Jean Gerson’s private/public issue
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-3-47-64
Abstract
The article deals with the concept of private/public in the late Middle Ages’ culture. This opposition is considered by the works of Jean Gerson (1363–1429), an outstanding French theologian, chancellor of the University of Paris and Royal advisor. The author traces the development of that concept in Gerson’s works, his sometimes inconsistent and even paradoxical conclusions in relation to the intimate sphere of human existence (marriage, sexual relations between husband and wife), as well as in relation to more general issue of religious experiences of an individual (female mysticism, the nature of revelation, the discretio spirituum). The article deals also with Jean Gerson’s attitude to reading and books in general, as well as to the images, the study of which was condemned by the theologian. The author comes to the conclusion about the instability of the concepts of “private” and “public” in Western Europe at the turn of the 14th–15th centuries, as evidenced not only by the work of Jean Gerson, but also by texts of other genres.
Keywords
private,
public,
France,
late Middle Ages,
Jean Gerson,
female
mysticism,
private life,
reading, books,
miniatures
About the Author
O. I. Togoeva
Institute of World History, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Olga I. Togoeva, Dr. of Sci. (History)
bld. 32а, Leninsky Av., Moscow, 119334
References
1. Karasev, N.A. (2016), “Western mysticism in search of its own path in the knowledge of God: Meister Eckhart, Jean Gerson and Nicholas of Cusa”, Obshestvo: filosofija, istorija, kultura, vol. 10, pp. 30–33.
2. Togoeva, O.I. (2016), Eretichka, stavshaja svjatoj. Dve zizni Jeanne’ d’Arc [Heretic turned Saint. Two lifes of Joan of Arc], Center for humanitarian initiatives, Moscow, SaintPetersburg, Russia.
3. Togoeva, O.I. (2018a), Dela ploti. Intimnaja zizn’ ljudej Srednevekovja v prostranstve sudebnoj polemiki [Deeds of the flesh. Intimate life and judicial polemics in the Middle Ages], Center for humanitarian initiatives, Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Russia.
4. Togoeva, O.I. (2018b), “Idiotas, ac sine litteris mulierculas”? Jean Gerson and phenomenon of female sanctity”, in Yazik, S.A., ed., Europa sanctorum. Social, political and cultural aspects of Holiness in the Middle Ages, Aleteia, Moscow, Russia, pp. 143–158.
5. Arnaud-Gillet, C. (ed.) (1997), Entre Dieu et Satan: Les visions d’Ermine de Reims (d. 1396), SISMEL, Firenze, Italy.
6. Caciola, N. (2003), Discerning Spirits: Divine and Demonic Possession in the Middle Ages. Cornell University Press, New York, USA.
7. Calvot, D. and Ouy, G. (1999), L’Œuvre de Gerson à Saint-Victor de Paris, catalogue des manuscrits. CNRS, Paris, France.
8. Camille, M. (1992), Images on the Edge. The Margins of Medieval Art, Reaktion Books, London, UK.
9. Elliott, D. (2004), Proving Woman: Female Spirituality and Inquisitional Culture in the Later Middle Age, Princeton University Press, Princeton, USA.
10. Huot, S. (1993), The Romance of the Rose and its Medieval Readers: Interpretation, Reception, Manuscript Transmission, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
11. McGuire, B.P. (1997), “Late Medieval Care and Control of Women: Jean Gerson and His Sisters”, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, vol. 92, pp. 5–37.
12. McGuire, B.P. (2005), Jean Gerson and the Last Medieval Reformation. Pennsylvania State university press, University Park, USA.
13. McGuire, B.P., ed. (2006), A Companion to Jean Gerson, Brill, Leiden, Netherlands.
14. McNamara, J.A. (1993), “The Rhetoric of Orthodoxy: Clerical Authority and Female Innovation in the Struggle with Heresy”, in Wiethaus, U., ed., Maps of Flesh and Light: The Religious Experience of Medieval Women Mystics, Syracuse University Press, New York, USA, pp. 9–27.
15. Ouy, G. (1998), Gerson bilingue, les deux rédactions, latine et française, de quelques œuvres du chancelier parisien, Champion, Paris, France.
16. Verdeyen, P. (1986), “Le procès d’inquisition contre Marguerite Porete et Guiard de Cressonessart”, Revue d’histoire ecclésiastique, vol. 81, pp. 47–94.
17. Vial, M. (2006), Jean Gerson, théoricien de la théologie mystique, Vrin, Paris, France.
18. Weyer, G. (2006), “The Roman de la Rose manuscript in Duesseldorf”, in Bek, C. and Braet, H., eds., De la Rose. Texte, Image, Fortune, Peeters, Louvain, Paris, France; Dudley, USA, pp. 117–140.
Review
For citations:
Togoeva O.I. Jean Gerson’s private/public issue. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2020;(3):47-64. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2020-3-47-64
Views:
229
Email this article 