Early Modern Context Research Articles

Lianne McTavish, Childbirth and the display of authority in early modern France, Women and Gender in the Early Modern World series, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2005, pp. xiv, 257, illus., £45.00 (hardback 0-7546-3619-4).

Of perennial interest to historians of medicine and gender are the power relationships that exist between men and women, patients and practitioners. Such questions as how did men gain control over women in the birthing chamber (or even banish them entirely) and what the character of that ascendancy was have produced a series of works ranging from frenzied polemics to sophisticated scholarship on the broader cultural issues involved in disciplining (or medicalizing) society. Lianne McTavish raises a related issue, examining “how men-midwives began to appear at deliveries” (emphasis the reviewer's, p. 1). But if one expects to find here yet another study of the victimization of women through “the development of male medical knowledge and the use of instruments” (p. 1) one will be pleasantly surprised to discover that McTavish has no such facile explanations in mind. Hers is a more profound set of questions centring less on the putative male suppression of female practitioners and more on the subtler question of how men came to be recognized as experts “embodying obstetrical authority, instead of threatening intruders” (p. 1). Although she hardly neglects issues of power and struggles over authority, the purpose of the book is to reveal how the body—and its display—“participated in the negotiation of social status, gender roles, and medical hierarchies” in seventeenth-century France (p. 16). McTavish draws on traditional sources—primarily obstetrical texts (twenty-four produced in France between 1550 and 1730)—to demonstrate how these “sites [functioned] for both the production and contestation … of authoritative knowledge in childbirth” (p. 2). Drawing on the perspectives of medical and cultural historians, anthropologists, philosophers, and, in particular, on her own expertise in art history (in “thinking visually”), McTavish concludes that images did not inevitably or reliably mirror reality. Images in these works were often at variance with textual elements or even ran counter to them. As she points out in her tightly-argued analysis of the frontispiece to Louise Bourgeois's Observations diverses, …. (1626), such portraits are “complex and contradictory” (p. 91). Thus, appearances often deceive. For instance, apparently awkward visual representations of unborn figures did not denote an unfamiliarity with anatomy but rather conveyed relational essences. Relying on the philosopher, Charles S Peirce, McTavish presents these images as diagrams and iconic signs. Engravings of the unborn, therefore, were not supposed to show real cherubs in utero, but rather were schematics “meant to provide support for surgeon men-midwives' haptic acquisition of knowledge of the womb” (p. 190). This is only one example of how McTavish's visual readings of texts and images illuminate the cruciality of “display” in the process though which men-midwives acquired the standing of experts in the birthing chamber. Refreshingly, this “triumph” is not envisioned as the outcome of a nasty struggle between men and women or between male and female forms of knowledge in which women were predestined to fail. McTavish sees reflected in these texts (as well as constructed through them) a more flexible system of gender than generally acknowledged; men-midwives and skilled (women)-midwives were to possess many similar characteristics; men were to demonstrate tenderness and feeling, and women were expected to exhibit a masculine character and physical strength. The demonstration of all these things fits—and had to fit—with the culture of display fundamental to seventeenth-century French society as a whole. The Frenchness of this development makes Childbirth and the display of authority an inherently national study (if one can safely use the word “national” in an early modern context). McTavish diligently compares (when possible) French texts with those of other countries, but emphasizes that she is concerned overwhelmingly with Gallic conventions. Indeed, one wishes she had pursued the French connection a little more boldly; perhaps the story of medicine is more localized (nationalized?) than we generally have been led to believe. It remains to consider McTavish's method. Like many scholars reliant on interdisciplinary perspectives, her conclusions often make the historical empiricist squirm. “Yes,” we muse, “it might have been that way, but then again, perhaps not.” And McTavish is eclectic in her use of theory—picking from history, anthropology, and semiotics. Sometimes one feels that theory is conjured up to support a point for which evidence is otherwise thin or ambiguous. Still, one cannot but admire her ability to bring into our sightline possibilities that had previously—like the child in the womb—remained unseen. It struck this reviewer, however, as slightly peculiar that despite her plea for visual sensitivity to sources, she relies more heavily on words than images. But these are quibbles. McTavish offers us a stimulating range of interpretations to ponder and explore.

