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Pavel Blaz ek, Die mittelalterliche Rezeption der aristotelischen Philosophie der
Ehe. Von Robert Grosseteste bis Bartholomus von Brgge (/)
[Studies in Medieval and Reformation Traditions ]. Brill, Leiden/Boston
, xiii + S. isbn . us ; .
The process by which the social philosophyby which I broadly mean the
elds of ethics, politics, rhetoric, and economicsattributed to Aristotle came
to be known to and disseminated during the Latin Middle Ages has been widely
studied in recent times. An international cast of scholars, including Roberto
Lambertini, James Blythe, Janet Coleman, Odd Langholm, Christoph Fleler,
Vasileios Syros, Steven Williams, and (in all due modesty) the present reviewer
(to name a few), have labored to enhance the understanding of the complex
and often muddy circumstances surrounding the translation, circulation, and
reception in Europe of the genuine texts of the corpus Aristotelicum (Politics,
Nicomachean Ethics, Rhetoric), as well as spurious writings misascribed to Aristotle (Secreta secretorum, Economics), that illuminate the Aristotelian system
of practical knowledge. To this burgeoning body of literature must now be
added Pavel Blazeks Die mittelalterliche Rezeption der aristotelischen Philosophie
der Ehe. The accomplishments represented in this volume (a revised German
doctoral dissertation) are numerous and striking, and contribute notably to the
eld of thirteenth- and early fourteenth-century intellectual history.
The rst and perhaps leading facet of Blazeks contribution is the organization of his study of Aristotelianism thematically around the idea of marriage.
Of course, considerable scholarly attention has been devoted to the theory
as well as practice of wedded life and domestic relations during the Middle
Ages (one thinks of the germinal and still useful books by Georges Duby and
Christopher Brooke from the latter part of the last century). But this scholarship has concentrated primarily on canon law and theological sources, as
well as on literary and visual representations of the marital state, rather than
on scholastic philosophy. By contrast, as Blazek rightly points out, the diffusion of Aristotelian texts in European universities provided a distinct alternative tradition of thought about the nature of marriage, one grounded in a
naturalistic philosophical perspective. In the initial substantive section of the
book, Blazek provides a synoptic overview of the Aristotelian position on the
proper ordering of marital relations as found in the main thirteen-century Latin
translations of the Nicomachean Ethics, Politics, and Economics (including an
edition and German translation of the latter, contained in Chapter ). Fortunately, he is not overly concerned about potential problems posed by the
authorship and provenance of the Economics; since medieval readers took it
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden,

DOI: 10.1163/187124109X506295

Book Reviews / CHRC . ()

to be authentic, it deserves to be counted as part of the body of Aristotelian

doctrine received and appraised during the Middle Ages. Blazek thereafter surveys a number of the central attempts to integrate Aristotelian teaching about
marriage into a scholastic Christian framework during the second half of the
thirteenth century, including works by Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas,
Giles of Rome, and Engelbert of Admont as well as the orilegium Auctoritates
Aristotelis ascribed to Johannes de Fonte. Blazek highlights the great diversity
of uses to which the Aristotelian materials were put, depending upon the intellectual (and sometimes political) context and agenda of the author in question.
Another signicant dimension of Blazeks scholarship is his particular emphasis on the reception of the Economics, a topic that has not been widely
discussed among current scholars of Latin Aristotelian ideas (perhaps precisely
because of its spurious status). Although there are some exceptions to this general tendency to neglect the Economics (such as research by Lambertini, Fleler,
and Langholm), Blazeks volume is the rst recent account of which I am aware
to trace the fuller story of how that text came to be disseminated in the Latin
West. In this connection, Blazek is especially insightful concerning the contribution of Bartholomew of Bruges, a largely unknown and sadly underappreciated schoolman who around the dawn of the fourteenth century produced
a series of commentaries on many of the minor works within the Aristotelian
corpus, among which was an exposition (dating to about ) of the Economics. In Part of the bookby far the single lengthiest sectionBlazek
introduces his readers to Bartholomews text and explicates the importance and
originality of his thought. Although concentrating upon Bartholomews interpretation of pseudo-Aristotles ideas about marriage, Blazek makes it evident
how this commentators philosophical hermeneutic is innovative and deserving
of wider attention from historians of medieval thought.
Blazek closes his survey with a brief coda that draws some conclusions about
the signicance of his inquiry for the study of conceptions of marriage during
the Middle Ages. Here one might have hoped for a somewhat more extensive
and bolder discussion of how the Aristotelian tradition interacted with other
(canonistic and theological) teachings over the course of the fourteenth century. Moreover, I am curious about the extent to which Aristotelianism shaped
later political debates surrounding the nature and basis of marital relations.
One such dispute occurred during the s and s in Germany, when a
number of eminent philosophers and lawyers (such as Marsilius of Padua and
William of Ockham) wrote substantial polemic tracts in support of King Ludwig of Bavarias attempts to build dynastic ties by marrying his son o to an
heiress at a time when he and his family were under papal interdict. Another

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example may be the French language translation of and commentary on the

Economics undertaken by Nicole Oresme in the later fourteenth century at the
court of King Charles V, which Blazek mentions only once (on p. ) in the
context of discussing the inuence of Bartholomew. These remarks should not
be taken in any way to disparage Blazeks considerable achievement. But if he
remains interested in continuing to investigate the topic of the Aristotelian philosophy of marriage beyond this worthy and substantial tome, I would encourage Blazek to consider writing a follow-up volume that pursues a similar line
of research beyond c. and into the later scholastic debates. Regardless of
whether this suggestion is heeded, historians of medieval philosophy, political
thought and social life all owe a profound debt of gratitude to Pavel Blazek for
the meticulous and far-reaching scholarship on display in Die mittelalterliche
Rezeption der aristotelischen Philosophie der Ehe.
Cary J. Nederman
nederman@politics.tamu.edu
Texas A&M University

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