SC - BMR: Woolgar, The Great Household (Rosenthal) (fwd)
sjk3 at cornell.edu
sjk3 at cornell.edu
Mon Feb 19 08:44:20 PST 2001
I thought this book might be of interest to people on the list. The
review is rather long; this is just a bit of it. If anyone would like
the whole thing, I could send it to the off-list.
Sandra Kisner
sjk3 at cornell.edu
- ---------- Forwarded message ----------
C. M. Woolgar. <i>The Great Household in Late Medieval
England</i>. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999. Pp. 288.
$40.00. ISBN 0-300-07687-8.
Reviewed by Joel T. Rosenthal
State University of New York at Stony Brook
jrosenthal at notes.cc.sunysb.edu
The (great) household is obviously a topic of considerable
interest, whether we come to it from the perspective of upper
class and gentry social and political configurations, or from
that of consumption and display and related economic issues, or
from that of popular and privatized religion, or from that of
architectural styles and innovations and of cultural patronage.
It is a topic that Christopher Woolgar has made very much his
own (though not exclusively his own), and he comes to this
scholarly-cum-general survey with a two volume edition of
household accounts and some specialized articles already to his
credit.
Drawing mainly on these case studies (and a lot of material
about the royal court, and wherever else he can dip for
pertinent information), Woolgar's guided tour is arranged to
address those aspects of the late medieval household that he
expects us to inquire about: size, membership, and
hospitality; servants; space and residences; rhythms of the
household; food and drink; cooking and the meal; the senses,
religion and intellectual life; travel, horses and other
animals.
As Woolgar has blocked out his project, I have few criticisms.
We have some excellent detailed work along this line--most
recently, ffiona Swabey's book on Alice de Brienne--but
judicious generalizations are always welcome. Though the Yale
Press deserves credit for bringing out this attractive book,
the absence of a bibliography is not compensated for by a few
pages of abbreviated references or a glossary (from "All
Saints" to "yeoman"). Scholarship should be able to assert
some demands, if only to fly the flag of tradition (from the
battlements, perhaps, as we come over the rise as see the
towers of such a great household as the one existing and
functioning with the walls of Warwick Castle).
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list