Peter Arnade

Fertile Spaces: The Productivity of Urban Space in Northern Europe

Spatial theorythe study of the relationship between material and discursive spatial practiceshas great potential for recasting our understanding of urban life in Europe during the late medieval and early modern period, a formative moment in the history of Western urbanity. Urban spaceand spaces acquired powerful, effective valences in this age, producing new social possibilities and new historical actors while simulataneously eliminating others. Examining spatial practices through the lens of legal space, ritual space, and textual space not only exposes the assumptions about early modern urbanity that underlay existing historiography on city space in the period but also points toward the spatial histories that have not yet been written on markets, gender, and the public.

The Ideology of Burgundy: The Promotion of National Consciousness, 1364–1565 (review)

against the Turks. The earliest memorials included the symbolic cross of Lorraine at the edge of the forest where Charles’s body was found; the construction of the church of Notre Dame de la Victoire et des Rois (the present-day Notre Dame de Bonsecours) at the mass grave of Burgundian soldiers; the new mausoleum for the Dukes of Lorraine (1482: “Les Cordeliers”); memorial additions to the old castle church of St. Georges, including the tomb and cenotaph of Charles; a bronze relief honoring René as “saviour of the fatherland”; renovation of the old pilgrimage church of Saint-Nicolas-de-Port where René had attended Mass before the battle; René’s own tomb in Les Cordeliers (1510); and memorial stained-glass windows in both Metz cathedral and at Saint-Nicolas-de-Port. A Madonna of Mercy one-and-a-half meters high by the court sculptor Mansuy Gauvin (1505) commissioned by René for Notre Dame de la Victoire directs the viewer in verse to forget the cause of the war and pray for all of the fallen. Of particular interest are the literary tributes to René, including Pierre de Blarru’s Nanceide (ca. 1500), a Latin panegyric known today from René’s own copy, and the Songe du pastourel by Jean du Prier, reproduced in full with its French text and delicate watercolor illustrations by Pierre Garnier (Vienna, ÖNB cod. 2556), an allegory in which René is the shepherd boy of the title, and his flock the people of Lorraine, who are threatened by a lion (Charles). It culminates in a long debate between Death and a Burgundian soldier, and a chronicle of the battle. Brachmann discusses the recent literature on the manuscript, and the reasons why the illustrations are thirty years later than the text, which had originally been written for dramatic performance. JANE CAMPBELL HUTCHISON University of Wisconsin, Madison

Defaced: The Visual Culture of Violence in the Late Middle Ages (review)

the local scene. These early poems make obvious the neoclassical inspiration and largely secular mentality of Eobanus and the other Erfurt poets. Although Eobanus does write as a Christian poet (triplex Apollo and verus Apollo are references to Christ, and the Virgin Mary becomes an alternative to the classical Muses in inspiring poets), the prevailing mood is literary and secular. The poems do not point toward the close association of humanism with the cause of spiritual and ecclesiastical renewal that was beginning to emerge in works by Erasmus, Jakob Wimpfeling, and others. The reformist and activist spirit of the Christian humanist movement of the next decade had not yet found its voice. CHARLES G. NAUERT University of Missouri-Columbia

Town and Country in Europe, 1300-1800 (review)

helped boys to learn Latin and proper behavior. The book concludes with a discussion of service and apprentice positions, early marriage, and criminal liability. Orme’s sources are varied and rich, and his handsome illustrations present a strong visual correction to Ariès’ assertion that children were represented as small adults. The book, however, does not say much about gender differences in childrearing, and it permits a picture of only the upper class and the educated. Yet, despite its shortcomings, it is a fascinating read and should help a general readership to form a less stereotypical picture of medieval childhood.