Methodological Aspects of the History of Everyday Life in the Late Middle Ages

Methodological Aspects
of the History of Everyday Life
in the Late Middle Ages
GERHARD JARITZ, KREMS
There are certainly a number of important differences between research into
the history of everyday life of the early Middle Ages1 and the one of the
late Middle Ages. At first sight it seems to be much easier to do studies for
the later Middle Ages when possessing many more and many more different
sources, may they be written, pictorial or archeological. But, we must be
aware of the fact that we only possess more reality of the sources, which
does not mean more reality of everyday life. When using, for instance,
Gothic panel paintings for our research, which seem to offer such a realistic
view into the interiors of medieval houses and the objects used in them,
we must be aware that it is only the reality of the image, which we are
confronted with, but not the reality of life. The same is true for inventories,
for testaments, for account books, for court records, for chronicles or for
object.s out of archeological excavations etc.
We, therefore, are in possession of a !arge number of reality; we are
keen of getting out of it the „reality“ of everyday life, knowing that we will
not be able to do it, knowing that it does not exist in a way which we can
analyse easily.
Doing research into the history of everyday life is also not only looking
for the repetitive, or for routine – in any case using quantitative methods to
get into the qualitative. lt is, at first, getting aware of the issues of gender
and status. Particularly the history of everyday life is to deal with problems
of the female and the male, with questions of lower classes of society and of
the top of it. Especially the history of everyday life has been dealing with
the lower classes, with the people and the ordinary2 , often forgetting that
1 See the contribution of Hans-Werner Goetz in this volume.
2 Cf. Christopher Dyer, Everyday Life in Medieval England. London and Rio Grande
1994, xi and passim.
22
the high er classes, the ruling, also had their everyday life. 3 And the latter
was certainly a mistake. Doing history of everyday life means a 1 s o dealing
with the lower classes. not only dealing with the lower classes.
History of everyday life is to a large extent a history of patterns. We
are not working to repeat some information the sources contain, but must
be trying to find networks and patterns of objects, situations and deeds.4
Quotidianity is represented by found patterns of objects, of women or men,
of artisans or rulers.
Everyday life includes the domestic and the non-domestic space. They
not only, by that, represent female and male space, but also different space
of prestige and competition. Space of prestige and competition are at the
same time those which we find to a high degree in normative sources like
sumptuary laws to be compared with the contents of court records or account
books.
Generally. the history of everyday life is up to many degrees a history
of space – also not only seen from a territorial, regional or local point of
vicw, but concerning different space of behaviour and of evaluation.
History of everyday life is a history of various interests. Testaments, account
books or inventories mention, for instance, only those objects which
are valuable enough to be named. Panel paintings or murals of the late
Gothic period may show one’s own cultivated nature in the background.
If so, it seems valuable enough to present the beholders‘ own success, connected
with some saint or situation out of a saint’s legend in the foreground.
It is, therefore, very relevant to analyse those interests and to find out networks
between them and patterns of them.
This can only be done by comparing. Normative sources, for instance,
never can be analysed for themselves, but only in comparison with sources
showing a reaction towards them and those explaining their reason. Ever
3 Cf. Adelige Sachkultur des Spätmittelalters. Vienna 1982 (Veröffentlichungen des
Instituts für mi ttelalterliche Realienkunde 5 = Sb. Ak. Wien, phil.-hist. Klasse 400);
Klösterliche Sachkultur des Spätmittelalters. Vienna 1980 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts
für mittelalterliche Realienkunde 3 = Sb. Ak. Wien, phil.-hist. Klasse 367).
4 Cf. Robert Delort, Gescichte des mittelalterlichen A lltags: Theorie – Methoden – Bilanz
der Forschung. In: Mensch und Objekt im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit.
Alltag – Leben – Kultur. Vienna 1990, 53-66 (Veröffent lichungen des Instituts für Realienkunde
des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 13 = Sb. Ak. Wien, phil.-hist. K lasse
568).
23
and ever rPpeated paragraphs in such norms by no means can be seen as
dear and open t.estimonies of numerous and regular offences against them,
but may be preventive or copied from other areas. Only comparisons with
other types of sources may lead to a legitimate result.
