Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Bulletin of the History of Medicine 77.1 (2003) 183-184

Anne L.McClanan and Karen Rosoff Encarnación, eds. The Material Culture of Sex, Procreation, and Marriage in Premodern Europe. New York: Palgrave, 2002. xiv + 285 pp. Ill. $59.95 (0-312-24001-5).

This interdisciplinary collection of essays takes as its starting point the belief that material culture provides rich access to the most personal and meaningful events of people's lives, and that lost cultural beliefs are embodied in everyday utilitarian articles not usually defined as "works of art." These common objects, which sometimes sneak into museum collections through the back door, are often quite beautiful in and of themselves. However, they are often treated as irrelevant to historical discourse precisely because they belong to the domain of women, who traditionally serve as caretakers of the intimate worlds of marriage, family, and sex.

The time frame addressed by the book's eleven essays ranges from ancient Rome to the early modern period. The authors tackle such fascinating and controversial subjects as abortion, breast-feeding, virginity, motherhood, and homosexuality. These themes are amplified and explained by examining the evidence offered by such serviceable objects as Roman sarcophagi, tools used in abortion, wedding rings, inventories of household linen, "relics" retrieved from the autopsied body of a female saint, painted birth trays, representations of the [End Page 183] Madonna, anatomical fugitive sheets, and even trousers given by a homosexual to his accommodating partner.

While the subject matter, historical contexts, and scholarly methodologies differ among the essays, certain themes and issues recur throughout. Chief among them is the concept of the good wife and mother—compliant, fertile, and chaste. Here, gender-bending representations on Roman sarcophagi vie with Christian images of the Virgin that define women's lives more traditionally. Other essays discuss how the advent of Christianity brought into question the moral quandary of procreative versus recreational sex, and how objects associated with birth, abortion, and contraception reveal women's concern with both controlling fertility and enhancing it. The themes addressed by the other essays are far ranging, and include the suggestion of harmony and companionate marriage revealed in wedding jewelry, examinations of household virtue suggested by cleanliness, and the potential destructive power of sexual desire within the changing moral order imposed by the Reformation and Counter-Reformation.

Together, the essays highlight the tension between the traditional, text-driven perception of history and the sometimes contrary picture of the past revealed by the study of material culture. The objects treated in the book are more than curiosities; they also serve to define many aspects of women's social, political, and economic importance in premodern Europe. The customs and rituals that formed the matrix for the use of objects of material culture were often private, domestic, female, and anonymous. However, they represent what contemporary society valued in women, often revealing more about what women's roles were expected to be than what they actually were. On the other hand, several of the essays demonstrate that, while marriage and childbirth were defining moments that reinforced the low status and expectations of women, the utilitarian objects associated with these gendered rituals also held the subversive potential to disrupt the social hierarchy.

The editors do an exemplary job in their introductory essay, unifying the various voices and methodologies of their contributors, and highlighting the complex and varied issues and themes addressed by experts in fields as diverse as history of science, art history, architecture, and classical studies. This reader, however, was continually frustrated by the paucity of the illustrations that accompany the essays, many of which rely significantly upon visual elements. This problem, though unfortunate, was undoubtedly beyond control of the editors, and does not detract from the real scholarly significance of the book. The publisher, while deserving chastisement for limiting the illustrative material, should be congratulated ultimately for bringing such an important and engaging book before the public.

 

Laurinda S. Dixon
Syracuse University