Family, feud, and fertility in late Medieval Artois and Flanders

Abstract

This case study considers the origins, content and ownership of the Fifteenth Century manuscript MS Kassel, Murhardsche Bibliothek der Stadt und Landesbibliothek 4.º med. 1. It examines the ways in which a number of vernacular texts in this manuscript were influenced by social and cultural forces in the area in which it was produced, an area which is now well known for its female patronage of religious charitable foundations and the number of illegitimate births. Considering the contents of the compilation with its interest in fertility, connections to other miscellanies and their circulation alongside an anonymous Romance prose text Le Comte d’Artois et sa femme, this study argues that the Kassel compilation was put together with the express purpose to address healthcare and fertility needs of the families and the community in which the owner/s lived. This miscellany is just one of the many late medieval manuscripts that help us to understand why vernacular texts on women’s medicine and fertility were disseminated in the late medieval period and how their contents were circulating outside of scholarly circles. It demonstrates that by putting two sets of evidence together, textual analysis and genealogy, fruitful new areas can be uncovered.