Love and marriage in the middle ages (review)

Reviews 285 Duby, Georges, Love and marriage in the middle ages, Oxford, Polity Press, 1994; paper; pp. ix, 231; R R P AU$39.95. [Distributed in Australia by Allen and Unwin.] As a Professor at the prestigious College de France since 1970, as well as a member of the Acaddmie Francaise, Georges Duby is always sure to have a wide audience in France for work dedicated to his specialist period, feudal Europe. The present collection of essays, which Flammarion had published as Le male moyen age in 1988, is no exception, and Jane Dunnett's competent translation will assure Duby's essays a simUarly deep penetration of an academic public in English-speaking countries. The various essays have been collected from Duby's work published between 1967 and 1986. The original French tide may well have been suggested by the publishers' attempting to attract a wider interest by riding the 1980s' increase in feminist studies. Indeed the blurb on the back cover of the English translation plays up the theme of a 'male-dominated' middle ages, although Professor Duby's essays actually cover many aspects of the period. However, the author himself seems to encourage this reading of the ensemble of the essays by his statement in the 'Author's Preface': 'My aim is to reveal the hidden part, the feminine. To find out what women were in those distanttimes,that is m y present endeavour.' Some of the fifteen essays offered are only extracts from inaugural lectures ('Marriage in early medieval society'), others reprints of prefaces to books ('Le roman de la rose'); 'Family structures in the West during the middle ages' was originally a conference paper, while 'The Renaissance of the twelfth century: audience and patronage' appearedfirstin a festschrift and 'Observations on physical pain in the middle ages'firstsaw the light as a journal article. The reader will notice from the above-mentionedtidesjust how widely Duby has cast his net. The fact that they were originally presented in different situations means that not all the essays are equally well documented. Obviously there are no footnotes for the lectures or lecture extracts, unless, as sometimes happens, the translator feels obliged to add an explanation of some difficult technical term. Thus, in 'Philip Augustus's France: social changes in aristocratic circles', Dunnett gives a periphrasis in English, in the notes section, to explain the French term parage which she leaves as such in the translation. Such interventions by the translator are always, correctiy, preceded by the indication 'Translator's note' in square brackets. 286 Reviews The essays will be of primary interest to historians, though 'What do we know about love in twelfth-century France?' and 'On courtly love' should be compulsory reading for any undergraduate student of literature about to embark on an exploration of the courtly romance or lyric. Chretien de Troyes' texts, for example, are more comprehensible with the sort of background provided by Duby in these two excellent articles. An historian with Duby's international prestige can, I suppose, allow himself a relaxed, almost informal manner, when dealing with subjects to which he has devoted a lifetime. Nevertheless, it is sometimes irritating for the less experienced reader when the Great M a n makes an interesting statement for which a reference or some evidence would be useful. For example, in 'Memories without historians', mention is made of the custom of slapping young children at ceremonies in the hope that they would remember the occasion later in life. For someone interested in the education of children in the middle ages, as I am, a reference to a source here would have been most welcome. O n the other hand, Professor Duby often has occasion to point out areas where more research could well be done. Of especial interest for English-speaking historians who may wish to learn about recent developments in historiography in France, the most informative article 'Trends in historical research in France, 1950-1980' is included in the selection. The essays are grouped into three sections: 'Love and marriage', 'Family structures' and 'Cultures, values and society'. A reasonably complete index, including names of m o d e m scholars and medieval authors and works...