Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy.

Boethius. The Consolation of Philosophy. Trans. Richard Green. New York: Macmillan Pub. Co., 1962. Print.

Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy is pervasive throughout Middle English literature and, accordingly, scholarship thereon. The text itself is a dialectical philosophy, following the model of Plato's Republic, in which Boethius laments his plight and is visited by Lady Philosophy. The majority of the text is thus a dialogue between Boethius and Lady Philosophy, in which the latter uses a Socratic approach to push Boethius to the proper conclusions. In the beginning, Boethius attempts to call upon the classic muses, which Lady Philosophy rejects and refers to as harlots. This section early on is interesting in that it suggests that the muses themselves are available to anyone who chooses to utilize them, comprising somewhat sexual language as part of the eventual reason why Boethius should not trust them. This line of discussion runs somewhat similar to the points Diane Cady makes in "The Gender of Money," namely that women, like money, are likely to be exchanged freely unless tightly controlled. 

Following the Socratic method,  Boethius presents a series of points and positions that he holds that Lady Philosophy systematically breaks down, showing Boethius where he is wrong and leading him by the nose to the positions he should be taking. A large part of this is a rejection of Fortune, who is also treated with gendered and sexualized language. Boethius decries his mistreatment at the hands of Fortune, but Lady Philosophy corrects him, citing Fortune's fickle nature and the subsequent necessity of not putting one's trust in her. The text moves towards a syllogism, which seems somewhat optimistic for a Boethius awaiting a trial that will harshly punish him: 

1: Human action is dependent on will and capability.

2: Humans aim towards happiness and good

Conclusion: those who achieve their aim are said to have power, thus only the good have power. 

Cotton Nero A.x, Patience, Cleanness, Pearl, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

The Complete Works of the Pearl Poet. Trans. Casey Finch. Berkeley: U of Cal. P., 1993. Print.

            [with Middle English Text ed. by Malcolm Andrew, Ronald Waldron, and Clifford Peterson]

·         Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

·         Pearl

·         Patience

·         Cleanness

NB: All images below are from the wonderful scans of The Cotton Nero A.x Project, which is available for free online. I highly suggest everyone check it out: http://gawain.ucalgary.ca/

Patience: 

Patience is a poem about obedience. The narrator opens by explaining that he favors patience when adversity sets in, as this is one of the Beatitudes espoused in Matthew. The narrator then launches into an exempla utilizing Jonah, who generally tries to shirk his proper role as God's prophet. When tasked with preaching to the Ninevites, Jonah fears retribution and flees by boat. After rough seas beset the ship, the passengers realize that someone has angered God and eventually heave Jonah overboard (which I always find hilarious, as the logic of casting Jonah over isn't entirely extensive and mostly boils down to "Hey, let's try throwing that guy over. It could work"). Jonah is swallowed by a whale and, after sulking long enough, beseeches God's aid and resumes his task to preach to the Ninevites. They all convert, God spares them, and Jonah yells at god for making him a liar when he prophesied their destruction. God further punishes Jonah, who eventually catches on.  

Cleanness:

      In Cleanness, the Pearl poet offers three exempla on the matter of cleanness, specifically

      spiritual cleanness. After the introductory section, the first exempla is the parable of the

      Wedding Guest, where the poet emphasizes that, as the wedding guest's clothes are not appropriate for a wedding, so too must one have a clean soul when meeting his maker. The poet then moves to an exempla on Abraham and Lot, emphasizing God's vengeance. The final exempla involves the Nebuchadnezzar conquest of Jerusalem and eventual succession by Belshazzar, but the real focus is on the writing on the temple wall that Daniel has to translate. At this point, the topic seems to shift away from cleanness, despite the narrators conclusion to reiterate its importance. 

Pearl:

      One of the better known works of the, ahem, Pearl poet, Pearl is a dream vision from the perspective of a father mourning his deceased daughter. Once in the dream, this jeweler finds himself in a miraculous land that is across a river from the Kingdom of Heaven. The jeweler is greeted by a wonderful maiden who he discerns is his daughter, the Pearl. Their dialogue revolves around the daughter's new status in heaven as a queen, due to her unblemished nature, and the proper methodology of how the jeweler may "pay" for his own way into this heavenly city. Eventually, the jeweler awakens and vows to follow the Pearl's advice. In this read through, I got much more out of the economic language the Pearl and her father use in their dialogue. This will be of particular interest when considering spiritual economies, related perhaps to the Pearl's now married status to Christ. 

