Two Women of the Great Schism: The Revelations of Constance de Rabastens by Raymond de Sabanac and Life of the Blessed Ursulina of Parma by Simone Zanacchi ed. and trans. by Renate Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Bruce L. Venarde (review)

When St. Paul preached, ‘For now we see through a glass, darkly,’ he referred to the human condition, but his words apply especially to the refracted and cloudy view that characterizes accounts of medieval holy women. Several layers of language, convention, and time separate us from the voices of women whose words and actions were unusual enough that their lives merited recording.

The two editors alert the reader immediately to the many slippages that might trip up the unwary reader. Overwhelmingly, women’s holy experiences were, first, recorded by a male cleric; second, recorded in Latin, not the vernacular that the women spoke; third, ‘mediated through the genres of vision narrative and saint’s life’; and fourth, not always written by a contemporary of the subject. Given all these limitations, we might be tempted to throw up our hands in despair and ask, ‘Why bother?’ Fortunately, Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Venarde provide ready answers, the two most important of which are that they stood out to contemporaries, and they made a difference to those around them. The clear presentation of openings for distortion and the importance of these accounts, together with the clear and lively translations, make this slender volume a wonderful resource for instructors and students alike.

Both Constance and Ursulina flouted convention by intervening in the male world of politics and theology during the Great Schism (1378–1417). Moreover, both suffered for their perceived presumption: Constance was jailed, Ursulina tortured. Both nonetheless persisted in speaking out against the Avignon papacy: Constance was directed to do so by visions, Ursulina by the Roman pope. Again the editors aid the reader by contextualizing the accounts from five different perspectives: women’s visionary experience, particularly where holiness and politics overlap; the historical scene; the life of each woman; commentary on their actions; and the complex relationship of subjects to authors.

While each aspect of the lengthy introduction is generally useful, it seems at times that the authors lose sight of exactly what audience(s) they wish to attract. The first two sections, on these visionaries’ ‘foremothers’ and on the Schism, seem to assume little knowledge of either topic and are overall clear and informative – though I would disagree that when the Schism began, five major city-states (Milan, Venice, Florence, the papal states, and Naples) ‘controlled most other cities’; more true eighty years later. The other three sections are less focused and include some repetitions; for example, the section on each woman’s life slides into a discussion of the characteristics of each account, which observations fit more easily in the last section. Moreover, some attempts to clarify complex situations would make extremely slow going for anyone unfamiliar with the intricacies of French, Italian, and local politics. For the presumed novice reader, the insightful conclusions about each situation would suffice, with the details provided in footnotes.

Overall, however, Blumenfeld-Kosinski and Venarde deserve thanks for making these two intriguing accounts available to the general public and for largely succeeding in framing them with various contexts. The brief bibliography opens doors for those who wish to pursue particular topics, and the index makes the texts easy to navigate. Like a Persian carpet, the volume contains the obligatory proofreading flaw (‘miracles performed in response [to] prayers’), but this and other such minor failings are by far outweighed by clarity and vibrancy of the texts themselves.