- Email: [email protected]
The vox dei: Communication in the middle ages
Book Reviews
882
medieval ideas or, indeed, on law and the legal profession (the omission of Eric Ives’ book on The Common Lawyers of Pre-Reformation England seems particularly surprising). Throughout the book, both legal theory and the words and deeds ofjudges and legislators are treated rather as if they were inspired by the single purpose of revealing or developing fundamental ideas about the law. This may be an acceptable simplification for the purposes of legal history as studied by students reading for a law degree-and, if so, this is, for them, a well-written and well-supported guide-but it is not a simplification which a historian can afford, and, for the likes of us, the value of the work is correspondingly diminished. John L. Watts Merton College, Oxford
The VOX Dei: Communication in the Middle Ages, Sophia Press, 1990), 353 pp., n.p.g.
Menache
(Oxford
University
The title of this book refers to the voice of authority, that of the secular and ecclesiastical ‘communicators’, rather than the populace cited in the famous Roman law maxim, ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’. Although some attention is given to the diffusion of popular heresies, the bulk of Sophia Menache’s study is given to describing the official channels that enforced doctrinal and political conformity in the Middle Ages. The VOXDei is a study of communication in the context of medieval social organisation. It is thus not so much an inventory of the paths of transmission as a description of means of communication such as sermons, crusade propaganda, or government regulations. Instruments of instruction are described in terms of modern communication theory, which is inclined to depict a system and set of rules purporting to transcend particular times, languages, or places. Menache attempts to join the abstract social science method of communication studies to the varied and intricate configuration of medieval society. While there is an at least potentially thought-provoking aspect to such an approach, it does not really succeed in this instance. For one thing it is unclear to whom this book is addressed. It forms a volume in a series called ‘Communication and Society’ whose other contributions are for the most part devoted to television and generally the cultural impact of media. If the intended audience consists of specialists in modern communication, then the work is too erudite and will lose them quickly, especially as early on it is acknowledged that one cannot really speak of ‘media’ in the medieval period. If anything, Menache would appear to confirm the unfortunate conviction of modern social analysts that the past is irrelevant. If, on the other hand, the book is supposed to inform medievalists of the utility of communication theory, this simply falls by the wayside. The definition of such concepts as media, communications, opinion making in the initial sections is not followed up. What follows becomes an episodic treatment of medieval society and culture. The book wanders through a number of topics concerning the Middle Ages without an over-arching theme save the backwardness of medieval means of communication. Three broad areas are discussed: church, kingdoms and heresies. Topics such as crusade preaching or the case of the Templars are handled as incidents in the history of communication without being related to each other. Some of these subjects are interesting
Book Reviews
883
in themselves, such as the controversies between Pope John XXII and elements of the Franciscan Order, but what is presented is familiar to the medievalist while not of obvious import for communications specialists. Despite the author’s unquestionable breadth of knowledge, one is left with what reads as an assortment of miscellaneous and fairly elementary information. There are ways in which the transmission of medieval information might be interpreted according to our notions of communications. Material conditions could be treated in an early Annaliste manner (routes, times, cost, personnel), or the changes resulting from the shift from oral to literary culture could be emphasised. Another approach might be to examine informal and formal means of interaction in matters such as law enforcement. These elements appear, but only intermittently. For the most part, well-worn material is presented with little evidence of a new point of view or a coherent summary of the state of the question. The VOXDei is also disappointing on a more narrow but disturbing level: it is riddled with inconsistent spellings of proper names as well as simple errors. The author is not to be faulted for these as much as her editors at Oxford University Press. Dr Menache is fluent in several languages, but a number of false cognates and malapropisms have been allowed to slip by: p. 22 ‘the bishop ignored the local language’ (for ‘the bishop did nor know the local language’); p. 256 ‘. . . caused Cesena and his companions to be relegated from the Order’ (expelled from the Order); p. 273 ‘. . . ancestral beliefs whose effectivity was still conditioned. .’ Some geographical terms are rendered in unusual forms (p. 24 Mayence), or inconsistently (p. 15 Padova, p. 19 Padua), or incorrectly(p. 21 ‘Fois’, p. 105 ‘Lobbas’). Ultimately this insecurity carries over into what are intended as important statements rendering them almost unintelligible, for example p. 9: ‘The basic differences between modern and medieval societies during the Middle Ages brought about diverging roles of the media beyond the technical level’. There may be a useful purpose in applying communication theory to the Middle Ages, although a degree of skepticism is warrented. Menache does not err on the side of excessive jargon as might be anticipated from applying a disputatious academic field to a new context. Rather she appears to lose the thread of her theoretical approach, leaving the reader with an assortment of observations and anecdotes, learned but formless. Paul Freedman Vanderbilt University
The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution, Roger Chartier 1991), Durham and London, Ii33.20 H.B., E6.95 P.B.
(Duke University
Press,
The title of this book is deliberately based on that of Daniel Mornet’s Les Origines intellectuelles de la r&olution francaise published in 1933, which for so long dominated any debate on the relationship between the Enlightenment and the revolution. Chartier’s substitution of ‘cultural’ for ‘intellectual’ is designed partly to reflect the way in which the history of ideas has altered during the last sixty years, but also to avoid the teleological temptation of assessing the Enlightenment exclusively from the perspective of the revolution which followed. For, as he points out, one could as well reverse the argument that the Enlightenment caused the revolution and claim that the revolution ‘caused’ the Enlightenment, by basing its legitimacy on the arguments of the philosophes. The use of the term ‘culture’ also broadens the scope of enquiry and enables Chartier to draw on
882
medieval ideas or, indeed, on law and the legal profession (the omission of Eric Ives’ book on The Common Lawyers of Pre-Reformation England seems particularly surprising). Throughout the book, both legal theory and the words and deeds ofjudges and legislators are treated rather as if they were inspired by the single purpose of revealing or developing fundamental ideas about the law. This may be an acceptable simplification for the purposes of legal history as studied by students reading for a law degree-and, if so, this is, for them, a well-written and well-supported guide-but it is not a simplification which a historian can afford, and, for the likes of us, the value of the work is correspondingly diminished. John L. Watts Merton College, Oxford
The VOX Dei: Communication in the Middle Ages, Sophia Press, 1990), 353 pp., n.p.g.
