Women and Family Life in Early Modern German Literature is another book on the bedside pile mentioned in the previous update. I picked this one up in hopes of collecting more data about interpersonal interactions of the 16th century. I am always trying to create a more detailed living picture in my mind of the Early Modern Period and the cities of Straßburg and Augsburg in particular (which is why I’m pretty excited to read A Companion to Late Medieval and Early Modern Augsburg ( when it gets published in 2020) that and I am a Fan of the author.

I believe the more well you can understand the period in scope, the better you’ll comprehend specific 16th century authors’ written intent. I have read the Introduction and the first chapter on Schwanksammlungen (think Johannes Pauli‘s Schimpf und Ernst (Thann, 1522)).

As an aside, here is a cool little article from 1994 entitled “Johannes Pauli and the Strasbourg Dancers” by Arlene Epp Pearsall my saved bookmarks on Straßburg. I believe Kevin Maurer turned me on to this particular article, think I’ll reRead this one.
Pearsall, the author, also wrote “Johannes Pauli (1450-1520) on the Church and Clergy” (Lewiston, NY, 1994) which may never make it to the bedside table to be read, unless someone recommends it to me. That said I have read and enjoyed almost all of the 101 irreverent stories collected from the works of Johannes Pauli.

Anyhow, so far I’m enjoying this book and its tone. I am loving the footnotes, they are great leads to further research.

However no matter how enjoyable, I just had to skip ahead to preview the fourth chapter on some Straßburg city council policing ordinances (from the in Series R (Mandats et Reglements) from the BNU Straßburg).

I’ll happily review this and what treasure I find as an update after I complete the book. The data so far is very tasty, and I can recommend this book now. Researchers and students of the Late Medieval and Early Modern periods should read this at least, if they do not have it in their personal library. Not a bad call, not a waste of one’s time or money on the purchase.

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