L'Agenda des Médiévistes

Exploring women’s stories of work, protest, and power in the medieval Low Countries

The Middle Ages—a time often cast as a dark period when violence reigned and men dominated society. Women, as the deeply rooted cliché would have it, played scarcely any part. But this book tells a different story, one in which women step forward as the main characters. In the southern Low Countries, townswomen held substantial rights, which they used to conduct business, voice their opinions, and assert their will.

Urban Women presents a different and lesser-known image of the late Middle Ages, from 1250 to 1550. The authors trace the lives of women protesting, marrying, making love, working, and engaging in the daily life of Low Countries towns. In doing so, this book gives voice to wealthy businesswomen, laborers, religious women, criminals, and sex workers, spotlighting the remarkable figures who shaped a “women’s town” within a man’s world.

Jelle Haemers is professor of Medieval History at KU Leuven. His research focuses on the social history of the Middle Ages and the urban history of the Low Countries.

Andrea Bardyn (PhD) studies inequalities between men and women in the medieval economy and marital power relations.

Chanelle Delameillieure is lecturer in Medieval History at KU Leuven-KULAK. Her expertise and research focus are on the social and cultural history of the late medieval Low Countries.

Table des matières :

Acknowledgements

Introduction. A different history of the medieval city

Chapter 1. From girlhood to widowhood: On the rights of women and children
Andrea Bardyn & Jelle Haemers

Chapter 2. Women and marriage: Choice of partner, matrimonial conflicts, and relations
Chanelle Delameillieure

Chapter 3. Industrious women and their life in business
Andrea Bardyn

Chapter 4. Pious women: Beguines and their virtuous lives together
Kim Overlaet

Chapter 5. Working women: women’s professional activities in and outside craft guilds
Nena Vandeweerdt & Jelle Haemers

Chapter 6. “Bad women”: Violence, crime, and rebellion
Jelle Haemers

Chapter 7. Eros and women: Sexuality, consent, and prostitution
Chanelle Delameillieure & Jelle Haemers

Conclusions. Of “wise women” and “witless men”

Primary sources

Literature

About the authors

Informations pratiques :

Urban Women. Life, Love, and Work in the Medieval Low Countries, éd. Jelle Haemers, Andrea Bardyn, Chanelle Delameilleure, Louvain, Leuven University Press, 2025 ; 1 vol., 232 p. ISBN : 978-9-46270-449-7. Prix : € 27,00.

Source : Leuven University Press

Introduction, Mathieu Marraud et Catherine Rideau-Kikuchi 

Partie 1. Diffusion et circulation des normes

Introduction, François Riviere et Arnaldo Sousa Melo
« Draperie ou mercerie ? Normes et incorporation des serges et ratines dans les villes du nord de la France, XVIIe siècle », Mathieu Marraud
« De Dijon à Beaune, la réglementation de l’embauche et des rémunérations des travailleurs de la vigne à la fin du Moyen Âge : enjeux et conséquences sur les espaces intra et extra-muros », Thomas Roy
« Les métiers aux carrefours. L’espace de la publication sur la réglementation des métiers à Paris aux xive-XVIe siècles », Veronika Novák
« Sous le regard de Saint-Joseph. Les ordonnances des charpentiers : Séville (1527) et Lima (1575) », Francisco Mamani-Fuentes 

Partie 2. Construire un espace de juridiction

Introduction Robert Carvais et Mathieu Marraud
« Le Nouveau Monde de la viande : l’institution de la « ferme des boucheries à Saint-Domingue au XVIIIe siècle », Camille Cordier
« Utiliser, administrer et posséder les rivages. Les bateliers des traghetti dans la Venise moderne », Robin Quillien
« Périmètres d’action et régulations territoriales des opérateurs de transport au XVIIIe siècle », Anne Conchon
« La construction normative des espaces du commerce alimentaire toulousain au Moyen Âge », Clémentine Stunault-Moncet

Partie 3. Échelles des espaces économiques

Introduction, Catherine Rideau-Kikuchi
« « Marqués aux armes de la ville ». Les règlements de la terre cuite architecturale, entre contrôle et opportunités, XIIIe-XVIIIe siècles », Cyril Lacheze
« La gestion des ressources fluviomaritimes dans la construction d’un espace économique dans les domaines de l’ordre militaire de Santiago au Portugal : Setúbal du XIVe au XVIe siècle », Ana Cláudia Silveira
« Espaces boutiquiers et réglementations : le cas des épiciers à Paris (XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles) », Clémence Pailha
« De Rialto à San Marco : case, botteghe e volte des monastères vénitiens entre Moyen Âge et Renaissance », Federica Masè

Informations pratiques :

L’espace des métiers. Aires et réglementations professionnelles dans l’Europe médiévale et moderne, éd. Robert Carvais, Mathieu Marraud, Arnaldo Sousa Melo, François Rivière et Catherine Rideau-Kilkuchi, Palerme, Palermo University Press, 2025 ; 1 vol., 354 p. (Economic History Frameworks). ISBN : 978-88-5509-700-0. Prix : € 25,00.

