Who's Who in the Middle Ages by Mary Ellen Snodgrass (review)

Abstract

142arthuriana Mary ellen SNODGRASS, Who's Who in the Middle Ages. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co. 2001. Pp. 312. isbn: 0-7864-0774-3. $75. Mary Ellen Snodgrass's Who's Who in the MiddleAges is not an easy volume to review. It is a bit like reviewing the phone book. A reviewer is not likely to know the names and addresses ofeveryone relevant to the particular area code, so he could not easily check for completeness; what he might be able to do is to spot check the accuracy of the entries of his particular friends and neighbors. Are they all included? Is the information accurate? As a variant ofthat principle, I have chosen Dante's poets as my friends for this occasion, and I checked the completeness and accuracy ofthe listings for the poets mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. For easy reference, I have included a table with names ofthe poets and an indication whether they have been in included in the Who's Who. INFERNOYKSNO Pier della Vigna (XIII)X Brunetto Latini (XV)X Bertrán de Born (XXVIII)X PURGATORIO Casella (II)X Sordello (VI)X Statius· (XXI ff.)X Forese Donati (XXIlI)X Bonagiunta da Lucca (XXIV)X Guido GuinizelU (XXVI)X Arnaut Daniel (XXVI)X PARADISO Folco of Marseilles (IX)X St. Bernard (XXXI ((.)X It is easy enough to excuse the absence ofStatius from the Who's Who. Despite his importance to the last cantos of the Purgatorio, he, like the master Virgil, falls well outside the chronological limits that Snodgrass chooses as her definition ofthe Middle Ages, 390 to 1410. It is not clear why these dates are chosen to mark the beginning and end ofthe period. The only event cited in the (often helpful) Chrolology at the end of the volume is the creation of the Armenian Church by Isaac the Great. Important as this event may have been for Isaac and the Armenians, it does not seem sufficiently momentous to mark the beginning ofa new age. Similarly, the defeat of the Teutonic Knights in Lithuania and Aretino Spinello's fresco cycle in the Siena Palazzo Pubblico, the events listed for 1410, do not seem to define the end of an era. It is more troubling, however, that none of the poets of the dolce stil nuovo find a place in the volume. Not only are the Italian poets who speak on Purgatory omitted, but no mention is made ofthe other influential Tuscan poets, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia, and, most regrettably, Guido Cavalcante, whose absence is a haunting presence throughout much of the Comedy. Happily, Guido d'Arezzo, an influence from an earlier time, does find a place. The poets ofProvence are more completely represented. Not only is Dante's Arnaut Daniel included, but William IX of Poitiers, Marcabru, and Jaufre Rudel do find a place. On the other hand, Dante's Bertrán de Born, a not inconsiderable poet, is excluded, along with Cercamon, Bernart de Ventadorn (whose 'Can vei la lauzeta REVIEWS143 mover' may lay claim to be the most beautiful, surely the most well-known, poem from Provence), Raimbaut d'Orange, Guiraut de Bornelh, Peire Vidal, and others. It is, perhaps, sad in this post-feminist age that The Countess of Dia is omitted. On the other hand, the near total absence of any evidence as to her actual identity may be a more than plausible reason for her exclusion. Dante, ofcourse, is included, but the entry is somewhat unreliable and ambiguous and based on dubious sources. It is unreliable because it often takes as fact the speculations of others; for example, it is not exactly true that he 'spent two years at the Franciscan Monastery of Santa Croce.' While Dante demonstrates considerable knowledge of Franciscan theology and Santa Croce would have been a likely source for a Florentine youth to acquire this knowledge, there is no evidence that he actually studied at Santa Croce. This speculation is based merely on his acquaintance with Franciscan thought (a knowledge that did not specifically require the library or the scholars at Santa Croce), and a dubious (over-) interpretation ofthe cord the pilgrim dangles to entice the monstrous Geryon...