls and currents of individual lives are controlled by greater tides. The first essay was written in response to a request from Regine Pernoud, who had been given the task by the French government of collecting essays for a publication to celebrate the seventh centenary of the reign of Louis IX. Mrs. Labarge was one of only two North Americans asked to contribute to the volume. The essay deals with a major theme: the distinction between what can be discovered about what actually happened and what many, later, have said happened. "Saint Louis and the Jews" comments upon the problem of antisemitism in the France of Louis IX. What were the laws which

allowed discrimination against the Jews? Were they enforced? To what extent was public policy an expression of religious intolerance? The essay does not provide answers to these questions so much as it invites further research into a highly controversial subject matter, pointing out that the situation was both more bitter and less severe than is often believed. The next three essays look at the issue of communication across space in the Middle Ages. Mrs. Labarge makes the point, which in the late twentieth century Western world seems to need reemphasizing time and again, that while travel in the middle ages was difficult, it did take place and was not merely a question of "wanderers and wayfarers, merchants, pilgrims and crusaders." There was also much to-ing and fro-ing by bureaucrats, religious and secular, journeyings which were crucial to the politics of the time and undertaken as a matter-of-course by all kinds of people. In "Travels of a Diplomat: Edward 1's Use of Othon d e Grandson,'' Mrs. Labarge documents the acceptance of the necessity of diplomatic voyagings, its normal adventures and discomforts, and its vital role in politics. The next essay recounts the unsuccessful voyage of diplomat in the early fifteenth century, despatched by the then King of England, Henry V, to deliver a gold clock to the Sultan of Turkey. Fortunes of state, personal issues and political setbacks made the diplomat's route anything but direct. He carried the clock from Flanders to Prussia, through Russia and Constantinople, to Rhodes and, finally, back to England because the Sultan had died while he was en route. There is enough contemporary commentary on the voyagings of Ghillebert d e Lannoy, the diplomat in question, both by himself and by others, that Mrs. Labarge has been able to build a detailed picture of his adventures. His life, in many ways, looked forward to the beginning of the Renaissance. A trusted official and a indefatigable traveller, his own words show him poised between two worlds: that of an era when Christian faith, and the possibility of things eternal, were accepted as part and parcel of one's daily life, and that of the age to come, in which the here-and-now gains an altogether different importance, and things temporal become the greater reality. The last of the essays centred upon those who travelled is concerned with Pero Tafur. A fifteenth century Spaniard, he is very definitely someone whose life is linked more closely with the era we have come to call the Renaissance, than with that of medieval Europe. Pero Tafur's book, Travels a n d Adventures, chronicles journeyings from 1435 to 1439. He was one of the last Europeans to describe

Constantinople and its remnants of empire before its final conquest by the Turks in 1453. At the same time, he writes as a member of the rising merchant class, interested in the commercial possibilities of the Near East. He covered a lot of ground: Italy, what came to be known as the Near East, Egypt and Cyprus as well as the Holy land, and Bohemia as well as Germany and Austria. In the presentation of Tafur's writings, Mrs. Labarge gives us not only the portrait of an individual but also an intimation of the changing political geography of Europe and of the emergence of a new group within society. Tafur is one of the first of the "merchant gentryw-people whose status was founded upon wealth gained by trade, and who were included as players by the developing kingdoms. Tafur was the precursor of many who would enrich themselves with the expansion of Europe into a wider world. The last two essays are commentaries upon the place of religion in medieval society. The first concerns Henry of Lancaster and Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines. Henry was one of the major supporters of Edward 111, whose value was such that the king gave him the personal title of the Duke of Lancaster-the first time this had been granted to one outside the immediate royal family. Military leader, royal counsellor, and expert diplomat, Mrs. Labarge reveals another side to him, that of a devout Christian who wrote his own book of piety. This is the treatise of a devout layperson attempting to understand what being a Christian ought to mean to one in his position. Mrs. Labarge has given us the life and times of the author and provided the context for this book. The essay reveals much about what might be the reality of the Christian belief at this time. The institutional aspect of Christian belief a century later is the subject of the final essay in this section, on Pey Berland, the archbishop of Bordeaux from 1430 to 1456. This short account of the way in which an ecclesiastic was able to influence the day-to-day wellbeing of the ordinary people under his authority gives the reader an understanding of the place of churchmen in affairs of state in this era. It is also an essay which emphasizes the extent to which political life at the opening of the fifteenth century, in both England and France, was a matter of the politics of family and of hereditary right rather than a question of state interest and popular culture.

Saint Pouie anb the Beb$

r: -. .-

he relationship of Saint Louis to the Jews within his kingdom was neither so simple nor so bloodthirsty as Joinvilles's famous anecdote would suggest. The seneschal, describing a conversation with the king, quoted Louis as recommending that laymen who heard the Christian faith maligned by Jews should defend it, not by argument but by the sword, "de quoy il doit donner parmi le ventre dedans, tant comme elle y puet entrer."' Saint Louis was particularly sensitive to any Jewish threat to the faith of Christians-a faith which he felt it his royal duty to uphold and enforce-but he also was conscious of his responsibility for justice to all the inhabitants of his realm, as well as the special position of the Jews under royal control. The harmonizing of these often contradictory responsibilities was made more difficult by the ambivalent position of the Jews within thirteenth century society. The ecclesiastical attitude toward the Jews laid emphasis on Kvo distinct and opposed elements. On the one hand, the Jews as the Chosen People of the Old Testament were regarded as the transmitters of scripture, thus deserving the gratitude of Christians. For this reason, the church opposed forcible conversion and encouraged attempts to win over the Jews by disputation and argument. On the other hand, the church continued to emphasize the crime of the Jews as deicides, and therefore a people meant to suffer perpetually for the sin of their

forefathers in condemning Christ. Various canonical restrictions were imposed on Jews: for example, they were forbidden to employ Christian servants, and by the Lateran Council of 1215, were ordered to wear a distinguishing mark. Saint Louis applied this command in his kingdom, requiring Jews to wear a wheel of yellow cloth on their outer garments, under threat of a heavy fine. The canonical regulations, although not always enforced, remained and were often reissued. This continued insistence on the separateness of the Jews helped to speed the development of ghettos. The Jews were also swept up in the canonical struggle against usury. The medieval conception of usury, that is, any demand for interest o n a loan, had been developing since the middle of the eleventh century, and by the end of the twelfth had crystallized in the belief that usury was a sin against justice (similar to theft), that it was forbidden by the Old and New Testaments, and that usuries exacted must be returned in full to their rightful owners. During the rest of the Middle Ages usury was vigorously denounced by popes and councils and by the great scholastics like Aquinas and Bonaventure. The condemnations were not directed especially against Jews-in fact, the penalties of excommunication and rehsal of Christian burial were of no importance to Jews. But as the ecclesiastical denunciations of usury became more vigorous and touched the conscience of Christians, more Jews tended to become involved in moneylending. The Jewish community in every town came to be seen as a hive of oppressive creditors and became an obvious and permanent potential scapegoat. The popular attitude to the Jews was harsher and more violent than that of the church. A rising tide of anti-semitism, inflamed by the emotional fervour engendered by the preaching of the crusades and fed by massacres, swept through much of Europe. The secular law treated Jews as serfs, and worse, for a lord could always reclaim them no matter for how long they had escaped. Jews were restricted in their occupations-the holding of land was practically denied to them-so they naturally turned to the growing towns. Even there the hostility of their Christian neighbours denied them admittance to the guilds. Under the circumstances, it is not surprising that many Jews turned to moneylending, since it was one of the few fields open to them. Profits for the Jews also meant profits for their lords, so selfinterest often encouraged secular rulers to overlook the usurious nature of these loans. Since interest rates were exceedingly high and bore heavily on the creditor, the situation was explosive, encourag-

*

ing prejudice and hatred. The thirteenth century witnessed frequent accusations against Jewish communities of ritual murder, and the resultant attacks on innocent Jewish residents. It is to the credit of the church that it was the voices of the popes which were raised against the physical maltreatment and robbery of the Jews, but papal pronouncements, even in the thirteenth century, were not always heeded.3 Throughout that century the French kings treated Jews especially harshly. Louis VIII, Saint Louis' father, in a statute of 1223 ordered that no further interest was to be paid on debts after its date of enactment-a provision which may have indicated a fear of usury, but which also made borrowing cheaper. All capital sums owing Jews were to be repaid within three years on fmed terms, but they were to be paid only through the Jews' lords, who would undoubtedly take a share of the payments. Jews were also forbidden to have a seal-still another provision which favoured their lords, since a seal was needed for the authentication of any deed. The clause implied that a Jew would have to seek authentication of his deeds by his lord's seal-and undoubtedly pay for the privilege. As well, the ordinance guaranteed that the king and all the barons of France would not receive in their demesnes Jews coming from another seigniory. Jews were a valuable financial resource to their lords, since they paid rent and could be taxed almost with impunity, and their escape was considered the loss of a potential source of valuable r e ~ e n u e . ~ After the death of Louis VIII, Blanche of Castile, in the name of her young son and in concert with the greater barons, enacted a further ordinance concerning the Jews at Melun in December, 1230. It retained many of the severe clauses of the ordinance of 1223, reiterating the right of the lords to retain their own Jews, no matter where they went nor how long they stayed away, as well as the requirement that Jews must deposit their letters of debts with their lords in the course of the ensuing year or the debts were nullified. However, the ordinance of Melun put special emphasis on the evils of usury. It forbade any subsequent loans from Jews, who were considered especially prone to usury, as well as usurious loans from ~ h r i s t i a n s . ~ Melun marks an authentic note of Louis' reign-the king's concern for the moral behaviour of all his subjects. The royal chaplain, William of Chartres, reported that Louis did not want any of the Jews' goods turned to his own use, since he did not want to be responsible for their usury. According to William, the king preferred to deal with licit merchants even though his councillors tried to change his

mind and insisted on the need for credit and loans. They argued that it was better for Jews, who were already damned, to practise usury than for Christians to do so. The king was not convinced by these arguments, replying that the control of usury by Christians was in ecclesiastical hands, but the Jews were under his yoke and he could not, by such an excuse, allow them to carry on their evildoing under the cover of his protection.6 The enactments throughout his reign illustrate the king's moral consistency, especially the Grande Ordonnance which was published after his return from his first crusade. In line with the high moral tone so evident throughout the whole document, the king forbade the Jews to indulge in blasphemies, divining, and magical signs, and reiterated the statute of Melun and the laws against usury. Jews who did not want to obey these regulations were to be expelled from the kingdom, and those who remained were to live by manual labour or the fruits of non-usurious business.' Even before the Grande Ordonnance Saint Louis had actively disassociated himself from the profits of usury. In several cases he ordered interest to be restored to the debtors. During the first tourney of the enqu6teut-s in 1247-48, for example, a special effort was made in the bailliages of Amiens, Senlis and Vermandois to draw up a list of complaints against Jews who had taken usury. The most remarkable case brought before the enqusteurs was that of John "called Palietthe" and his wife Hadewida of the parish of St. George. Some 68 separate complaints were made against them, usually for sums under 10 liures, but one debt was for 40 liures, an enormous amount for the time.8 It is no wonder that many people were afraid of the power and greed of the moneylenders. It is an interesting sequel that Saint Louis' prohibitions against Jews practising usury were so strictly enforced-and so successful-that before the end of his reign the king had to pass statutes against the usurious practices of the Lombards and Cahorsins, who had replaced the Jews as moneylenders and were demanding equally exorbitant interest.') The king's tender conscience and hatred of sin, which accounted for much of his opposition to usury, also helped to influence him against the Jewish rabbinical books, such as the Talmud. During the twelfth century scholarly disputations between Christians and Jews had been relatively common and unemotional. The tradition continued that informed clerics should dispute with learned Jews-Joinville talks of a dispute at Cluny between clerks and Jews which was interrupted by a belligerent knightlo-but the tone had become more

BIimrcelIanp

S A I N T L O U I S A N D T H E JEWS

aggressive and less scholarly. Saint Louis, like most other convinced believers of his time, was totally intolerant of what he considered error. He ordered the confiscation of the Talmud and other Jewish books and encouraged their destruction, an order which was reinforced by the authority of Gregory IX. Before the books were condemned and burned in 1239, a formal disputation was held in the king's court and presided over by Blanche of Castile, who insisted on a fair hearing for the Jewish scholars.ll Rabbi Yehiel of Paris spoke for the Jews, and when he was hard pressed, appealed to the queen. Blanche reassured him by asserting that she was resolved to protect him and all his goods: she promised that anyone who harmed him would be treated as a criminal. Recalling that she had read the immunities which the popes themselves had given the Jews, the queen took an active part in the discussion, arguing as a theologian and reproaching the Christian scholars for the violence of their attacks. Blanche's Spanish heritage would have inclined her to some sympathy with the Jewish teachers. During the twelfth century the court of Castile had had fruitful contacts with the Jews and Arabs, both Christianized and otherwise, in the great centre of Toledo where translators worked to make Arabic and Jewish learning available to northern Europe. The atmosphere of Castile was more tolerant and more favourable to unorthodox learning than that of France. Blanche's support may have protected the Rabbi Yehiel from personal harm, but she was unable to save the Talmud from the fire. The condemnation of 1239 was not an isolated event. It was repeated in 1244 by Innocent IV, at the prompting of his legate in France. When the pope hesitated to deprive the Jews of their sacred books, the cardinal legate insisted that the Jewish books were full of errors, and had been burnt on the advice of all the masters of theology and canon law.12 Louis himself, in the Grande Ordonnance of 1254, again ordered the burning of the Talmud. In the Middle Ages the gulf between principle and practice was very wide, so it is especially important to look at the available evidence for the actual treatment of individual Jews. Such records are particularly evident in the south of France where Benjamin of Tudela, the great twelfth century Jewish traveller and geographer, had commented on the number and prosperity of Jews in Provence and the district around Narbonne, then a great port. Benjamin was impressed by discovering at St.-Gilles a prominent Jew who was the steward of Count Raymond V of Toulouse, and also declared that there were hundreds of Jews in every large town who were influential in commercial and

