‘Turning many to righteousness’ : Religious didacticism in the ›Speculum humanae salvationis‹ and the similitude of the oak tree

In this contribution I shall be interested, among other things, in finding a place for the European phenomenon of the ›Speculum humanae salvationis‹ within German literary history, which will inescapably involve revisiting the unfashionable discussion of date and origins. I also intend to ask about the place of this text in the ‘didactic’ literature of the Middle Ages. Is a religious text structured according to sacred history didactic? Much didactic poetry is in the vernacular: What does it mean that the ›Speculum‹ was composed in Latin? And what place should be accorded to its vernacular reception? The ›Speculum‹ is inscribed within a set of oppositions that would appear to be recurrent in the didactic literature of the later Middle Ages: Latin and vernacular, verse and prose, words and pictures, religious and profane, moral teaching and devotion, clerical and lay. In view of its exceptionally broad transmission in the German lands, both in Latin and in vernacular reworkings, is it possible to describe this text so that it takes a place within a larger picture? In some respects it may stand at a threshold in the history of European didacticism

Health passes, print and public health in early modern Europe

Early modern governments produced a wide range of printed texts as part of their public health strategies, including broadsheets, flysheets and pamphlets. This study focuses on health passes, a form of ephemeral print which asserted that the bearer had travelled from a city which was free from plague. Passes were printed forms with textual, iconographic and material features which sought to enhance their authority, credibility and usability. Completed forms provide evidence of their users and of how passes were adapted in response to particular perceived threats. This study examines passes issued by a large number of European cities to argue for the development of a shared European culture of public health print, inspired by recognition of print’s persuasiveness, efficiency and capacity to transcend the boundaries of place

Hidden Beneath The Waves: Remembering and Forgetting After The Relief of Leiden

This article analyzes the process of commemoration relating to the relief of Leiden. The siege and subsequent rescue of the city were pivotal moments in early years of the Dutch Revolt. As the Prince of Orange and the rebel forces could not save the city with traditional military maneuvers,they employed military inundations, or the intentional flooding of land,for tactical purposes.Over the course of two months the rebels flooded roughly half of southern Holland through dike breaches and the opening of sluices. This man-­‐made flood only carried the rebels so far, and it took a rain storm and a change in the direction of the wind to finally allow them to save the city. This article focuses on a print produced shortly after the city was saved on October 3,1574. The image highlights the traditional narrative of how the siege was portrayed and commemorated in sixteenth century Holland, focusing on the famine and distress of the city while also showcasing how it was saved through what the rebels interpreted as divine intervention.As a point of departure, this article explores how the military inundations were remembered and memorialized in the image and more broadly in other contemporary accounts.The print, and many other commemorations, interpreted these natural changes in the weather as a sign of God’s blessing.Framing the relief of Leiden as providential served a number of important functions for contemporaries.Most importantly,it allowed the rebels to avoid addressing issues of reparations and compensation resulting from the military inundations.This paper argues that the providential interpretation of the rescue of Leiden helped to hide the uncomfortable truth that the conquest of nature and the domination of humans are intimately connected

Einleitung. Heavenly creatures? Bilder kontingenter, komplizenhafter FreundInnenschaft

Edith Futscher Introduction. Heavenly Creatures? Images of Contingent, Complicit FriendshipThe starting point for this issue is the following discrepancy: while sociologists are observing an increasing normalisation of the social phenomenon of friendship, as supported by visual media, recent theoretical debates are emphasising instances of contingency, subversive complicity, and non-presence (Bataille, Foucault, Derrida, Bovenschen, etc.). On the one hand, a model is constructed and deployed that promises stability, that is unburdened by issues of sexuality and is gaining political acceptance, but that is also becoming increasingly recognized as a structure that replaces society and solidarity. On the other hand, phenomena such as withdrawal and absence or ghostliness are gaining prominence. This issue explores the currently dominant strategies of visual enactment and staging in various media, which reveal a transformation of the discourse. It further examines the omissions in the discourse on friendship from a critical gender perspective and sheds light on neglected, contingent aspects and their (gender) political relevance in visual culture

Le Christ et les prophètes dans le Traité Théologico-politique

Dans le Traité Théologico-politique, Spinoza formule plusieurs critiques à l’endroit de la prophétie hébraïque : celle-ci se serait avouée incapable de formuler clairement les règles morales, pourtant fort simples, nécessaires à l’obéissance et au salut. Ces reproches se doublent par ailleurs d’une relative apologie du christianisme ou plus exactement de son fondateur, Jésus-Christ. Le Christ aurait en effet réussi là où toute la tradition prophétique avait avant lui échoué, c’est-à- dire qu’il a conçu Dieu de manière intellectuelle et, de ce fait, est parvenu à énoncer la loi divine dans un langage simple, intelligible au vulgaire. Dans cet article, nous proposons une comparaison entre le Christ et les prophètes. Il s’agira d’abord de voir en quoi la connaissance christique supplante la connaissance prophétique, pour ensuite tâcher de préciser quelles sont, quant à la personne du Christ, les conséquences exactes de cet ascendant épistémologique

La tolérance est elle une vertu ?

Célèbres par leur lutte contre l'intolérance, les philosophes du XVIIIe siècle n'ont cependant pas été les apôtres d'une tolérance inconditionnelle, conçue comme excellente en soi. Toute la difficulté tient, en effet, à l'existence de l'intolérable, laquelle rend indispensable l'analyse de ce qu'on doit ou ne doit pas tolérer. Voltaire fait de la tolérance un devoir minimal, destiné à être remplacé par la fraternité, cependant que Rousseau, dans sa fine analyse des mystifications engendrées par la prétendue tolérance, risque lui-même de passer pour intolérant. Dans le domaine de la religion, l'idéal de tolérance tend finalement à être dépassé vers la fin du siècle.Famous by their struggle against intolerance, the philosophers of the XVIIIth century did not preach an unconditional tolerance, which would have been conceived excellent in itself. The whole difficulty lies indeed in the existence of the intolerable, which makes necessary the analysis of what must or must not be tolerated. Voltaire finally sees in tolerance a minimal duty vowed to be replaced by fraternity ; while Rousseau, analysing mystifications produced by the so called tolerance, misses to be holded for an intolerant man. In the field of religion, the ideal of tolerance aims to be outpassed at the end of the century