L'Agenda des Médiévistes

À l’origine de ce livre, l’ambition d’écrire la biographie de Bertrand Rocafort, marchand provençal au tournant des XIV^e et XV^e siècles, la volonté de retracer une vie ordinaire éclairée par un corpus documentaire extraordinaire.

Alors que l’enquête commence, les interrogations se multiplient. Le nom est parfois précédé d’une particule, parfois non ; il apparaît tantôt comme un fils de charpentier, tantôt comme un coseigneur. Cet homme en cacherait-il un autre ? Les doutes persistent… jusqu’à la découverte d’un deuxième testament : il existe bel et bien deux Rocafort prénommés Bertrand, exerçant dans une même zone d’activité, et partiellement insérés dans les mêmes réseaux. Un dédoublement imprévu qui ouvre des possibilités de croisements féconds pour interroger la construction des identités urbaines à la fin du Moyen Âge.

Ce livre questionne les origines, les relations, les activités et l’environnement intellectuel de ces deux marchands qui développent, chacun à sa manière, une carrière enviable. Laure-Hélène Gouffran met l’accent sur les expériences vécues, sur la pluralité des interactions sociales, et sur des pratiques tout à la fois commerçantes, religieuses et politiques, guidées par une volonté de s’investir dans la cité. À travers cette double biographie, cet ouvrage dépasse l’étude « du » marchand pour dresser, par petites touches, les contours d’une élite urbaine protéiforme et éclairer un temps singulier de la ville de Marseille à la fin du Moyen Âge.

Docteure en histoire médiévale, Laure-Hélène Gouffran est chercheure associée au laboratoire TELEMMe (Aix-Marseille Université/Cnrs). Ses recherches s’articulent autour de l’histoire des sociétés littorales, de la piraterie et de la course en Méditerranée médiévale.

Informations pratiques :

Laure-Hélène Gouffran, Être marchand au Moyen Âge. Une double biographie XIVe-XVe siècle, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2023 ; 1 vol., 344 p. ISBN : 978-2-27114-616-8. Prix : € 25,00.

Source : CNRS Éditions

Utilizing a “crusading ethos,” from 772 to 804 AD, Charlemagne, King of the Franks, waged war against the continental Saxons to integrate them within the growing Frankish Empire and facilitate their conversion to Christianity. While substantial research has been produced concerning various components of Carolingian history, this work offers a unique examination of Charlemagne’s Saxon Wars as a case study for understanding methods of conversion used in the Christianization of Europe, as well as their significance for subsequent conversion strategies employed around the globe.

Converting the Saxons builds on prior scholarly research, is grounded in primary sources, and is contextualized with a robust historical introduction. Throughout the text, particular emphasis is given to Christian encounters with paganism and the way paganism was interpreted, confronted, and transformed. Within those encounters, we observe myriad forces of coercion and incentivization used in societal religious conversion, demonstrating the need for a serious reconsideration of the standard narratives surrounding Christian missions.

This book provides a scholarly and accessible resource for students and researchers interested in transhistorical methods of conversion, the history of Christianity, Early Medieval paganism, Colonial religious encounters, and the nature of religious conversion.

Joshua M. Cragle has an MSc in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Amsterdam, where he conducted research on historical and contemporary Germanic/Norse paganism. He formerly worked as a Social Science Field Researcher for the University of Michigan as well as taught history in China. His previous publications primarily concern philosophy, Early Medieval religion, and paganism and can be found in The Pomegranate and Journal of Thought. He currently works at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Table des matières :

Introduction

Part I: Origins

1. The Kingdom of the Franks
2. The Early Saxons
3. Early Franco-Saxon Conflict
4. Old Saxon Paganism
5. Confronting Paganism and the Foundations of the Early German Church
6. The Makings of a Crusade, 772–777
7. The Rise and Fall of Widukind, 777–785
8. The Northern Campaigns, 786–804
9. Turbulent Frontiers
10. Saxons in the Age of Louis the Pious
11. Christianization in Saxony under the Late Carolingians
12. Stellinga and Beyond

Conclusion

Bibliography

Informations pratiques :

Joshua M. Cragle, Converting the Saxons A Study of Violence and Religion in Early Medieval Germany, Londres, Routledge, 2023 ; 1 vol., 296 p. ISBN : 978-1-03245-896-0. Prix : GBP 104,00.

Source : Routledge

The High Middle Ages have been seen as an important point within the development of governmental and administrative bureaucracy, as well as a time in which there was frequent conflict. This volume addresses the methods by which violence was regulated and mitigated, and peaceful relations were re-established in high medieval Europe. By studying the restraint of violence and the imposition of peace, the chapters in this volume contribute to interdisciplinary discussions about the effects that violence had on medieval societies. The wide-ranging geographical scope of this volume invites comparisons to be made in relation to how violence was restrained, and peace established, in different settings.

The chapters in the first part of this volume address the issue of how violence was moderated and curbed during and following periods of conflict. The second part explores attempts to maintain peace and the processes which developed to deal with those viewed as having broken the peace. The final part of this volume explores the ways in which conflict was avoided through the maintenance of positive relationships between individuals and groups.

This book will be of interest to both academics and students interested in conflict, the restraint of violence, and peacemaking in medieval societies as well as those working on ritual and conflict resolution in any historical period.

