Title Human agency in medieval society, 1100-1450 / Ionuţ Epurescu-Pascovici

Published Woodbridge : Boydell Press, 2021

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Description 1 online resource (304 pages, 3 plates) : illustrations, map Contents Introduction -- Articulating human and divine agency : histories and self-narratives -- Lordship and local politics : the cartulary of an aristocratic family -- To render an account of one's deeds : The Livres de Raison -- The social uses of life-writing : the Tuscan Ricordanze -- A gendered social imaginary : the vernacular literature on social conduct -- Conclusions Summary Argues the case for the individual as autonomous moral agent in the later Middle Ages "Of fundamental importance for any discipline dealing with past societies and cultures. One of the most wide-ranging, sophisticated and imaginative books on medieval history that I have read in a very long time. The way in which the author defines, traces and analyses agency is stunningly original. It will make an immensely important contribution to our understanding of high and late medieval Europe." Professor Björn Weiler, University of Aberystwyth. What did it mean to be an autonomous agent in European medieval society? This book aims to answer that fundamental question, via an examination of a mosaic of case studies drawn from the literate urban middle strata and the lower and middle-rank aristocracy. The social imaginary that informs individual conduct, the patterns of strategic action, and the individuals' sense of effectiveness in the world are reconstructed from "ego-documents", a broad category that includes first-person charters, autobiographical insertions in chronicles, private registers, and memoirs. These range from the better-known, such as the Ménagier de Paris and the histories of Galbert ofvBruges and Salimbene of Parma, to the equally fascinating but more seldom explored French livres de raison and Italian ricordanze. The book's larger aim is to historicise the autonomous moral agent. Neither belief in divine intervention nor feudal relations inhibited individuals' social agency. The emphasis on hierarchy and order in medieval normative texts is shown in a different light, as part of the effort to restrain social subalterns, whose potential for agency caused anxiety. Whereas power is often structural, an effect of institutions which, however, were only just developing, the book argues that agency is a more apposite construct for capturing the salient medieval concerns with the possibilities and effects of individual and collective action. I. EPURESCU-PASCOVICI received his PhD in medieval studies from Cornell University. He is a researcher in the Humanities Division of the Research Institute of the University of Bucharest Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages [273]-297) and index Subject Civilization, Medieval. Individualism -- Europe -- History -- To 1500 Autonomy (Psychology) -- Europe -- History -- To 1500 Agent (Philosophy) -- History -- To 1500 HISTORY / Medieval. Agent (Philosophy) Autonomy (Psychology) Civilization, Medieval Individualism SUBJECT Europe -- History -- 476-1492. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85045690 Subject Europe Genre/Form History Form Electronic book ISBN 9781800101982 1800101988 9781800101975 180010197X

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