Digital open lecture Dr. Jamie Page, 'Going to the dogs: Masculinity and the 'Waldmann Affair' of 1489'

On Friday 18 October 2024 (at 4pm), we co-organize the first session of the online Medieval Urban History Seminars, at which we will listen to Dr. Jamie Page (University of Graz) on 'Going to the dogs: Masculinity and the 'Waldmann Affair' of 1489'.

Speaker

Dr Jamie Page is a long-standing member of the network. He is postdoctoral fellow at the Institut für Geschichte at the University of Graz, Austria, having received his PhD from St Andrews in 2013 and having held research and teaching posts in Durham, Tübingen, and Lincoln. His book, Prostitution and Subjectivity, was published by OUP in 2021, and he has recently co-edited the Bloomsbury Cultural History volume on prostitution in the Middle Ages. He is now working on masculinity and urban government in the late Middle Ages, with an initial focus on Swiss and German cities.

Abstract

In 1489, the urban and rural citizens of Zurich rose up together to overthrow and execute their mayor, Hans Waldmann. Since coming to power from modest origins, Waldmann had been accused of ruling tyrannically by forcing unpopular economic reforms upon Zurich's territories, accepting bribes and pensions from the French and Milanese courts, and even of sodomy. In this paper, I examine reports of the 'Waldmann Affair' to explore the role played by masculinity in Waldmann's style of rule and in his downfall, and suggest ways in which gender shaped late medieval urban government more widely.