An Orchard, a Love Letter and Three Bastards: The Formation of Adult Male Identity in a Fifteenth-Century Family
An Orchard, a Love Letter and Three Bastards: The Formation of Adult Male Identity in a Fifteenth-Century Family
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一座果园、一封情书和三个私生子：十五世纪家庭中成年男性身份的形成
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发表时间：
2011
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通讯作者：
R. Moss
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作者：
R. Moss
1481年夏天，年轻的羊毛商人理查德·塞利写信给他的兄弟乔治。他报告说，他会见了一个家庭朋友的妹妹，并判断她是一个合适的婚姻前景的乔治。理查德和他的父亲老理查德在新果园里散步时讨论了这件事，老理查德让他的儿子写信给乔治，鼓励他抓住这个机会。然而，这些男人谈论的不仅仅是体面的婚姻前景，还有一个孩子的死亡。这个孩子是乔治和一个住在加莱的女人的私生子，老理查德不仅知道这段关系，而且对他儿子的损失表示同情。小理查德·切利的信巧妙地提供了一些例子，说明为什么切利的信件如此有趣：这里我们有家庭感情和父权的证据，求爱模式，以及对婚外情的态度。乔治和小理查德都是二十出头，在这封信中，他们似乎既与父亲保持着友好的信任，又在父亲的权威之下。在他们生命的这个阶段，Cely的儿子们正处于一个过渡的生命阶段，因为他们开始从青春期进入成年期，他们的性行为和对父亲的顺从反映了他们在青春期生命阶段的地位，而他们寻找妻子的尝试表明了他们向成年期的转变。因此，Cely的信件为研究中世纪晚期的青春期和男性性行为提供了宝贵的资源。
In the summer of 1481 Richard Cely, a young wool merchant, wrote to his brother George. He reported that he had met with the sister of a family friend, and judged that she was an appropriate marital prospect for George. Richard discussed the matter with his father, Richard senior, as they walked together in their new orchard, and Richard senior instructed his son to write to George to encourage him to pursue the opportunity. However, these men were not just talking about respectable marriage prospects, but also the death of a child. The child in question was George’s illegitimate baby by a woman who lived in Calais, and not only was Richard senior aware of the relationship, he was sympathetic to his son’s loss. Richard Cely junior’s letter neatly provides examples of why the Cely correspondence is so interesting: here we have evidence of familial affection and paternal authority, courtship patterns, and attitudes toward extramarital relationships. George and Richard junior, both in their early twenties, in this letter appear to be both in friendly confidence with their father and under his paternal authority. At this point in their lives the Cely sons are in a transitional life phase as they begin to move from adolescence into manhood, their sexual behaviour and obedience to their father reflecting their place in the adolescent life stage, whilst their attempts to find wives indicate a shift toward attaining manhood. The Cely letters thus provide an invaluable resource for studying late medieval adolescence and male sexuality.