medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
cecilia gaposchkin wrote:
> medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> Many thanks to Dr. Field for reminding us all that Louis IX was not
> the only royal saint the Capetians produced -- just the only one who
> got the official recognition of the pope!
>
> The question this poses for me -- just what exactly was it about
> Blanche of Castille that produced suchh children? And more so, how
> both Isabelle and Louis, but also Charles of Anjou?
>
> M.C.Gaposchkin, Ph.D.
> History, Dartmouth College
I became very interested in this question and did a paper on it in
graduate school, looking at Capetian-Angevin saints within the family
system, using family system psychiatric theory as the basis for
examination. I was not able to get enough information on enough
individuals to draw conclusions that satisfied me, but such terrific
studies of various Capetians have been done in the last few years that I
think results would be much better. Still, there is good evidence for
a number of family situations. I came out of the study with a
tremendous affection & admiration for Blanche, & great respect for
Charles of Anjou [whose manuscript collection & support of troubadours
is not adequately noted]. I had planned to give a paper on this at the
Haskins Society last fall but a family crisis made that not happen.
A paragraph:
"Family systems theory contains certain assumptions: that a person is a
combination of intellectual and emotional systems, that the intellect
has the option of supporting or countering the emotional, that any
behavior of an individual or couple is part of a larger pattern of
family dynamic, that people are not autonomous in their emotional
functioning but function in reciprocal relationships with one another.
To call this functioning and reciprocity a system does not explain the
processes involved: it describes them. These processes exist in all
families, more exaggerated in some than in others. To study
families, this theory uses eight concepts as templates, derived from
traditional psychological theory but from observation: /differentiation
of self, triangles, nuclear family emotional process, family projection
process, multi-generational transmission process, sibling position,
emotional cutoff, and societal emotional process/ -- all descriptions of
ongoing processes across spectra of intensity which can usefully
describe families from any culture. Three of the templates decribe
over-all family processes; five concern particular details within the
processes. Bowen used the quotation from Tristram Shandy [see
below] to illustrate how these concepts function. I will illustrate
brief explanations of the templates with correspondences from Angevin
lives before looking at more two general aspects of the Capetian-Angevin
family system. There may well be more individuals available for
consideration with more information more easily accessible than any
other royal family until the Tudors, and they provide numerous
illustrations of the eight concepts. The Capetian-Angevins encompass,
at a minimum, 125 individuals over six -- even eight -- generations,
beginning with Guillaume IX, grandfather of Elinor of Acquitaine (Figure
2), continuing through the grandchildren of Charles II of Naples. The
amount of information on a few of these is disproportionately large;
some have been almost completely ignored. The kind of information
varies a great deal from one individual to the next and it is difficult
to be sure of many dates and ages. But they were a highly literate
family surrounded by writers -- poets as well as lawyers and clerks.
They were passionately involved in thirteenth century European politics
from Spain to Greece and from Scotland to Hungary -- and aroused
pasionate reactions -- and much was written down."
These people were remarkably healthy, at least the women, with Elinor of
Aquitaine having at least 10 live births and living to 82, & Blanche
with 12 and living to 64. The other primary women in the family have
comparable numbers. I suspect that the trip in which Elinor of A
escorted her teenage granddaughter Blanche to her French marriage
contained a glorious amount of information & advice.
I am not satisfied with this paper but would share it with people who
are really interested in the ideas, who request it off-list
DW
Le procès de canonisation de Saint Louis (1271-1297): Essai de
reconstitution. Louis Carolus-Barré (Rome 1994). [The death of Blanche]
"Cinq ou six jours avant sa mort, alitée à Pontoise, dans l'abbaye
qu'ell fondée, elle demanda l'havit des religieuses, et le
rec[cedilla]ut de main de l'évêque de Paris qui lui avait donné la
communion; et comme, en la revêtant de l'habit, il ajoutait la
restriction "en cas de mort," elle déclara qu'à la vie ou à la mort elle
voudrait être religieuse, et, depuis ce moment, obéit à l'abbesse comme
la dernièe des religieuses. Ayant re[cedilla] les sacrements, et la
mort approchant déjà, ell avait perdu la parole; les prêtres et les
clercs présents hésitaient, ne sachant que faire; tout a coup elle se
mit d'elle-même à entonner la prière de la recommandation de l'âme:
Subvenite sancti Dei, et rendit l'âme oey à oey cgabtabt ebtre ses debts
ka syute de cette irausib, Saubte racube d'où sont sortis de si saints
rameaux, le roi d'abortd, puis le comte d'Artois, martyr de fait, et
comte de Poitiers, martyr de désir."
“Though in one sense, our family was certainly a simple machine, as it
consisted of a few wheels, yet there was this much to be said for it,
that these wheels were set in motion by so many different springs, and
acted on upon the other from such a variety of strange principles and
impulses--that though it was a simple machine, it had all the honor and
advantages of a complex one--and a number of as odd movements within it,
as ever were beheld in the inside of a Dutch silkmill."
Tristram Shandy, Laurence Sterne, 1762.
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|