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:

       Sir Gawain and the Green Knight may be my favorite piece of Middle English literature, or perhaps favorite piece of literature period. I love it so much that I keep trying to come up with ways to include it in my work, which I haven't quite managed yet. To briefly summarize, a strange knight bursts into Arthur's court during a Yule celebration, demanding to play a beheading game. No knights answer so Arthur steps up to the challenge, at which point Gawain steps in and convinces the king to let him play instead. After chopping off the Green Knight's head, Gawain is surprised to see that knight pick up said head and replace it, and then give Gawain a year reprieve till the Green Knight gets his stroke, which will happen at the Green Chapel. Later in the year, in October, Gawain sets off with a shield that has a five pointed star on one side, the Virgin Mary on the other. After much questing in the woods, Gawain finds a castle whose host invites him to stay until Gawain's appointment, as the host, Bert(c)ilak informs the knight that the Green Chapel is close by. Bertilak and Gawain agree to an exchange game, where each shall give to the other what is gained in their respective hunts, Bertilak in the forest and Gawain in the castle. The first day Bertilak hunts a deer and Gawain receives a kiss from Bertilak's wife, who is not so subtly pursuing the knight. The second day sees Bertilak hunting boar and Gawain receiving two kisses, which he again gives to Bertilak. On the third day, Bertilak hunts a fox, and Gawain is effectively outmaneuvered by Lady Bertilak, who gives him three kisses and convinces the knight to take her green girdle as a token, which she says has magical properties that could help Gawain survive his encounter with the knight. Gawain fails to give Bertilak the girdle, breaking his word in the game, and rides out to meet the Green Knight. After nearly striking Gawain twice and finally nicking his neck, the Green Knight reveals that he is Bertilak, his wife has been acting at his behest, and all was arranged by Morgan le Fay. Gawain sulkily returns home, wearing the green belt as a token to remind him of his folly, which Arthur and the other knight's do not seem to entirely grasp the relevance of.

I could go on at length about the critical relevance of this text, which is legion. A lot builds upon how one reads Arthur's court, either as young and foolish or as reasonably fearful of this intruder. Supporters of the former tend to side with a Ricardian composition of this text, suggesting that Arthur, like Richard II, was surrounded by a court that was doing more harm than good to his rule. Much has also been made of the structure of the poem, revolving around the framing and three hunts, but Kathryn Kerby Fulton's recent Opening Middle English Texts has an interesting correction to this. For about a century, this poem has been taught in a five fitt structure, emphasizing a specific construction and pacing of the poem. The single extant manuscript, however, does not break into these fitts or give any indication that it should be. Instead, the poem is broken into nine parts that changes some of the dynamics of how it is read. This is an example of critical intervention, as the scholar that worked on the text in the early 20th century put it into five fitts, and scholars since have gone on assuming that this is simply the way it is supposed to be. 

      Also, due to the scribe's hand it is almost impossible to know if the Green Knight's name is Bertilak or Bercilak, as the c and t forms of this anglicana script are indeterminable. Check the image below and see what I mean.

Diane Cady, "The Gender of Money"

Cady, Diane. “The Gender of Money.” Genders. 44 (2006). Web. 5 Dec. 2009.

Diane Cady's article was a large part of the methodology of my thesis, and it's safe to say that I appreciate her work. "The Gender of Money" focuses on how money and women become associated in the medieval imaginary, specifically in how concern over the instability of money transferred to and fed concerns over dialogues of the inconstancy of women. Bringing in medieval economic thought from Aristotle and Augustine, Cady demonstrates how the language and terminology of money as a medium of exchange is applied to women. Cady reads this dynamic into the Lady Mede section of Piers Plowman and Sir Launfal, showing in the former that "women, like money, are likely to wander if they are not controlled by society" (19) and in the latter that "women threaten homosocial bonds" just as "money threatens traditional social relations" (24). 