The large amount of late medieval sources and the need for comparison
and analysis proves true to a high degree that the computer-supported
standardized creation of databases containing different information of the
various written, pictorial and archaeological sources is undispensable.5 This
is not only true for a verbal descriptions of the material as the contents of
the databases but also for the digitalisation of the sources.6
Let us come back to the question of reality. It became clear that we
are not able to find out the reality of t h e everyday life of the Middle Ages;
we also cannot r e construct everyday life or parts of it. The only work we
can do is to find out certain patterns of everyday life, using comparative
analysis, which our sources allow us to apply.
The history of everday life has its tradition. Particularly British and
German research go back into the previous century, 7 very much connected
with an interest into the history of culture and with a mood for hunting
and collecting. The result of this research are studies written out of this
hunters‘ and collectors‘ mood. By that, they today can be used and are
used as quarries for source information without necessarily going back to
the sources. Analytical research was missing. – At the end of the sixties
and in the seventies and eighties of our century the history of everyday
life, also of the later Middle Ages, became fashionable again, particularly
in the German speaking countries – Alltagsgeschichtsforschung. And it
5 Cf. Manfred Thaller, The Daily Life of the Middle Ages, Editions of Sources and Data
Processing. In: Medium Aevum Quotidianum-Newsletter 10 ( 1 987) 6-29.
6 Cf. Manfred Thaller (ed.), Images and Manuscripts in Historical Computing. St. Katharinen
1992 (Halbgraue Reihe zur historischen Fachinformatik A 14); Gerhard Jaritz,
Images. A Primer of Computer-Supported Analysis with 1\,AcLW lAS. St. Katharinen
1993 ( Halbgraue Reihe zur historischen Fachinformatik A 22); Jurij Fikfak and Gerhard
Jaritz (eds.), Image Processing in History: towards Open Systems. St. Katharinen 1993
(Halbgraue Reihe zur historischen Fachinformatik A 16).
7 Cf. Alwin Schultz, Deutsches Leben im XIV. und XV. Jahrhundert. Vienna, Prague
and Leipzig 1892; idem, Das höfische Leben zur Zeit der Minnesinger, 2 vols. Osnabrück
1965 (reprint of the edition of 1889); Marjorie and C. H. B. Quennell, A History of Everyday
Things in England I. London and New York 1969 (first published 1918).
24
sold well. A theoretical and methodological discussion was mainly initiated
and lcad by people dealing with the 19th and 20th centuries,8 medievalists
only starting it, when the other historians had already finished.9 Again
it wa..c; to a high degree the descriptive results of hunting and collecting
what was offered first.10 This time has passed. History of everyday life
has become less fashionable now but more serious. The new fashion is
historical anthropology, 1 1 not being far away. While the history of the
everyday life of the Middle Ages was first in contraposition towards the
application of quantitative methods and the connection of the quantitative
and the qualitative, this again has changed. Historians of everyday life are
not any more story-tellers, though storytelling has generally become more
fashionable in historical research. An up-to-date history of everyday life
– connects the quantitative with the qualitative to provide proper analysis
of the repetitive and the routine of life. Researchcrs apply for that
to a high degree computer-supported methods.
– History of everyday life of the later Middle Ages has become to a high
degree a research of standardized terminology12, or one, at least, has
bccome aware of the necessity to arrive there.
– One has become aware of the fact that individual examples are on the
one side necessary, on the other side only bricks and elements for a
more pattern-lead research and their results.
– For the history of everyday life of the later Middle Ages and the early
modern period the usage of pictorial sources as well as laws, sermons
and other didactic literatme is of high importance. In their didactic
8 Cf. Klaus Tenfelde, Schwierigkeiten mit dem Alltag. In: Geschichte und Gesellschaft
10 ( 1 984) 376-394.
9 Cf. Die Erforschung von Alltag und Sachkultur des Mittelalters. Methode – Ziel –
Verwirklichung. Vienna 1984 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für mittelalterliche Realienkunde
6 = Sb. Ak. Wien, phil.-hist. Klasse 433); Mensch und Objekt im Mittelalter
und in der frühen Neuzeit. Alltag – Leben – Kultur. Vienna 1990 (Veröffentlichungen des
Instituts für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 13 = Sb. Ak. Wien,
phil.-hist. Klasse 568).
1° Cf. Otto Borst, Alltagsleben im Mittelalter. Frankfurt/Main 1983.
