Passion and Order: Restraint of Grief in the Medieval Italian Communes by Carol Lansing (review)

REVIEWS 267 name. Chapter 6, one of Hyde’s strongest, showcases her skills as an art historian. Having already milked Sauli’s account books for all they are worth in the preceding chapters, she now turns her analysis to portraits of the cardinal which she reads as forms of propaganda which can say much about the sitter’s selfimage , or rather the image he wished to convey. She examines the two surviving free-standing portraits of Cardinal Sauli, Sebastiano del Piombo’s Cardinal Bendinello Sauli and three companions (1516) and Raphael’s Portrait of a Cardinal (1511) in order to gain insight into Sauli’s public persona at the beginning and at the peak of his cardinalate. She concludes that the unique nature of the Washington painting, as group portrait of Sauli with members of his household, demonstrates Sauli’s sense of prestige and pride in his position as well as his taste for innovation. Part III is by far the most interesting section of the book and deals directly with the plot to kill Leo X. Hyde’s thorough analysis incorporates all known documentation about and around the conspiracy. She also considers other commentators’ arguments both for and against the existence of the plot and tries to be as conclusive and objective as possible despite the rather limited and contradictory testimonies. She provides the most thorough, most unbiased account of the conspiracy that exists to this day; however, the specificity of the argument and the vagueness, which is exacerbated by the lack of surviving documentation, may limit this book’s appeal to a broader audience. Although Hyde posits her work as essential reading for students and scholars of the High Renaissance, the greater part of the book, such as the minute examination of the administration of Sauli’s finances, would be of little interest to anyone who was not directly concerned with the cardinal himself. As Hyde herself points out, it is impossible to say whether Sauli was a typical renaissance cardinal, and thus his lifestyle cannot necessarily be considered a prototype which gives us much information regarding renaissance cardinals in general . Hyde’s book does provide readers, on the other hand, with a better understanding of political interworkings of the cardinalate. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is the insight it provides regarding the power dynamic between popes and cardinals: “Although cardinals were men revered within Rome for their patronal largesse and influence, they were, essentially, pawns on the papal chessboard and utterly dependent on papal goodwill” (175). Hyde’s examination of the life and career of Sauli and his family offers new perspectives on this controversial cardinal as well as engaging reflections on the patronal links which bound pope, cardinals and their courtiers so closely together. HEATHER SOTTONG, Italian, UCLA Carol Lansing, Passion and Order: Restraint of Grief in the Medieval Italian Communes (Ithaca: Cornell University Press 2008) xi + 244 pp., ill. Carol Lansing’s Passion and Order uses Italian laws regarding grieving and lamentation as an entry point for understanding the relationship among gender, emotion, and state formation in thirteenth-century Italy. Lansing supports her analysis using theological, philosophical, visual, and literary sources from antiquity , early Church Fathers, and contemporary thirteenth-century Italian society . She shows that, during this period in Italy, authorities constructed laws REVIEWS 268 banning histrionic and exuberant displays of grief. Although authorities clearly associated loud and emotional grieving with females, Lansing shows the bans exclusively fined males for breaking the accepted code of behavior. These laws and their greater cultural significance offer a way to explore ideas of emotionality and gender in civil society. In order to make this multi-faceted central argument, Lansing structures Passion and Order unconventionally. Lansing traces a shift in public grieving between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. In the twelfth century, public funerals were loud and emotional. Men, especially elites and members of the military, expected their male peers to make excessive displays of emotion to show loyalty and respect at funerals for family members. This changed drastically during the thirteenth century, when it became unacceptable for men to show emotion at funerals. Funerals became a more ornate show of wealth and men showed...