Rural Space in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Age: The Spatial Turn in Premodern Studies

After Classen’s (emeritus, German studies, U. of Arizona) near 200-page introduction, mostly US but also some Austrian medievalists explore depictions of rural space in the European middle ages. Among their topics are rural space and agricultural space in the Old French fabliaux, answering the challenges of social decay in William Langland’s Piers Plowman, Juan Manuel’s Libro de la caza (ca 1325), Jews in the Austrian countryside during the 14th century, and developing a gendered logic of rural space in the Netherlandish visual tradition. Annotation ©2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)