L'Agenda des Médiévistes

Le donne di potere hanno giocato un ruolo preponderante nell’esercizio dell’autorità imperiale, nonostante la loro importanza sia stata sovente minimizzata dalle fonti e messa comunque in secondo piano rispetto a quella della loro controparte maschile. Il volume che presentiamo ha come obiettivo quello di riportare alla luce autorevoli figure femminili dalla Tarda Antichità al Basso Medioevo, in Oriente e in Occidente, dando nuova voce a tutte quelle donne di corte, a quelle personalità femminili che, ad oggi, restano recluse nella dimenticanza e nell’anonimato. I riflessi di porpora, da cui il titolo, rimandano pertanto all’omonima stanza, all’ambiente femminile della corte, nel quale il ruolo dell’imperatrice come donna, ma soprattutto come genitrice, poteva persino superare quello dei loro consorti. I contributi raccolti in questa pubblicazione vogliono rivalutare principesse, regine, auguste, donne di potere, riportare alla luce le minime sfaccettature delle loro personalità, riassegnare loro un ruolo determinante nell’ambito politico e sociale di appartenenza. L’indagine non vuole soffermarsi unicamente sulla ricostruzione della loro biografia fine a se stessa, sul loro protagonismo nel sistema dinastico o sulla loro predominanza politica all’interno della corte, ma aspira a comprendere le ragioni dell’oblio loro destinato e, nello specifico, della loro svalutazione nella tradizione storiografica.

Table des matières :

M. C. Chiriatti – M. Vallejo Girvés, Premessa – D. Hernández De La Fuente, Agli albori del potere femminile: la vita di Ipazia, intersezione tra filosofia e politica – C. Buenacasa Pérez, Fausta, reflejo de un modelo de emperatriz ya caduco – P. Pavón, Pompeya Plotina y Flavia Aurelia Eusebia: dos esposas imperiales a la altura de las circunstancias – M. C. Chiriatti, The panegyric of the young princess Aelia Pulcheria (377/378-385/386): early reflections of a Christian imperial purple  – M. V. Escribano Paño, La epístola de Aelia Pulcheria al gobernador de Bitinia (451): la Augusta a las puertas de la cancillería imperial – S. Acerbi, «Una obra sublime, digna de su estirpe»: Anicia Juliana en Constantinopla (462-527) – U. Roberto, Licinia Eudossia, Genserico e la crisi a Roma nella primavera del 455 – I. G. Mastrorosa, All’ombra del potere: le aspirazioni audaci e la maternità disattesa di Antonina, la moglie di Belisario – P. Tsagkaropoulos, Maria of Amnia: echoes of an empress’s voice through her lost correspondence – Á. Ibáñez Chacón, Rumores (in)fundados en torno a la emperatriz Procopia – G. Estrada San Juan, Soldatenkaiserinnen: sombras de emperatrices entre 235 y 284 – O. Dinarès Cabrerizo – J. Sales Carbonell, El poder en la sombra y la sombra del poder: Teodosia, Riquilda y otras reinas silenciadas, ignotas e inventadas en la Hispania visigoda – B. Girotti, Flavia Massima Faustina Costanza, prima moglie di Graziano. Riflessi di porpora tra matrimonio e occasio – E. Marcos Hierro, Las cuatro esposas de León VI – P. Poveda Arias, Tras las bambalinas del poder: la inclusión del episcopado galo en las redes políticas de las reinas merovingias – C. Martínez Maza, Royal women in Anglo-Saxon religious life: from political instrument to model of piety – L. M. Ciolfi, Irene Lascarina, imperatrice di Nicea: una figura letteraria tra luci e ombre – F. Salvador Ventura, Isabel de Portugal: una reina “hispana” del siglo XIV en la filmografía de los años cuarenta – C. Trillo San José, The Naṣrid princesses, sisters of King Ṣa‘d: their economic influence and function in the dynasty’s power network according to translated Arabic documents (1460 and 1469) – G. Vespignani, Zoe Paleologhina (1450 ca.-1503). Dalla realtà alla storiografia.

Informations pratiques :

Riflessi di porpora. Declinazioni di potere femminile tra Roma, Bisanzio e l’Occidente Medievale, éd. Mattia C. Chiriatti, Margarita Vallejo Girvés, Spolète, CISAM, 2023 ; 1 vol., VIII–442 p. (Quaderni della Rivista di Bizantinistica, 25). ISBN : 978-8-86809-398-3. Prix : € 42,00.

Source : CISAM

In 1454 the Sienese painter Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei faced litigation from the Mercanzia

in Siena for defaulting on a contract from one of the leading Franciscan confraternities in the city. Two fellow Sienese artists, Giovanni di Paolo and Sano di Pietro, had recently completed a new altarpiece for the same entity. Anabel Thomas considers how the two commissions were linked and questions why Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei’s brief to fresco the confraternity chapel remained unfinished.
In a wide ranging analysis of mainly unpublished records, focussing on the artist’s association with key members of Sienese society, fellow artisans and government officials, Thomas concludes that Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei might have honoured his contract had he not become immersed in the military strategy, diplomacy and visual propaganda of the Republic of Siena.

