Introducing the Medieval Ass

Kathryn L. Smithies

Description

Introducing the Medieval Ass presents a lucid, accessible, and comprehensive picture of the ass’s enormous socio-economic and cultural significance in the Middle Ages and beyond. In the Middle Ages, the ass became synonymous with human idiocy, a comic figure representing foolish peasants, students too dull to learn, and their asinine teachers. This trope of foolishness was so prevalent that by the eighteenth century the word ‘ass’ had been replaced by ‘donkey’. Economically, the medieval ass was a vital, utilitarian beast of burden, rather like today’s ubiquitous white van; culturally, however, the medieval ass enjoyed a rich, paradoxical reputation. Its hard work was praised, but its obstinacy condemned. It exemplified the good Christian, humbly bearing Christ to Jerusalem, but also represented Sloth, a mortal sin. Its potent sexual reputation – one literary ass had sex with a woman – was simultaneously linked to sterility and, to this day, ‘ass’ and ‘arse’ remain culturally-connected homophones.

'In the medieval world, the ass’s reputation – sacred or profane, derided or acclaimed – was codified in fact, fiction and image. However, unusual its binary nature may seem to the modern-day reader, paradoxical rhetoric was a common feature in medieval beast genres, and the fact that the ass had contesting reputations offers multiple avenues for analysis.' - Read more about this on page 3 of the Booklaunch https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=eacd7c66-df5c-4335-86ee-cad05c826bda

 

List of Illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Natural World of the Ass
Chapter 2: The Religious Ass
Chapter 3: The Scholastic Ass
Chapter 4: The Ass in Literature
Post-script: The Medieval Ass in the Post-Medieval Era.
Conclusion
Bibliography

Sujets

• Medieval
• Histoire
• History
• Europe

Informations

• Publié par: University of Wales Press
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781786836243
• Langue: English

Extrait

INTRODUCING THE MEDIEVAL ASS
MEDIEVAL ANIMALS
Series Editors
Diane Heath (Canterbury Christ Church University)
Victoria Blud (University of York)
Series Board
Megan Cassidy-Welch (University of Queensland, Australia)
Robert Mills (University College London)
Karl T. Steel (Brooklyn College, New York)
Paul Wackers (University of Utrecht, Netherlands)
INTRODUCING THE MEDIEVAL ASS
KATHRYN L. SMITHIES
© Kathryn L. Smithies, 2020
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the University of Wales Press, University Registry, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NS.
www.uwp.co.uk
British Library CIP Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78683-622-9
eISBN 978-1-78683-624-3
The right of Kathryn L. Smithies to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 79 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for any external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
Cover design: Olwen Fowler
Cover image: © The British Library Board (Yates Thompson 3, f. 162r)
In memory of Arthur and Vera, my steadfast, faithful and unassuming parents
 