Menache
(Oxford
University
The title of this book refers to the voice of authority, that of the secular and ecclesiastical ‘communicators’, rather than the populace cited in the famous Roman law maxim, ‘the voice of the people is the voice of God’. Although some attention is given to the diffusion of popular heresies, the bulk of Sophia Menache’s study is given to describing the official channels that enforced doctrinal and political conformity in the Middle Ages. The VOXDei is a study of communication in the context of medieval social organisation. It is thus not so much an inventory of the paths of transmission as a description of means of communication such as sermons, crusade propaganda, or government regulations. Instruments of instruction are described in terms of modern communication theory, which is inclined to depict a system and set of rules purporting to transcend particular times, languages, or places. Menache attempts to join the abstract social science method of communication studies to the varied and intricate configuration of medieval society. While there is an at least potentially thought-provoking aspect to such an approach, it does not really succeed in this instance. For one thing it is unclear to whom this book is addressed. It forms a volume in a series called ‘Communication and Society’ whose other contributions are for the most part devoted to television and generally the cultural impact of media. If the intended audience consists of specialists in modern communication, then the work is too erudite and will lose them quickly, especially as early on it is acknowledged that one cannot really speak of ‘media’ in the medieval period. If anything, Menache would appear to confirm the unfortunate conviction of modern social analysts that the past is irrelevant. If, on the other hand, the book is supposed to inform medievalists of the utility of communication theory, this simply falls by the wayside. The definition of such concepts as media, communications, opinion making in the initial sections is not followed up. What follows becomes an episodic treatment of medieval society and culture. The book wanders through a number of topics concerning the Middle Ages without an over-arching theme save the backwardness of medieval means of communication. Three broad areas are discussed: church, kingdoms and heresies. Topics such as crusade preaching or the case of the Templars are handled as incidents in the history of communication without being related to each other. Some of these subjects are interesting
Book Reviews
883
in themselves, such as the controversies between Pope John XXII and elements of the Franciscan Order, but what is presented is familiar to the medievalist while not of obvious import for communications specialists. Despite the author’s unquestionable breadth of knowledge, one is left with what reads as an assortment of miscellaneous and fairly elementary information. There are ways in which the transmission of medieval information might be interpreted according to our notions of communications. Material conditions could be treated in an early Annaliste manner (routes, times, cost, personnel), or the changes resulting from the shift from oral to literary culture could be emphasised. Another approach might be to examine informal and formal means of interaction in matters such as law enforcement. These elements appear, but only intermittently. For the most part, well-worn material is presented with little evidence of a new point of view or a coherent summary of the state of the question. The VOXDei is also disappointing on a more narrow but disturbing level: it is riddled with inconsistent spellings of proper names as well as simple errors. The author is not to be faulted for these as much as her editors at Oxford University Press. Dr Menache is fluent in several languages, but a number of false cognates and malapropisms have been allowed to slip by: p. 22 ‘the bishop ignored the local language’ (for ‘the bishop did nor know the local language’); p. 256 ‘. . . caused Cesena and his companions to be relegated from the Order’ (expelled from the Order); p. 273 ‘. . . ancestral beliefs whose effectivity was still conditioned. .’ Some geographical terms are rendered in unusual forms (p. 24 Mayence), or inconsistently (p. 15 Padova, p. 19 Padua), or incorrectly(p. 21 ‘Fois’, p. 105 ‘Lobbas’). Ultimately this insecurity carries over into what are intended as important statements rendering them almost unintelligible, for example p. 9: ‘The basic differences between modern and medieval societies during the Middle Ages brought about diverging roles of the media beyond the technical level’. There may be a useful purpose in applying communication theory to the Middle Ages, although a degree of skepticism is warrented. Menache does not err on the side of excessive jargon as might be anticipated from applying a disputatious academic field to a new context. Rather she appears to lose the thread of her theoretical approach, leaving the reader with an assortment of observations and anecdotes, learned but formless. Paul Freedman Vanderbilt University
The Cultural Origins of the French Revolution, Roger Chartier 1991), Durham and London, Ii33.20 H.B., E6.95 P.B.
(Duke University
Press,
The title of this book is deliberately based on that of Daniel Mornet’s Les Origines intellectuelles de la r&olution francaise published in 1933, which for so long dominated any debate on the relationship between the Enlightenment and the revolution. Chartier’s substitution of ‘cultural’ for ‘intellectual’ is designed partly to reflect the way in which the history of ideas has altered during the last sixty years, but also to avoid the teleological temptation of assessing the Enlightenment exclusively from the perspective of the revolution which followed. For, as he points out, one could as well reverse the argument that the Enlightenment caused the revolution and claim that the revolution ‘caused’ the Enlightenment, by basing its legitimacy on the arguments of the philosophes. The use of the term ‘culture’ also broadens the scope of enquiry and enables Chartier to draw on