After an academic career in the UK, Anabel Thomas has for the last twenty years lived and carried out archival research work in Tuscany. Her other books include Jacques Courtois at Villa Lapeggi, Garrisoning the Borderlands of Medieval Siena, Art and Piety in the Female Religious Communities of Renaissance Italy, and The Painter’s Practice in Renaissance Tuscany.

Table des matières :

Preface
Structure of the book
Illustrations
Introduction
PART ONE – Art and Diplomacy
Chapter One: The Politics of Journeyman Painting
Chapter Two: The Diplomat Leonardo Benvoglienti and his friend, the Painter Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei
PART TWO – Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei: Conflicting Career Options
Chapter One: Workshop Training and Neighbourhood Networking
Chapter Two: Military Action in Defence of Siena’s Southern Territories
PART THREE – Giovanni di Paolo, Sano di Pietro and Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei and the ‘chompangnia e fraternita di san franciescho posta nel chonvento di san franciescho’
Chapter One: The Fraternity
Chapter Two: A New Altarpiece
Chapter Three: Fresco Work in the Company Chapel
PART FOUR – Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei, ‘Trusted Servant’ Inside and Outside the Walls of Siena
Chapter One: Arbitrator and Scribe for the Trecerchi
Chapter Two: Martinozzi Patronage
Chapter Three: Government sponsored work inside Siena and official postings in Montalcino, the Val di Chiana and Vergelle
PART FIVE – The Ponte d’Arbia Project – Preserving the ‘honour’ of Siena
Conclusion

Informations pratiques :

Anabel Thomas, The Art and Government Service of Francesco di Bartolomeo Alfei (c. 1421 – c. 1495). Visual Propaganda and Undercover Agency for the Republic of Siena, Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Press, 2023 ; 1 vol., 276 p. (Visual and Material Culture, 1300-1700). ISBN : 978-9-46372-158-5. Prix : € 141,00.

Source : Amsterdam University Press

De l’empreinte bouleversante d’une main humaine datée du paléolithique dans la grotte Cosquer (28 000 ans avant notre ère) à la pipe peinte en 1929 par René Magritte prévenant que « Ceci n’est pas une pipe », les images ne cessent de nous renvoyer aux mêmes questions essentielles : qu’est-ce que représenter ? Imiter et figurer, est-ce la même chose ? Quel est le rapport entre l’objet ou la personne représentés et leurs images ? Ces questions semblent hors du temps, alors que les images, leurs formes et leurs usages se montrent étroitement dépendants des époques et des cultures particulières qui les produisent. Ainsi en va-t-il dans la chrétienté médiévale, entendue comme une formation sociale et culturelle dont on ne préjuge pas des limites chronologiques, pour souligner au contraire son empreinte durable jusque sur nos comportements et nos représentations aujourd’hui. Au « Moyen Âge », la question de l’image se rapporte toujours, de près ou de loin, à l’Incarnation du Fils de Dieu. Contre l’interdit judaïque de la représentation, la « figure » du Christ donne sens à toutes les autres images. Et par ricochet, son « corps » sacramentel donne corps à la matière (bois, métal, textile, parchemin) des peintures et des statues innombrables et désirables de la Vierge et des saints. Ainsi la fifigure et le corps tracent dans les motifs et la matière des images, des chemins qui, en se croisant, invitent le lecteur à un parcours sinueux dans le temps long de l’histoire.

Informations pratiques :

Jean-Claude Schmitt, Les images médiévales. La figure et le corps, Paris, Gallimard, 2023 ; 1 vol., 368 p. (Bibliothèque des Histoires). ISBN : 978-2-07302-688-0. Prix : € 29,50.

Source : Gallimard

Focusing on England but covering a wide range of European and global traditions and influences, this authoritative volume examines the central role of medieval women in the production and circulation of books and considers their representation in medieval literary texts, as authors, readers and subjects, assessing how these change over time. Engaging with Latin, French, German, Welsh and Gaelic literary culture, it places British writing in wider European contexts while also considering more distant influences such as Arabic. Essays span topics including book production and authorship; reception; linguistic, literary, and cultural contexts and influences; women’s education and spheres of knowledge; women as writers, scribes and translators; women as patrons, readers and book owners; and women as subjects. Reflecting recent trends in scholarship, the volume spans the early Middle Ages through to the eve of the Reformation and emphasises the multilingual, multicultural and international contexts of women’s literary culture.

