In the age of postcolonial discourse, postmodern (literary) theory, and (post)deconstruction, medieval studies also have experienced dramatic transformations affecting both the method of investigation and the selection of documents from the past. In the field of literature the canon has been discarded in favor of a wide-ranging inclusiveness, and in the area of history our attention has radically switched away from the leading social classes, i.e., the royalties, clergy, and upper aristocracy, to the lower classes, women, non-Christians, children, goliards, etc.
The present book by Michael Goodich, author of the remarkable studies on The Unmentionable Vice: Homosexuality in the Later Medieval Period and on Violence and Miracle in the Fourteenth Century, takes the next step in publishing a selection of texts in English translation which offer insights into the lives of medieval people living at the margins of society. Although the prevalent chronicles and treatises from the Middle Ages portray their own world as sharply divided into the various social classes, practically not leaving any space for outsiders, this image easily proves to be incorrect. Foremost among those who did not fit in the hierarchy of feudalism were the Jews. Despite the many attempts by their Christian neighbors to expel and even to exterminate them, Jewish communities existed all over Europe and almost throughout the entire Middle Ages. Some countries successfully ordered them all to leave, such as England in 1290, but elsewhere even repeated and devastating pogroms could not achieve their initial aim of deliberately committing genocide.
Other marginal groups were the apostates and converts, sexual nonconformists, those allegedly possessed by the devil, the mystics, and even the suicidal. Moreover, the medieval church experienced many problems with those who deviated from the orthodox belief and formed their own sects, such as the Waldensians and the Cathars. Finally, there were also those who expressed different opinions about the relationship between man and God and formed their own monastic orders.
To address all these various minority groups in medieval society, Goodich collected relevant documents, mostly autobiographical in nature or court documents with eyewitness accounts, translated them into English and provided brief introductions to each section so as to allow witnesses at the margins of medieval society--as the subtitle of his anthology indicates--to speak up and be represented in the enormous and complex fabric of the medieval world.
Goodich's book is by no means the first one to deal with medieval outsiders or marginal groups, see, for example, Friedrich Heer's monograph The Middle Ages (1961) and Ernst Schubert's recent study on Fahrendes Volk (1995). Reimar Gilsenbach presented the world of the Sinti and Roma in a chronological survey (1994/97, reviewed in TMR 29 May 1998), and Friedrich Christian Benedict Ave-Lallemant dealt with the group of criminals both in the past and the present in his two-volume monograph published as early as in 1858.
In contrast to the previous studies, however, the present book offers the primary material in English translation, and in this sense truly opens a window on a subject which has heretofore not received enough attention. As to medieval Jews, for example, here we are confronted with texts by Caesarius of Heisterbach, Thomas of Cantimpre, Meir ben Isaac, Rabbi Judah ben Yehiel Asheri of Toledo, Baruch the German of Languedoc, and by an anonymous disciple of Abraham Abulafia from ca. 1290/95. In other words, the testimony both of Christian and Jewish writers is made available to us, hence the viewpoints from both sides of the religious divide.
With respect to sexual nonconformists Goodich quotes from Robert of Flamborough, the municipal legislation of Pisa and Bologna, court documents relating to the homosexual Arnaud of Verniolle, and from a report by the monk Gerard Cagnoli about an excessive and infamous sexual relationship of a young man to a woman of ill repute. Following, Goodich includes texts by Bridget of Sweden about her preaching against the devil, then the third Lateran decree on Lepers, and Humbert of Romans' statement "To the Leprous."
Many more texts contained in this volume would have to be listed to illustrate the breadth of the selection, but suffice to note the major topics dealt with here. Goodich always offers extensive commentary on the individual writers and the aspects they dealt with. At times, however, the text selection seems to be extremely short and barely addresses the issue under investigation, and at times reports about other minorities such as slaves, Orientals, and children would have been very welcome.
The last chapter emerges as a hodgepodge of marginal voices and includes both insiders and outsiders discussing miracles, personal relationships with church leaders, historical events, and the foundation of new monastic congregations.
The book concludes with a select bibliography and an index. Overall one can only agree with Goodich that the voices assembled here represent the "other Middle Ages." However, many more minorities could have been registered and would have deserved to be represented, whereas well-known groups such as the Jews, the mystics, and founders of monastic orders have many times been dealt with elsewhere and are often considered in similar anthologies of medieval texts. Nevertheless, the vast majority of documents translated for this anthology address the issues directly and have been discussed until today only in specialized studies and editions. In this sense, Goodich's anthology opens a new chapter in medieval studies, focusing on the margins and the people living there.