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intellectual matters." The brilliant twelfth century civilization of Languedoc, tolerant, unorthodox, and city-centred, naturally encouraged a larger Jewish population than in the north. However, even after the bitterness of the Albigensian Crusade, the Jews, as is apparent in the reports of the enquGteurs, felt sufficiently secure to complain of injustice. For example, Simon, a Jew of Arles, who lodged a complaint with the enqdteurs of Beaucaire in 1248-and was officially described as a "pauperw-accused the viguierof Beaucaire of false arrest and illegal seizure of his best mantle. He begged the enquGteun to require the viguier to return his mantle or pay an equivalent sum.14 Jewish physicians had a special prestige based on their reputation for advanced medical knowledge. There were canonical restrictions against Christians consulting them, but these were often disregarded. At Beziers in 1247, for example, Master Solomon, described as "physician and Jew," complained that the royal castellan of Minerve owed him 10 livresfor his salary, which the castellan had refused to pay. He sought satisfaction from the enquEteurs. An even more striking case was that of Alphonse of Poitiers, Saint Louis' brother, who fell ill with eye trouble and paralysis after his return from the crusade. Alphonse was anxious to consult a Jewish physician highly recommended by the sire d e Lunel, one of his vassals. In the correspondence which ensued we learn that the doctor proved unwilling to leave Aragon for France, where he feared persecution, and the consultation was carried out at secondhand. Two Jews from the sire de Lunel's territories went to Aragon to describe the count's symptoms and took back the doctor's assurance that he could cure Alphonse's eye troubles if the count could distinguish one thing from another at close range and tell green from blue. The records d o not say whether anything more came of this long-range consultation, but Alphonse did recover much of his health. l 5 In some cases, it was not the Jews who suffered from unfair persecution by royal officials. A case in UzGs illustrates the frequent violence in medieval cities, the tendency to riot, and the heavyhanded efforts of the royal officials to enforce the peace. Raymond Ruerssonus, a citizen of Uz&, pleaded in secret before the enquEteurs at Wmes, claiming damages against the seneschal. His story has all the vivid detail of a crowded miniature. One day as he came back from his workshop to the house, a woman shrieked at him that some Jews were killing his young nephew. Alarmed, Raymond rushed back to the market and discovered two Jews, armed with a stone and a stick, beating the boy and dragging him along the ground. A fight erupted between

flistettanp

SAINTLOUISANDTHEJEWS

the Jews and some Christians, in which Raymond joined, seizing the stone from the Jew's hand. The Jew then picked up a couple more stones and they began to attack each other in earnest. The seneschal, whose duty it was to keep the king's peace, settled the fight and dealt harshly with Raymond, fining him 20 Iiwesfor his part in the brawl.16 From cases such as these it is clear that individual Jews were occasionally abused and that Jewish communities tended to live in uneasy equilibrium with their Christian neighbours, but it is also apparent that Jews felt free to plead for justice before the king's judges with hope of a fair hearing. Saint Louis' efforts toward evenhanded justice for Jews, as well as other inhabitants of the realm who had legitimate complaints against official oppression, mitigated to a degree his unrelenting harshness toward those Jews whom he identified as usurers and blasphemers. But the king's real sympathy was reserved for those Jews who abjured their religion and accepted Christianity. Saint Louis treated these converts like prodigal children. William of St. Pathus, the confessor of Queen Marguerite, describes how a Jew, her three sons and a daughter were not only baptized at the king's castle of Beaumontsur-Oise but even Blanche of Castile, the king himself and one of his brothers served as godparents.17 It appears that the king's real concern for the conversion of the Jews was heightened by the events of his crusade. From 1253 on there are references in the accounts to sums paid out for baptises and conversi. The baptises were Jewish children who had been orphaned or abandoned. Royal orders provided that such children should be collected throughout the provinces and taken to the episcopal cities to be nourished and lodged at the king's expense in hostels supervised by the friars. The conversi were adult Jews capable of being instructed and converted. They received individual pensions, but no lodging, although they were usually given alms of wheat. This royal help was both generous and enlightened.18 Saint Louis' proudest title was "Most Christian King," and he consistently struggled to lead his people in the way of Christian truth and justice. Nevertheless we must remember to view his actions in the light of his own time. His harsh and intolerant attitude toward the Jews was influenced by the growing anti-semitism of the thirteenth century and by his own religious horror of sin, a horror heightened by the emotional effects of his first crusade. Although he was happy to show generosity to Jews who were willing to accept Christianity, he had neither sympathy nor understanding for those who clung doggedly to their ancient faith. However, his rigidly orthodox outlook, although

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almost incomprehensible to a more tolerant and ecumenical age, was reinforced by the very strength of his own faith. Given the climate of the time, it was more unusual-and more to Saint Louis' credit--that he staunchly upheld the royal duty of impartial justice and tried to protect those Jews who abided by the laws of the realm. NOTES 1. Joinville, Histoire de Saint Louis, ed. and trans. N. de Wailly (Paris, 1874), no. 53; Life of St. Louis, trans. R. Hague (London, 1955), no. 53. 2. J.T. Noonan, 7he Scholmtic Analysus of Usury (Cambridge MA, 1957), pp.20, 49-50. 3. Ordonnances des rois de France & la troisi@merace, ed. M. de Lauriere, (Paris, 1723), I, p.294. 4. Ch. Petit-Dutaillis, Etude sur le tlie et r2gne de Louis WII, Bibliotheque de I'ecole des hautes etudes 1010 (Paris, 1894), p.4; Ordonnances, I, pp.47-48. 5. Ordonnances, I, pp.53-54. Layettes d u Trbor &s C h a m , ed. Teulet, De Laborde, and Berger (Paris, 1866), 11, no. 2055. 6. William of Chartres, "Concerning the life and acts of Louis king of the French," Recueil des historiens des Gaules et de la France, XX,p.34. 7. Grande Ordonnance, 1254, in HistoiregBnBralede Languedoc, Devic et Vaissete, rev. A. Molinier (Toulouse, 1904), VIII, 1345-52. 8. Recueil, XXIV, pp.74 5-48. 9. Ordonnances, I, p.96. 10. Joinville, Histoire de Saint Louis, nos. 51-52. 11. E. Berger, Histoire de Blanche de Cmtille, reine de France, Bibliothsque des 6coles fransaises d'Ath2nes et de Rome 70 (Paris, 1895), pp.340-41. 12. L. Thorndike, University Records a n d Lve in the Middle Ages (New York, 1944), pp.48-50. 13. As quoted in C.R. Beazley, m e Daum of Modern Geography (New York, 1949), p.229. 14. Recueil, XXIV, p.528, no. 268. 15. E. Boutaric, Saint Louis d Alphonse de Poitim (Paris, 1870) pp.86ff. 16. Recueil, XXIV, p.430, no. 160. 17. William de St-Pathus, Vie de Saint Louis, ed. H.F.Delaborde (Paris, l899), pp.20-21. 18. A. Bruel, "Notes de Vyon d'Hkrouval sur les baptises et les convers," Biblioth2que de I2cole des chartes 27 (1866), pp.612-17.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Bruel, A. "Notesde Vyon d'HGrouval sur les baptises et les convers," BibiiothGque de I '&ole des cburtes 27 (1 866), 6 12-17. Labarge, M.W. Saint Louis. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1968. Langmuir, G.I. "TheJews and the Archives of Medieval England: Reflections on Medieval Anti-Semitism," Traditio 19 (1963). Noonan, J.T.,Jr. The Scholastic Analysis of Usury. C8dmbridgeMA: Harvard University Press, 1957.

ambers' of a BtpIomat EDWARD 1's USE OF

OTHON DE CMNDSON

edieval travellers includeel not only wanderers and wayfarers, merchants, pilgrims and cmsaclers hut also a large number of itinerant officials and their retinues whose comings and goings were clictatecl hy political requirements, and whose lives seem often to llave h e m spent on the road. Because they had to submit detailed expense accounts to the exchequer after a diplomatic mission, we can sometimes glean specific and otherwise unavailable information on the contemporary conditions of travel. Edward I of England was particularly likely to entrust his diplomatic negotiations to a select few of his long-serving intimates. Notable among such m m was Othon de Grandson, who served Edwarcl for over 50 years. Since diplomat? attempt LO avoid the spotlight, it may he llseful to sketch his career as a trusted and frequent negotiator for the English king.' Othon was a Savoyard noble of second rank, though the castle at Grandson is an imposing pile on the hanks of Lake Neuchitel, much loved hy the Swiss as the scene of their victoly over Duke Charles the Rash of Burgundy in 1476. Othon was horn there c. 1238 and was taken to England during the 1250s hy Count I'eter of Savoy, uncle of the English quem, Eleanor of Provmce, ancl a favoured councillor of her hushand, Henry 111. Count I'eter insertecl a number of young Savoyarcls into promising positions in England. Othon was placed in

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Prince Edward's household and is first specifically mentioned in the English records in 1265 when he was given houses in London and a share in the lands of a defeated baronial supporter after the battle of ~ v e s h a m .Knighted ~ by 1268, he was one of the group of intimates who accompanied Edward on crusade in 1270, and was named as an executor in the prince's will drawn up at Acre in 1272.3 Despite the news of his father's death, Edward did not speed his return to England, and Othon was with him in Burgundy and perhaps in Gascony before a return to England in 1274. He quickly became a knight of the royal household and was even referred to on one occasion as the king's secretary, but never received any higher rank.4 However, he was given valuable grants of lands and was obviously trusted by the king. In 1275, Othon was rewarded with the office of Keeper of the Channel Islands. Extending that grant in 1277, Edward cited his intimacy with Othon and his long and faithful service from an early age as his reasons for making Othon keeper for life without the payment of any farm.5 The Savoyard knight's career in England was totally based on loyal and effective service and Edward's trust. Although Othon was used in other capacities, such as soldier and administrator in Wales, his primary occupation was as a diplomatic negotiator, particularly expert in matters touching Gascony, the duchy with which Edward had been invested before his marriage and that was always his special concern. Such commissions often took Othon to the court of the king of France, where disputes over the treaty of 1259 were frequent, and also to the curia, where successive popes tried vainly to make a lasting peace between the opposing kings. As early as 11 November 1275, Othon, Maurice de Craon (a cousin of the king) and Roger Clifford were named as Edward's proctors to King Philip 111 of France, to petition for, and receive in his name, the disputed territory of the Agenais. Two days later Othon and Luke de Tany, the current seneschal of Gascony, were given power to make administrative changes in ~ e r i ~ o r d . ~ The continuing involvement of Othon as liaison between Edward and the actions of his appointed but remote officials in Gascony gave him the opportunity of becoming exceedingly knowledgeable about the state of affairs in the duchy and the special problems created by continuing French efforts to nibble away at English power there, and laid the foundation for his frequent diplomatic employment. The confidence Edward placed in Othon's abilities as administrator and negotiator is clearly expressed in the king's long letter of 21 March 1278 to Othon and Robert Burnell, the favoured royal clerk, whom

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TRAVELS OF A DIPLOMAT

Edward had recently appointed as plenipotentiaries to Gascony. The king commended the care and solicitude they had shown for his affairs at the court of France and ordered them to complete their assignment "with all diligence and industry according to their discretion." He reiterated his confidence in their ability to know his desires and do his will in Gascony since no one could do so more advantageously than themselves, "not even," the king added, "if he were ... to attend to the matters there in person." Edward insisted Burnell and Grandson not hurry through their business, assuring them that he would never revoke or change their deeds and playfully enjoining them to have the trust of Mary, the Lord's mother, rather than that of the apostle Thomas. The intimate tone of the letter is reinforced by the royal eagerness to share with them the reassuring news of affairs in England, Wales and cotl land.^ Grandson's and Burnell's attendance at the French court at the beginning and end of their work in Gascony occupied them during 1278. When the chancellor returned to England, Othon seems to have gone on to Savoy, where in March 1279 he was contemplating marriage to the daughter of Count Otto of Burgundy. By this time Grandson was about 40 and a man of some substance. The letter he received from Edward on the subject suggests that the king was lukewarm about the prospect of such a marriage. Edward would have preferred that any negotiations take place in his presence or at least after discussion with him, but recognized that the wishes of the immediate parties involved often overrode such considerations. Therefore the king was willing to agree to whatever Othon desired that was also accepted by the count and his own relations8 Whether Othon could not get sufficiently good terms, or feared the loss of his position and revenues from Edward, no marriage took place and Grandson remained a peripatetic bachelor until his death in 1328. From 1280 until Edward's death in 1307, Othon de Grandson was almost continually employed on diplomatic business for the king of England. When not on royal business, he took to the road as a passionate crusader. He returned to the Holy Land in 1290 and escaped to Cyprus at the time of the fall of Acre. He spent time there and in Armenia, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem before he found his way back to England at the end of 1293, and may have composed a popular text on how a crusade should be o r g a n i ~ e d .In ~ 1312, when he was certainly in his seventies, he even started off on a third crusading adventure, which collapsed when he and his retinue were attacked and robbed on their way down the Rhone to get Pope Clement V's

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licence and blessing. Seven years later he paid 10,000 gold florins to be absolved from his crusading vow on the reasonable grounds of old age and bad health.1° He was still an indefatigable traveller in his eighties, for in 1323 he finally got around to visiting for the first time the Channel Islands of which he had been keeper for nearly 50 years, and stayed there about six months." Even his death at the age of about 90 took place on the road, for he fell ill at the abbey of Aigle, some 50 miles from Grandson, on the road to the Alpine passes and Italy, made his will there, and died the following day, 5 April 1328. He was buried on 12 April in the cathedral at Lausanne, where the family links were strong.12 Othon de Grandson's activities suggest the frequency of his travels, his unquenchable vigour even at an age well beyond the life span of most medieval men, and the close personal links that bound him to Edward I. The period from 1285 to 1305 was one in which Edward was deeply involved with a whole skein of related foreign problems. There was the constant concern with French pressure in Gascony; the struggle between Alfonso of Aragon and Charles of Salerno over Sicily, which affected French, English and papal interests; and the papal pressure on Edward to carry out his crusading vow, especially since he was anxious to make use of the crusading tenths. The king also hoped to achieve a marriage between Margaret, the youthful heiress of Scotland, and his son Edward. All these matters called for frequent diplomatic missions to the French court and the papal curia. Although diplomatic practice and nomenclature had not been formalized by the thirteenth century, nor was the title of ambassador commonly used, there were definitely different ranks of individuals on such missions. The detailed accounts concerning costs the royal diplomats incurred or the money with which they had been entrusted throw considerable light on both travel and costs. There were three major groups to consider. Important missions were led by a high-ranking bishop and/or leading noble to lend prestige to solemn ceremonies at a royal court or the curia. They travelled with considerable ostentation, in order to emphasise the importance of the lord by whom they were sent. Their daily fee was high, and they were usually accompanied by a large retinue. Medieval monarchs felt such public show emphasized the solemnity and impressiveness of the final signing and publication of agreements and treaties. For example, when Henry of Lancaster led an elegant embassy to Avignon in 1354 to sign a solemn peace treaty with France, he led a cavalcade of 200 horses, and 2000 officials and citizens came out

