Conflicted Identities and Multiple Masculinities: Men in the Medieval West (Garland Medieval Casebooks, 25)

"Conflicting Identities and Multiple Masculinities" takes as its focus the construction of masculinity in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages until the fifteenth century, crossing from pre-Christian Scandinavia across western Christendom. The essays consult a broad and representative cross section of sources including the work of theological, scholastic, and monastic writers, sagas, hagiography and memoirs, material culture, chronicles, "exampla" and vernacular literature, sumptuary legislation, and the records of ecclesiastical courts. The studies address questions of what constituted male identity, and male sexuality. How was masculinity constructed in different social groups? How did the secular and ecclesiastical ideals of masculinity reinforce each other or diverge? These essays address the topic of medieval men and, through a variety of theoretical, methodological, and disciplinary approaches, significantly extend our understanding of how, in the Middle Ages, masculinity and identity were conflicted and multifarious. Unresolved Syllogism : The Search For A Christian Gender System / Jo Ann Mcnamara -- Secular And Spiritual Fatherhood In The Eleventh Century / Megan Mclaughlin -- Jean Gerson And Traumas Of Masculine Affectivity And Sexuality / Brian Patrick Mcguire -- Mystical Castration : Some Reflections On Peter Abelard, Hugh Of Lincoln And Sexual Control / Jacqueline Murray -- Medieval Masculinities And Modern Interpretations : The Problem Of The Pardoner / Vern L. Bullough With Gwen Whitehead Brewer -- Triangularity In The Pagan North : The Case Of Bjo̦rn Arngeirsson And þórǒr Kolbeinsson / Jenny Jochens -- Steel Corpse : Imaging The Knight In Death / Rachel Dressler -- Chivalric Conversation And The Denial Of Male Fear / Andrew Taylor -- Separating The Men From The Goats : Masculinity, Civilization And Identity Formation In The Medieval University / Ruth Mazo Karras -- Gravitas And Consumption / Susan Mosher Stuard -- Men And Masculinity In Late Medieval London Civic Culture : Governance, Patriarchy And Reputation / Shannon Mcsheffrey -- Loved Him, Hated Her : Honor And Shame At The Medieval Court / John Carmi Parsons. Edited By Jacqueline Murray. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 CONFLICTED IDENTITIES AND MULTIPLE MASCULINITIES MEN IN THE MEDIEVAL WEST 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Introduction 10 An Unresolved Syllogism: The Search for a Christian Gender System 22 Secular and Spiritual Fatherhood in the Eleventh Century 46 Jean Gerson and Traumas of Masculine Affectivity and Sexuality 66 Mystical Castration: Some Reflections on Peter Abelard, Hugh of Lincoln and Sexual Control 94 Medieval Masculinities and Modern Interpretations: The Problem of the Pardoner 114 Triangularity in the Pagan North: The Case of Bjorn Arngeirsson and póròr Kolbeinsson 132 Steel Corpse: Imaging the Knight in Death 156 Chivalric Conversation and the Denial of Male Fear 190 Separating the Men from the Goats: Masculinity, Civilization and Identity Formation in the Medieval University 210 Gravitas and Consumption 236 Men and Masculinity in Late Medieval London Civic Culture: Governance, Patriarchy and Reputation 264 "Loved Him—Hated Her": Honor and Shame at the Medieval Court 300 Contributors 320 Index 324 Men in the Medieval West These essays address the topic of medieval men and, through a variety of theoretical, methodological and disciplinary approaches, aim to extend understanding of how, in the Middle Ages, masculinity and identity were conflicted and multifarious Conflicted Identities takes as its focus the construction of masculinity in Western Europe from the early Middle Ages until the fifteenth century, crossing from pre-Christian Scandinavia across western Christendom. The "facts of life," rooted in the too, too solid flesh, seem to subject human society to an immutable tyranny of genes, blood and sex.