Nīlakantha's instruments of war:Modern, vernacular, barbarous

The seventeenth century Benares-based intellectual, NīlakanÚha Caturdhara, wrote what is still the most widely used Sanskrit commentary on the Mahābhārata. In the commentary Nīlakantha sometimes explains the epicÌs instruments of war in contemporary terms—as cannons and muskets, for example. He also uses terms from vernacular, even ÎbarbarousÌ, languages in his glosses. Rather than ÎtypicalÌ of ÎtraditionalÌ Sanskrit commentators, such interpretations by Nīlakantha should be understood as self-consciously innovative. The innovations appear primarily in the epicÌs descriptions of the fortifications of cities. Placement of Nīlakantha in his historical and literary context, most saliently in his early modern context, provides the most meaningful explanation of this feature of the commentary.

Performance and Literature in the Commedia Dell'Arte (review)

Reviewed by: Performance and Literature in the Commedia Dell’arte Erith Jaffe-Berg Performance and Literature in the Commedia Dell’arte. By Robert Henke. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002; pp. 263. $70.00 cloth. Recent studies of Commedia dell'Arte published by Italian theatre historians such as Ferruccio Marotti and Roberto Tessari have reflected the difficulty in connecting the theatre genre to "low culture" as opposed to "high culture." Their studies have shown that not only did dell'Arte actors sing in the emerging early opera of the late sixteenth century, but they often performed fully-scripted pastorals and tragedies as well as showcased their work before aristocratic audiences at court as well as for plebian audiences in the piazza. Robert Henke's work is important in adding to the examination of mutual influences of high and low culture. It addresses the question of literacy and orality in Commedia dell'Arte performances, deftly arguing for a creative "contamination" between literary and verbally transmitted materials. In his thoroughly researched and finely wrought study, Henke draws from a broad array of cultural materials to present the early-modern Commedia dell'Arte actor as an author and subject not only in stage performances but also in a variety of popular literature, including zanni texts, letters written to and from actors, as well as poems and eulogies in which actors are mentioned. Many of these texts are analyzed here in English for the first time, and therefore offer a handy resource for teachers and students of Commedia dell'Arte alike. Furthermore, with the exception of an important book by Tim Fitzpatrick (The Relationship of Oral and Literate Performance Processes in the Commedia dell'Arte: Beyond the Improvisation / Memorization, 1995), which is mostly focused on performance and the question of improvisation, Henke's work addresses a largely neglected area of study in Commedia dell'Arte—the relation between orality and literature—making it essential reading for scholars of both Commedia dell'Arte and Renaissance theatre. The book is organized into eleven chapters. The first two serve as a discussion of Henke's strategy and an overview of aspects of Commedia dell'Arte's system of characters and improvisational techniques. Chapter 3, "Residual Orality in Early Modern Italy and the Commedia dell'Arte" initiates the book's central focus by outlining aspects of oral culture that were still evident in the early-modern context. In this sometimes dense chapter Henke argues the Italian peninsula's "residually oral culture" in the late-sixteenth century created the basis for techniques culled from oral tradition. He then elaborates on the techniques by providing interesting examples that are more linguistically based than those presented in other chapters. For example, he emphasizes that the use of phonemic sound sequences (patterns of similar or dissimilar sounds) and stressed metrical units or sentences were useful as mnemonic devices in players' performances. By constant references to Commedia dell'Arte characters, however, Henke prevents the examination from becoming too technically discouraging to non-linguistics experts. By the same token, in this chapter Henke emphasizes how residual orality shaped rhetorical stylistics in the composition of speech. He exemplifies how repetition, the hallmark of extemporized speech, resulted in the stylistic mark of "copiousness," or "verbal amplification by means of extended variation" (33). At the same time, Henke reminds us that actors were themselves often highly literate cultural consumers who availed themselves of pamphlets, published collections of jokes, and books on etiquette. In the next three chapters Henke turns his attention to the buffoon and lover characters. Chapter 4 studies the Venetian buffoni, proto-Commedia dell' Arte actor-writers whose work informed that of the late sixteenth-century zanni. Chapter 5 discusses the work of early male Commedia dell'Arte actors and chapter 6 addresses that of early actresses such as Isabella Andreini but also Vincenza Armani, equally famous in her day but less discussed in theatre history texts. [End Page 539] Particularly interesting is chapter 7, "Zanni texts, 1576-1588," which highlights the work of Simone da Bologna, who tends to get less attention than other well known members of the Gelosi troupe. Henke closely studies the Lacrimoso Lamento, an oration written for Simone and published in...