1 1 Cf. Historische Anthropologie 1 sqq. Vienna and Cologne 1993 sqq.
12 Cf. Terminologie und Typologie mittelalterlicher Sachgüter; Das Beispiel der Kleidung.
Vienna 1988 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für mittelalterliche Realienkunde 10 =
Sb. Ak. Wien, phil.-hist. Klasse 5 1 1 )
25
and moralistic efforts they again do not refiect reality but needs and
attempts of an order-bound society and, by that, a kind of an ideal of
life. The realisation of such an ideal can and has to be investigated
by means of comparative methods, using court records, testaments,
inventories and so on.
– The methods applied for the research into a history of everyday life
of the late Middle Ages are or must be very near to the ones used in
studies of cultural history, of the history of popular culture and the
one of mentality, also the ones of gender history.
– History of everyday life in the Middle Ages is not only the history of
private life13 and not only, as it was already emphasised, the history
of the popular classes of society.
– History of everyday life of the later Middle Ages is also to a high degree
a history of symbols and signs and a history of contrasts. 14 Particularly
the above mentioned didactic sources contain much information for
those fields, which to a high degree determine life in the later Middle
Ages.
– There is no exact difference between studies into the history of everyday
life of the early Middle Ages, the later Middle Ages and the early
modern period. All of them have to be aware of the already mentioned
problems and efforts. The main real difference between them is the
availability of source information which is normally getting higher during
the times. I would, therefore agree with many of the Statements
of Mr. Goetz and he would also perhaps agree at least with some of
mine.
– The history of everyday life was mainly initiated as something against
political history which was the history of drums and trumpets. Though
we might agree with this necessity for the later Middle Ages, we also
have to confess now that no history of everyday life can exist without
a modern political history and no modern political history without the
history of everyday life.
– Doing history of everyday life of the late Middle Ages in some area or
13 Cf. Philippe Aries and George Duby (eds.) , Histoire de Ia vie privee II: De l’Europe
feodale a Ia Ren aissance. Paris 1985.
14 Cf. Gerhard Jaritz, Zwischen Augenblick und Ewigkeit. Einführung in die Allt agsgeschichte
des Mittelalters. Vienna and Cologne 1989, 127-192.
26
region also must be a matter of cornmunication with other researchers
of the same or of other periods in other areas or regions. Such a communication
between researchers may prove the cornmunication of people
in the later Middle Ages as part of their daily life. And cornmunication
itself has to be seen as a part of everyday life. It is not only
the multiplicity of things which determines quotidianity but also the
multiplicity of behaviour and thought.
– Doing resarch into the history of everyday life of the later Middle Ages,
therefore, is not only studying the material, id est the material culture,
but also dealing with the non-material, may it be history of spiritual
culturc15, of thoughts or of ideas. Only the combination of all those
aspects may lead to a proper and legitimate history of everyday life.
15 Cf. Brian Patrick McGuire, Spiritual Life and Material Life in the Middle Ages: a
Contradiction? In: Mensch und Objekt im Mittelalter und in der frühen Neuzeit. LebenAlltag-
Kultur. Vienna 1990, 285-313 (Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für Realienkunde
des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit 13 = Sb. Ak. Wien, phil.-hist. Klasse 568).
27
MED IUM AEVUM
QUOTIDIANUM
30
KREMS 1994
HERAUSGEGEBEN VON GERHARD JARITZ
GEDRUCKT MIT UNTERSTÜTZUNG DER KULTURABTEILUNG
DES AMTES DER NIEDERÖSTERREICHISCHEN LANDESREGIERUNG
Titelgraphik Stephan J.T ramer
Satz und Korrektur: Birgit Kar! und Gundi Tarcsay
Herausgeber: Medium Aevum Quotidianum. Gesellschaft zur Erforschung der materiellen
Kultur des Mittelalters. Körnermarkt 13, A-3500 Krems, Österreich. – Für den
Inhalt verantwortlich zeichnen die Autoren, ohne deren ausdrückliche Zustimmung jeglicher
Nachdruck, auch in Auszügen, nicht gestattet ist. -Druck: KOPITU Ges. m. b. H.,
Wiedner Hauptstraße 8-10, A-1050 Wien.