Corinne Saunders is Professor of Medieval Literature in the Department of English Studies, Durham University. Her third monograph, Magic and the Supernatural in Medieval English Romance, was published in 2010. Recent co-edited books include The Life of Breath in Literature, Culture, and Medicine: Classical to Contemporary (2021) and Visions and Voice-Hearing in Medieval and Early Modern Contexts (2020). She is English Editor for the journal Medium Ævum.

Diane Watt is Professor of Medieval English Literature at the University of Surrey. Her previous books include Women, Writing and Religion in England and Beyond, 650–1100 (2019), Medieval Women’s Writing: Books By and For Women in England, 1100–1500 (2007), Amoral Gower: Language, Sex and Politics (2003), and Secretaries of God: Women Prophets in Late Medieval and Early Modern England (1997).

Table des matières :

Introduction Corinne Saunders and Diane Watt
I. Patrons, Owners, Writers, and Readers in England and Europe:
1. ‘Miserere, meidens’: abbesses and nuns Elaine Treharne
2. Creating her own story: queens, noblewomen, and their cultural patronage Mary Dockray-Miller
3. Woman-to-woman initiatives between female religious: vertical and horizontal learning Mary C. Erler
II. Circles and Communities in England:
4. Ancrene Wisse, the Katherine Group, and the Wooing Group as textual communities, Medieval and modern Michelle M. Sauer
5. Syon Abbey and the Birgittines Laura Saetveit Miles
6. What the Paston women read Diane Watt
III. Health, Conduct, and Knowledge:
7. Embracing the body and the soul: women in the literary culture of Medieval medicine Naoë Kukita Yoshikawa
8. Gender and class in the circulation of conduct books Kathleen Ashley
9. Women’s learning and lore: magic, recipes and folk belief Martha W. Driver
10. Women and devotional compilations Denis Renevey
IV. Genre and Gender:
11. Lyrics: meditations, prayers and praises
songs and carols David Fuller
12. ‘It satte me wel bet ay in a cave / To bidde and rede on holy seyntes lyves’: women and hagiography Christiania Whitehead
13. Tears, mediation, and literary entanglement: the writings of Medieval visionary women Liz Herbert McAvoy
14. Convent and city: Medieval women and drama Sue Niebrzydowski
15. Women and romance Corinne Saunders
16. Trouble and strife in the Old French fabliaux Neil Cartlidge
17. Chaucer and Gower Venetia Bridges
V. Women as Authors:
18. Marie de France: identity and authorship in translation Emma Campbell
19. Julian of Norwich: a woman’s vision, book, and readers Barry Windeatt
20. The communities of The Book of Margery Kemp Anthony Bale
21. Christine de Pizan: women’s literary culture and Anglo-French politics Nancy Bradley Warren
22. Beyond borders: women poets in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales up to c. 1500 Cathryn A. Charnell-White.

Informations pratiques :

Women and Medieval Literary Culture. From the Early Middle Ages to the Fifteenth Century, éd. Corinne Saunders, Diane Watt, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2023 ; 1 vol., 500 p. ISBN : 978-1-10883-591-6. Prix : GBP 120,00.

Source : Cambridge University Press

Le clerc cambro-normand Giraud de Barri est l’une des grandes figures érudites d’expression latine du XII^e siècle européen. En 1188, il prêche la troisième croisade dans toutes les régions de la Cambrie, l’actuel pays de Galles (Cymru en gallois). Son Voyage à travers la Cambrie rend compte à chaque étape des événements liés à cette mission et note les curiosités locales, des anecdotes historiques et des récits extraordinaires. L’auteur s’intéresse aussi aux noms des lieux qu’il traverse et aux langues que l’on parle autour de lui.

La Description de la Cambrie se présente comme un petit traité de géographie et d’ethnologie dans lequel Giraud, avec humour mais sans concession pour ses contemporains, recense les vertus et les défauts du peuple gallois.

Ces deux ouvrages constituent les témoins précieux du syncrétisme d’un imaginaire culturel à l’œuvre : classique, celtique et chrétien.

Giraud de Barri (c. 1146 – c. 1223), petit-fils du baron normand Gerald de Windsor et de Rhys ap Tewdwr, roi de Deheubarth, est destiné à la carrière ecclésiastique, destin classique des cadets de famille. De 1165 à 1174, il étudie et enseigne à Paris (droit , lettres et théologie). Pendant les années passées à la cour royale d’Angleterre, il composera ses textes sur l’Irlande et le pays de Galles, considérés comme des chefs-d’œuvre.

Jean-Charles Berthet consacre ses recherches à la littérature arthurienne et a participé à la traduction d’œuvres médiévales.

Informations pratiques :

Giraud de Barri, Voyage à travers la Cambrie & Description de la Cambrie. Découvrir le pays de Galles du XIIe siècle, éd. Jean-Charles Berthet, Grenoble, UGA Éditions, 2023 ; 1 vol., 310 p. (Moyen Âge européen). ISBN : 978-2-37747-417-2. Prix : € 24,50.

Source : UGA Éditions