Pleasure and Leisure in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: Cultural-Historical Perspectives on Toys, Games, and Entertainment

by Albrecht Classen (Editor)

Overview

Jan Huizinga and Roger Caillois have already taught us to realize how important games and play have been for pre-modern civilization. Recent research has begun to acknowledge the fundamental importance of these aspects in cultural, religious, philosophical, and literary terms. This volume expands on the traditional approach still very much focused on the materiality of game (toys, cards, dice, falcons, dolls, etc.) and acknowledges that game constituted also a form of coming to terms with human existence in an unstable and volatile world determined by universal randomness and fortune. Whether considering blessings or horse fighting, falconry or card games, playing with dice or dolls, we can gain a much deeper understanding of medieval and early modern society when we consider how people pursued pleasure and how they structured their leisure time. The contributions examine a wide gamut of approaches to pleasure, considering health issues, eroticism, tournaments, playing music, reading and listening, drinking alcohol, gambling and throwing dice. This large issue was also relevant, of course, in non-Christian societies, and constitutes a critical concern both for the past and the present because we are all homines ludentes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783110622584
Publisher:	De Gruyter
Publication date:	08/05/2019
Series:	Fundamentals of Medieval and Early Modern Culture , #23
Pages:	764
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Albrecht Classen, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations 11

Pleasure and Leisure from the Middle Ages to the early Nineteenth Century: The Rediscovery of a Neglected Dimension in Cultural History. Also an Introduction Albrecht Classen 1

Medieval Magicians as Entertainers: Magic as Demonic Illusion or Stagecraft Christa Agnes Tuczay 161

Hestaping (Horse Meeting/s) in Medieval Icelandic Culture Carlee Arnett 189

The Transformation of the World through Pleasure and Performance in the Thousand and One Nights Sally Abed 203

Behüde mien vor vngerechtem gude. Were Goods Won in Game "Unjustified"? Medieval Gambling Chiara Benati 225

Aldhelm's Enigmata and the Commentaries from the Canterbury School: A Monastic Curriculum in Play Alex Ukropen 241

Understanding Monastic Recreations and Luxury within the Anglo-Saxon Patristic Tradition Warren Tormey 267

Subjects of the Game: The Pleasures of Subjection in William IX's "Ben vueill que sapchon li pluzor" Fidel Fajardo-Acosta 287

Peregrine Pleasures: The Sport of Falconry, Lovers, and Self-Identity in Medieval German Literature William Mahan 333

Tourney, Joust, Foreis and Round Table: Tournament Forms in the Frauendienst of Ulrich von Liechtenstein Alan V. Murray 365

Drinking, Partying, and Drunkenness in Late Medieval German Verse Narratives and Jest Narratives Albrecht Classen 395

William Langland's Attitude Toward Play, Leisure, and Pastime: A Realignment of Priorities in Post-Plague England Daniel F. Pigg 433

The Ambraser Hofämterspiel: Playing Cards as a Visual Source for Courtly Life during the Late Middle Ages Maria Raid 451

Gawain, Giants, and Tennis in the Fifteenth Century Marilyn L. Sandidge 473

"J'ai tiré si près / Que je touche au but": Ludic Roots, Spiritual Play in Marguerite de Navarre's L'Inquisiteur Sharon Diane King 495

Jeux Interdits: The Rationale and Limits of Clerical and Lay Efforts to Enjoin "Scurrilia Solatia" Scott L. Taylor 517

Randomization in Paper: Shuffling as a Material Practice with Moral Implications in the Late Middle Ages and Early Modern World Michael A. Conrad 539

Calculated Losses: Molière, Regnard, and the Changing Comic Gamblers of Seventeenth-Century France Michael Call 583

"His usuall Retyremerit": Henry Vaughan's Life and Writing during the English Civil War Thomas Willard 601

Jokes and the Eighteenth-Century Unconscious: Enlightening the Early-Modern European Id Allison P. Coudert 623

Enjoying the Waters: Cross-Class Leisure and Pleasure at the Eighteenth Century British Spa Melvyn Lloyd Draper 673

Nine Men's Medievalisms: Conquests of the Longbow, Nine Men's Morris, and the Impossibilities of a Half-Forgotten Game's Ludic Past Kevin Moberly Brent Moberly 695

Biographical Notes about the Contributors 735

Index 743