The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100–1300 by Theodore Evergates (review)

Abstract

REVIEWS 263 rather on philosophical considerations, which in some way betrays the real meaning of the work and its language. This edition lacks a critical apparatus that can confront textual differences between the manuscripts and the different printed editions. The new Laterza edition is proceeded by an introduction by Eugenio Canone which contextualizes the work with its author and its time. Dialoghi’s author was Leone Ebreo, whose real name was Yehudah Abravanel. The information about his life is extremely vague, and only a few documents remain. He was a Jew from Portugal, the son of the famous biblical commentator and statesman, Isaac Abravanel, and lived his life in a continuous exile. After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492), he moved with his father to Naples and afterwards to different cities of the Italian peninsula. The introduction notes that the Dialoghi has deep connections with Italian contemporary philosophical speculation; and the work is described in its three parts, “On Love and Desire,” “On the Community of Love,” and “On the Origins of Love.” The introduction fails to mention the most recent studies dedicated on the Dialoghi, in particular those which consider the important Jewish components. The text of the Dialoghi is integrated with footnotes that explain some concepts and some philosophical or biblical references. This is followed by two indexes, one dedicated to biblical passages, the other to names. In general this edition is valuable because it makes available to a general audience a text that was very difficult to reach. This edition, however, focuses on only some aspects of the complicated text that is the Dialoghi D’Amore. ROSSELLA PESCATORI, Italian, UCLA Theodore Evergates, The Aristocracy in the County of Champagne, 1100– 1300 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2007) 432 pp. In the study of medieval Europe the twelfth century is regarded as a period of great transformation. Charles Homer Haskins was one of the first to propose this now commonly accepted assessment in The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century. This focus on broader developments in the areas of learning, art and architecture, religious devotion, and royal administration during this era can cause us to overlook the local or regional transformations that were also occurring at this time. In his latest study on medieval France, Theodore Evergates, considers the transformation of the county of Champagne from remote backwater to a robust political entity. The efforts of counts Hugh and Thibaut II during their respective tenures— particularly in cultivating the famed fairs of the region—laid the groundwork for the evolution of Champagne, but Count Henry I (r. 1152–1181) was truly the architect of the transformation of this county. During his nearly thirty years in power, the count turned a patchwork of disparate holdings into a cohesive principality, which quickly became one of the leading states in medieval France. The relationships he forged as a young man during the Second Crusade played a formative part in his subsequent rule over Champagne. One of these was with the king of France, Louis VII, whose policies Henry would repeatedly support during the following decades. Upon becoming count, Henry added a number of the young barons from region, whom he had bonded with on the crusade, to his inner circle. This core network of companions would aid him in the transforma- REVIEWS 264 tion of Champagne. Henry also made the castellany the new basis of administrative districts in Champagne. This change enabled him to bring the barons and knights of the region under a much tighter control. Nonetheless, the count typically still utilized the traditional approach of collegial governance, which reduced resistance to these structural changes he was implementing. Knowing Evergates’s previous work on aristocratic women in France, it is not surprising that the role of female elites in Champagne is closely examined. The author is very revisionist in his assessments, making a compelling case for a greater appreciation of the power and influence these aristocratic women possessed in a number of spheres. Particularly notable were the roles that several countesses played in the evolution of the region. Marie of Champagne, Henry’s wife, was the de facto ruler here for almost twenty years following the death of her...