| Paper 1704-c | The Wife of Bath's Bread, the Yeoman's Sword and Dagger: Social Status, Gender, and Material Culture
(Language: English)
Oya Bayıltmış Öğütcü, Department of English Language & Literature, Hacettepe University, Ankara
Index terms: Gender Studies, Language and Literature - Middle English, Mentalities, Social History |
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| Abstract | Paper -a:
The families of Orsanmichele, resident from as early as the 12th century, formed a critical part in the development of the representative system of government in Florence during the 13th and early 14th centuries. They were leading citizens and served as members of the nascent communal government, as merchants and guild leaders, and, importantly, as representatives in the imperial-communal court system located at Orsanmichele during the 12th to mid-13th centuries, before it moved to the Bargello. The families developed a fierce sense of independence and enterprise, standing particularly in contrast to the magnate families resident to the north, in the area of the cathedral. Their political, economic, and financial prowess gave birth to the Florentine grain market at Orsanmichele, which proved to be both a lifeline for the populace between 1250 and the mid-1340s and a symbolic triumph for the communal form of government. In the late 13th century, certain families also worked to establish, and then anchor, the Confraternity of Orsanmichele as a mainstay of Florentine religious, social, and political life, accumulating great wealth and power, and working with the commune to serve as a social safety net for the Florentine populace. This paper will consider the families, the court system, and the grain market of Orsanmichele, with its nascent Confraternity, as part of the development of self-government and communal liberties in late medieval Florence.
Paper -b:
In Late Medieval Flanders, tile stoves took a central place in the living quarters of castles, abbeys, and wealthy urban houses. Elaborately decorated, they were more than just an innovative heating system. Their heraldic and religious displays often expressed personal values and political views. Past excavations have uncovered several tile stoves relating to the Burgundian court. A multidisciplinary approach, combining archaeometrical, contextual and iconographical data allows us to address the various aspects of gift exchange, social status, and cultural identity.
Paper -c:
Chaucer’s Wife of Bath and Yeoman display their perceptions of gender identity through some important elements of medieval material culture: the bread (feminine), the sword and the dagger (masculine). Associating the types of bread with different groups of women, the Wife of Bath exhibits in the prologue to her tale not only the connection between bread and social status but also the connection between bread and gender identity. Likewise, according to the General Prologue, the Yeoman has sword and dagger, which displays the association of weapons with masculinity despite the fact that these weapons are not proper for him in terms of his social status. Thus, the aim of this paper is to discuss the perceptions of material culture through an analysis of the perception of bread in the prologue to The Wife of Bath’s Tale, and the perception of sword and dagger in the portrait of the Yeoman in the General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales.
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