tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9071757402186489670.post7587412165635743529..comments2023-03-25T21:50:50.891+13:00Comments on Bavardess: Riffling through Margaret of York's libraryBavardesshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10737120234578385755noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9071757402186489670.post-38276365077403802392009-10-05T10:44:53.671+13:002009-10-05T10:44:53.671+13:00I tend to veer on the side of agreement with your ...I tend to veer on the side of agreement with your views on the 'nature' point of nurture/nature. However, I have a little subjectively based ambivalence in this area.<br /><br />The lines on Orthodoxy and heresy were certainly shifting, they always did. I still think about what truly protected Margaret, both as a woman and one who was a knowledgeable patron of the known Arts, philosophies and the range of religious practices that prevailed. In my view, it has to be her family and political connections. <br /><br />It was good for posterity that Margaret was able to survive her times and that her library collection is known to us.ZACLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07289333819869440699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9071757402186489670.post-87210000047845600212009-10-05T10:15:59.929+13:002009-10-05T10:15:59.929+13:00I think religious faith is always a matter of nurt...I think religious faith is always a matter of nurture and socialisation, not nature. And in this period, when politics and religion were so intertwined in Europe and the stakes were terribly high, it took on a whole other level of meaning beyond the personal. That’s one of the things that I find fascinating about this period, though, because the lines between ‘orthodoxy’ and ‘heresy’ were so blurred and shifting all the time. While the scholars and doctors of divinity were arguing about it from a theological and philosophical perspective, the secular nobility were sometimes taking sides based on far more pragmatic reasoning (and, definitely, ‘peer pressure’ in the form of armies).<br /><br />I suspect Margaret would have been quite conscious of how the contents of her library were perceived by others, at least by her contemporaries. Partly because she had that very high profile role as a patron of the arts, but also because the issue of lay literacy and what people were reading was such a political hot potato in 15thC England.Bavardesshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10737120234578385755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9071757402186489670.post-59224013639430434112009-10-05T09:04:35.132+13:002009-10-05T09:04:35.132+13:00Not sure what you'd make of our reading materi...Not sure what you'd make of our reading materials. :)<br /><br />As regards Margaret, it sounds as if she had a particular philosophy over and above all others. That is to "Knowest thine enemy within and without". <br /><br />Certainly, her curiosity sounds great and her interests appear to be wide. It is not clear though, if Margaret retained her Catholicity because of nature and nuture, or because of societal and peer expectation. We do not know if her religious interests did 'mellow' into other realms. She was obviously confident of her position, and diplomatic ability, (perhaps) not to concern herself with how her reading materials and interests would be viewed.ZACLhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07289333819869440699noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9071757402186489670.post-18439111197646102012009-10-05T07:54:38.880+13:002009-10-05T07:54:38.880+13:00I've always found it so very strange to visit ...I've always found it so very strange to visit a house with no books! Thanks for the peek at Margaret of York's bookshelves :DDiggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14851524413793098615noreply@blogger.com