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from the city to welcome them. Given the position of Avignon on the banks of the Rhone, a royal traffic jam clogged the only bridge all day. Nor were provisions for diplomatic entertaining overlooked on such missions. A hundred tuns of wine had been laid down in advance in Henry's lodgings.l3 Lesser nobles, knights of the type of Grandson and royal clerks, all intimately acquainted with the business in hand, did the serious work of negotiation. They travelled more frequently but more simply, carrying the original negotiating instructions, and were sometimes entrusted with paying out large sums of money, either to useful officials at the curia, or as pensions to ensure support from lords needed as allies. This latter activity appears most notably on a diplomatic mission of 1296-97, led by the treasurer Walter Langton, of which Grandson was a member. Edward was attempting to build a coalition against Philip the Fair and used this mission to secure and pay allies. For the alliances Langton and his fellow commissioners made with Guy of Flanders, Blanche of Namur, John of Brabant and several other strategically placed nobles, the cost came to &36,7824s 4d, three-quarters of which was paid to the count of Flanders. The other expenses for the sixteen month mission were a comparatively reasonable &7,73017s 7Ed. It is interesting to find listed the extra costs for transporting such sums. The cash had to be packed into barrels, men-at-arms hired to protect the carts in which the barrels were carried, and an allowance made for their breakfast.14 The least visible, but very hard-worked, members of the travelling diplomatic mission were the royal messengers who maintained communication between the king and those negotiating in his name. Their use is described in a letter from Edward to Othon in 1281. The king stated that in hope of avoiding obstacles to peace he was sending Othon two messengers. One was to go to his fellow negotiator to inform him when and where Othon could meet and discuss matters with him. As soon as this had been achieved, they should send the other messenger back to the king so that Edward could know what was happening. Othon still had one messenger in reserve for future messages to the king as the negotiations progressed.15 When Grandson, called the king's proctor, was at the French court on his way to Rome in the winter of 1285-86, he met a messenger from the king in February at Castillon, no doubt to send news to Edward about the state of the negotiations and the further documents he required. By March Edward was preparing new letters (and three new hanapers, the writing cases designed to carry such documents) for a wardrobe

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clerk to deliver to Othon in ~ 0 m e . lWhen ~ there was heavy use of messengers, as in the complicated negotiations carried out by Langton and his fellow commissioners, often working separately, their expenses could be an important part of the total. In Langton's account the amount spent on messengers was a hefty 667 13s 6d.17 The attempt by negotiators to keep in touch with each other might even cause a major shift in itinerary. In 1305 when John Benstede, then Edward's most confidential advisor, was sent to Gascony to see Bertrand Got, former archbishop of Bordeaux and newly elected pope, he was ordered by the king to await the arrival of Grandson in order to take advantage of his knowledge and learn the state of the negotiations. John dispatched a messenger from Paris with the king's letters and instructions to find Grandson somewhere in the area of Toulouse. Information must have got back to John as he made his way south, for he turned aside to Rocadamour to meet Othon's messenger bearing letters for John about the king's business. The royal messenger received &lo 8s and Othon's 60s for their expenses. Obviously the information received was urgent, as Benstede, when he finally completed his circuitous trip to Bordeaux (which took him two months from Paris) stayed only three nights. He returned hastily to England, taking less than three weeks to reach the king at Havering and report. l8 Most royal messengers used horses, and when speed was necessary, frequently hired extras to enable them to cover as much as 60 to 70 miles a day. Foot messengers were used in cases of less urgency or to people of lesser status, since naturally they were much slower. Thus Pope Clement V could justifiably complain to Philip IV that the king had shown disrespect by sending him a foot messenger, and warn him that he should only send the pope letters by "suitable" persons.19 Messengers worked hard, so it is pleasant to record that Langton's 1296-97 account provided two tuns of wine at Cambrai specifically for the arrival of the royal messengers from England, Gascony, Brabant and Germany, as well as for the refreshment of Edward's negotiators and two cardinals meeting to discuss peace between England and France. Both negotiators and messengers seem to have been abstemious, as some wine was left. The remainder of one tun was thriftily sold for 32s l l d and applied to their account.20 During the three years the king spent in Gascony, 1286-89, Grandson was pressed into use in several ways, including a stint as a hostage in Aragon for the carrying out of the treaty of Canfranc. A month after his release, on 8 May 1289, Edward ordered him and

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William Hotham, the English Dominican provincial, to go to the newly elected Pope Nicholas IV as negotiators. There is a useful expense account of this mission, covering the 10 months Othon was on the king's business.21 Unlike some others, this wardrobe account does not provide a daily note of where the night was spent but it does list separately the costs when the two negotiators were apart, when Hotham returned to England early, and also those incurred by a clerk left behind at the papal curia to do the necessary paperwork. On this mission Grandson claimed expenses for a company which included Hotham, his Dominican companion and both knights and grooms specially chosen by the king. Apart from the large sums included in the Pipe Roll of 21 Edward I for payment to the pope of arrears on England's tribute and of retainers to two cardinals and papal notaries (to encourage them to expedite routine business), both paid out by Grandson, there was also on his own account a special gift to a cardinal who had been particularly helpful at the curia. These payments came to over &3000,while the total expenses of the mission Othon led came to just over 8 1 , 0 0 0 . ~On ~ Othon's return to England, he took care to safeguard his own financial position, getting several royal orders to the exchequer to acquit him of debts, whether incurred for the king in Wales or in regard to his own lands in ireland." Edward's foreign policy was costly and his Savoyard diplomat generously rewarded. One diplomatic mission must have seemed much like another to Othon, who on his return from Outremer in 1294, continued to shuttle from Paris to Gascony to Rome, trying to achieve his king's objectives. He figured constantly on the lists of negotiators and was almost always on the road. In attendance at the coronation of his old friend Clement V in 1305, he seems to have stayed away from England until the fall of 1306, when he may have been with Edward at Lanercost. After Edward's death in July 1307 Othon did not tarry long in England, leaving permanently in October. Although continuing to travel, even doing the odd diplomatic chore for Edward 11, the old intimate tie was broken, and the English diplomat returned to being primarily a Savoyard knight. NOTES 1.

There are biographical studies of Othon de Grandson by E.R. Clifford, A Knight of Great Renown (Chicago, 1961); and C.L. Kingsford, "Othon de Grandson 1238?-1328," Transactionsof the Royal Historical Society 3d ser. 3 (19091, pp.125-95.

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2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18.

19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

CPR Heny 1.11258-1266, pp.467, 514. Rymer, Foedera (1816) I, ii, p.123. CPR Edward I 1272-1281, p.389. CPR Edward I, pp.125, 188, 193. CPREdwardI, p.112, 113. CCREdwardI 1272-1279, p.493. Kingsford, "Othon," pp. 188-89. Ch. Kohler, "Deux projets de croisade en Terre Sainte," Revue de I'Ortent Utin 10 (1903-04), pp.406-57. Regestum Clement V; VI, no. 8205; Clifford, Knight, pp.261-62. Kingsford, "Othon," pp. 167-68. Clifford, Knight, pp.274-76. Chronicon Henrici Knighton (Rolls Series, hereafter RS, 92) 2, pp.78-79. G.P. Cuttino, English Diplomatic Administration 1259-1339, 2nd ed. rev. (Oxford, 1970, pp.225-35. Rymer, Foedera, 11, ii, p.190. B.F. Byerly and C.R. Byerly, Records of the Wardrobe a n d Household, 1285-1286 (London, 19771, nos. 30, 168, 268, 274. Cuttino, English Diplomatic Administration, pp.231-47. C.L. Kingsford, "John de Benstede and His Missions," in Essays in History presented to Reginald Lane Poole, ed. H.W.C.Davis (Oxford, 19271, pp.350-54. G. Mollat, "La Diplomatie pontificale au XIVL' siecle," MGIanges d'histoire du Moyen Age a la m h o i r e de Louis Halphen (Paris, 1951), p.507. Cuttino, English Diplomatic Administration, p. 250. Documents Ilustrative of the Histoy of Scotland, ed. J. Stevenson (Edinburgh, 1870) pp. 1, 134-38. Histoy of Scotland, pp.63-64. CCR Edward I 1288-1296, pp.78, 80, 85-86, 88.

El Clock to Monetantinople THE TRAVELS OF

GHILLERERT DE LANNOY

Q

hillebert de Lannoy was a leading figure in the affairs of the duchy of Burgundy during the first half of the fifteenth century, but he first awakened my curiosity when I discovered that, on an embassy for Henry V of England and Duke Philip of Burgundy, he had carried a gold clock from Flanders to Prussia, through Russia to Constantinople, to Rhodes, and then back to Europe. Ultimately he returned it to the king's council in England as undeliverable, since the sultan of Turkey for whom it was intended had died and had not been replaced. A gold clock; on such an overland and sea voyage; and in the 1420s: somehow the urge to know more about this man was irresistible. Lannoy's career has been well worth study, but it is still that clock and its extraordinary travels which make the indelible impression. Unfortunately, although my research into the career of Ghillebert de Lannoy has uncovered a good deal about the man and his travels, the gold clock appears to have disappeared without a trace. Ghillebert (1386.1462) came of a noble family of Flanders, at that time ruled by the duke of ~urgundy.' He and his brothers, Hugh and Baudoin, were prominent and respected councillors of Duke John

the Fearless and Duke Philip the Good. They served as soldiers, captains, ambassadors, and officials as needed, and were all among the original members of the famous Burgundian order of chivalry, the Golden Fleece. Their relatives and descendants maintained this tradition of Burgundian service and continued to hold positions of power and influence in the Low Countries. Since the dukes of Burgundy played a key role in the affairs of both England and France during the first half of the fifteenth century, the careers of such men hold special interest. Of the three, Ghillebert is the most clearly disclosed, for he comes to light not only in occasional mentions by chroniclers or official documents, but also in his own writing^.^ In the fifteenth century it is surprising to find a noble, and man of action, who also leaves a major body of written work behind him. Such a man is not necessarily typical, but we know that Ghillebert was respected and admired by his contemporaries. We can reasonably assume that the attitudes revealed in his own writings correspond with the beliefs and patterns which ruled the lives of his fellow nobles. Although Lannoy appears to have written some love ballads in the early days when he served as squire to Jean de Werchin, the seneschal of Hainault, even his teen years were primarily devoted to advancing himself in life. In fifteenth century terms, a second son of a noble family needed to make his mark as a warrior, and would hope to attract an important patron who would provide advancement, offices and rewards. The stages of Lannoy's career provide a convenient example of how the process worked, and also illustrate his passion for travel, which made him notable even among the many travellers of the fifteenth century. His pattern, with its mixture of military encounters, embassies and pilgrimages, remains remarkably consistent from his earliest days. At 13, he joined a raiding party to the Isle of Wight, shared in succeeding skirmishes and by 18 had enjoyed, as a squire of the seneschal of Hainault, a wide ranging pilgrimage, which visited the standard sites of Jerusalem, Sinai and Egypt but also Constantinople, Rhodes, and ~ i c i l y . ~ Fortunately for our knowledge of this remarkable man, Lannoy in his Voyages et Ambassades provides a factual and detailed account of his busy life; his various military and crusading expeditions, diplomatic missions and official appointments, as well as his many pilgrimages and accompanying sightseeing.4 At the core of this work is the separate detailed report of the two-year journey of diplomacy and reconnaissance, commissioned by King Henry V and Duke Philip of Burgundy in 1421, to evaluate local conditions and the possibility of

a crusade. Near the end of his life Lannoy distilled the fruits of his experience into two instructional treatises. L 'Instruction d'un jeune prince is a rather sententious collection of advice for Count Charles, the heir of Philip the ~ o o d . 5Books of advice to princes were a popular medieval literary form, and Ghillebert had a great deal to say about chivalry and knighthood, inspired by his work for the duke on the statutes of the Order of the Golden Fleece. More relevant to the future government of the duke's northern territories, he laid particular emphasis on the value to the duke of a well-chosen and smoothly functioning Grand Council. His final work, Les Enseignements Paternek, was designed for the edification and instruction of his son, combining piety and contemporary worldly ~ i s d o m . ~ A brief sketch of the political climate in which Lannoy was to operate may help to define his activities. In 1400, when Lannoy began his adult career, relations between France and England were of prime political importance. The treaty of Bretigny (1360) had marked the high tide of England's success in France in the first half of that long, intermitted but exhausting struggle known as the Hundred Years War. From then on England had seen her massive territorial gains in France eroded by the cautious encroachments of Charles V and the successful campaigns of Bertrand Du Guesclin. Richard I1 had maintained diplomatic pressure on France throughout his reign, though he had been unwilling to return to his grandfather's policy of open warfare. A truce had been worked out at the time of his marriage to the infant French princess in 1396. With Richard's deposition in 1399 and the accession of Henry IV of Lancaster, no one in either France or England was quite sure what the next moves might be. While Henry struggled to achieve complete control of England, Charles VI continued to suffer from his recurrent bouts of madness. In such times of weakness, the seeds of the civil war between Armagnacs and Burgundians for control of Paris, of the person of the king and of the machinery of government sprouted and flourished. The church was bedeviled by schism, already in existence for over twenty years, and not to be solved until after the Council of Constance in 1417. Such popular religious movements as the Lollards and the Hussites-part nationalist, part semi-heretical-bore witness to the dissatisfaction, primarily among the lower classes, with the formalism of later medieval religion, the luxurious life of many worldly clerics, and the scandal of opposing papal claiments with their accompanying heavy fiscal demands. Nevertheless, orthodox religious sentiment and personal piety continued to be important factors

