The Book of Nature and Humanity in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Arizona Studies in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance)

"Some modern commentators welcome the alleged approach of the "post-human" era as a liberation from the constraints of essentialist identity. Others lament it as a harbinger of the death of the soul. But both groups will find it instructive to consider that the nature of humanity has always been a contested topic. The chapters collected here suggest that the emergence of the modern idea of the human was at least as fraught a process as its putative demise. David Hawkes and Richard G. Newhauser have selected a wide array of contributions for this volume. Renowned scholars from several disciplines have produced a series of fascinating essays, which concentrate on the relation between humanity and nature as it was understood in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The issues they examine range from poaching to flatulence, from Aztec animal symbolism to Jesus's grandmother, from tulips to the Trinity. Some chapters examine a wide variety of popular texts, from the bloody legend of Robert the Devil to the sinister magic of the Anglo-Saxon "wen charm," from Lutheran Books of Nature to Emperor Maximillian's wedding. The result is a book that raises intriguing implications for the modern struggle over the meaning of mankind."-- Publisher's website Introduction: Boundaries of the Human, p. xi David Hawkes, Richard G. Newhauser The Discovery of the Mountain as an Epistemological Challenge: A Paradigm Shift in the Approach to Highly Elevated Nature. Petrarch’s Ascent to Mont Ventoux and Emperor Maximilian’s Theuerdank, p. 3 Albrecht Classen The Lutheran Book of Nature, p. 19 Kathleen Crowther A Missionary Manual: Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s Florentine Codex in Relationship to European Bestiaries, p. 41 Laura Kilian Of Incontinence and Incontinentia: Women’s Flatulence in the Poetry of Rustico Filippi, p. 71 Fabian Alfie Theodoric of York: Teaching Medieval Medicine and Natural Philosophy in the Modern Medical Curriculum (or: How I learned to Stop Apologizing for Teaching “Bad Medicine”), p. 87 Brenda S. Gardenour Walter Root, Branch, and Flower: Lineage and Fecundity in the Versified Offices for St. Anne, p. 105 Michael Alan Anderson Crossing the Boundaries of the Civic, the Natural, and the Supernatural in Medieval and Renaissance Europe, p. 133 William Bradford Smith Freiberg’s Tulip Pulpit: Hybrid Nature and Civic Politics, p. 157 Guita Lamsechi Poaching and Carnival, p. 183 Jacqueline Stuhmiller The Watchdogs of the Soul: The Role of Dogs in the Spiritual Salvation of Robert the Devil, p. 209 Laurence Erussard Archaic Magic of Wolf and Eagle in the Anglo-Saxon “Wen Charm”, p. 223 Marijane Osborn Issues of Humanity in the Rhetoric of Crusade Preaching, p. 241 Charles W. Connell “None Ends Where He Begun”: Astronomical and Polemic Revolutions in John Donne, p. 265 Andrew Fleck Inside and Outside in Gísla saga Súrssonar and Hrafnkels saga Freysgoða, p. 287 Kendra Willson Some modern commentators welcome the alleged approach of the 'post-human' era as a liberation from the constraints of essentialist identity. Others lament it as a harbinger of the death of the soul. But both groups will find it instructive to consider that the nature of humanity has always been a contested topic. The chapters collected here suggest that the emergence of the modern idea of the human was at least as fraught a process as its putative demise. David Hawkes and Richard G. Newhauser have selected a wide array of contributions for this volume. Renowned scholars from several disciplines have produced a series of fascinating essays, which concentrate on the relation between humanity and nature as it was understood in the medieval and early modern periods. The issues they examine range from poaching to flatulence, from Aztec animal symbolism to Jesus's grandmother, from tulips to the Trinity. Some chapters examine a wide variety of popular texts, from the bloody legend of Robert the Devil to the sinister magic of the Anglo-Saxon 'wen charm, ' from Lutheran Books of Nature to Emperor Maximillian's wedding.The result is a book that raises intriguing implications for the modern struggle over the meaning of mankind