Source : Palermo University Press

John Clark’s groundbreaking work in medieval equestrian history has shaped and inspired generations of scholars, transforming our understanding of horses in the past. A pioneer of archaeological and historical research on the medieval horse, Clark’s influential 1995 work, The Medieval Horse and its Equipment, set the stage for much of the academic exploration that followed. In this celebratory volume, international scholars come together to honor his legacy with new perspectives on the history, culture, and significance of horses across the medieval world.

Spanning from Roman Britain to the Elizabethan court, this interdisciplinary collection covers a diverse range of topics including equestrian equipment, horse training, folklore, and the symbolic role of horses in literature. Featuring in-depth studies on archaeological finds and providing innovative approaches to equestrian practices and the gendered dynamics of horse-riding, the essays in this book reflect the profound influence of John Clark’s work.

This Festschrift provides a fitting tribute to a scholar whose pioneering research continues to inspire and shape the field of equestrian history. Each chapter not only reflects John Clark’s enduring influence but also showcases the breadth of scholarly engagement with the historical horse, from its practical use to its deeper cultural and symbolic meanings.

ANASTASIJA ROPA holds a doctoral degree from Bangor University (North Wales) and is currently a lecturer at the Latvian Academy of Sport Education, Riga Stradinsh University. Her most recent research explores medieval equestrianism in English and French literary sources.

EMMA HERBERT-DAVIES holds a PhD from the University of Leeds, where her research focused on the role and significance of warhorses during the reigns of Edward I and Edward II. A lifelong equestrian enthusiast, Herbert-Davies has owned and competed horses for many years, combining academic expertise with hands-on experience in the equestrian world.

Table des matières :

Introduction: Festschrift to John Clark – Emma Herbert-Davies, Anastasija Ropa

“Just a Bit too Late.” A High-Medieval Horse Bit from the Gleichberg in Thuringia – Frederik-Sebastian Kirch, Victoria Haack

A Large Amount of Mounts. New Insights into Medieval Equestrian Copper-Alloy Decoration – Robert Webley, Laura Burnett

A Late Gothic Spur from the Castle in Szprotawa, Poland – Arkadiusz Michalak

Medieval Horse Training in England: Evidence from Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century Royal Accounts – Emma Herbert-Davies

Gendering Medieval Equestrian Equipment: Mission (Im)Possible? – Anastasija Ropa

A-Hunting We Will Go. The Transition from the Sideways Saddle to the Side-Saddle at the Turn of the Sixteenth Century and Its Significance for Female Equitation – Bettina Keil-Steentjes

Cavalry Horses and Chariot Racers: Osteobiographies of Two Horses from Roman Britain in Honour of John Clark – Pamela J. Cross

Fabricating an Ideal Beast: The Physical Transformation of Individual Equids in the Context of Medieval French Horse-Training as Presented in the Vernacular Translations of Jordanus Rufus’s De Medicina Equorum (C. 1250) – Camille Vo Van Qui

Northern and Pistol Revisited: The Emergence of Galloway Nag Satire in Its Global Context – Miriam A Bibby

The Colt-Pixy: A British Horse Spirit? – Simon Young

Discovering the Historical Medieval Warhorse – Jürg Gassmann

List of Contributors

Informations pratiques :

The Horse in History. A Festschrift in Honour of John Clark, éd. Anastasija Ropa and Emma Herbert-Davies, Budapest, Trivent, 2025 ; 1 vol., 403 p. (Rewriting Equestrian History, 9). ISBN : 978-615-6696-55-7. Prix : € 65,00.

Source : Trivent

Fabio Troncarelli examines the Late Antique Cassiodorian edition of the “Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethius in this new study consisting of five chapters. The first one offers a brief sketch of the lives of the two protagonists of the story. The second concerns the medieval copies of the edition, some very close to the original archetype, preserving even its formal aspect, and the indication of its first transcription in Ravenna in the sixth century. The third chapter establishes a comparison between some typical rhetorical, philosophical, and editorial methods used by Cassiodorus and the ones found in Boethius’s edition. The fourth chapter explores possible reasons for Cassiodorus’s decision to produce such an edition during the years of the collapse of Osthrogotic rule in Italy. The final chapter discusses the “living memory” of Boethius’s reputation at Vivarium and the relationships between his murder and Amalsuintha’s murder as understood and covertly preserved by the Vivarian monks.

Prof. Fabio Troncarelli studied in Rome, Paris (Ecole des Hautes Etudes), London (The Warburg Institute), Chicago (The Divinity School), and Yale (The Beinecke Library). He taught Latin Paleography at the Universities of Rome, Florence, and Viterbo. He has published several books and many articles in international journals such as Scriptorium, Revue d’Histoire des Textes, and Mediaeval Studies.

Informations pratiques :

Fabio Troncarelli, Living Memory. Boethius, Cassiodorus, and the Consolation of Philosophy, Göttingen, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2025 ; 1 vol., 211 p. ISBN : 978-3-8471-1815-2. Prix : € 50,00.

Source : Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht