S. Billington
Midsummer
A Cultural Sub-Text from Chrétien de Troyes to Jean Michel.
XIV+249 p., incl. 13 b/w ills., 160 x 240 mm, 2001
ISBN: 978-2-503-51084-2
Languages: English
Hardback
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This publication is based on new and
original research from archives in France and the Low Countries,
concerning customs and beliefs practised around the midsummer solstice
in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
This book is based on fresh and original
research from archives in France and the Low Countries, concerning
customs and beliefs practised around the midsummer solstice. The
information has never previously been considered and it reveals a
festive treatment of divisiveness, which might also be politically
engaged. The book shows how in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
these traditions were not solely observed by the lower classes. A study
of texts throughout the Middle Ages shows that the significance of St
John's Day was a valued source for some major writers, and it can
be argued that it was even the rationale for works such as
Chrétien's Yvain, and the anonymous Perlesvaus. The midsummer
customs also appear in the civic records of Leuven and Metz, in periods
where the city authorities were strong enough to break free of feudal
controls. Their civic freedom was expressed at the Feast of the
Baptist's Nativity, and this appropriation by the bourgeoisie
informs the romance, Galeran. The rationale of Midsummer is to examine
the disparate, but interlinked uses of the customs, and to bring to the
awareness of scholars festive influences current in Europe before the
better known influence of Carnival; also to discuss their seminal
importance for early fiction and for the theatre. The book further
reveals that pre-Christian belief in Chance / Fortune was supported by
the phenomenon of the Solstice and that John the Baptist's
Nativity, placed on 24 June, provided a way for Christian Fathers to
allow for this, safely. [Sandra Billington is a Reader at the
University of Glasgow.]
Review
"(...)
Billington's monograph shows a great amount of background reading
and adds significantly to our impressions of and knowledge about the
Middle Ages in France, its literature (theater), and culture. The book
can even be recommended to undergraduates." (E. DuBruck in
Fifteenth-Century Studies, 31 (2005), p.7-12)
This publication is also distributed by: ISD, Marston