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in many prople's lives. The travels of Ghillebert d e Lannoy illustrate two of the more old-fashioned, but still accepted and popular, patterns of religious activity-rusades and pilgrimages. The crusade remained a recognized ideal, particularly among the upper classes, for whom, as always, it provided a legitimate outlet for individual military activity and prestige. The focus, however, had changed. Young nobles anxious to make their military reputations and gain prestige no longer thought of the Holy Land. Instead they went to Spain, where the kings of Castile were gradually pushing back the Moors, or to Lithuania, where the military order of Teutonic Knights glorified with the name of a crusade their struggle for political power in northeastern Europe. Lannoy himself fought twice in the army of the Infante of Castile, and spent a year in Prussia with the Teutonic Knights. By 1400 Western Europe had been forced to recognize the growing menace of the Ottoman Turks, now firmly encamped on the eastern bank of the Danube, but the disastrous defeat of a crusading army at Nicopolis in 1400 had discouraged further thoughts of crusading against them. In the Holy Land and Egypt, relations between Christians and Moslems were in an uneasy equilibrium. Genoese and Venetian trader colonies maintained their footholds in the cities of Egypt and Syria, while a continuous traffic of pilgrims flowed to and from the Holy Land, Egypt and Sinai. No serious crusade in those regions had been considered since the time of King Peter of Cyprus nearly fifty years before. While crusading had lost almost all of the religious impetus it had originally had, pilgrimages retained their popularity in the fifteenth century among a wide range of social classes. The mixture they provided of religiously sanctioned adventure and socially approved travel had a very wide appeal. The accounts of pilgrimage experiences proliferate, and some even became rudimentary guidebooks. Some travellers were detailed and personal in their narratives; others, like Lannoy, stick closely to the bald facts. However, his careful listing of the accepted pilgrimage spots in the Holy Land, when read in light of other, more personal reports, provides an interesting illustration of just how widespread and well organized this traffic was for the ardent and the curious. It would appear that Lannoy was both, for he travelled to the Holy Land three times--on the first two occasions covering the full tourist round. His extensive and uncritical list of pilgrimages, pardons and indulgences in Syria, Egypt and Jerusalem and its environs was an extraordinary mixture of localities historically connected with the Bible, spots sanctified by popular medieval legends,

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A CLOCK TO CONSTANTINOPLE

and an unsurprising quota of touristic extravagances. To provide some flavour of the 25 pages Ghillebert requires to make a full list, he mentions-n equal terms-the Holy Sepulchre, the spot where Adam's head was found, Mt. Olivet, the fountain Siloe where the Blessed Virgin washed the infant Jesus's sheets, the window in Damascus where St. Paul was let down in a basket, the place near Beirut commemorating St. George's struggle with the dragon, the precise spot on the shore at Acre where Jonah was cast up by the whale, the churches of the desert hermits in upper Egypt, and the valley near Damascus where Noah made the ark, and after the deluge returned to plant a vineyard and live.' Critical exegesis was not yet popular. As well as this strenuous round near Jerusalem, there was also a standard package trip for hardy pilgrims across the Sinai Desert by camel and u p to the monastery of St. Catherine o n Mt. Sinai. From there their Moslem guides led them to Alexandria and Cairo, up the Nile by boat, and, once more by camel, to visit the abbey of St. Anthony of the Desert in upper Egypt. They then returned to Damietta, the other great city of the Nile delta. Other pilgrims were more outspoken about their experiences than the laconic Ghillebert, and from their comments we can gain a clear picture of the highly organized aspect of both the sea and land segments of this lucrative business. It appears that the tour guides of the fifteenth century had remarkable similarities with their present-day successors. They were always having trouble rounding up their wandering charges, found it difficult to get their group started in the mornings, and often faced the twin difficulties of inadequate accommodations and complaining pilgrims. Besides going three times to Jerusalem, Lannoy made the pilgrimage by land to Compostela, the remote but popular shrine of St. James in Galicia--once in 1405, as a side trip after fighting in the army of the Infante of Castile, and once again in February 1436, after attending the Burgundian parlement in Arras, in order to fulfil the vow he had made at his second wife's death.8 In both cases, he gives no details, either about the famous shrine or his travels to get there. In contrast, his account of his pilgrimage to St. Patrick's Purgatory in ~ place must southwest Donegal is-for Lannoy-almost v e r b ~ s e .The have had a special attraction for him (it was popular among French and Hungarians as well as Irish) since he added it to a diplomatic mission to Scotland in 1431. His first attempt to go there in 1413 had resulted in his capture in England before he ever set foot in lreland.1° The pilgrimage called for considerable exertion. Lannoy and his

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company landed at Drogheda and struck out across Ireland. After Cavan the forest was so thick that they had to give up their horses and proceed on foot as far as Lough Erne. They then took a boat up the Lough, and crossed over to Lough Derg. There, on Station Island, according to legend, had been one of the original mouths of hell which St. Patrick had stuffed shut with a large stone. Lannoy recorded many of the details. He mentioned the ruined monasteries and chapels on all sides as they went up the lakes. He noted that there was a good port for large ships some twelve miles away (near the present town of Ballyshannon), but it is only fair to add that he acted as more than an outside observer. He not only gave the compass directions, stated the size and shape of the hole, and described the door "like a Flemish window" which closed off the grotto, but also spent a couple of hours meditating inside the hole and made sure to verify the continued existence of St. Patrick's stone. Lannoy's pilgrimages undoubtedly had a pious motive, but they were also encouraged by an unquenchable interest in new places. Even the record of his military activities illustrates this passion, for he took every opportunity when fighting was not actually going on to expand his knowledge of other lands. Fighting at Antequera and Ronda in 1410, he took advantage of a truce to get a safe-conduct from the Infante of Castile and to spend the next ten days in Moorish Granada, sightseeing among its palaces and gardens. He reported with pleasure that there were "beautiful things and marvellous to see."ll A few years later, in 1413, when he went to fight with the Teutonic Knights in Prussia, he again took advantage of any delay in the actual fighting to further his exploration of those remote parts. In the summer he visited Denmark, and bought himself some new horses at a Danish horse fair.12 In the winter he first went to Riga, hoping to join an expedition, which did not occur, so then took advantage of the lull to go on into Russia to Novgorod, the great trading city on the Volga, then at the peak of its power and importance. His trip by sled through the snow and bitter cold obviously intrigued him, and his naturally observant eye prompted some sharp comments on a winter so unlike that of his native Flanders. Lannoy was fascinated by the trees cracking in the forest from the cold, by the rabbits in their white winter coats, by the freezing of his eyelashes in the cold winter nights, and the way the metal cup froze to his fingers. Novgorod itself he thought was impressive, but he considered the walls were not very sturdy and was astonished at the number of churches. The buying and selling of women appalled him and

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produced one of his rare critical remarks: "We French Christians would not dare d o that, on our life."13 From Novgorod he went on to Lithuania and got as far as Wilno before returning to Danzig and Marienburg. It is interesting to note that of the more than a year that Lannoy spent on his voyage to Prussia his actual military activities consisted of one 16-day expedition from Danzig. The army invaded Pomerania, burnt some unprotected villages, drove away the cattle, and assaulted one walled town. In this attack Ghillebert was wounded in the arm and was knighted.14 Besides this, there were a few other incidental skirmishes in the company of the Teutonic knights at Marienburg and Althaus-not a very distinguished military record. His balance sheet as a traveller is more impressive. Besides his trips to Denmark and to Novgorod, he returned home by the long journey through Poland, Bohemia, and Austria. In all these places he was greeted by the king or duke, feasted and given presents, and shown the local points of interest.l5 In the process he built up a fund of first-hand information on geography and local political conditions which must have proved invaluable in his later work as a diplomat. His descriptions of his activities, though very brief and factual, illustrate the acuteness of his observation and the unflagging interest with which he explored all these new and different places. Obviously Lannoy was remembering his own young days when, many years later, he recommended to the duke of Burgundy that no man should be chosen as a member of the grand council until he was at least 36. Speaking from the depths of his own experience, he roundly declared that till 26, a man is a vagabond, and that after that it takes ten years to see how he will turn out.16 Many other men of the time enjoyed their period of wandering, whether looking for chances of prowess in crusades or tournaments or on far-flung pilgrimages, and remembered their wandering years with pleasure. Even King Henry IV of England remembered with nostalgia the carefree years he spent fighting and feasting in Lithuania, and on pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The old stereotype of the immobility of medieval men and women is contradicted by the everincreasing evidence of their frequent and far-flung travels. Certainly the range of Lannoy's own voyages would d o credit to any modern wanderer. The account of his military expeditions is generally limited to the sparse statement of where and when he fought, but even the laconic Lannoy gives some details of the battle of Agincourt. In his undramatic way, he brings the confusions of battle down to the problems

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of the individual knight caught in the melee. Early in the struggle, Ghillebert was wounded in the head and knee, and was laid with the dead. When the looters came to strip the corpses he was discovered to be alive, taken prisoner by a common soldier, and led to a hut near the field of battle, where he was imprisoned with some ten or twelve others. When the French rear guard threatened a belated charge, Henry V gave his famous order to kill all the prisoners. Although this was against the rules of war, the king was worried at the number of French prisoners and feared that if they rose against their captors at the same time as the rear guard's charge, the small English army might easily be overwhelmed. In the effort to carry out Henry's order quickly, English soldiers set fire to the hut where Lannoy and the other prisoners lay. Since Ghillebert was not seriously wounded he managed to drag himself out on his hands and knees, avoiding being burnt alive. He was soon recaptured and sold to Sir John Cornwall, on the grounds that he was a great lord and could command a worthwhile ransom. This second capture was much more to Lannoy's liking than the first, since being a prisoner was no disgrace, but being captured by one of inferior social status was. He joined the melancholy train of French prisoners to Calais and Dover, but managed to arrange his ransom with considerable speed. It cost him 1200 gold crowns (about &200) and a horse worth 100 francs, but Sir John, with the proper chivalric generosity, gave him 40 crowns on his departure with which to buy his needed equipment." His financial loss was soon made up, for when he returned from England and went to Burgundy to see Duke John, Lannoy was granted the captaincy of the castle of Sluys, which he then held for 30 years. Scene of a major naval victory in 1340, Sluys was the original port of Bruges and of strategic importance all during this period. As the chief Burgundian port in Flanders, it welcomed Princess Isabel of Portugal when she came to marry Duke Philip the Good in 1430. When the duke decided to develop a navy of his own, the ships were built at Sluys and sailed from there on expeditions to Rhodes in the mid-1440s when the island was besieged by the Turks. The terms of the grant to Ghillebert showed how far up the ladder of advancement he had already risen. He was described as "knight, councillor, and chamberlain" of Count Philip of Charolais, Duke John's heir. The duke emphasized that Lannoy was given the command because of his "notable and loyal service," and reiterated the duke's confidence in his good sense, diligence, and-that untranslatable word-prudbommie. The grant meant that Lannoy had made his mark, gained his important

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patron, and had begun to reap the rewards of his success by the time he was 30. When he had paid the requisite garrisoning force, Ghillebert would still receive over 1200 francs yearly for himself from this appointment.18 From 1416 on, Lannoy remained steadily in the direct service of Count Philip until the murder of Duke John by the Armagnac faction on the bridge at Montereau in 1419. Having already been a trusted councillor of the count, Ghillebert moved rapidly into a position of even more influence when Philip became the duke. In Ghent that fall, he spoke u p at the duke's council when peace with England was being discussed, urging that the duke should uphold his honour by not consenting immediately to King Henry's offers of peace, but should serve as an active intermediary between Henry and the king and queen of France. As one of the Burgundian ambassadors appointed to work out the peace treaty, Lannoy was part of the deputation sent to Henry at Rouen. He was also present six months later at Henry's and Katherine of France's marriage in Troyes, completing the peace treaty which had named Henry heir and regent of France. Ghillebert's relations with the duke of Burgundy became even closer. He served with him at the siege of Montereau, where Duke Philip recovered the mutilated body of his assassinated father, and also at Melun. During the five months when the English and Burgundian troops besieged that obstinate city, Ghillebert not only served in the duke's forces but held the duke's privy seal, carried his banner and served as personal guard and companion in the duke's tent.l9 During these months of prolonged siege Duke Philip and King Henry first elaborated their idea of a crusade. Duke Philip came naturally by his crusading enthusiasm. His father had been made a prisoner at the disastrous battle of Nicopolis in 1396 which had wiped out the flower of western chivalry, and Philip had always burned to lead a retaliatory expedition. Henry, too, as he saw his conquest of France come closer to a successful conclusion, had developed dreams of a great European effort towards the Holy Land and against the Turks. Both leaders were, however, sufficiently realistic to know that an accurate reconnaissance of the current situation in the eastern end of the Mediterranean was an absolutely essential first step. Here, immediately at their hand, was the ideal investigator in the person of Ghillebert de Lannoy. A trusted familiar of Duke Philip and also known to King Henry, his qualifications were impressive. He had already been to Jerusalem, Egypt and the islands of the Aegean, and also had personal experience of travel in Russia and Poland. Their