Boyle in Seventeenth-Century Context

The past decade has seen proliferation of works on the different contexts that influenced the thought of Robert Boyle. It is quite likely that these studies will become even more numerous given the publication of the new edition of Boyle's works by Michael Hunter and Edward B. Davis (14 vols., Pickering and Chatto, 2000) that not only corrects earlier editions but also includes previously unpublished material and copious annotations that identify references made in Boyle's works. In the two volumes to be reviewed here, Hunter's collection of essays focuses on Boyle's moral, religious, and social milieu whereas Anstey's monograph is concerned with developing an account of Boyle's ties to medieval and early modern metaphysical context. Hunter, in series of eight previously published and three new essays, makes extensive use of manuscript sources (some of which are appended to the essays) in order to reveal rather different image of Boyle from the suave and sophisticated one which has come down to us (p. 4). The early chapters delve into details of Boyle's private life and the latter ones focus on concerns about his public image. All of the chapters are organized around the theme of Boyle's scrupulosity that Hunter argues is displayed both in Boyle's interest in casuistry and in his experimental science. After discussion of these themes in his introductory chapter, Hunter describes Boyle's intellectual development from early moralist and essayist to practicing experimentalist in an essay from 1995, How Boyle Became Scientist. The next three chapters, on what Hunter terms Boyle's dysfunctionalism, serve as way to counter the prevalent idea of Boyle as a paragon of civility and moderation with clear and

Urban patronage in early modern England: corporate boroughs, the landed elite, and the crown, 1580-1640

C. E. Patterson, Urban Patronage in Early Modern England: Corporate Boroughs, the Landed Elite, and the Crown, 1580-1640, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. viii + 337, hb. £50 ($60), ISBN: 0804735875Corporations were institutions which might come to constitute a political interest. Institutional integrity, and the interest that this might represent, were promoted and defended against rivals. This book examines how these institutional and political interests were mediated and conducted, concentrating on an important medium for the conduct of these politics - patronage. It offers convincing criticism of two dichotomies common in the writing of early modern history - the distinction between centre and locality and between citizen and outsider. Both (apparently common sense) distinctions conceal important aspects of the functioning of early modern English politics. Patrons (outsiders who were invited in) were able to help to resolve conflicts both within towns and between towns and rival corporations. In doing so they both appealed to the Crown on behalf of the corporation but also might be recruited to defend particular corporate interests against measures taken by the Crown. The book is based on the records of a varied mix of boroughs around the country - Barnstaple, Chester, Coventry, Dover, Exeter, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, Leicester, Winchester and Worcester. It deals, therefore, mainly with smaller towns, and discussion of giants like London, Norwich and Bristol is limited. The chronological limits are set by the establishment of the routines of administration which are usually referred to as the 'Elizabethan constitution' by 1580 and the breakdown of government in 1640. The emphasis, however, is on how politics worked in this period, rather than on problems - it is definitely not a pre-history of the civil war. It is not a comprehensive urban history, therefore, but a thematic discussion of the mediation of political and administrative conflicts in early modern England. Corporate politics in this period have not been integrated into general accounts of government and this book serves an important purpose in doing so. The prose is clear and lively, if occasionally more informal than some readers may like.There are five thematic chapters, followed by a case study. The first chapter explores the ways in which the relationship between patron and borough was established. It was sealed with gifts and entailed obligations and commitments on both sides. Patterson illuminates this relationship, which has been written about in other early modern contexts, with reference to the extensive anthropological literature on the subject. The second chapter looks at the specific roles played by patrons in the boroughs and the following three chapters explore their role in particular kinds of conflict - resolving disputes within towns, between rival jurisdictions in the localities and mediating the relationship between corporations and the Crown. …

“Good Governance” in the Medieval and Early Modern Context

Reading Marjorie McIntosh's book on controlling misbehavior from the perspective of a medievalist who has worked on peasantry and their crimes and Londoners and their multitude of disputes brought to mind the old question of whether things get worse or are only perceived to be getting worse. Two anecdotes, one from medieval and one from early modem England, came to mind. A favorite miracle story in the Middle Ages was that of the poor family who took in a stranger and fed him from their meager food. When the food ran out, it was replenished and the stranger was revealed to be Christ. The moral lesson was to act charitably toward strangers. But did medieval people imbibe this lesson? The second anecdote is from Harrison's observation about serving men. The proverb he cites, Yoong seruing men, old beggers: bicause seruice is none heritage, is an entree to his diatribe against the widespread use of young serving men in England because their upkeep ruins their masters and their disreputable behavior runs to whoring and swearing.1 While McIntosh's late sixteenth-century jurors would have agreed with Harrison, would medieval jurors find that their neighbors behaved in charity toward each other?

