Spoken Word and Social Practice: Orality in Europe (1400-1700)

520 Pages·2015·6.318 MB·English

by  Thomas V. Cohen, Lesley K. Twomey (eds.)

Spoken Word and Social Practice
Medieval and Renaissance
Authors and Texts
Editor-in-Chief
Francis G. Gentry (Emeritus Professor of German, Penn State University)
Editorial Board
Teodolinda Barolini (Columbia University)
Cynthia Brown (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Marina Brownlee (Princeton University)
Keith Busby (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
Craig Kallendorf (Texas A&M University)
Alastair Minnis (Yale University)
Brian Murdoch (Stirling University)
Jan Ziolkowski (Harvard University)
Volume 14
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/mrat

Alexander Cowan, Reader in History (2 February 1949–30 November 2011)
Spoken Word and Social Practice
Orality in Europe (1400–1700)
Edited by
Thomas V. Cohen and Lesley K. Twomey
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Spoken word and social practice : orality in Europe (1400–1700) / Edited by Thomas V. Cohen and
Lesley K. Twomey.
  pages cm. — (Medieval and renaissance; Volume 14)
 Includes bibliographical references and index.
 ISBN 978-90-04-28868-3 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-90-04-29182-9 (e-book) 1. Oral
communication —Europe—Medieval, 500–1500. 2. Oral communication—Europe—Modern period,
1500–. 3. Social history—Medieval, 500–1500. 4. Social history—Modern period, 1500–. 5. Sociolinguistics—
Europe—History—Medieval, 500–1500. 6. Sociolinguistics—Europe—History—Modern period, 1500–.
7. Speech acts (Linguistics)—Europe—History. 8. Europe—Intellectual life—History. 9. Europe—Social
conditions—History. I. Cohen, Thomas V. (Thomas Vance), 1942– editor. II. Twomey, Lesley K., editor.
 P95.55.S63465 2015
 302.2’242094—dc23
2015007832
This publication has been typeset in the multilingual ‘Brill’ typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering
Latin, ipa, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities.
For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface.
issn 0925-7683
isbn 978-90-04-28868-3 (hardback)
isbn 978-90-04-29182-9 (e-book)
Copyright 2015 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Hes & De Graaf, Brill Nijhofff, Brill Rodopi and
Hotei Publishing.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system,
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This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
List of Figures x
List of Contributors xi
Life and Works of Alexander Francis Cowan xii
Bibliography of Alexander Cowan xiV
Introduction 1
Thomas V. Cohen and Lesley K. Twomey
Witches’ Words
1 Oral Transfer of Ideas about Witchcraft in Seventeenth-Century
Norway 47
Liv Helene Willumsen
2 St Helena and Love Magic: From the Spanish Inquisition to the
Internet 84
Susana Gala Pellicer
Words on Trial
3 The Power of the Spoken Word
Depositions of the Imperial Chamber Court: Power, Resistance,
and ‘Orality’ 115
Matthias Bähr
4 Tracking Conversation in the Italian Courts 139
Thomas V. Cohen
Preaching the Word
5 Tears for Fears: Mission Preaching in Seventeenth-Century France –
a D ouble Performance 185
Anne Régent-Susini
vi contents
6 Powerful Words: St Vincent Ferrer’s Preaching and the Jews in
Medieval Castile 206
Carolina Losada
7 ‘A Most Notable Spectacle’: Early Modern Easter Spital Sermons 228
Sonia Suman
Word on the Street
8 Orality and Mutiny: Authority and Speech amongst the Seafarers
of Early Modern London 253
Richard J. Blakemore
9 ‘A Blabbermouth Can Barely Control His Tongue’: Political Poems,
Songs and Prophecies in the Low Countries (Fifteenth–Sixteenth
Centuries) 280
Jan Dumolyn and Jelle Haemers
10 Proverbs and Princes in Post-Reformation England 300
Marcus Harmes and Gillian Colclough
Gossip and Gossipers
11 The Meanings of Gossip in Sixteenth-Century Venice 321
Elizabeth Horodowich
12 Gossip and Social Standing in Celestina: Verbal Venom as Art 343
Joseph T. Snow
Prayer, Teaching, and Religious Talk
13 Oral Rites: Prayer and Talk in Early Modern France 375
Virginia Reinburg
14 The Seducer’s Tongue: Oral and Moral Issues in Medieval
Erotodidactic Schooltexts 393
Rosanna Cantavella