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choice was quickly made and the decision carried out as soon as spring made travel in the north feasible. Lannoy was officially commissioned by King Henry and Duke Philip, who acted also in the name of the King of France, to undertake the land voyage to Jerusalem. In Paris during the winter Ghillebert was issued with his letters of credence as a properly constituted ambassador, as well as with the letters patent of the treaty and alliance made between Henry and Charles of France, to display to the rulers he met. King Henry provided him with certain jewels and presentsamong them the famous clock-to present to specific kings and princes as gifts from the English King. In addition, Henry provided &200for his expenses. On his way home from Paris through Picardy, Lannoy was set upon by some of the mercenary soldiers who during those disturbed times frequently terrorized the countryside as brigands when they were not fighting battles. They stole all his official letters, and at least one cart laden with clothes, jewels and arms. Both the duke of Burgundy and King Henry helped to make up his losses. The duke provided 200 gold crowns, and the king another &200and a gold cloth, as well as the necessary duplicate letters20 When the time came for departure in May 1421 Ghillebert sent the members of his small retinue-there were only eight, including a herald-ahead by sea with the baggage and the valuable gifts, while he went overland to Prussia. The group was reunited at Danzig, where the Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights did him great honour and gave him valuable presents. From Danzig on, Lannoy describes in detail the line of their travels, from Poland to Russia, and then southwards. He is full of information on his encounters with the kings and princes who entertained them, the dinners and gifts they were given, and what he in turn presented to them from the stock he had been given by King Henry, but he tells us nothing about the actual country. No doubt he bore firmly in mind that the most important factor for a possible military expedition and the easy passage of an army was the friendship of the ruler of the land traversed.*l The trip by land was not all entertainment and mutual gifts. Trying to enter the town of Akerman, on the Dniester River, to find lodgings for his party, Lannoy was beaten, robbed, wounded, andclad only in his shirt-left tied to a tree on the banks of the river. In the morning he managed to wriggle free and to enter the city where the lord of Wallachia helped him to purchase his necessities, caught the robbers and handed them over to the knight to put to death if he wished. Lannoy was s o grateful to have gotten his money back that

he spared their lives.22 The journey along the shores of the Black Sea provided further adventures. After the experience at Akerman Lannoy divided his party and sent some of them, with the baggage, to Caffa by ship, while he and the others went on by land, across what he called "a great Tartar desert" crossing both the Dniester and Dnieper rivers. On this part of the trip he was well treated by the people he met, but suffered from encounters with hungry wolves who scattered his horses by night and left the party marooned seven days travel from any inhabited place. Finally, as he writes with pious gratitude, "thanks to God and many pilgrimages vowed," and with the secular assistance of one of their Tartar guides who managed to round up the horses, the party was able to remount and continue their travels. His original plans to travel through Turkey were made impossible by the death of the sultan (for whom the gold clock was intended), and a bitter civil war. He therefore decided to head for Caffa, the great Genoese trading port in the Crimea, to look for ways to continue his journey. On their arrival in Caffa the tired travellers were greeted with welcome and very European presents--casks of wine, wax candles and bread.23 Lannoy had hoped to continue his journey by land but the advice he received dissuaded him--too great distances, too many warring nationalities, and too many languages. He sold his horses and arranged passage for himself on a Venetian galley bound for Constantinople. In the imperial city he carried out his diplomatic functions, presenting his letters to the old emperor, Manuel, and his son John. He delivered Henry's gifts, and described the peace which had been achieved between England and France. He also emphasized the desire of the English and French kings to advance the reunion between the Roman and Greek churches (a continuing project of the time) and spent many hours in the emperor's presence in company with the papal ambassadors who were already at the Byzantine court on this errand. The emperors were polite to their travelled guest-John took him hunting and picnicking, and Manuel gave him valuable presents, including a gold cross which Ghillebert brought safely back to Europe and gave to the chapel of St. Pierre at Lille, but their courtesy was a veneer which only masked the threatening reality.24 The overwhelming menace of the Ottoman Turks had been temporarily lessened by the civil war in Turkey, but Constantinople's safety hung on the continuation of that struggle. In reality, the Byzantine Empire had only another thirty years of life before it fell to the attacking Turks. Despite the looming danger, the hard pressed emperor knew very well that

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his people would not accept union with the Roman church, even if it would mean essential military help for the beleaguered city. His ambassadorial duties completed, Lannoy resolved to continue his journey to the Holy Land by sea. He stopped at Rhodes where he left his baggage and most of his party. With only the herald (his military expert) and one other companion "so as to make his visits more d i ~ c r e e t l y , "he~ ~set off on the main pan of his mission. The general text of the Voyages et Ambmades only lists his itinerary very briefly: Rhodes to Crete, Alexandria, Cairo, up the Nile to Upper Egypt, through the Sinai Desert and up Mt. Sinai, back to Cairo with a diversion to the abbey of St. Anthonu of the Desert, from there to Cairo and Damietta, on to Jerusalem and the Holy Land, before returning to ~ h o d e s26. However, two special chapters deal with the hidden motivation for this prolonged journey. The first: a detailed listing of pilgrimage shrines in Syria and Egypt may well have served as camouflage for Ghillebert's detailed notes on all his visits.27 A second section, intended as his report to King Henry and Duke Philip, gives the impression that Lannoy armed himself with a convenient checklist of the essential points of military importance, as all the descriptions cover almost exactly the same ground.** It includes the distinguishing marks, if any, by which a port could be recognized and its distance from other places; the size and depth of its harbour, and for what kinds of ships it was suitable; the nature of its bottom for anchorage; the prevailing winds, and available protection; the port defences, and whether there was a need for local pilots. When Lannoy described the towns, he recorded the size, circumference and state of the fortifications, the number and nature of the inhabitants, the quality and availability of water. He observed the walls, ditches, castles, and towers with a speculative eye, and tried to ascertain if they could be easily mined. Where possible, he tried to discover the nature of the ruling class, as well as anything else that might provide useful military information. It is obvious that most of his questions could be answered by careful personal observation and, of course, his long list of possible pilgrimage shrines provided a useful cover for visiting many out-of-the-way spots, as well as all the well-known ones, and asking questions. Lannoy seems to have used his opportunities to the best advantage and was an intelligent and curious observer. He drew careful comparisons between the nature of the land in Syria and Egypt, and between the different temperaments and bellicosity of their inhabi-

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t a n t ~ . * He ~ was very interested in the phenomenon of the annual Nile flood and recognized its influence on the fertility of the land, but he was not quite sure of its cause. Like other medieval explorers, where he could not test by observation he was willing to accept legend. Having been told that the flood was due to heavy spring rains in the land of Prester John, that mythical kingdom which the Middle Ages believed was somewhere in Africa, he was willing to accept that Prester John could have halted the flood but refrained from doing so, because he feared to bring famine on the Christians of Egypt. Understandably he commented on the crocodiles in the Nile, but he also mentioned the abundance of fish and warned that they were not very healthy eatingS3OIn Syria he was impressed by the beauty of the situation of Damascus, and the fruitfulness of its gardens and surrounding fields, reminding him of Noah's vineyard.3' It appears from the manuscript that Lannoy's account was at one time furnished with diagrams of particular ports, which would have added considerably to its informative value. Certainly the reports he wrote for submission to King Henry and Duke Philip would have been invaluable as a foundation for military planning. When the reconnaissance was finished Lannoy and his two companions returned to Rhodes, picked up their companions and the baggage, and sailed back to Venice. From there they proposed to return to Flanders by way of Germany. On the way, Ghillebert, still plagued by misadventure, was again captured by a wandering freebooter, but was promptly freed by one of his own countrymen. Soon after his return in 1423 he went to London to report on his mission. Henry V was dead-Lannoy may have already heard the details of the king's death from his older brother Hugh, who had been Duke Philip's representative at the royal deathbed at Vincennes, 31 August 1422.3~ Ghillebert not only made his report to the council of the infant Henry VI, but also brought back to them the gold clock which he had been unable to present to the Turkish sultan as the king's gift. Henry Vl's councillors were generous to the Burgundian knight, giving him a further &300, as well as paying his final expenses.)) There is an interesting sequel to this mission which has often escaped notice. It appears that Lannoy, like many later recipients of expense accounts, was not beyond padding his books. The story emerges in a request for exoneration from fraud, dated 1443.3~ In it, Ghillebert petitions Henry VI, to aid him to clear his conscience. The petition bears the usual marks of formal and florid rhetoric. It describes Lannoy as "already old, broken by labours and age, and

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declining as if to the evening of his life," as being struck with "salubrious terror" at the crime and guilt of his fraud. (Given the fact that Lannoy went once more to Jerusalem and also to Rome in the next seven years, the language seems rather exaggerated.) In fact, the real interest in the petition lies in the careful detail with which it rehearses exactly what had happened. When Ghillebert had been robbed in Picardy before he set off on his mission, he had not in fact lost the f200 which Henry had given him, although he implied this to the king when he was at Calais to obtain a new set of ambassadorial letters. On this occasion Henry had generously given Lannoy another A200 as well, and the knight had happily accepted it. During the course of his voyage, however, "the worm of conscience continually corroded his soulw-perhaps stirred into activity by some of his more dangerous adventures. When he reported to the council in 1423 he confessed his fraud to Cardinal Beaufort and agreed to make whatever restitution the cardinal felt was necessary. Beaufort, acting in the young king's name, eased his conscience and absolved him from making any restitution. Despite the Cardinal's generosity, Lannoy, with careful precision, took the first opportunity after Henry VI had reached full age-and was thus in a position to repudiate the pardon granted by the cardinal-to beg the king either to confirm and ratify the gift of f200 by his father, or to fix the restitution required. The king generously gave him a full pardon, and Lannoy was protected from any possible future demands on him or his heirs. During the intervening years Lannoy had been busy on the affairs of Duke Philip, but had continued to have some contacts with the English. One of his more important missions was to the Emperor Sigismund and the electors of the empire, on the matter of the ~ u s s i t e s . 3 The ~ memorandum which he wrote for the duke on his return is a model "position paper," full of succinct good advice. He clearly balanced the existing situation, the various factors involved in attempting to lead an army against the Hussites, and what kind of help, both military and financial, could be expected.% This work again brought him in touch with Cardinal Beaufort, who had been appointed papal legate for Bohemia, Hungary, and Germany with the task of encouraging a crusade against the rebellious Hussites. Both church and state were anxious to move against them, since they had rebelled against both king and pope and had created field armies which spent most of their time in plunder. However, Beaufort as legate found Emperor Sigismund distracted by the advancing Turks and the other German princes ineffectual. In a meeting with Duke

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Philip in March 1428, the cardinal asked for military help from Burgundy, and suggested that sizeable English forces would be part of the enterprise. Instead, Joan of Arc's victory at Orleans in 1429 and the subsequent English rout at Yatay meant that Beaufort's hardlygathered crusading funds and fighting men were hurriedly flung as reinforcements into the struggle with France. The proposed crusade against the Hussites never saw the light of day.3' In 1431 when Ghillebert was sent on a diplomatic errand to the king of Scotland (and managed to work in that strenuous pilgrimage to Ireland), he also stopped on his way home to see Queen Katherine, ~ . gives ~ ~ no reason for his visit and Henry V's widow, at ~ l e s h He no account of it, but it is a surprising detail since she was completely removed from the court and had also begun her liaison with Owen Tudor. Did Ghillebert report this royal gossip to the duke? Lannoy's diplomatic work on the Hussite question, as well as his discussion on church union with the Emperor at Constantinople, made him a natural choice for the Burgundian delegation to the Council of Basle in 1433. Soon after he was present at the preliminary discussions for, and the settlement of the Treaty of Arras, when the duke of Burgundy returned to open support of the French king, thus ensuring the ultia third pilgrimmate destruction of English strength in ~rance.3-n age to Jerusalem in 1446, the aging knight was also given a special mission to the king of Aragon, then in southern Italy. Although the documents dealing with the affair are pretentiously vague, he was sent to present King Alfonso the Burgundian collar of the Golden Fleece. From Naples, Ghillebert took ship for Jerusalem and his curiosity was aroused by the sight of Stromboli throwing out great flames--two lances high, said the practised observer. Otherwise the trip was uneventful, although held up by contrary winds on the way home.*O The last entry in Lannoy's Voyagesmerely states that in 1450 he went to Rome to make the great pilgrimage of the Holy After that final journey, the elderly knight seems to have remained at home until his death in 1462, but even his later life had been one of continuing service to Duke Philip. Although he had already given up his command at Sluys by 1445 and bought a house in Lille, when Duke Philip decided in 1446 to act on Lannoy's advice and set up a Great Council, he immediately called his old advisor to Brussels as a member. Apparently, Lannoy's mission to the king of Aragon was made in this capacity.42 Ducal policies may also have had a part to play in Lannoy's stay at Rhodes on his way to Jerusalem. He may have been expected to combine his pilgrimage with an observer's

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report back to the duke of the work of Jean de Waurin and Geoffrey d e Thoisey, since their Burgundian naval forces had rescued that island from its siege by the sultan of Egypt in 1444. After this success, the fleets had raided in the Black Sea, defeated their enemies at Cyprus and destroyed much of the sultan's fleet.43 There are many elements of interest in this personal account of the wide-ranging activities of an extraordinarily peripatetic fifteenth century noble, but Lannoy was more than an indefatigable traveller and trusted ducal official. His character had been moulded by the piety of his time, a fact that appears very clearly in the teachings he wrote down for his son's guidance. The tone of his Les Ensei'nernents Paternels is personal and in sharp contrast to the dryly factual approach of the Voyages. Like any father he wanted to see his son well-behaved and well spoken of, as he says rather wistfully, so "that I can hear about you such and so good news that I have cause for great joy. " 44 His main counsels are couched in what to us are unfamiliar terms. The noble man will be silent, and temperate when he does speak. Ghillebert underlines the importance of this by warning his son that if he talks too much, he will have no one left to talk to but the unimportant. It is essential to keep secrets, not to lie, not even to embroider stories.45 Following the accepted chivalric traditions of his time, Lannoy reminded his son that it was better to die honourably than to live in shame. He cited with admiration the story of the death of Sir Louis Robsart, Knight of the Garter and trusted commander under Henry V, who was killed when he refused to retreat though he was out-numbered.46 It was essential for the proper knight to love and serve God according to the accepted forms. He should not spend too much time with the ladies, for that time could be more profitably spent learning skills in arms and studying chronicles and histories. The proverb he quotes in corroboration of this advice: "a tender hand holds the sword badly, and the helmet rests uneasily on a well-coiffed head" was probably regarded by his son as the typical and irritating old-fashioned comment to be expected from one's elders.47 In a more practical fashion, Lannoy advised his son about clothes, table manners and folle largesse, the showy distribution of excessive gifts. He underlined the financial advantages of making a wealthy marriage, of the ransom to be gotten from capturing a valuable prisoner and of receiving rewarding offices from his lord.'@

It is very dated and unromantic, suggesting Gillebert's practical Flemish roots, yet it is also rather touching. The old knight, looking back on his many years of crisscrossing Europe and the Holy Land on crusade or pilgrimage or in the service of his prince, wanted above all to see his son motivated by the forces that had moved him: knightly honour, the praise of his peers, and real, if formal, faith. His final prayer for his son suggests his own dearest desire-that his son would behave so well and so virtuously that it would resound to his praise: "and to me as your father perfect joy, so that together we should go to Paradise at the end!"*g NOTES 1. Yvan Lacasse, "Philippe le Bon et le probleme Hussite," Retrue Hfstorfque 242 (1969), p.74; Oeuwes de Ghfllebert de Lannoy, Voyageur, Diplomate et Moralfste, recueilKes et publiees par Ch. Potvin (Academie Imperiale et Royale des Sciences et Belle-Lettres, Louvain, 1878) pp.xi-xxxiii. 2. Georges Chastellain, Oeuvres, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove, Acadiimie royale de Belgique, 8 vols. (Brussels 1863-66; reprint Geneva, 1971) vol. I pp.83-85; Lannoy, Oeuwes. R. Aries, "Un seigneur bourguignon en terre Musulmane au XV' siccle: Ghillebert de Lannoy," Moyen Age 83 (19771, pp.283-302. 3. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.9-12. 4. Lannoy, Oeuures, pp.9-178. 5. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.335-425. 6. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.447-72. 7. Lannoy, Oeuztres, pp.73-97. 8. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.14, 173-74. 9. Lannoy, Oeuztres, pp.166-73. St. John D. Seymour, St. Patrick's Purgatory (Dundalk, 1918) gives a full history and survey of the shrine.

