John Lydgate's "Mumming at Windsor": Clothilda, Women's Steadfastness, and Lancastrian Rule
Lydgate’s “Mumming at Windsor,” performed before Henry VI and his household in 1429, is not the straightforward work of propaganda that it has been taken to be. Lydgate interjects ironic observations about women into his ostensibly earnest propaganda celebrating Henry’s Gallic roots. These observations may have awakened Lydgate’s audience from complacent spectatorship and invited them to question his sincerity throughout. Lydgate conveys a complex message, consonant with the troubled politics that emerge elsewhere in his writings, even as he trumpets his support for the English claim to France.
Forgetful of Their Sex: Female Sanctity and Society, ca. 500-1100
Despite religious claims of a spiritual egalitarianism in the heavenly kingdom, there was a definite tendency in the Middle Ages to organize the celestial realm according to the established customs, values, and hierarchy of earthly society. In this study of over 2500 female and male saints, Jane Schulenburg explores women's status and experience in early medieval society and in the Church. She focuses on the changing social contexts of female sanctity (women saints as embodiments of cultural models) as well as extravagant, "transgressive" or "deviant" female behaviour which frequently challenged male order and authority. She argues that between 500-1100 a clear gender-based asymmetry existed in the selection of saints, which became more exaggerated during certain eras. The title, "Forgetful of Their Sex," is taken from St Jerome's writings and refers to women's ability to deny or transcend the "natural frailty" of their sex, or to act in a "virile" or heroic manner. This study depicts the lives of these strong, creative, independent-minded women who achieved a visibility in their society which led to recognition of sanctity. She also examines some of the major contributing factors involved in establishing reputations for sanctity and the recruitment and promotion of saints, including family wealth and power, patronage, monasticism, virginity, motherhood, and longevity. Invaluable for what they tell us about early medieval society and the Church, the lives of these early saints also afford rare insight into the private world of medieval men and women, the special bonds of family and friendship, and the collective mentalities of the period. This book should constitute a major contribution to the study of medieval history, gender and religion.
John Shirley
John Shirley's importance as a scribe of late fourteenth and early fifteenth-century vernacular literature (in particular the works of Chaucer and Lydgate) has been well documented. In this survey, the author makes a thorough examination of all extant documents relating to Shirley's life and scrutinizes the physical characteristics of his manuscripts. The book concludes that there is no evidence to suggest that Shirley acted as a bookseller, but plenty to indicate that he lent his books extensively.