Since its founding in 1943, Medievalia et Humanistica has won worldwide recognition as the first scholarly publication in America to devote itself entirely to medieval and Renaissance studies. Since 1970, a new series, sponsored by the Modern Language Association of America and edited by an international board of distinguished scholars and critics, has published interdisciplinary articles. In yearly hardbound volumes, the new series publishes significant scholarship, criticism, and reviews treating all facets of medieval and Renaissance culture: history, art, literature, music, science, law, economics, and philosophy. Volume thirty-one in the new series contains six original and refereed articles that represent a reengagement with history. They focus on a variety of topics, ranging from reception theory in Andreas Capellanus and the ideal sovereign in Christine de Pizan to peasant rebel leaders in late-medieval and early-modern Europe. Don Monson's article makes good usage of Jauss's reception theory and analyzes the third Dialogue of Book I, Chapter 6 of De Amore in a thorough and intelligent way. Important aspects of the relationship between "scientific" Latin treaties and Provencal courtly poetry are neatly demonstrated. Karen Gross examines structural and thematic resemblances between the Aeneid and De Casibus, arguing that Anchises' "pageant of future Roman worthies" (Aen. VI) is connected to the frame structure of De casibus. The author is interested in "global similarities, not local verbal echoes," and believes that the "structure resonances" have implications for "how Boccaccio understood the interaction between history and poetry, between the living and the dead." Especially thought-provoking and original are the discussion of the motif of father/son piety and commemoration and the contrast of Virgil's fortuna in Roman history and Boccaccio's in world history. Daisy Delogu's article on Christine de Pizan is a timely one, and also represents reengagement with history th

This book, the first study in English devoted entirely to Andreas Capellanus's ""De Amore"", presents a comprehensive inquiry into the influence of scholasticism on the structure and organization of the work, applying methods of medieval philosophy and intellectual history to an important problem in medieval literary studies. Eschewing polemics over authorial intentions, Don Monson develops an approach to the work's meaning through an examination of its form. The first part of the book explores the generic identity of the work, both a scientific treatise and a practical manual. It relates this generic complexity to a tension between rhetoric and dialectic and explores the work's intertextual character in terms of the authorities cited and the literary models structuring the discourse. In light of these considerations, Monson examines the modern debate over ironic intentions. The second part of the book studies the work's meaning in terms of a dialectic between four traditions: vernacular poetry, feudal society, Christianity, and Ovid. The author examines the scholastic definition, which defines love generically as an ""emotion"" (passio innata) and specifically in terms of Aristotelian causality. He then explores Andreas's love psychology and physiology, including the roles of sight, meditation, desire, and will, the physical and mental requirements for loving, and the dynamics of love relationships. Next, the social ramifications of love are discussed: the competing claims of nobility of birth and of merit, and the roles of service, generosity, courtesy, and reputation. The final chapter studies the ethical dimension of the treatise, identifying two complementary components: an attempt to reconcile sexual love with Christian morality, followed by the rejection of love on the grounds of their incompatibility. Monson's thorough examination of the text calls for a recognition of the profound complexity of the ""De Amore"", visible in its form and contents. Although not a key to ""courtly love,"" the text occupies a unique position at the crossroads of several medieval traditions and will greatly contribute to the understanding of love in medieval literature and culture.