10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

Lannoy, Oeuzwes, p.49. Lannoy, Oeuims, pp. 17-18. Lannoy, Oeuzwes, pp.23-24. Lannoy, Oeuures, pp.30-36, 33. Lannoy, Oeuin-es, pp.26-27. Lannoy, Oeuures, pp.45-49. Lannoy , Oeuttres, pp.372-73. Lannoy, Oeurwes, pp.49-50. Lannoy, Oeuztres, pp.50, 187-91. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.xvi-xvii, 50-51. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.51, 195-97, 211-13; Rymer, Foedera, vol. V, pt.i, pp.118-19. 21. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.5 1-64. 22. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.60-61.

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Lannoy, Oeuures, pp.61-64. Lannoy, Oeutms, pp.64-66. Lannoy, Oeuures, p.67. h n n o y , Oeuvres, pp.67-71. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.73-97. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.99-162. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp. 121-25. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.123-30. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.96, 158-59. Chastellain, Oeuvres, vol. I, pp.528-29. Lannoy, Oeuures, pp. 161-62. Rymer, vol. V, pt. i, pp.118-19; Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.211-13. Lannoy , Oeut~res,pp.164-66. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.250-53. G.A. Holmes, "Crusade against the Hussites," English Historical Review 88 (19731, pp.721-50. LSannoy, Oeuvres, p.173. Lannoy, Oeuures, p.173. Lannoy, Oeuures, pp.217-18, 174-78. Lannoy , Oeuures, p. 178. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.215, 217-18. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.xxvii-xxix. Lannoy, Oeur)rcs, p.448. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.451-52. Lannoy, Oeuures, pp.457-59. Lannoy , Oeuvres, pp .449-50. Lannoy, Oeuvres, pp.470-71. Lannoy, Oeur~res,p.472.

A FIFTEENTH CENTURY SPANIARD

ravellers' tales have been a popular branch of literature for centuries and the fifteenth century is particularly rich in its assortment of observant, adventurous travellers who were eager to share their impressions and opinions with a wider public. Such men were not purveyors of the fabulous, at least not in regard to what they themselves saw. They did pass on some very tall stories derived from other travellers they met, but this was not with the intention of fooling their audience. Rather, they themselves had seen so many things which struck them as beyond belief that it was easy to accept credulously the possible wonders of a still unexplored world. Pero Tafur, the fifteenth century Spaniard whose Travels al?dAdue?jtzzres' provide a fascinating picture of Lravel during the 1430s, was only one of a miscellaneous collection of well-to-do and literate travellers who explored Europe and the Middle East in the sixty years before the fall of Constantinople. They included a wide variety of men. There was Henry of Derby, later King Henry IV of England, who travelled as a pilgrim in the Holy Land and a crusader in Pmssia, whose household accoun6 provide interesting detail on the ways he spent his time.? More modest knight5 like the Englishman Sir Thomas Swinburne and the Gascon Nompar de Caumont wrote brief descriptions of their pilgrimages to the Holy Lant13 A number of ambassadors were

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required to report on their missions to their lords: Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, the Castilian who went to the court of Tamerlane the Great for the king of Castile in 1403; the Burgundians, Ghillebert de Lannoy and Bertrandon d e La Broquiere, who carried out missions for Duke Philip the Good as reconnaissance for a possible crusades4 A French royal herald, Gilles Le Bouvier, adopted a more geographical approach when he compiled his Livre de la Description des Pays, covering ~ such a medley of much of Europe, the Near and Middle ~ a s t .With contemporary travel accounts to draw on, two questions arise. Is there particular interest and value in what Tafur reports and where does he fit in among his fellow travellers? The first question is the most easily answered. Tafur's travels from 1435 to 1439 are indeed of special interest and value. For one thing, he was the last European to describe Constantinople and its remnants of empire before the final Turkish onslaught and the conquest of 1453. Secondly, unlike the other travellers mentioned, Tafur devoted much of his attention and his notable powers of observation to the great commercial centres of both Europe and the Near East. We know relatively little about him except that he was a Castilian, almost certainly from Cordoba, and a young man of about 25 when he embarked on his journey. He travelled extensively through Italy, the Holy Land, to Constantinople and Caffa, and to Cyprus, Egypt and Sinai. Back in Europe he explored more briefly Burgundy and Flanders, Germany and Austria, going as far as Prague and Buda. The original manuscript of his travels has disappeared and we know of it only through a single eighteenth century copy in Madrid. It has not been widely known, even in Spain, though it appeared in an English translation in 1926. Nevertheless, it is a notable addition to the fifteenth century travel literature. Like Bertrandon de La Broquiere, who made an immediate oral report to the duke of Burgundy on his return but then waited twenty years before writing up the account of his travels, Tafur delayed to middle life the compilation of his adventures. The vividness of his descriptions and the precise detail of his observation suggest that he, like La Broquiere, kept a brief diary on which he could draw as an aid to memory when he came to describe what was undoubtedly the most exciting time of his life. Even in those days when men relied so much more on a tenacious and wellexercised memory, such an aid to recollection would seem to have been almost essential. Tafur described vividly what caught his eye or piqued his curiosity. By judicious use of his status and connections he arranged to

meet many of the leading figures of his day, including Pope Eugenius IV, John VIII the Greek Emperor, the king of Cyprus, and that engaging storyteller, the Venetian Nicolo Conti. There can be little question that the young Tafur thoroughly enjoyed the excitement and pomp of his travels. Certainly he made every effort to present himself in the most favourable light wherever he went so that he could acceptably mingle with the higher ranks of society. However, it would appear that Tafur was a representative of a different class from the other noble travellers of his day. He appears to have belonged to the upper level of the growing and influential merchant class, with its claim to be part of the lesser nobility, or what England at that time would have called the gentry. It is abundantly clear that Tafur was not part of the great nobility of Castile, and the likelihood that he was a member of the urban oligarchy is reinforced by the record of his position among the 24 regidon of Cordoba in 1 4 7 9 . ~As well, the probability of his connection to the rich mercantile establishment in Andalusia is suggested by many of his comments in the Travels and Adventures, as well as by the attitudes he displays. Such a situation was not incompatible with claims to noble status as it was perceived in fifteenth century Spain. By that time Seville and Cordoba were already profiting from a great era of expansion. The clearing of Moorish naval power from the Straits of Gibraltar had encouraged the continued growth of commercial activity by Spanish merchants. They voyaged up and down the Atlantic coast to France, England and the Low Countries where, in Bruges especially, Castilians had established a strong place in that city's commercial life.' As well, by the time Tafur went on his travels, Castile was even looking into the open Atlantic and claiming the possession of the Canaries. In fact, the mercantile interests and the prestige of the great urban leaders made the social situation of Seville and Cordoba a paler image of the great merchant empires of Venice and Genoa. In the fifteenth century, successful merchants involved in foreign trade and wholesale distribution could be regarded as gentlemen, for wealth was honoured as well as birth, and such merchants could afford to live like gentlemen and claim distinguished relatives. For example, Tafur sent his book to Don Fernando de Guzman, commander of the knightly Order of Calatrava, who was a kinsman, with the ingenuous statement that he knew he liked such writings as refreshment (20). In his prologue addressed to Don Fernando, Tafur provides a rather elastic definition of nobility. "Virtue itself is the

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chief and surest foundation of nobility," Tafur wrote, "A man may be called noble so long as he follows the customs of his predecessors."(l9) Nobles defined in this way did not fit the older pattern of the feudal nobleman as he was perceived in England and France, with their emphasis on the need for noble birth, wealth from lands and rents, and obligation for military service. In any case, Tafur was able to claim royal patronage because of the peculiarly strong position of the great Andalusian cities in a time of unrest. Seville and Cordoba, which had become part of Castile in the thirteenth century reconquest, were independent lords in their own right and answerable only to the king. The Castilian kings, especially Juan I1 who was beset with constant struggles against rebellious great nobles, were happy to conciliate the cities. They consulted them on military and financial questions, since the cities had strong forces of both cavalry and infantry which they could put in the field when neces~ary.~ Such a policy helps to explain Tafur's frequent references to King Juan, and also to explain the royal letter he carried and which led to his being designated the ambassador of the king of Cyprus to the sultan of Egypt (64-67). What are some of the hints in Tafur's account of his travels that suggest his merchant connections? First, it is obvious that Tafur was well-to-do, or, more properly, as he was only 25 when he set off, his family was wealthy and was able to continue supplying him with money during those four years. Pero also tells us of the bills of exchange he had on various merchants and correspondents in quite a number of the towns he visited, a fact which implies considerable familiarity with mercantile practice as well as adequate funds. Then too, some of the attitudes displayed in his story suggest the personality of one with keen commercial interests and a fellow feeling for merchants of what he considers equal rank. For example, Tafur developed a great friendship with the Morosinis in Venice on whom he had bills of exchange and who took him into their household at the beginning of his travels. Other Venetian friends helped him when he fell afoul of the doge and council over the shipload he had imported from Caffa, contrary to the laws of Venice. They intervened so successfully that he was exempted, and even allowed to reexport his goods to Spain (57-58). One element of Tafur's merchandise would have shocked the northern Europeans of his day, for he had invested in three slaves during his visit to the great slave market at Caffa. He arranged to have the slaves shipped back to Spain with his other goods, a procedure which seemed normal to him as Cordoba

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maintained a lively tradition of slaves used as artisans and domestics until nearly 1500.~Slaves were still sold there in the fifteenth century and Tafur's slaves were still a part of his household when he wrote his book (132-33,173). Since Tafur appears so anxious to exploit his contacts wherever he landed it is interesting to note that many of them were relatively unimportant people and fellow-countrymen, whom he used as steppingstones. A few examples suggest his usual way of proceeding. When he first came to Pera, the foreign quarter and harbour directly across the Golden Horn from Constantinople, Tafur had dealings with a ship captain from Seville. When he wished to see the Greek emperor he was careful to make acquaintance of one of the emperor's interpreters, who was originally from Castile. This multi-talented man was reputed to have gained his position because he sang Castilian romances to the emperor to the accompaniment of the lute (115,117). Later, in his journey through Germany, he used the Castilians he encountered in Nurernberg (probably also merchants) to find him a place in the entourage of Kaspar Schlick, the vice-chancellor of the emperor, who was on his way to his master in Bohemia. The scheme worked well, for Tafur caught up the emperor-designate, Albert of Austria, at Breslau three days before Christmas. The Castilian was invited to join in the court's holiday festivities, which he obviously thoroughly enjoyed, especially when he was introduced by Albert to a choice of ladies for dancing partners. It was on this courtly occasion that Tafur made his one, rather uninterested reference to the tourneys which were a daily feature-a surprising lack of interest in the most typical and bestloved noble pursuit (210-17). Apart from the personal characteristics that appear to connect Tafur to the merchant class, he also displayed wherever he went an informed interest in markets and technology which is quite unprecedented in the travel literature. His descriptions of Bruges and Antwerp, one almost past the peak of its commercial importance and the other just beginning to challenge the older centre, are illuminating, and underline at least one of the reasons for the growing success of Antwerp. Tafur describes with care the canal system with its sluice gates, which linked Bruges to its port, Sluis, two-and-a-half leagues away. Ships had to be brought up at high tide, loaded and then returned on the ebb, but in Antwerp the river was so good for navigation that ships could be fastened directly to the city walls. He also detailed with enthusiasm the many goods that could be bought from all parts of the world if only you had the money. While in Antwerp

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he added useful details about how the great fair was carried on with goldsmiths' work being displayed in the Dominican convent, Arras cloths in the church of St. John, and the pictures for sale at the Franciscan's. The great horse market was just outside a city gate near the stables (197-204). He portrays the market at Caffa equally vividly and usefully, for that great city on the Black Sea was in the last decades of its major importance as the hinge for trade between Europe and the Middle and Far East. Fortunately, Tafur was a very curious man with a wide range of interests, so he not only details the nature of the slave market, with the representatives of the sultan of Egypt searching for suitable subjects for the sultan's mamelukes, but he also reports on the catching of sturgeon, how caviar was prepared and what it tasted like (132-37). Above all, Tafur was extremely informative on mid-fifteenth century Venice, which he saw with rose-coloured glasses. He was much impressed by the doge's palace, and also by the fact that much of it was open to anyone. Like tourists of other centuries, he did the rounds of San Marco, the Piazza and the Campanile. He was delighted by its cleanliness for walking, since it was so well-paved that there was no mud in winter or dust in summer. He also joined in the age-old complaint-the city is cleaned by the tide, but still smells! There is one particularly vivid and detailed description, which we probably owe to Tafur's familiarity with the great Venetian merchant families, and that is his splendid account ,of Venice's Arsenal and the assembly line method practised there to equip the galleys. The lagoon flowed into the Arsenal, and on either side of the water was a great street, lined with buildings whose windows opened out. The galley was towed past, and the cordage, the balistas and mortars, the arms, the bread and everything necessary were handed out from the appropriate windows. By the time the ship got to the end of the street all the men required were on board, with the complement of oars, and the galley was equipped from end to end. The line worked so fast that Tafur saw ten galleys arranged in this fashion in six hours (165,16768,170). Tafur's book holds our attention with its acute observation, vivid turn of phrase, and all-embracing curiosity. Certain personal characteristics are also evident. His religious practice was, for example, purely formalistic. Although supposedly a pilgrim in the Holy Landan emotional experience for many of his contemporaries-Tafur was noticeably a secular traveller. He was more interested in a side trip to the desert with a Moor than the usual pilgrim circuit and was

