Authors: Thelma S. Fenster (Editor), Daniel Lord Smail
ISBN-13: 9780801488573, ISBN-10: 0801488575
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Date Published: June 2003
Edition: (Non-applicable)
In medieval Europe, the word fama denoted both talk (what was commonly said about a person or event) and an individual's ensuing reputation (one's fama). Although talk by others was no doubt often feared, it was also valued and even cultivated as a vehicle for shaping one's status. People had to think about how to "manage" their fama, which played an essential role in the medieval culture of appearances. This book's authors consider how talk was created and entered into memory.
Acknowledgments | ||
Introduction | 1 | |
1 | Fama and the Law in Twelfth-Century Tuscany | 15 |
2 | Fama as a Legal Status in Renaissance Florence | 27 |
3 | Silent Witnesses, Absent Women, and the Law Courts in Medieval Germany | 47 |
4 | Good Name, Reputation, and Notoriety in French Customary Law | 75 |
5 | Infamy and Proof in Medieval Spain | 95 |
6 | Constructing Reputations: Fama and Memory in Christine de Pizan's Charles V and L'Advision Cristine | 118 |
7 | Sin, Speech, and Scolding in Late Medieval England | 145 |
8 | Romancing the Word: Fama in the Middle English Sir Launfal and Athelston | 165 |
9 | Fama and Pastoral Constraints on Rebuking Sinners: The Book of Margery Kempe | 187 |
Conclusion | 210 | |
Selected Bibliography | 215 | |
Contributors | 219 | |
Index | 223 |