Table des matières :

Introduction: Peacemaking and the Restraint of Violence in High Medieval Europe
Simon Lebouteiller and Louisa Taylor

Part 1 – Restraining Violence: Ideas and Practices

Chapter 1 – The Submission of Rebellious Cities in the Roman-German Empire
Hermann Kamp

Chapter 2 – Peace or Punishment in Medieval England: From 1215 to 1322
Stephen D. White

Chapter 3 – ‘Be at peace with God and me’: Violence, War, and Royal Responses to Insurrection in Medieval Scotland, c.　1100–1286
Iain MacIness

Chapter 4 – Conflicts and the Use of Exile as a Means of Restraining Violence in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Castile-León
Harald Endre Tafjord

Part 2 – Negotiating and Defining Peace

Chapter 5 – The ‘Old Peace’ as a Peacemaking Institution in Thirteenth-Century German-Russian Trade Treaties
Tobias Boestad

Chapter 6 – Encounters at the Water’s Edge: Peace Meetings on Rivers, Bridges, and Islands in Medieval Scandinavia
Simon Lebouteiller

Chapter 7 – God’s Peace and the King’s Peace in High Medieval Norway
David Brégaint

Part 3 – Establishing and Maintaining Relationships

Chapter 8 – Food, Peacemaking, and Maintenance in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century England
Lars Kjær

Chapter 9 – Food and Clothing in Rituals of Peacemaking in Medieval Europe and the Latin East
Yvonne Friedman

Chapter 10 – Cloth, Clothing, and Peacemaking in Byzantium: From the Second Part of the Eleventh Century to the Middle of the Thirteenth Century
Nicolas Drocourt

Informations pratiques :

Peacemaking and the Restraint of Violence in High Medieval Europe, éd. Simon Lebouteiller, Louisa Taylor, Londres, Routledge, 2023 ; 1 vol., 232 p. ISBN : 978-0-36714-256-8. Prix : GBP 104,00.

Source : Routledge

Het gebrek aan belangstelling voor de Middeleeuwen is zeker niet te wijten aan het intussen relatief bescheiden aantal vakspecialisten. Regelmatig worden congressen georganiseerd, waarvan de resultaten in omvangrijke boeken worden gepubliceerd. Ook aan publicaties in vaktijdschriften is geen gebrek. Meestal gaat het om onderzoekresultaten, bestemd voor en gelezen door wetenschappers. Het hier gepresenteerde boek is geen wetenschappelijke studie, het is een poging het brede publiek te winnen voor een boeiende middeleeuwse roman, de ‘Roman van de Roos’, waarin verteld wordt over de droom van een minnaar die verliefd wordt op een roos. Het verhaal is een allegorie, dat wil zeggen, een liefdesgeschiedenis in beeldspraak. Je snapt het al, de roos is geen roos, het is de deknaam voor een lieftallig meisje dat door haar heetgebakerde lover ten langen leste toch wordt versierd. Het gaat om verbloemde seks. Het origineel, de ‘Roman de la Rose’, werd geschreven in Frankrijk, het werd rond 1300 twee keer in het Middelnederlands vertaald, in het Vlaams en in het Brabants. De Vlaamse versie, die helaas slechts in fragmenten tot ons gekomen is, vormt de grondslag van dit boek.

De presentatie is onorthodox. We overtreden met plezier de gestrenge regels van wetenschappelijkheid, mijden voetnoten, kennen slechts spaarzaam verwijzingen, het boek heeft een onaanzienlijke literatuurlijst. Wat heeft het dan wel? Het bevat een vrij letterlijke vertaling van de Middelnederlandse tekst, relevante aantekeningen bij tekstproblemen, een toegankelijke uitleg van middeleeuwse begrippen, verwijzingen naar verwante cultuuruitingen en is ter vermaak opgeleukt met plaatjes, kleurrijke illustraties uit Franse handschriften.

Table des matières : ici

Informations pratiques :

Fragmenten van de Vlaamse Roman van de Roos (ca. 1300). Over minnepijn en liefdesgeluk in de Middeleeuwen. Lessen in liefde voor lieden van toen en nu, éd. Johan H. Winkelman, Hilversum, Verloren, 2023 ; 1 vol., 180 p. ISBN : 978-9-46455-075-7. Prix : € 28,00.

Source : Verloren

A vibrantly illustrated, interdisciplinary volume that explores how art reflected and reinforced the complex ethical discussions that developed from the widespread role of money in the Middle Ages

The rise of the monetary economy transformed every aspect of medieval Europe, including its values and culture. Published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Morgan Library & Museum from November 10, 2023 to March 10, 2024, Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality is a timely look at the economic revolution that took place in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. It traces the origins of global money, and surveys economic history, focusing on the environment, the plague, Jews, and institutions. The iconography, minting, and foreign exchange of coins are examined, and the choice that Christians faced is investigated: Should they save their money or their soul? The authors explore images of avarice, the greedy punished in hell, and immoral ways to earn and spend money, and analyze representations of charity and voluntary poverty. Final chapters examine the material culture of the monetary economy—from an illuminated oath for minters to purses and lockboxes—and images of medieval money management.

Published by the Morgan Library & Museum in association with D Giles Limited

Informations pratiques :

Medieval Money, Merchants, and Morality, éd. Diane Wolfthal, Steven A. Epstein, David Yoon, Deirdre Jackson, New York, The Morgan Library and Museum, 2023 ; 1 vol., 232 p. ISBN : 9781913875374. Prix : USD 44,95.

Source : The Morgan Library and Museum