Becoming Male in the Middle Ages (review)

194 Reviews Macedonia also figures on pages 17, 22 and 94. Some of the main themes or subjects are included, but not, for example, construction of castles or supply of provisions. The names of authorities quoted in the notes are listed, but not Honore Bouvet. There are a few misspellings: 'Monstralet' (p. 118, n. 82), for Monstrelet,'Strategemata' (p. 81 note), for Strategamata, 'memorabiles' (p. 81 note), and 'memorabilis' (p. 100), for memorabilia, 'Maximum' (p. 223), for Maximus, as well as some fluctuation in English and French forms of names: John II (p. 22, n. 15) is Jean II (p. 39, n. 53), and neither appears in the index. It is a pity that the description of the back-cover illustration does not mention that the figure beside Christine de Pizan is the goddess Minerva. The book will certainly interest Christine de Pizan scholars, and also historians of the period, military historians in particular, for it looks towards the formation of national armies from the orders of chivalry. An edition of the original French text is in preparation. Glynnis M. Cropp School of Language Studies Massey University Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome and Bonnie Wheeler, ed., Becoming Male in the Middle Ages (The N e w Middle Ages 4. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 2066), Garland Publishing, N e w York/London, 1997; pp. xx, 387. This collection of essays explores the medieval world through a telesc focused on the gendered male subject, rather than the normalised, unexamined male often the subject of traditional medieval histories. Using recent theories of gender based on feminist, gay and other minority readings of history and literature, the eighteen contributors to this volume have examined what it meant to be male in the medieval period. Contexualisation is provided by an initial stimulating essay by the editors, establishing some of the theoretical viewpoints used by the contributors to this collection. The various contributors examine a range of sources, both literary and historical to provide a many layered insight into what m a y be achieved by future scholars working this rich vein of inquiry. Reviews 195 The collection arranged in a broad chronological sweep, with the two initial essays examining medieval medical and religious ideas on masculinity very broadly. D. Vance Smith examines what he terms the unstable medieval masculine body in 'Body Doubles: Producing the Masculine Corpus'. In 'Becoming Christian, Becoming Male?', Steven F. Kruger examines conversion literature for the way that the feminised Jew or Muslim convert is uneasily gendered 'masculine'. Judaism and masculinity are examined in a later essay from a Jewish perspective by Elliot R. Wolfson in 'Eunuchs W h o Keep the Sabbath: Becoming Male and the Ascetic Ideal in Thirteenth-Century Jewish Mysticism'. Constructions of aberrant masculinity are examined by Allen J. Frantzen in his essay on the Anglo-Saxon penitentials. A n early German epic, Waltharius, is analysed by David Townsend w h o finds that ideas of dominant masculinity are undercut in the text. Not surprisingly, the collection includes several essays on Abelard's masculinity with Martin Irvine concentrating on providing a historical context for Abelard's work by examining the history and culture of feminised eunuch. Bonnie Wheeler examines Abelard's masculinity in the light of his intellectualisation of his body and physical responses, while Yves Ferroul in 'Abelard's blissful castration', strives to provide context to the act of Abelard's castration by examining medieval medical theories on sex, semen and marriage. Chaucer's work is the subject of two essays, with essays by Robert Sturges on 'The Pardoner's Tale' and Glenn Burger on 'The Miller's Tale'. Transgressions or deviant masculinities are the subject of m a n y of these essays, such as A d Putter's on transvestite knights, Claire Sponsler on festivals, Garrett P. J. Epp on sodomy in Mankind, and Leslie DuntonDowner 's essay on werewolf literature and Marie de France's Bisclavret. Jeffrey Cohen uses the postmodern theories of Deleuze and Guattari to examine the monstrous male in the Middle English tale of Sir Gowther. While deviations from the norm are often easier to identify and reveal rich insights into the construction of 'normal' by the delineation of 'abnormal...