I very much enjoy this article, and I've seen Cady as a model for approaching readings of gender and economics. This read through was more elucidating than in the past as I had better context for Cady's brief overview of the changing role of money in the late medieval European economy. Moreover, I think that Oresme's concerns could also be folded into this reading, as he is specifically worried about the reprinting and devaluing of money and raises specific issues that would be interesting to bring into the perceptions of women, notably the socially disruptive aspects of inconstant currency. 

Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales Fragment VII

The Shipman's Tale:

The Shipman's Tale  doesn't receive the greatest share of critical attention, possibly because it is seen as somewhat straightforward. A merchant has a close friend, who is a young monk, that pays a visit to his wife while the merchant is away on business. Complaining of her husband's tightfisted approach to finances, the wife asks the monk for 100 francs to pay her debts in exchange for sex. The monk agrees, then goes to see the merchant in town and asks to borrow 100 francs. The monk returns to the wife, gives her the money, and has his dalliance. Later, when speaking to the merchant, the monk tells him he has already returned the money to the merchant's wife, who, caught in the act, must make amends with her husband. This is interesting in regards to the correlation between exchange and marriage, but it does read somewhat shallowly. 

The Prioress' Tale: 

Honestly, I'd like to say as little as possible about this tale. Hugely antisemitic, The Prioress' Tale involves a nameless group of Jews who conspire to murder and hide an innocent Christian child. 

Sir Thopas:

Incredibly insipid, Sir Thopas is Chaucer-the-pilgrim's first tale that is so full of romance cliche that the host cuts him off after only a few hundred lines. The tale starts sketching out the titular figure, his birthplace and physical appearance, but is so overly flowery that it is hard to take it as more than satire. 

Tale of Melibee:

The Tale of Melibee is the second attempt from Chaucer-the-pilgrim, and is generally more successful. Melibee is a lord who's household is attacked while he is away. Most notably, the attackers beat his wife and severely wound his daughter. Distraught, Melibee grieves for a period then calls a council of his neighbors. He is offered advice and support from the crowd, and declares that he will go to war against the attackers. His wife, however, takes Melibee aside and enters into a long dialectic with her husband, advising caution and temperance. This seems to be another example of Chaucer's interest in the wise wife able to make extensive and effective argumentation with a wide range of exempla (such as The Wife of Bath's Prologue). Also, the section in which Melibee's wife advises on the proper use of wealth is of specific relevance to my interests. 

The Monk's Tale: 

The Monk is asked to tell a jolly tale, as might be expected considering his dress and general demeanor. Instead, the Monk chooses to launch into a scattershot of seventeen exempla on tragedy of various types. The examples range from biblical to mythological to historical stories, and the specific theme of tragedy varies from tale to tale. 

The Nun's Priest's Tale:

One of the more well known tales, the Nun's Priest's Tale is surprisingly well told and composed considering its previously quiet teller. The rooster of a yard, Chauntecleer, wakes in a fit after a nightmare involving his death at the hands of a fox. One of his seven wives attempts to calm him, advising laxatives, but Chauntecleer is not convinced as his parents both died at the fox's hands. Later, the fox arrives and, tricking the rooster's pride, is able to capture the bird. After successfully evading the pursuers, however, the fox is himself tricked as the rooster convinces him to taunt the pursuers. Once the fox opens his mouth Chauntecleer escapes and, regardless of the fox's attempts to convince him to fly back down, foils the fox's plans. The style of the tale mirror romances, and is generally rather amusing. 

Emma Lipton, Affections of the Mind: The Politics of Sacramental Marriage in Late Medieval English Literature.

Lipton, Emma. Affections of the Mind: The Politics of Sacramental Marriage in Late Medieval English Literature. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 2007. Print.

Lipton's monograph focuses on the literary genre of sacramental marriage in late medieval England. For Lipton, the robust popularity of this subject in England is tied to both the growing "middle class" and lay piety. For both, Lipton suggests that sacramental marriage provided an ideological staging ground in which to discuss their respective "social values of lay authority and a horizontal vision of governance" (4). Lipton points to various shifts in the perception of sacramental marriage that started building an ideology of marriage as an institution of love rather than sex; rather than simply marrying to avoid burning, marriage for the sake affection for one's spouse was, forgive the pun, espoused by the laity. Furthermore, several clergymen accepted consent as the binding act of marriage, functionally reducing the control the clergy held over the sacrament of marriage. Lipton argues that this demonstrates a larger push for lay authority in clerical matters. 

