The Making of Manners and Morals in Twelfth-Century England: The Book of the Civilised Man / Edition 1

by Fiona Whelan

Overview

How different are we from those in the past? Or, how different do we think we are from those in the past? Medieval people were more dirty and unhygienic than us – as novels, TV, and film would have us believe – but how much truth is there in this notion? This book seeks to challenge some of these preconceptions by examining medieval society through rules of conduct, and specifically through the lens of a medieval Latin text entitled The Book of the Civilised Man – or Urbanus magnus – which is attributed to Daniel of Beccles.

Urbanus magnus is a twelfth-century poem of almost 3,000 lines which comprehensively surveys the day-to-day life of medieval society, including issues such as moral behaviour, friendship, marriage, hospitality, table manners, and diet. Currently, it is a neglected source for the social and cultural history of daily life in medieval England, but by incorporating modern ideas of disgust and taboo, and merging anthropology, sociology, and archaeology with history, this book aims to bring it to the fore, and to show that medieval people did have standards of behaviour. Although they may seem remote to modern ‘civilised’ people, there is both continuity and change in human behaviour throughout the centuries.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138696297
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/09/2017
Pages:	244
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Fiona Whelan completed her DPhil in Medieval History at the University of Oxford in 2015, and has previously studied at Trinity College Dublin and University College London. She has published on manuscript dissemination and has contributed to the collection Transformations and Continuities in the Eleventh Century: The Archaeology of the Norman Conquest. She currently works for the University of Oxford and her research interests include the cultivation of norms of behaviour, food and diet in the medieval period, household administration, and the manuscript culture of early courtesy literature.

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Abbreviations

Manuscript Sigla

Introduction

Chapter 1. The Background to Urbanus Magnus

Content

Introduction to the Manuscripts

Composition

Authorship

Chapter 2. Genre and Urbanus Magnus

Scholarship on Urbanus Magnus

The Genre of Courtesy Literature

The Origins of Courtesy Literature

Other Sources

Chapter 3. The Manuscript Evidence

Twelfth-Century Satire

An Educational Tool

Religious Use

A Medical Text

Chapter 4. Introduction to Themes

Chapter 5. The Medieval Household and Beyond

Administering the Household

Householder, Home, and Hospitality

Children and Wives

Staff and Servants

Outside the Household

Social Mobility and Appropriate Courtesy

Chapter 6. The Medieval Body in Urbanus Magnus

Bodily Moderation and Restraint

Speech and Laughter

Bodily Vices

The Body and Sex

Bodily Emissions

Disgust

Chapter 7. Medieval Dining and Diet

The Archaeological Evidence

The Medieval Meal

Preparation and Consumption

Manners

Continuity and Change

Diet and Health

Chapter 8. New Interpretations

The Impetus for and Precursors to Urbanus Magnus

Origins

Social Habitus

The Court of Henry II

‘A Monument to Anxiety’

Use

The Impact of Urbanus Magnus

Conclusion

Appendix: Contenances de table poems

Bibliography

Index