Passion and Order

Restraint of Grief in the Medieval Italian Communes

Bibliographic Data

ID5844620
AuthorsDonald S Prudlo (Jacksonville State University, corresponding author)
Year2009
Volume124
Issue508
Pages686-687
Publication date2009-05-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe English Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-8266 • E-ISSN: 1477-4534
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ehr/cep091
OpenAlexW1996958069
LanguageEN
Citations received8

In his work on the cult of the saints, Peter Brown writes 'burial customs are among the most notoriously stable aspects of most cultures'. In the midst of this massive stability, slight changes in emphasis can betoken significant cultural shifts. A detailed and nuanced analysis of one such shift, a 'rare change in funeral ritual' (p. 217), is the subject of this work. Carol Lansing has given us another example of her ability to trawl through Italian archives and piece together compelling and interesting stories that shed light on the world of the medieval communes. Building on her previous studies of Florence and, particularly, her very deep knowledge of Orvieto, this study broadens its scope to consider rituals of grieving across wide swaths of European history. Employing an impressive number of sources-artistic, literary, theological, and legal-Lansing paints a picture of medieval Italian grief set against the backdrop of western attitudes and developments in the theory and practice of death rituals. Throughout the book Lansing uses gender analysis both to show how attitudes towards grief developed in the Mediterranean world and to map how perceptions about restraining it were spoken of using gendered language. She begins with a brief overview of the political system of the Italian communes, which provides the necessary glossary and vocabulary for most of her discussion. Next, she moves on to the actual practice of the Italian communes as regards funerals and sets the stage for her argument by providing evidence of male laments in the period before 1300. She then offers three very distinct, and very different, chapters on perceptions of grieving. In the first, the ancients and the Church fathers have their say, drawing a picture both of the nobility of male grief, and efforts to feminise the category of lamentation. The next chapter discusses late antique and medieval Christian perspectives on grief, introducing a subtle discussion of the renewal of clerical interest in expressions of sorrow, not only for the dead, but for sin. This is given visual representation by the increasing predominance during the middle ages of graphic crucifixion scenes. Contrary to expectation, this new Christian interest was not the source of communal efforts to control the expressions of grief

Cult · Passion · Medieval Literature and History

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