Beorn
06-03-2009, 01:07 AM
Manuscript may be a medieval women's magazine
The year: 1457. Somewhere in England a woman sits by the hearth, reading snippets of medical recipes, romances and a tale by Chaucer. She leisurely flips through the 73 folios, enjoying the prose.
The anthology, dedicated to female readers, is known today as Biblioteca Nazionale. Written in Middle English, it predates by centuries many modern women's magazines such as Chatelaine, Cosmopolitan and Redbook. But just like modern women's magazines, it offers advice aplenty – everything from ways to ease childbirth to how to lure a rabbit out of its warren.
The document, which is part of a collection in the Naples Library, was likely one of a number of books that were produced in the latter half of the Middle Ages as paper replaced parchment, says medieval specialist Dr. James Weldon, soon to be chair of the English and film studies department at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Weldon stumbled upon it while doing research on Lybeaus Desconus – one of the romance tales in the anthology. "It really is a valuable manuscript," said Weldon. And it reveals a lot about women in the Middle Ages.
"There are very few secular vernacular books oriented towards women," said Weldon, who presented a paper on the anthology at a meeting of the Canadian Society of Medievalists, part of the annual Social Sciences and Humanities Congress in Ottawa. This one is interesting, he said, because it helps explain women's culture and reading.
The manuscript is quite clearly directed at wealthy, aristocratic women, he said, particularly because there are references to spices such as cinnamon, which was very expensive and hard to get then.
A true signal of the anthology's prospective audience was found in some unusual script, Weldon said. "I noticed in the Chaucer tale that every time the female name Grisilde appears it is extended out to the left and written in larger black ink. I thought: Why this focus on the name of a female?"
As he combed through the manuscript and discovered the first medical prescriptions in the anthology were for childbirth, Weldon could only come up with one explanation: the anthology was for women.
In total, there are 140 recipes or prescriptions in the anthology; most are medicinal but some are of a more domestic nature, giving instructions on how to make sealing wax, quince preserve and a broth thickener. The recipes all incorporate elements that were considered appropriate for women's activities, Weldon said.
And the recipes – both medicinal and otherwise – are meant to be read in conjunction with the romances, such as Sir Bevys of Hampton, the tale of a saint's life, and The Clerk's Wife by Chaucer.
What the anthology paints "is quite an interesting picture of women's interests and their real contribution in activities in the Middle Ages. ... Nobody knows how and why this distinguished secular manuscript ended up in Naples but it gives us quite a dynamic picture of women's culture."
Source (http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/641640)
The year: 1457. Somewhere in England a woman sits by the hearth, reading snippets of medical recipes, romances and a tale by Chaucer. She leisurely flips through the 73 folios, enjoying the prose.
The anthology, dedicated to female readers, is known today as Biblioteca Nazionale. Written in Middle English, it predates by centuries many modern women's magazines such as Chatelaine, Cosmopolitan and Redbook. But just like modern women's magazines, it offers advice aplenty – everything from ways to ease childbirth to how to lure a rabbit out of its warren.
The document, which is part of a collection in the Naples Library, was likely one of a number of books that were produced in the latter half of the Middle Ages as paper replaced parchment, says medieval specialist Dr. James Weldon, soon to be chair of the English and film studies department at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Weldon stumbled upon it while doing research on Lybeaus Desconus – one of the romance tales in the anthology. "It really is a valuable manuscript," said Weldon. And it reveals a lot about women in the Middle Ages.
"There are very few secular vernacular books oriented towards women," said Weldon, who presented a paper on the anthology at a meeting of the Canadian Society of Medievalists, part of the annual Social Sciences and Humanities Congress in Ottawa. This one is interesting, he said, because it helps explain women's culture and reading.
The manuscript is quite clearly directed at wealthy, aristocratic women, he said, particularly because there are references to spices such as cinnamon, which was very expensive and hard to get then.
A true signal of the anthology's prospective audience was found in some unusual script, Weldon said. "I noticed in the Chaucer tale that every time the female name Grisilde appears it is extended out to the left and written in larger black ink. I thought: Why this focus on the name of a female?"
As he combed through the manuscript and discovered the first medical prescriptions in the anthology were for childbirth, Weldon could only come up with one explanation: the anthology was for women.
In total, there are 140 recipes or prescriptions in the anthology; most are medicinal but some are of a more domestic nature, giving instructions on how to make sealing wax, quince preserve and a broth thickener. The recipes all incorporate elements that were considered appropriate for women's activities, Weldon said.
And the recipes – both medicinal and otherwise – are meant to be read in conjunction with the romances, such as Sir Bevys of Hampton, the tale of a saint's life, and The Clerk's Wife by Chaucer.
What the anthology paints "is quite an interesting picture of women's interests and their real contribution in activities in the Middle Ages. ... Nobody knows how and why this distinguished secular manuscript ended up in Naples but it gives us quite a dynamic picture of women's culture."
Source (http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/641640)