Medieval Women and the Law ed. by Noël James Menuge (review)

Abstract

MLR, 98.1, 2003 157 fully neglected Middle English material, where it is not uncommon to discover new texts of one kind or another hidden in unexpected places or remote archives. Often the cumulative weight of the descriptive evidence presented in succeeding Handlists is also significant since it testifiesto the intractable bibliographical difficultiespresented by the manuscript survivals and the provisional nature of modern systematic attempts to describe individual Middle English prose items according to a standardized and convenient modern editorial format. All four Handlists under review have much to offer future specialist readers in these respects, but it is perhaps Handlist xiv in the current published crop that has yielded up some of the most interesting challenges and new finds. In this volume, William Marx deals efficientlywith the task of indexing a relatively small and fairly compact series of manuscripts containing Middle English prose in the National Lib? rary of Wales. Along the way, he raises a number of intriguing questions relating to the identification and indexing of Middle English prose historical writings, prophecies , and scientific texts. The accompanying insightful commentary in the general introduction and elsewhere then picks up on related methodological and contextual issues concerning the translation, transmission, and reception of such material in a variety of vernacular and polyglot Welsh and English settings, topics that Marx has also written well on and at greater length elsewhere. Reading Handlists xiii-xvi together leaves the strong impression that work forthe larger project remains very much in progress. An end to the endeavour can hardly be in sight just yet since future contributors still have to deal with the multitudes of manuscripts known to contain short Middle English prose items in the British Library or other London libraries, or in Oxford and Cambridge collections, and in widely scattered major (and minor) repositories in North America, Britain, Ireland, and elsewhere. They will have the certain knowledge that other similar material may lurk undetected or unidentified in other archives. In short, nearly a quarter of a cen? tury after the publication of Handlist 1: The Henry E. Huntington Library by Ralph Hanna (Cambridge: Brewer, 1984), there seems littleprospect that the proposed Index of Middle English Prose will find its way soon onto library and study shelves. On the other hand, after the years of search and preparation represented by Handlists i-xvi, one would like to think that sooner rather than later some electronic means might be found to construct a searchable Index of Middle English Prose database that could be updated as necessary to take account of new identifications, other knotty textual and editorial problems, and necessary revisions as these emerge during the next phase of this enormous collaborative research project. Queen's University Belfast John J.Thompson Medieval Women and the Law. Ed. by Noel James Menuge. Woodbridge: Boydell Press. 2000. xiii+i69pp. ?40; $75. ISBN 0-85115-775-0. In this collection of essays, the primary concern of the authors is variously with his? tory or with literature, but almost all are engaged in discovering how texts which are usually categorized either as legal documents or as fictional narratives may illuminate each other. Historical evidence is deconstructed to reveal the interests it served; lit? erary texts are examined for the ways in which they reinforce or offerchallenges to these power structures. The questions that occur to the reader of the collection con? cern the implementation of these approaches: are the authors sophisticated enough in their analyses of the historical evidence? Are they sufficientlysensitive as readers of literature? The methodology is best exemplified in the essay by Menuge herself, where it 158 Reviews works brilliantly. Menuge examines the question ofthe role ofthe mother in guardianship arrangements, a topic hitherto studied almost exclusively through the evidence provided by contemporary legislation, legal treatises, and cases. She observes that romances may inform and complement historical interpretations, noting that such study may shed light on the social and political roles expected of aristocratic parents and guardians. Her approach is of particular importance because the sceptical pose adopted in this volume in relation to all texts results, in some cases, in a reluctance on the part of contributors to connect their readings to any hypothesis...