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144 Reviews by and for women in late medieval Yorkshire' by P. H. Cullen, and '"Blessed art thou among women": the archaeology of female piety' by Roberta Gilchrist. A recurrent theme of the essays is the contrast between the records of north-western Europe, as evidenced in the English material, and those of the Mediterranean. In England, for instance, marriage tended to be companionate, and many of those who later married had spent time in service in then adolescence and early adult years (Goldberg, p. 7). Whereas in northern Italy entering into service seemed to be the path followed by those who had not married, in England women appear to have turned to marriage as a consequence of having been driven out of the labour market (Smith, pp. 45-46). Another theme elaborated in the essays of Graham, Archer, and Gilchrist is Bynum's observation of the nexus in the medieval period between women and food; especially, in this context, in its production, sale, and charitable distribution. Overall, this collection presents carefuUy argued and very well annotated research. Because of the quality of the interpretations and the historical scholarship underpinning them, the records, varied and scanty as they sometimes are, prove to be illuminating indeed. Judy Quinn Department of English University of Sydney Goldstein, Bernard R. and David Pingree, Levi ben Gerson's prognostication for the conjunction of 1345 (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 80, part 6), Philadelphia, American Philosophical Society, 1990; paper; pp. 60; R.R.P. US$12.00. This is an edition of an astrological work, left incomplete upon his death, written by the famous Jewish scholar, Gersonides, (1238-1344); albeit that neither that name, nor his acronym Ralbag, are mentioned in the introduction, even though less consequential aliases are given. Although he made frequent references to matters astronomical and astrological this, his only known treatise on astrology, is published here in an inelegantly printed Hebrew text with a translation, a Latin translation, a Latin alternative interpretation of Gersonides' views by Johannes de Muris (1320-1350), and various notes. Reviews 145 In itself the work is not of great importance except to those astrologers who might take seriously the interpretations later given to Gersonides' forecasts: in particular, that his view of a period of health problems for the world was a prophecy of the Black Death, and that other events can be correlated with matters historical. Retroversion and retrospect do wonders for prophecies! What is important is that a respected Jewish scholar was apparently writing an astrological study under contract to Pope Clement VI, a matter not explored in this text and that the papacy took seriously the astrological theory then in vogue about the religious effect of the triplicity of the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn. T w o astrological branches were in vogue at the time. Thefirstdealt with the birth horoscopes of individuals and their fate. The second, which influenced the writing of this work, dealt with the twenty year conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter, which led to cycles of two hundred and forty years (the triplicate cycle), and one thousand years (four triplicates). The two hundred and forty year cycle was said to be marked by significant historic changes with national or dynastic consequences. The one thousand year cycle was said to be marked by the coming of a new prophet. In this work Gersonides was investigating the historical consequences of the conjunction of 1345. It is not at all clear how much of what he forecast was part of his own belief and how much was written for his papal patron. O n the one hand, Gersonides seems to consider that Aquarius had eventful implications for Israel. O n the other, there seems to be no trace of the Messianic specualtion that was to be noted among some Jews in their evaluation of what 1345 might portend. The editing of the document is not well done. It is clear that the Hebrew of the text is close to that very technical and very difficult Tibbonian translatorese of earlier days for which care has to be taken to evaluate words in terms of then abstract and philosophical meanings rather than then concrete...

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