Converting the Sauvage: Jesuit and Montagnais in Seventeenth-Century New France

CONVERTING THE SAUVAGE: JESUIT AND MONTAGNAIS IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY NEW FRANCE BY Peter A. Goddard* The name sauvage1 gives rise to so very disparaging an idea of those who bear it, that many people in Europe have thought that it is impossible to make true Christians ofthem. But such persons do not reflect that God died for the barbarian as well as for the Jew, and that his spirit breathes where it wills. Good trees bear good fruits. . . . not only are true Christians among these sauvage peoples, but also many more in proportion than in your civilized Europe.2 At the vanguard of efforts to revitaUze early modern Catholicism,Jesuit missionaries arrived in New France with the ambitious aim of converting the scattered peoples of the northern forests to a pure and rigorous Christianity. Working on the frontier of an expanding faith and a burgeoning civilization, these French Jesuits offer an important window into conversion activity in the early modern world. In their thought, the process of Christianization was dependent upon the introduction of the institutions characteristic of advanced European social "Dr. Goddard is an assistant professor of history in the University of Guelph. He wishes to thankJames Muldoon and Cornelius Jaenen for their comments on earlier drafts of this paper. 'The French term sauvage, in its early modern context, denoted the lack ofthe cultural and social attributes of civilized humanity. Unlike the later English "savage," sauvage did not reflect racial connotations which would make it entirely pejorative. Rather, it served as foil to and opposite of civil, or "civilized. "The term thus embodied condescension for social inferiors; as such, it could be applied to backwards or rustic French men and women as peoples, like the aboriginal population of the Americas, whose attributes suggested primitive life. For early French ideas of the bon sauvage, see Olive P Dickason, The Myth ofthe Savage (Edmonton, 1984), pp. 63-84. 2Claude Allouez, Relation of 1672-73, in Reuben Gold Thwaites (ed.), Thefesuit Relations andAllied Documents (73 vols.; Cleveland 1896-1901), Vol. 58, p. 85. Henceforward cited as "fR" The definitive series of mission writings, Lucien Campeau (ed.), Monumenta Novae Franciae (J vols.; Rome and Montreal, 1967-) will,when completed, supersede the nearly 100-year-old Thwaites bilingual edition. Henceforward cited as "MNFr 219 220CONVERnNG THE SAUVAGE: JESUIT AND MONTAGNAIS life and especiaUy of its control over what was perceived as depraved human nature. Thus French Jesuits caUed for ordered settlement, the uprooting of superstition, the reformation of the family, and the close regulation of individual behavior, or civilité, as essential elements of a demanding model of conversion. Yet Jesuits also tried to retain those aspects of autochthonous culture which did not contradict the faith, including "natural" virtues which would assist in the construction of the primitive church. Jesuits attempted to buffer new Christians from the corrupting effects of European contact, and, as the passage quoted above suggests, sought to raise the standards of CathoUcism everywhere through the example of the sauvage convert. New France was a laboratory for Jesuit efforts: tension and contradictory thrusts characterized their mission strategy. Seventeenth-century French Jesuits were beneficiaries of the rich missionary tradition of medieval Christianity. Since its 1540 founding, the Society had been devoted to "the advancement of souls and the propagation of the faith" among Turks, the peoples of the New World, and other infidels, schismatics, and pagans.3 Jesuits conceived ofthis activity , even in the wilderness of New France, as a continuation ofthe history of conversion of Northern Europe, coterminous with the assertion of Roman order. The Jesuit approach suggests both Gregory the Great's drive to complete the sacralization of monasticism through the preaching to pagans, and Boniface's concern to instruct in a calm and rational manner. By being all things to aU men, the Society would find the necessary foundations for Christian belief in the diversity of human experience .4 Jesuits sent to New France were weU equipped for this mission. Renaissance linguistic science allowed them to investigate diverse cultures, beliefs, and practices. Their classical education, in which both Aristotle and Cicero figured prominently, prompted Jesuits to compare native Americans to the ancient Scythians or to the tribal peoples of the...