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particularly proud of being smuggled, dressed in borrowed Moslem clothes, into the mosque which had been made from the Temple of Solomon (59, 61). On the other hand, he has little to say of the Holy Sepulchre, except to record that he had dubbed three gentlemen knights and that they had all hung their arms up in the usual place (61-62). When in Rome, before he left for the Holy Land, he had little attention for the churches but was more impressed by the city's antique ruins, an attitude that suggests the coming Renaissance. In fact, Tafur was disgusted that no one in Rome could inform him about them, although they obviously knew all about the taverns and houses of ill-fame (43). The Castilian himself had a singularly quick eye for the ladies, including the one who became his travel companion for a while after he made her acquaintance in the baths near Basle (185-86). Certainly this cannot be described as suitable noble behaviour, given the bad reputation of the fifteenth century baths. There are only two places where Tafur's narrative allows him to assume more than the position of an individual traveller. The first, which gave him rather higher status, was his journey to Egypt as an ambassador for the king of Cyprus. Since 1192 Cyprus had been established as a separate kingdom, ruled by members of the Lusignan family. With its splendid Christian harbour close to the Moslem controlled coast, which was convenient for the ships of both pilgrims and merchants, the little island kingdom was relatively rich and, by this time, rather decadent. Although still officially independent, the growing Moslem strength meant that the weak king of Cyprus was forced to pay tribute to the sultan of Egypt. When Tafur had discovered in Jerusalem that the convoy headed for the monastery of St. Catherine of Mount Sinai, which the Spaniard was anxious to visit, had already departed, the Guardian of the Franciscan convent where Tafur was staying advised him to go to Cyprus. The Guardian felt that if Tafur made the acquaintance of the king's brother, Cardinal Hugh of Lusignan, he could probably get a safe-conduct to Egypt and reach Sinai from there. Tafur acted on this useful advice and one suspects that the guardian also wrote to Cyprus, for the morning after Tafur's arrival he was sought out by a squire of the late king's sister. She interrogated him fairly thoroughly and when she was satisfied had him take up lodgings in her palace. She also introduced him to her nephew the king, and to the cardinal, whereupon Tafur pulled out his useful letter from King Juan. His standing was further improved by a meeting with the admiral of Cyprus, a powerful official who came originally from Castile. The cardinal was happy to find a con-

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venient, and not too expensive, emissary and quickly arranged that Tafur should be sent to the sultan of Egypt as Cyprus's ambassador. The trip had certain fringe benefits for the young man, as he was sent off in a ship with 18 rowers, accompanied by the king's own interpreter, and, as Tafur says smugly, "as well provisioned as for the king's own household."(68) Landing first at Damietta, it took his party seven days to make the trip upriver to Cairo. There he stayed in the house of the sultan's chief interpreter and delivered the king's letters to the sultan. Tafur wrote a vivid description of the occasion, with the sultan on a splendid black horse, whose saddle was ornamented with four large rubies. As well, the horse trappings were of white damask with pearl borders, and the steed even had golden horseshoes (74-75). After his business had been done, Tafur stayed a month in Cairo, was pleased to see seven elephants and a giraffe, and finally got the licence which allowed him to make the long 15-day journey across the desert to Mount Sinai by camel. The monastery itself did not really interest him-there is even some doubt whether he personally went there-but he was totally fascinated when he met a huge caravan coming form the east, laden with its exotic freight of precious stones, spices and perfumes. It divided there, with half going to Cairo and Alexandria and the other half to Damascus and Beirut. Tafur's return trip was enlivened by the vivid tales of Nicolo Conti, the far-ranging Venetian. Conti spoke truthfully of the suttee he had seen practised in India, and he knew of the sacred white elephant of Siam, but he was happy to pass along the fabulous inventions of Prester John 07-96). As Tafur made his way back through Cairo, on his way to Alexandria for his return trip to Cyprus, he was again impressed by its great market, with large numbers of traders, beasts, and providers of services, such as cooks, water-sellers, and barbers (100-01). Arriving at Cyprus to report to the king, Tafur reports with ingenuous satisfaction that he was received with great honour. Even though he had to stay in an inn overnight so it could all be properly arranged, the courtiers provided that coveted medieval mark of prestige--they came out of the city to meet him. The king rewarded him with some fine cloth, generous provisions for his trip to Rhodes, and a perhaps inconvenient leopard (103-04). Tafur sailed from Rhodes on what proved to be an eventful voyage to Constantinople. His ship was not only pursued by Genoese and forced to take refuge in Chios, but it then dragged its anchor in a storm and was stove in by the underwater remains of a wrecked carrack. The passengers clung to the wreckage and were finally saved.

Storms at sea and possible shipwreck were among the greatest terrors for medieval men, and poor Tafur encountered another, even more horrifying storm on his return trip. The panic-stricken passengers practically despaired of their lives and set to vowing pilgrimages to the most favoured shrines (152). The ship finally made safe harbour in Crete, though its sails had been torn to shreds. That experience left even the ebullient Tafur with a strong disinclination to reembark on any ship. He admitted that his terror had been so great that "had I been on the mainland I would never have put to sea again."(153) When Tafur finally arrived safely in Constantinople he managed by the good offices of the emperor's Castilian interpreter to be introduced to the emperor, an occasion for which he dressed himself in his best clothes and wore King Juan's device. The young man's recent embassy to Egypt for the king of Cyprus would have somewhat improved his social status and provided him with useful current information for the emperor, who wanted news about the Christian lands. In return, Tafur was given the privilege of joining the emperor in the hunt. He stayed long enough in the city to watch the emperor, led by a most splendid procession, embarking on Venetian galleys for a visit to the pope, from whom the unfortunate Byzantine ruler hoped to obtain military support against the encircling Turks. Soon after Tafur went off on an excursion to Adrianople to make first-hand acquaintance with the Turks. Like most Europeans of his day, he admired the Turks and found them "a noble people."(l28) He then crossed the Black Sea to visit Trebizond and Caffa. On his return to Constantinople Tafur spent two months of extended sightseeing. He gave a detailed description of the great imperial city, emphasizing its great monuments, the magnificence of its mosaics, and the abundance of its relics. He was impressed with its splendid circuit of walls, patrolled by a night watch of fully armed horsemen. The palace, he thought, had once been magnificent but was now badly kept and the city itself was poor and sparsely populated, though the harbour was still full of ships (117-25,135-49). His judgements on Constantinople and the remaining shreds of Greek and Genoese power at Trebizond and Caffa are particularly interesting since they were arrived at barely 15 years before the Turks were to overrun Constantinople. The Castilian could recognize the fundamental weakness of Greek rule which put unjustified confidence in the great walls of Constantinople, what might in more recent terms be described as the Maginot Line delusion.

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Tafur finally returned to Venice two years after his departure for the east. He then turned north, calling at Ferrara, where he again encountered the Greek emperor and the pope and described to them his journey to Trebisond and Caffa. His commercial enthusiasm was also aroused by Milan, where he was fascinated by the work of the many varieties of craftsmen. He found it a city without rival in Christendom for its size, abundance, and number of inhabitants, and reported approvingly how strictly the Milanese enforced the requirement of providing a certificate that one had come from a plague-free region before being allowed entry (179-80). Once more, as with his description of Bruges and Antwerp, and of how gold was panned outside Basle,(186) Tafur was most acute in his observations on matters of commercial and technical interest. The great clock at Strasbourg caught his eye too, and he pronounced it "the finest I have ever seen."(187) Not only did he describe with great care the exact method of transporting travellers across the dangerous snows of the St. Gotthard Pass, he is also the first to report that firearms were used to dislodge snow and prevent avalanches (182-83). The final part of this trip, through southern Germany, Austria and Bohemia before returning to Italy to catch a ship to Spain, is rather more perfunctorily chronicled. His account trails off, though the splendid hospital accommodation in Florence for both men and women does arouse his enthusiasm (227-28). The return by ship from Venice is only briefly described, and the text breaks off quite suddenly as he was reaching Sardinia, about halfway back to Spain. It reminds one of the typical travel diary, so fully and excitedly written up on the outward trip, but which becomes more and more perfunctory as home seems ever closer and exhaustion overtakes enthusiasm. Tafur disappears from view off the coast of Sardinia, but his Travels and Adventures continue to provide those who come across them with the refreshment which he diplomatically hoped they would give his distinguished kinsman, Don Fernando d e Guzman. Even from these brief citations Tafur's account can be seen as a lively and informative glimpse of a Mediterranean world hovering on the brink of change, vividly reported by a young representative of the rising merchant gentry.

P E R 0 TAFUR

NOTES 1. Pero Tafur, Travels a n d Adventures 1435-1439, trans. and ed. by M. Letts, London, 1926. Page references to this text are given in the parenthetical numbers in the body of the paper. 2. Henry of Derby, Expeditions to Prussia a n d the Holy Land made by Henry, Earl of Derby,ed. L. Toulmin Smith, Camden Society, new series 52, 1854. 3. Thomas Swinburne, "Voyage en Terre Sainte d'un Maire de Bordeaux au XrVe si6cle," Archives d'Orient Latin, 2 (1884), Documents, Voyages, 378-88; Nompar de Caumont, Le Vbyage d'oultrmer de Nompar, seigneur de Caurnont, ed. P.S. Noble, Oxford, 1975. 4. Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, The Narrative of the Embassy of Ruy Gonzalez de Clavio to the Court of Timour a t Sumarkand, A.D. 1403-1406, trans. with notes by C.R. Markham, Hakluyt Society 1st series 26, 1859; Ghillebert de Lannoy, Oeuures, ed. Ch. Potvin, Louvain, 1878; Bertrandon de La Broquigre, Le Voyage d'outremer de Bertrandon de La BroquzZre, ed. Ch. Schaefer, Paris, 1892. 5. Gilles Le Bouvier, dit Berry, Le Liure de la Description des Pays, ed. E.T. Hamy, Paris, 1908. 6. Tafur, Travels a n d Adventures, intro., 21. 7. A. MacKay, Spain in the Middle Ages, London, 1977, pp.128-29, 20, 19. 8. MacKay, Spain, pp.158-59, 64-67, 32-33, 57-58. 9. J. Heers, Esclaves et Domestiques a u Moyen Age, Paris, 1981, pp.111, 132-33, 173, 115, 117, 210-17, 197-204, 132-37, 165, 167-68, 170, 59, 61, 61-62, 43, 185-86, 68, 74-75, 77-96, 100-01, 103-04, 110-11, 152, 153, 128, 117-25, 139-49, 179-80, 186, 187, 182-83, 227-28.

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enry of Lancaster-contemponry, companion and cousin of Edward 111-was regarded as one of the outstanding figures of a reign which aboundecl in colourf~l,chivalric personalities.' Created earl of Derby in 1337, Henry succeeded to his father's earldom of Lancaster in 1345. His work for King Edward as military leader, political adviser and diplomat, was so outstanding that the king in 1351 gave him the personal title of duke of Lancaster-the first time that a duke had been named outside the immediate royal family. In many ways Henry appeared cut to Froissart's favourite pattern, for he was ~~niversally admired as a noble and courteous knight, good-looking, fond of hunting and jousting, proud of his armour and skill in dancing. More surprisingly, even other French and Scottish chroniclers recognized this memy's abilities, praising him as one of the best warriors of his day, a man wise and brave, famous for largesse and honesty, generous in almsgiving and gifts to religious foundations. Lancaster's range of activities suggests the best elements of the fourteenth century pattern of knighthood. This was rather more secular, both in theory and practice, than that which had inspirecl a thirteenth century knight. The earlier crusading ideal, with its emotionally convincing emphasis on the Christian knight's duty to fight

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to free the Holy Land from the infidel, had been weakened by the series of ignominious defeats there, and by the dubious application of the term "crusade" to a number of primarily political conflicts. In the fourteenth century crusading was still seen by some as a religious exercise, but it also served as a convenient strategic manoeuvre, as a recognized way to extort financial support, or as an irreproachable excuse for removing oneself from an awkward political situation at home. However, even with the fourteenth century emphasis on secular display and magnificence, the religious underpinning of life continued to be Fundamental, and elaborate religious rituals were built into the statutes of the new chivalric orders such as the Garter or the Star. Certainly for many nobles religious practice was a formal thing, part of the unquestioned framework of their lives, but others were being affected by a new current of personal and emotional piety. Literary culture had become much more general among the laity, and nobles not only read-witness the growing popularity of the Books of Hours, which could combine both devotion and display-but they also occasionally wrote. For example, Gaston Febus, the famous fourteenth century count of Foix, was the author of Le Livre de La ~ b a s s e , ~ a highly acclaimed and very popular manual of information on his favourite pastime, hunting. Gaston also wrote Le Livre des 0raisons,3 a long-winded and repetitious cry of repentance. Since the count had an ungovernable temper and had killed his own son in a fit of rage, he had ample cause for penitence and this work exhibits his desperate emotional craving for reassurance of God's mercy. Le Livre de Seyntz ~ e d i c i n e sthe , ~ pious treatise written by Henry of Lancaster, is very different from that of his younger contemporary. K.B. McFarlane has described it as "the most remarkable literary achievement of them all," which has "added a third dimension to our otherwise somewhat thin knowledge of that warrior class."5 Although repetitive, Henry's treatise is a sincere, attractive and temperate book of piety, which bears witness to both the duke's ascetic and religious turn of mind and to his wide range of practical knowledge and experience. It is this unusual combination of background and interests which particularly attracts our attention, for it illuminates the varied nature of Duke Henry's activities in the ten years before his book, illustrating the two sides of his character, was written. In 1343-44 Henry served as English ambassador in Castile, attempting to dissuade that kingdom from making an alliance with France, as the well-equipped and permanent Castilian navy could seriously

