William C. McDonald – författare

Latest volume of annual publication covering a variety of aspects of life in the fifteenth century.Fifteenth-Century Studies has appeared annually since its foundation in 1977 as the publication arm for the Fifteenth-Century Symposium, and aims to include essays on all aspects of life during the time, medicine, philosophy, painting, religion, science, history, ritual and custom, music, and poetry. It covers a period which defies consensus on various fundamental issues; indeed, some dispute that the fifteenth century can be regarded as part of themiddle ages, arguing that it is a time of transition to the modern age. Fifteenth-Century Studies takes no dogmatic view on the vexed questions the period presents, rather aiming to encourage a dispassionate assessment offifteenth-century life and literature, examining the preoccupations of those living in the period and attempting to identify the threads which bind the achievements of figures as diverse as Malory, Machiavelli, Copernicus, Caxton,Margery Kempe, Hans Holbein, Joan of Arc, and Christine de Pizan. There is also a wide-ranging review section.

15th-c. adaptations of Chrétien de Troyes, the use of motifs, and standard features including current state of research and book review section.Setting the tone for volume 24 is a trio of articles on 15th-century French adaptations of Chrétien de Troyes's Arthurian romances. Norris Lacy examines adaptation and reception in Cligés,Jane Taylor writes on the importance of cultural details to reception studies of both Erec and Cligés, and Maria Timelli on structural aspects of Erec. Other studies of romance include MaryLynn Saul's article on courtly love and patriarchal marriage institutions in Malory, and Anne Caillaud's piece on gender conventions of courtly love as a vehicle for misogyny in Antoine de la Sale's Petit Jehan de Saintre. Hans-Joachim Behr deals with an adaptation of the 12th-century historical figure of Heinrich von der Löwe in his article on the poetic workof Michel Wyssenherre. Roxana Recio's article on Spanish "amplifications and glosses" draws connections between translation, reception, and interpretation.Moving from romance to legend, Peter De Wilde, in his article on the legendary matter of St. Patrick's journeys to Purgatory, relates a 15th-century account of one Englishman's "visionary pilgrimage" to that destination.A second area of concentration in the volume is the thematic and structural use of motifs. Rainer Goetz discusses archery in Spanish poetry of love and death; Georg Roellenbleck courtly pastimes and the term passe temps inFrench poetry. James Wilkins focuses on the "body as currency" in French passion plays. Kristine Patz moves into art history, examining the importance of the Pythagorean ypsilonin the work of the Italian painter Mantegna.Dealing with the turn to Renaissance humanism are articles by Grady Smith on the short literary career and Latin dramas of Titus Livius Frulovisi, and by Christiane Raynaudon humanism and good government in the Latin Romuleon. Franco Mormando investigates a darker moment: the 1426 witch trial in Rome and the role of Bernardino of Siena as its instigator and chronicler. Rouben Choulakian writes on the poetry of Charles d'Orlean