The Age of Richard II ed. by James L. Gillespie (review)

STUDIES IN THE AGE OF CHAUCER explicitly. Adding to the considerable bibliography that has accumu­ lated around the works of these women over the last two decades, Fer­ rante subjects to scrutiny their representations of women as writers and as models for other women, noting how, for example, "Hildegarde's prestige made it easier for Elisabeth to make her messages public" (p, 140), or how Hildegarde's "contradictory" "self-effacement and self­ assurance" (p. 158) is subtly transformed by its reflection in other para­ doxical representations of women ("As Hildegarde frequently says, the Virgin Mary was impregnated with Christ without the help of a man, that is, through God woman can do what man cannot" [p. 159}). She notes that all of these women writers had male as well as female audi­ ences (p. 176), but focuses on what their works would have said about women to the women in their audience. Hrotsvit "allow[s} her female characters to take on and make fools of the emperor and his court [in Pafnutius}" (p. 183); Clemence "may be commenting on women who are worshipped (in courtly lyrics?) but not allowed a voice" (p. 187). The works of the trobairitz show that "women are very aware of the hypoc­ risy of male rhetoric" (p. 190). Marie de France, whose Lais Ferrante has translated (with Robert Hanning), is credited with "a lai that allows the female world of love and sisterhood to conquer definitively the male world of violence and betrayal" (p. 202). And, like Ferrante herself, we might say, "Christine [de Pisan} had faith in women's ability to accom­ plish great things." GAIL BERKELEY SHERMAN Reed College JAMES L. GILLESPIE, ed. The Age ofRichard II. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997. Pp. viii, 256. $55.00. This volume, based on the work of the Society of the White Heart, pre­ sents eleven essays on diverse aspects of the reign of Richard II and on later medieval English history generally. The concentration is on politics as a "lens through which we can bring the late medieval kaleidoscope into focus without unduly narrowing our range of vision" (p. 2). James L. Gillespie, editor of the volume (and sometime president of the Society), also contributed two essays with linked themes. "Richard II: 354 REVIEWS Chivalry and Kingship" stresses connections between royalty and the chivalric ethos and marshals evidence for Richard's personal involve­ ment with chivalry. "Richard II: King of Battles?" concedes Richard's costly failure to create a martial reputation, but (while noting significant evidence of military capacity) argues that the king never sorted out the difference between the royal image of dispenser of justice and the prag­ matic use of force. G. H. Martin studies "Narrative Sources for the Reign of Richard II" and suggests that their value increases even as ar­ chival investigations proliferate, since they can tell what people thought and supposed, supplementing what record evidence shows they did. A chapter by Nigel Saul, "Richard II, York, and the Evidence ofthe King's Itinerary," contests John Harvey's assertion that Richard II considered the city of York a possible alternative capital to London. Richard's rule was largely based on southern England, and careful sifting of evidence shows that his visits to York were shorter and less frequent than sup­ posed. A. K. Hardy, "Haxey's Case, 1397: The Petition and its Presenter Reconsidered," argues that the presenter of this controversial petition for household reform was a royal clerk acting not for aristocratic political interests but for administrative reform that would benefit gentry and royal clerks of his circle. Several essays expand this core of studies ofRicardian politics, either by subject matter or chronology. In "Politics, Procedure and the 'Non­ Minority' ofEdward III: Some Comparisons," Frank L. Wiswall III com­ pares the position of Edward III in 1326-30 with the minorities of Henry III and Richard II, arguing that his greater age at coronation better prepared him to take and exercise personal power. Doris Fletcher traces "The Lancastrian Collar of Esses: Its Origins and Transformations Down the Centuries." Apparently already a royal emblem (although the meaning of the SS device itself remains uncertain) in the youth ofJohn ofGaunt...