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threaten England's lifeline to Gascony by harassing shipping in the Bay of Biscay. When there was a pause in diplomatic business, the duke and his fellow ambassador took the opportunity to join the fight against the Moors at ~ r a n a d a . In ~ 1345 Henry was appointed by King Edward to spearhead the first major English effort in Gascony since the beginning of the Hundred Years war.' As both a general and a tactician he won notable successes. A sudden cross-country march to Bergerac surprised the French army and led to the surrender of this strategically valuable town. Lancaster tried to consolidate this and other military successes by a sensible policy of conciliation. When Bergerac's defenders offered to surrender and asked mercy, Lancaster replied "who prays for mercy should have mercy" and accepted their ~ u r r e n d e r . ~A little later, after the capture of SaintJean-d'Angely, Henry spent some time in that town and worked to encourage its loyalty by receiving the local bourgeois and their wives with great joy and high honours, giving them gifts and inviting them to dinners. Froissart's comment was that "it was said of him that he was the most noble prince who could ride a ~ a l f r e y . "Afier ~ fighting with Edward 111 before Calais in 1347, Henry commanded an inconclusive cbevauch4e across Gascony as far as Toulouse, where the Carmelite prior who displayed the banner of Our Lady on the city walls was reported to have inspired the duke and some of his followers to pious devotion.1° Continuing devotion to the crusade encouraged Lancaster to lead an abortive expedition to Prussia to help the Teutonic Knights in their struggle against the Lithuanians. Not only were he and some of his companions captured as they passed through Germany and forced to pay a high ransom, but they arrived in Prussia only to find that a truce had already been signed. On their return journey a bitter dispute arose between Duke Henry and Otto of Brunswick. It led to a challenge to single combat which Lancaster, an enthusiastic jouster, gladly accepted. The chronicler Knighton describes with great relish the elaborate protocol of the affair, arranged to take place in Paris in 1352 under the supervision of King John the Good. At the last moment Otto withdrew his challenge, suffering great loss of face, and the French king tried to soothe Duke Henry's offended pride by, as the chronicler says, "showing him the many delectable things he proposed to give him."ll The English duke edified all his contemporaries by refusing all presents except a thorn from the Crown of Thorns, St. Louis' precious relic, which he then gave to his own foundation, the collegiate church at ~eicester.'~By 1354 Henry was busily employed

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by King Edward in continuing diplomatic negotations with Cardinal Guy of Boulogne and the papal curia at Avignon over peace with France. We also know that at the same time he was writing Le Livre de Seyntr ~edicines.I3 Even this brief summary illustrates the continuing juxtaposition between prowess and piety in Henry's life and actions. In his envoi to Le Liure, which he specifically described as written in 1354, the duke signs himself as "a foolish miserable sinner."14 The duke had summarized his book and apologized for its defects. He made excuses for his French, because he was English and had not studied French much; for his lack of qualifications for such high work; and for not being a good writer, because he had learned late and by himself.15 Despite his weaknesses he had undertaken the work because he wanted to devote his spare time to the service of God, wishing to confess his wickedness openly. Besides-shades of a modern author's acknowledgements-he had been urgently encouraged by some of his good friends, so that if there was any value in it they should have at least as much credit.I6 The combination of his disparate activities is fascinating in itself, as well as for the occasional hint it gives of the transference of the duke's ideas from his public to his private life and his work on his book. There is one particularly interesting example. In March and April of 1354 the duke and Cardinal Guy of Bologne were engaged in a highly sarcastic exchange of letters over the successful French wooing of the volatile Charles of Navarre. The cardinal wrote with considerable glee of the stopping up of a mousehole, i.e. England's access to France through alliance with Charles, while Lancaster replied that a mouse which knew of only one hole was likely to be in danger." At about the same time Henry was writing in le Lime a long and detailed simile which compared his heart to a foxhole to which his sins have retreated. His vivid and specific description of the country methods of driving out such vermin, meanwhile making the parallel application of the ways of destroying sin,18reflects both his own experience of such rural activities (perhaps brought back to mind by his correspondence with the cardinal) and his ability to go beyond the usual pious platitude. Le Liure de Seyntz Medicines not only attracts our interest because of the eminence of its author but also because it is written specifically from the point of view of the devout but active layman. It gives us some insight into what a pious aristocrat felt were his weaknesses and what could be considered suitable behaviour for a man of his station. He does not condemn dancing or jousts or feasts so long as

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lords do what their estate requires, with moderation and without sin, but he is uncompromising in disclosing where he had fallen from the ideal.l9 As a historian, I am naturally less interested in purely literary analysis, but read Le Liure for the light it throws on Henry's personal character, as well as on the level of culture and knowledge available to a fourteenth century noble. Le Liwe de S w t z Medicines is basically an allegory in which the author, as a man mortally wounded by sin, lays himself open before Christ the divine physician and his Douce Dame, the Virgin Mary. In describing the wounds of his soul Henry details how each of the five senses were infected by the seven capital sins, suggesting and praying for the appropriate remedies. In addition there are several long asides in which the duke compares his heart to the donjon of a castle (a favourite medieval device), and, more imaginatively, to a whirlpool in the sea, a city marketplace, and the fox's hole previously mentioned. For me the interest of the book lies especially in its concrete detail and in the specific examples taken from the duke's own experience rather than in his use of extensive symbolism. His profound piety is often expressed in unfamiliar and to us extravagant terms, but his comparisons frequently illustrate the everyday life of the upper classes. Lancaster tells us how he loved the crying of hounds, the singing of a man or woman or nightingale and the sound of instruments," and we know that he had his own troop of minstrels.21 He confesses ruefully that in his youth he had boasted of his beauty, his height and gentle birth,22 and had taken pride in the shapeliness of his arms and hands and the handsome rings on his fingers.23 It had been his delight to stretch his stirrup at tournaments and to dance elegantly at the accompanying festivities. Indeed, dancing must have been a favourite pastime as he had a special dancing chamber in Leicester Henry recognized the temptations it had posed, admitting that his intentions had been sinful and adding realistically "and perhaps still would be if 1 was as hot and young as once 1was." 25 Gluttony was another recurrent temptation. The duke echoed the manners of his day when he writes feelingly of his passion for good food, rich with spices and pungent sauces, and accompanied by red and white wine strong enough to make him and others drunk. He confessed he had cut short his time for God by dreaming of dinner or disregarding days of fasting because he had fasted yesterday or would fast tomorrow.26 He accuses his feet of being reluctant to go on pilgrimage, happy to find him good food and wine but unable to

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bring him home because of over-indulgence. He is forced to admit that in middle age he suffers from the result of his indulgence and is plagued with gout.27 Other of the duke's faults are typical of his level of society. He was too ready to give favours or "light judgements" in his courts and shared the usual noble passion for the acquisition of more land and riches. "If only," he says regretfully, "I had had all my life as much covetousness for the kingdom of heaven as I have had for A100 of land."28 Lancaster's comparisons and examples bear witness to the range of his experience. He talks of the salmon going upstream to spawn, and how their young must return to the sea before they can properly be called salmon.29 He mentions as a casual, well-known fact that the surgeons of the medical school at Montpellier and elsewhere were given the bodies of executed criminals to dissect in order to discover how a man's nerves and veins work, and he wishes that the soul could thus be dissected to show its wi~kedness.3~Personal experiences as Admiral of the Western Sea and on his many voyages may have suggested his dissertation on the sea and its dangers, even though those familiar with it prefer it to land. His final comparison of the heart to a city marketplace where all roads meet not only offered him generous scope to portray the work of the capital sins, but also allowed him to draw a vivid picture of the crowded scene he must have observed so often. He makes us see the cooks and innkeepers incessantly crying their wares, the women better dressed than on Easter, the men drinking in the taverns and going to brothels while citizens and merchants brawled loudly. Meanwhile the lord's officials inflexibly asserted his rights and collected the tolls while the sergeant, whom Henry compares to the devil, stood ready to carry out a distraint without mercy.)' Most domestic of all these comparisons, and written at a time of great devotion when the duke had just confessed and made his Easter communion, is his likeness of his soul to a house taken over by a lord. In such a case the poor man cleans his house, scrubs it to kill the fleas and evicts the cat. If he is feeble, the lord sends his own servants to prepare the place properly, clearing away all the old furniture and putting the lord's standard on all the doors to mark his occupancy. But, says Henry wistfully, after the lord has departed the dirty old furniture is all brought back and the cat once more sneaks in to sit in the master's chair. Completing his devout comparison he asks that Christ's harbinger, Grace, put the arms of the Passion on all the gates of his soul, and help him to sweep the house

$lli~ceIlanp

H E N R Y O F LANCASTER

with discipline and wash it with the hot water of his tears so that the cat (the devil) may be permanantly scared 0ff.3~ This practical, observed element also remains strong in the second part of the work when Lancaster turns to discussing the remedies for sin. Although his rhetoric is often repetitive and his pious similes seem far-fetched, he equates the cures for sin with the homely medicine he knew. For example, he underlined the value of drinking goat's milk in May because of the fresh herbs the goats had eaten,33 details the two methods of making rose water with which to sponge a feverish patient,34 and provides a recipe for making capon broth in the medieval equivalent of a double-boiler.35 His description of how to treat wounds and fractures draws heavily on his experience in war and tournaments, mentioning the necessity of amputation in case of gangrene36 and remarking that a man's nose usually betrays ~ ~writes with the emphathe fact that he takes part in t ~ u r n a m e n t s .He sis born of experience of the efficacy of warm white wine to sponge out w0unds,3~and of baths for recovering fever patients.39 Plaster was required to ensure the healing of fractures, aided by clean bandages to hold the plaster and ointment in place while keeping off flies and dust and avoiding infection.40 While it is difficult to accept a practical value in the treatment he reports for frenzy, which prescribed that a red cock be cut open and placed, still warm, on the head of the patient?1 this is one of the few places where the duke's relation of fourteenth century practice differs notably from what might be called timeless common sense buttressed by wide experience. After the completion of Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines Lancaster continued his work as diplomat and adviser, including encouraging King Edward to accept the Treaty of BrCtigny. He died in 1361 during one of the recurrent attacks of plague which afflicted Europe during the fourteenth century, leaving no male heirs. His title and the duchy of Lancaster passed to John of Gaunt, the husband of Henry's youngest daughter, Blanche, whose beauty and goodness inspired Chaucer's Book ofthe Duchess. The finest manuscript of Duke Henry's treatise (in the possession of Stonyhurs College) bears the autograph of the book loving Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, who was the greatgrandson of the author.42 To look, even this briefly, at the achievements of Henry of Lancaster is to see very clearly that the education and culture, as well as the prowess and piety, of a fourteenth century noble could be very many-sided. Admittedly, it was unusual that such a great lord would combine a life of arduous military and political activity with the

243

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composition of such a devout and charming book. Its modern editor even compares the author with Francis de Sales, both for personal charm and for his emphasis on moderation and legitimate enj0~ment.8 Henry of Lancaster's book is still rewarding reading for historians as well as literary specialists, for it provides unusual illumination on the personality, beliefs and background of one of the fourteenth century's most attractive and balanced characters. NOTES 1. The standard biography is K. Fowler, m e King's Lieutenant: Henty of Grosmont,first duke of Lancaster, London, 1969. 2. Le Liwedela Chassepar Gaston PhGbtls, ed. par R. et A. Bossuat, Paris, 1931, is the modern edition. 3. Gaston Febus, Liwe des Oraisons, ed. G. Tilander, P. Tucoo-Chala, Pau, 1974. 4. Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, ed. E.J.Arnould (Anglo-NormanText Society, no. 2) Oxford, 1940. 5. K.B.McFarlane, m e Nobility of Later Medieval England (Oxford, 1973) p.242. 6. Chronicon Henrici Knighton, ed. J.R. Lumby (Rolls Series, 1889-92) 11, p.28. 7. Froissart, Cbroniques, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove (Brussels, 1870-1877), IV,p.214. Fowler, King's Lieutenant, pp.230-32. 8. Froissart, Chroniques, IV,p.231. 9. Froissart, Chroniques, V, p.117. 10. G. Le Baker, Chronicon, ed. E.M.Thompson (Oxford,1889) p.78. 11. Knighton, Chronicon, 11, p.73. 12. Knighton, Chronicon, 11, pp.69-73. 13. Amould, Le L i m de Seyntz Medfcines,p.249. 14. Arnould, Le Liwe de Sqntz Medfcines,p.249. 15. Arnould, Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines, p.239. 16. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicfnes, p.240. 17. E. Perroy, "Quatre Letters," Revue du Nord 36 (1954), pp.159-64; Froissart, Cbroniques, XVIII, pp.350-61; Fowler, King's Lieutenant, pp.127-28. 18. Arnould, Le L i m de S v t z Medicines, pp.104-16. 19. Arnould, Le Livre de Sqwtz Medicines, pp.78, 20. 20. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, p.10. 21. Fowler, King's Lieutenunt, p.194. 22. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, p.16. 23. Arnould, Le Lime de Seyntz Medicines, pp.66-67. 24. Fowler, King's Lieutenant, p.194. 25. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, pp.77-78. 26. Arnould, Le Liure de Sqvntz Medicines, pp.19-21. 27. Arnould, Le Lime de Seyntz Medicines, pp.75-76. 28. Arnould, Le L i m de Seyntz Medfcfnes,p.19.

Bi~celIanp 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41.

H E N R Y O F LANCASTER

Arnould, Le Liure de Seyntr Medicines, pp.84-85. Arnould, Le Liure de Seyntz Medicines, pp.85-86. Arnould, Le Litwe de Seyntr Medicines, pp.117-23. Arnould, Le Liure de Seyntz Medicines, pp.99-103. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, p.135. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, pp.149-50. Arnould, Le Livre de Seyntz Medicines, p. 194. Amould, Le Live de Styntz Medicines, p.164. Arnould, Le Liure de Syrttz Medicines, p.134. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntz Medicines, pp.145-48. Arnould, Le Liwe de Seyntr Medicines, p.202. Arnould, Le Litwe de Seyntz Medicines, pp.207-08. Arnould, Le Line de Seyntz Medicines, p.161. 42. Arnould, Le Liure de S v t z Medicines, p.x. 43. E.J. Arnould, "Henry of Lancaster and his Liure de SeyntzMedicines," Bulletin John Rylands Library 21 (1937) p.386.

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