Domestic Violence in Medieval Texts

365 Pages·2002·12.37 MB·English

by  Eve Salisbury

Domestic Violence
in Medieval Texts
(cid:2)
edited by
Eve Salisbury, Georgiana Donavin,
and Merrall Llewelyn Price
Florida A&M University, Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton
Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft. Myers
Florida International University, Miami
Florida State University, Tallahassee
University of Central Florida, Orlando
University of Florida, Gainesville
University of North Florida, Jacksonville
University of South Florida, Tampa
University of West Florida, Pensacola

Domestic Violence
in Medieval Texts
(cid:2)
edited by
Eve Salisbury, Georgiana Donavin,
and Merrall Llewelyn Price
University Press of Florida
Gainesville · Tallahassee · Tampa · Boca Raton
Pensacola · Orlando · Miami · Jacksonville · Ft. Myers
Copyright 2002 by Eve Salisbury, Georgiana Donavin, and Merrall Llewelyn Price
Printed in the U.S.A. on acid-free, TCF (totally chlorine-free) paper
All rights reserved
07 06 05 04 03 02 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Domestic violence in medieval texts / edited by Eve Salisbury,
Georgiana Donavin, and Merrall Llewelyn Price.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8130-2442-0 (alk. paper)
1. Family violence in literature. 2. Literature, Medieval—History and criticism.
I. Salisbury, Eve. II. Donavin, Georgiana. III. Price, Merrall Llewelyn, 1965–.
PN682.F34 D66 2002
809'.93355—dc21 2001034779
The University Press of Florida is the scholarly publishing agency for the
State University System of Florida, comprising Florida A&M University,
Florida Atlantic University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Florida International
University, Florida State University, University of Central Florida, University
of Florida, University of North Florida, University of South Florida, and
University of West Florida.
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street
Gainesville, FL 32611–2079
http://www.upf.com
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction
Eve Salisbury, Georgiana Donavin, and Merrall Llewelyn Price 1
Part One. Domestic Violence and the Law
1. Interpreting Silence: Domestic Violence in the King’s Courts in East
Anglia, 1422–1442
Philippa Maddern 31
2. The “Reasonable” Laws of Domestic Violence in Late Medieval England
Emma Hawkes 57
Part Two. Fictional Histories: Domestic Violence and Literary/Legal
Texts
3. Chaucer’s “Wife,” the Law, and the Middle English Breton Lays
Eve Salisbury 73
4. Taboo and Transgression in Gower’s “Apollonius of Tyre”
Georgiana Donavin 94
5. Reframing the Violence of the Father: Reverse Oedipal Fantasies in
Chaucer’s Clerk’s, Man of Law’s, and Prioress’s Tales
Barrie Ruth Straus 122
6. Not Safe Even in Their Own Castles: Reading Domestic Violence
Against Children in Four Middle English Romances
Graham N. Drake 139
7. Domestic Violence in the Decameron
Marilyn Migiel 164
8. Reading Riannon: The Problematics of Motherhood in Pwyll Pendeuic
Dyuet
Christopher G. Nugent 180
Part Three. Historical Fictions: Domestic Violence in Chronicle, Drama,
Hagiography, and Illuminations
9. The “Homicidal Women” Stories in the Roman de Thèbes, the Brut
Chronicles, and Deschamps’s “Ballade 285”
Anna Roberts 205
10. Noah’s Wife: The Shaming of the “Trew”
Garrett P. J. Epp 223
11. Marriage, Socialization, and Domestic Violence in the Life of
Christina of Markyate
Robert Stanton 242
12. Imperial Violence and the Monstrous Mother: Cannibalism at the
Siege of Jerusalem
Merrall Llewelyn Price 272
13. The Feminized World and Divine Violence: Texts and Images of the
Apocalypse
Anne Laskaya 299
Contributors 343
Index 345
Illustrations
12.1. Sacra Parallela. 277
12.2. Jerusalem under siege. 282
12.3. La Guerre des Juifs. 283
12.4. Des Cas des Nobles Hommes et Femmes. 284
12.5. Des Cas des Nobles Hommes et Femmes. 285
13.1. St. John’s first vision of Christ. 305
13.2. The Army of Heaven follows Christ, who brings judgment on
the earth. 305
13.3. The Second Seal. 306
13.4. The Lamb opens the Fourth Seal. 307