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Vorwort 7
PAPERS DELIVERED AT THE l!IITERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL
Co:-:GREss, LEEDs 1 994 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
HA:-.15- Vi/ER:’\‘ ER G OETZ, Methodological Problems of a History
of Everyday Life in the Early Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
GERHARD JARITZ, Methodological Aspects of the History
of Everyday Life in the Late Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
KATHARINA SLVION-MUSCHEID, Gerichtsquellen und Alltagsgeschichte
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
DOROTHEE RIPPMANN, Alltagsleben und materielle Kultur
im Spiegel von Wirtschaftsquellen: Materielle Kultur und
Geschlecht . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
DIE VIELFALT DER D INGE: 10. Internationaler Kongreß veranstaltet
von Medium Aevum Quotidianum und vom Institut
für Realienkunde des Mittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit.
R<’siim<‚cs der Vorträge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
􀀭UR�1AC\‘ J . G . POUNDS, The Multiplicity of Things: the
Hist.orical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
HELMt:T HtJ!\DSBICHLER, Sachen und Menschen. Das Kon-
Z<‚pt Realienkunde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
BARBARA SCHULKMANN, Sachen und Menschen: Der Beitrag
der archäologischen Mittelalterforschung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
JOHN MORELAND, Theory in Medieval Archaeology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
BERNWARD DENEKE, Sachkulturforschuug in der modernen
Volkskunde . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
FRED KASPAR. Das mittelalterliche Haus als öffentlicher
und privater Raum 75
5
PETER JEZLER, Mittelalterliche „Kunst“ und der öffentliche
und privat.f‘ Raum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
FRANZ VERHAEGHE, Medieval Social Networks: The Gontribution
of Archaeological Evidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
J OZSEF LASZLOVSZKY, Archaeological Research into the Social
Structure of the Late Middle Ages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
CHRISTOPHER DYER , Social aspects of medieval material
culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
GÖRA!’\ DAHLBÄCK, Sozialgeschichtliche Aspekte der materiellen
Kultur im spätmittelalterlichen Skandinavien . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
DucciO BALESTRACCI, The Regulation of „Salus Publica“
in Medieval Towns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
SVEN ScHÜTTE, Der archäologische Befund als Quelle der
Verwirklichung städtischer Normen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
KATHARINA SIMON-MUSCHEID, Materielle Kultur des Mittelalters.
Ein Spiegel der Normen handwerklicher Produktion?
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
HEIKO STEUER, Archäologie und Realität mittelalterlichen
Alltagslebens? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
JEAN-CLAUDE SCHMITT‘ Le soulier du Christ ou le reel
transfigure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Other Papers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
REZENSIONEN:
HausGEschichten. Bauen und Wohnen im alten Hall und
seiner Katharinenvorstadt – Ausstellung u. Katalog zur Stadtarchäologie
und Stadtgeschichte in Baden-Württemberg (Helga
Schüppert) .. . . . . . . . .. . . .. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . 100
Spannungen und Widersprüche. Gedenkschrift für Frantisek
Graus (Brigitte Rath) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Andnis Pal6czi Horvath, Petscherregen Kumanen Jassen.
Steppenvölker im mittelalterlichen Ungarn (Marina Mundt) 107
6
Vorwort
Das vorliegende Heft widmet sich zwei Anlässen: dem International Medieval
Congress. Leeds 1994, an dem Medium Aevum Quotidianum zwei Sektion(‚
n ausrichtete, und dem Kongreß Die Vielfalt der Dinge, den Medium
Aevum Quotidiamtm zusammen mit dem Institut für Realienkunde des Mittelalters
und der frühen Neuzeit der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften
im Oktober 1994 in Krems veranstaltet. Zum einen kommen vier
überarbeitete Vorträge der Tagung von Leeds zum Abdruck. Zum anderen
werden Resümees der Vorträge der Kremser Veranstaltung präsentiert, die
auch den Kongreßbesuchern als Einführung dienen sollen.
Im “ ovember 1994 wird als Sonderband unserer Reihe Elke Schlenkrichs
„Alltag der Lehrlinge im sächsischen Handwerk, 15. bis 19. Jahrhundert“
publiziert werden. Gleichfalls noch im heurigen Jahr wird Heft 31
von Medium A e·vum Quotidianum erscheinen.
Gerhard Jaritz
7
PAPERS
DELIVERED AT THE INTERNATIONAL MEDIEVAL CONGRESS,
LEEDS 1994
9