The Stranger in Medieval Society

1997

Frank. R. P. Akehurst and Stephanie Cain Van D’Elden, editors

Examines the presence of outsiders in medieval Europe.

The first collection in medieval studies to concentrate on the notion of the stranger, these essays show how outsiders influenced the culture of Europe in the Middle Ages.

Contributors: William Calin, Susan Crane, Maria Dobozy, Edward R. Haymes, William Chester Jordan, Derek Pearsall, William D. Phillips Jr., Kathryn L. Reyerson, and Janet L. Solberg.

Well-crafted, informative, and well-documented. Read it to extend your horizons in medieval studies.

Parergon

Examines the presence of outsiders in medieval Europe.

Whether welcome or unwelcome, voluntary or involuntary, strangers appear in every society; they leave their own communities, venture into new environments, confront differences, and often spark changes. The first collection in medieval studies to concentrate on the notion of the stranger, these essays show how outsiders influenced the culture of Europe in the Middle Ages.

Among the topics explored are Edward III and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight as historical and literary instances of chivalric skill and courage; political conflict in the late French epic Renaut de Montauban; and a group of people who were doubly strangers-some thirty thousand Jews, who after being expelled from France in 1306 returned under an experimental agreement a few years later.

Contributors: William Calin, U of Florida; Susan Crane, Rutgers; Maria Dobozy, U of Utah; Edward R. Haymes, Cleveland State U; William Chester Jordan, Princeton U; Derek Pearsall, Harvard U; William D. Phillips Jr., U of Minnesota; Kathryn L. Reyerson, U of Minnesota; and Janet L. Solberg, Kalamazoo College.

F. R. P. Akehurst is professor of French in the Department of French and Italian at the University of Minnesota. Stephanie Cain Van D’Elden is director of graduate studies for the program in Germanic philology at the University of Minnesota.

168 pages
Medieval Cultures Series, volume 12
Translation rights: University of Minnesota Press

F.R.P. Akehurst is professor of French at the University of Minnesota.

Stephanie Van d’Elden is a former director of graduate studies for the program in Germanic philology at the University of Minnesota.

Well-crafted, informative, and well-documented. Read it to extend your horizons in medieval studies.

Parergon

Contents

Preface

1. The Merchants of the Mediterranean: Merchants as Strangers Kathryn L. Reyerson
2. Voluntary Strangers: European Merchants and Missionaries in Asia during the Late Middle Ages William D. Phillips Jr.
3. Home Again: The Jews in the Kingdom of France, 1315–1322 William Chester Jordan
4. Strangers in Late-Fourteenth-Century London Derek Pearsall
5. Knights in Disguise: Identity and Incognito in Fourteenth-Century Chivalry Susan Crane
6. The Sexual Stranger: The Sexual Quest in Wolfram’s Parzival Edward R. Haymes
7. Creating Credibility and Truth through Performance: Kelin’s Encomium Maria Dobozy
8. The Stranger and the Problematics of the Epic of Revolt: Renaut de Montauban William Calin
9. “Who Was That Masked Man?”: Disguise and Deception in Medieval and Renaissance Comic Literature Janet L. Solberg

Contributors
Index