13.5. The Fall of Babylon depicted beneath the words of Revelation.
307
13.6. The Lamb opens the Fifth Seal. 308
13.7. The horseman from the First Seal. 309
13.8. The Second Horseman. 310
13.9–10. The Third Seal; the Fourth Seal. 311
13.11–12. The Fifth Seal; the Sixth Seal. 312
13.13. John worships Christ in his first vision. 314
13.14. John adores Christ. 315
13.15. Angelic trumpeter sends the sun to earth. 316
13.16. The Lamb opens the Sixth Seal, unleashing cosmic violence.
317
13.17. St. John receiving his vision on the island of Patmos. 318
13.18. The beast of Hell unleashed. 318
13.19–20. A monster wars against children who obeyed God’s command-
ments; John’s vision of the sea beast. 319
13.21–22. Satan cast into Hell’s mouth; the Last Judgment. 320
13.23–24. The Whore of Babylon sits on the waters of the earth; she rides
the seven-headed beast. 321
viii Illustrations
13.25. Heaven rejoices as God destroys the Harlot. 322
13.26–27. Woman of the Sun hands her blessed children to an angel to
protect them from the beast; St. Michael battles the beast. 323
13.28. St. John watches an angel send birds to feed on human flesh.
329
13.29. Angels pour vials on the earth’s rivers and seas, turning them
to blood and drowning humanity. 329
13.30. John protects himself as an angel unleashes the Fourth Vial,
turning the sun into fire that rains on the earth. 330
13.31. The Seventh Vial creates earthquakes and storms that topple
cities and mountains and that swallow islands whole. 330
13.32–33. Christ reaps the earth; angels harvest the earth’s grapes,
throwing them into the wine press of God’s anger. 331
13.34. Christ leads an army against the beast. 332
13.35. The New Jerusalem. 333
13.36. The Lamb of God on Mount Sion with 144,000 faithful. 334
13.37. An angel measures New Jerusalem with a gold rod, showing
John its absolute perfection. 335
Acknowledgments
As with many collaborative projects, this one began shortly after a stimu-
lating session on the subject of domestic violence in medieval texts at the
International Conference on Medieval Studies in Leeds. As we talked
about many of the responses of our audience over excellent treacle pud-
ding, it soon became apparent to us that we had a potentially publishable
project on our hands. Excited about the ideas we had discussed, we also
shared a new sense of camaraderie and common purpose for a project that
we thought would contribute to scholarly knowledge, perhaps even be-
yond, on an important issue. With an eye toward bringing together schol-
ars from various parts of the world—the United Kingdom, Australia,
Canada, and the United States—as well as differing perspectives on the
subject, we began to assemble our contributors. These are the scholars
whose provocative and original readings of medieval texts have made this
collection possible, and we thank them first and foremost. We also wish to
thank our initial outside readers, whose illuminating comments on indi-
vidual essays and the project as a whole kept us focused on completion and
striving for the most comprehensive treatment of the subject possible. In-
cluded among these commentators are our intrepid editor, Amy Gorelick,
and the entire editorial staff at the University Press of Florida, without
whom a manuscript remains just a manuscript. We are also grateful to the
many European and American libraries whose illustrations are reproduced
in these pages: the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York, the J. Paul Getty
Museum in Los Angeles, Trinity College Library at Cambridge, the Bod-
leian Library at Oxford, the British Library in London, the Bibliothèque na-
tionale in Paris, and the Bibliothèque publique et universitaire in Geneva.
What we hope to have accomplished with this essay collection is to open
doors and provoke dialogues among scholars and nonscholars alike on a
complex and long-neglected issue. To facilitate such dialogues we have nor-
malized many Middle English spellings and provided translations of Ital-
ian, Welsh, French, and Latin passages.