In regards to the "middle class," Lipton argues that the growing economic and social mobility of this group further fed into the narrative of sacramental marriage, using this shifting definition of marriage to support the horizontal social connections that were developing among a growing urban and mercantile population. Lipton thus argues that, as the values of the middle class aligned with those expressed in literature on sacramental marriage, the middle class saw this as way to further push their own social values as this emerging estate attempts to find a foothold of authority/relevance/importance  in late medieval England. 

Lipton's readings are interesting and her scholarship on the texts she parses out is very useful. As I move forward thinking more about marriage, it is interesting to consider how the values expressed in literature on marriage may mirror or represent the values of the groups for which said literature seems to have been popular. 

Nicolaus Oresme, the De Moneta

Johnson, Charles, trans. The De Moneta of Nicolaus Oresme and The English Mint Documents. Auburn, Alabama: The Ludwig Von Mises Institute, 2009. Print.

Generally speaking, Oresme’s short treatise is concerned with the printing and maintenance of coin currency (De Moneta translates to The Mint after all). Oresme spends a great deal of time ranting about the practice of Seigniorage, or at least the misuse of that practice. As Woods discussed, Seigniorage could be used by governments to generate revenue by forcing subjects to exchange their current currency for new that has a lower percentage of precious metal. Oresme argues that this is particularly unjust in that it disgraces the memories of the monarch’s forebears, by replacing their visages on the coinage, leads to greed by generating wealth at the cost of the citizenry, and that this practice ultimately leads the monarch to act as a tyrant. For Oresme, the misuse of seigniorage is more vile than usury, as it does not simply ask for more than what was borrowed but actually returns less wealth to the citizenry in question. This issue was likely of particular interest to Oresme due to the continual misuse of seigniorage by French monarchs in the 13^th and 14^th centuries.

·         Oresme indicates that currency, in the end, should belong to the common people as it is intended for their use to facilitate exchange. As the ultimate representation of the people, the governmental leader of a country should thus be in charge of minting and maintaining currency.

o   There are certain instances in which Oresme believes that seigniorage is necessary, such as replacing worn currency or combating against counterfeiting, but Oresme sees all too often this practice is used to either generate profit or to feed the pride of a governing figure.

o   Oresme acknowledges that the monarchy/government should be able to recoup costs incurred through minting, but goes through a large logical exercise to in the end argue that this cost should be separate from the actual act of seigniorage as the temptation to turn that practice to injustice is to great.

·         Oresme also has a lot to say about foreign powers minting counterfeit, and containing less precious metal, coinage that in the end lowers the value of the domestic currency. While this is in itself a vile act, Oresme sees the misuse of seigniorage by monarchs as equally bad as this crime is committed against one’s own subjects. 

Barbara Hanawalt, The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London.

Hanawalt, Barbara. The Wealth of Wives: Women, Law, and Economy in Late Medieval London. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.

Hanawalt's book is an intriguing study of wives in late medieval London. Hanawalt's approach in this book digresses from other studies on the economic contributions of women which focus on women as laborers and tradeswomen. Instead, Hanawalt argues that the larger economic contributions by women come in their roles as wives and widows, allowing for the horizontal circulation and concentration of wealth. Hanawalt focuses this study in London due to its unique patrilineal conditions. Specifically, the legal conditions of late medieval London ensured the inheritance of wealth to wives and female children to ensure dowry in future marriages. Hanawalt suggests that this comes in part out of concern that, after a husband dies, his inheritance may not properly pass to his children, especially his daughters who need stable dowries to make stable marriage matches. Thus, Hanawalt argues that the legal conditions of late medieval London allows wealth to remain liquid and provides the capital and circulation of wealth that greatly enables the economic growth of London in this period. 

Hanawalt's book already features in my thesis and will likely feature largely in my dissertation, if for slightly different reasons. One aspect that stood out to me on this read through was the necessity of both dower and dowry in London marriages, that it was as important for the husband to bring a presumably equal financial asset to the marriage as the wife. These assets may differ significantly in type, taking the form of real estate instead of liquid assets, but this adds an interesting component to the economic aspects of late medieval English marriage, which I hope to explore in more detail in my dissertation.