SERIES EDITORS’ PREFACE
T HE UNIVERSITY OF WALES Press series on Medieval Animals explores the historical and cultural impact of animals in this formative period, with the aim of developing new insights, analysing cultural, social and the-ological tensions and revealing their remarkable resonances with our contemporary world. The series investigates ideas about animals from the fifth century to the sixteenth, and from all over the world. Medieval thought on animals preserved and incorporated a rich classical inheritance, and some attitudes towards animals that we might consider as having characterized the Middle Ages persisted up to the Enlightenment era – and even to the present day.
When we think about medieval animals, we might variously mean livestock, individual specimens of the genus or species in a particular historical era, or the companion and support to practical human concerns ranging from travel to arable harvests; we might also speak of symbolic creatures and emblems, fictional creatures whose existence is rooted in medieval imagination, the bestiary creature lauded or disparaged for its association with culturally coded behavioural traits, or the animal of natural hierarchy who provides the philosophical and symbolic counterpoint to reason or civilization – the animal as nonhuman. The titles in the series therefore engage with theoretical perspectives and philosophical questions from both the medieval and modern eras, with a concern for intersectional approaches bringing together animality with studies of gender, sexuality, race and postcolonial theory. They build on the diverse and influential reflexes of the ‘animal turn’ in critical theory and humanities scholarship, encompassing both animality studies (on the relation of human and animal in cultural studies) and animal studies (with its concomitant considerations for nonhuman advocacy).
A range of different formats has been chosen to reflect the diversity of the medieval primary sources and the wide interdisciplinary academic research they have inspired which will encourage a general readership through pithy, accessible and appealing books. Medieval Animals is the first series to systematically explore the roles and perceptions of individual animals during the Middle Ages. The ‘Introducing…’ titles focus on the importance of specific animals in art, literature and history; the primary sources reader is designed to support deeper and broader access to evidence encompassing art and architecture, documentary and literary sources, scientific texts and zooarchaeology; finally, longer academic studies engage with and advance the field. The series promotes work that challenges preconceptions, advances the field of study, and engages a wide readership.
Diane Heath and Victoria Blud Series editors
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
List of illustrations
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
The Natural World of the Ass
The Religious Ass
The Scholastic Ass
The Ass in Literature
Postscript: The Medieval Ass in the Post-Medieval Era
Endnotes
Further reading
Bibliography
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
T HIS BOOK WOULD not have been possible without various forms of assistance from numerous people and institutions, and I take this opportunity to acknowledge them here. First, a very big thank you to Diane Heath, for inviting me to write this book. I’ve always had a soft spot for donkeys and writing this book has only increased my admiration and appreciation for them. Thank you to everyone at the University of Wales Press, especially Sarah Lewis and the anonymous reviewers for their support and guidance; and thanks also to the collegial scholars I contacted ‘out of the blue’ with questions about donkeys, especially Max Harris, Jill Bough and Elvis Mallorquí; likewise, thank you to Mr Alford for his excellent artwork.
At the University of Melbourne, thanks to the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies (SHAPS) and the Baillieu Library. Special thanks to various libraries and archives for access to a range of images: The Morgan Library and Museum; the town of Bayeux; the British Library; the Bibliothèque national de France; and the Library of Congress. I also acknowledge the financial support of several awards: the University of Melbourne French Trust Fund, the Australian Research Council Associate Investigator Award [2015] (project number CE110001011) and the SHAPS/CHE Research Support Scheme (Centre for the History of Emotions), University of Melbourne. These awards financed a research trip to several European archives, the results of which have informed sections of this book. And finally, a very big thanks to all the people who have travelled on my donkey journey and offered support, encouragement and advice: Jason, Julianna, Kerstin, Holly, Marilyn, and everyone at RIC; your contributions were indispensable.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Front cover: Paresse ( Idleness ), The Dunois Hours , MS Yates-Thompson 3, f.162r, © The British Library Board.
Illustration 1: The War Effort , Old Testament Miniatures (Paris, c .1244–54), MS M.638, f.27v, The Morgan Library and Museum, New York, purchased by J. P. Morgan (1867–1943) in 1916.
Illustration 2: Ass and Plough , lower register of the Bayeux Tapestry, eleventh century, with special permission of the town of Bayeux.
Illustration 3: Balaam’s Ass sees the Angel , based on the capital at the church of Saint-Andoche, Saulieu, France. Illustration by Mr Alford.
Illustration 4: Ass Playing a Lyre , based on the south portal at the church of Saint Pierre, Aulnay de Saintonge, France. Illustration by Mr Alford.
Illustration 5: ‘The Fable of the Ass and Lapdog’, in the manuscript La Compilation de Ysopet Avionnet , Bibliothèque nationale de France, BNF Fr. 1594, f.19r.
Illustration 6: The Journey of a Modern Hero, to the Island of Elba , originally published by J. Phillips, 32 Charles Street, Hampstead Road, London (1814). Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540.
Illustration 7: Wallace Anderson (sculptor), The Man with the Donkey, 1935 , Shrine of Remembrance Collection, Melbourne. Photograph by the author, 2019.
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
ANZAC Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
LATCH Journal for the Study of the Literary Artifact in Theory, Culture, or History
NRCF Willem Noomen and Nico van den Boogaard (eds), Nouveau Recueil Complet des Fabliaux , 10 vols (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1983–98) (Noomen and Boogaard were co-editors of volumes 1–5, Noomen was the sole editor of volumes 6–10)
PG J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Graeca , 162 vols (Paris: Garnier, 1857–87)
PL J.-P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Cursus Completus. Series Latinus , 222 vols (Paris: Garnier, 1844–1902)
PMLA Publications of the Modern Language Association of America
INTRODUCTION

[The ass] is a sluggish and senseless beast… but is… useful and tolerates work, not complaining even if it is badly neglected.
(Bestiary, Bodleian Library MS, Bodl. 764)
I N A THIRTEENTH-CENTURY image (Illustration 1) we can see an ass whose load is being transferred to a baggage cart. Judging from the amount of goods in the cart and the ass’s stooping head and neck, our ass has been busy carrying loads for a considerable time. This image of the ass as a hard-working beast of burden would have been familiar to most people in the Middle Ages. In medieval society, the ass was an unremarkable but indispensable beast: it carried packs, contributed to farm life, and pulled heavy loads. The ass helped the poor and the rich carry out their daily commitments; it accompanied armies on their campaigns, took produce to and from markets, enabled merchants to make deliveries, and carried people to and from their destinations. Yet despite its hard-working reputation, as the image on this book’s front cover reveals, the ass was also associated with laziness. The slothful man who is too lazy to pull up his stockings, lethargically rests his head in one hand; he cannot even open his eyes and carries his sword backwards as a symbol of unpreparedness, all whilst riding an ass – the slow-to-react, sluggish beast.
In medieval society then, the ass was a paradox: a beast of contradictory repute. It was at once