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Childhood Disability and Social Integration in the Middle Ages: Constructions of Impairments in Thirteenth- and Fourteenth-Century Canonization Processes by Jenni Kuuliala (review)

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options of resolution, for or against, followed by a solution (p. 72). In this sense, quaestiones were academic exercises, sometimes oral, other times written, with affinities to the university disputations… Click to show full abstract

options of resolution, for or against, followed by a solution (p. 72). In this sense, quaestiones were academic exercises, sometimes oral, other times written, with affinities to the university disputations or quodlibets, which were the most popular academic exercise of the medieval university. Martina Šárovcová discusses a hitherto unknown illuminated fragment of the Decretum, noting the miniatures that visualize each of the thirty-six lawsuits under consideration (p. 142). The thirty-second case examines a man requesting separation from his infertile wife, also complaining that she is a whore. Giovanna Murano considers a list of paleae (interpolations) in a Vatican Library manuscript of the Decretum. Bradley Franco draws attention to fourteenth-century legislation which reveals eager bishops pledging to excommunicate any one practising simony, including clerics, while similar laws tried to regulate clerical behaviour and ameliorate public perception. He also notes that because clerical misconduct was considered a leading cause of anticlericalism, priests were forbidden to enter taverns, warned to stay away from disreputable women telling jokes in or around a church, and the like. One of the compelling expositions is the chapter by Andrea Vanina Neyra on the topic of women in Burchard of Worms (pp. 40–63). Burchard’s collection of laws may be the most important before Gratian. Here, we find comment on superstition, night-riding, the devil, pagan Diana, practice of the evil arts, and the need to expel such practitioners as heretics in order to preserve the faith from the plague of heresy. Connections with the later witch-hunts are possible. In another essay, Paola Maffei notes that in 1385 an anonymous wealthy man in Padua, who had no children, donated his current and future assets to a sacred painting. The lawyers were flummoxed over the validity of the gift and the question of who should enjoy the assets. As Bradley Franco reminds us, law is prescriptive and has limitations as a window into the past. Its impact on the lives of medieval people requires additional research with different sets of material. This book raises as many good and interesting queries as Jiří Kejř did in his own publishing career that spanned fifty-five years. I suspect he would be pleased. thoMas a. fudGe, University of New England

Keywords: childhood disability; fourteenth century; integration middle; social integration; century; disability social

Journal Title: Parergon
Year Published: 2018

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