The public space in the Middle Ages (P. Boucheron, N. Offenstadt dir)

The Middle Ages is often seen as a time when public debate and criticism does not exist, run over by a power representation. Public and private spheres are not separated. That is the conclusion of Jürgen Habermas in his essay The public space: archeology of advertising as a constitutive dimension of bourgeois society (1962). The medieval historians Patrick Boucheron and Nicolas Offenstadt decided to leave the work of German philosopher to question their period, the collective work by directing the Public Space in the Middle Ages: debates over Jürgen Habermas (PUF, 2011).

"Bringing a medieval look to the debate on public space"

This is a wish to prolong the historiographical debates and philosophical approach to history in a cumulative, Boucheron and Patrick Nicolas Offenstadt other historians have gathered to discuss both the public space in the Middle Ages and the thinking of Habermas. Indeed, it brings out the public debate, the critique of power in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly in England and France. He believes instead that in the Middle Ages, public and private spheres are not separated, and the public sphere is that of the representation of power.

The objective of P. Boucheron and N. Offenstadt is instead to show that the medieval situation is more complex than it appears, it evolves and depends in particular areas (city, courtyard, ...) and places (France, Spain, Italy, Burgundy, ...). Their desire is to extend the debate about the Middle Ages and up to Habermas contemporary issues, such as the German philosopher had done in his time, speaking of the late 1950s as one of those "refeudalization" that is to say a return to the Middle Ages and thus, according to him, a loss of critical debate in the public space. The authors are quick to assume so "the risk of anachronism."

Beyond the public space as Jürgen Habermas

The collective work which contribute, in addition to P. Boucheron and N. Offenstadt, nineteen historians and historians, is divided into six parts.

The first public space of historians around Jürgen Habermas, focuses primarily on the work of Jürgen Habermas, its context and reception (in the German school, for example, with the contribution of N. Offenstadt). The article by Vincent Azoulay actually extends beyond the medieval or "Habermasian" addressing "Public space and the Greek city."

The second part does not hesitate to "outflank" the Middle Ages, focusing on one of the "scene of the exchange: the city," with Diane Roussel's article on "public space as an issue of religious wars and civil peace, "which focuses on Paris in the sixteenth century, and that of Claire Judde of Larivière on Venice at the same time. Patrick Boucheron, a specialist in urban history, in turn gives a more comprehensive view of the relationship between public space and city.

A fundamental space, the courtyard is covered in part three, as in Artois in the fourteenth century (Christelle Balouzat-Loubet) than in the Valois dukes of Burgundy (Klaus Oschema). By studying the Court of Castile, Francis Foronda returns a "milestone missing from the Habermasian conception [...]: the deployment of the court."

Deliberation, is the fourth theme. Again in Spain, Aragon this time (Martine Charageat for "Deliberation and justice"), but also the France of Philip the Fair (Elizabeth AR Brown) or Lyon (Fargeix Carolina), and finally Italian cities (Patrick Gilli).

Who says debate said controversy about the fifth part, through the articles on disputatio Benedicte Sere in the medieval university and Corinne Leveleux, which focuses on legal controversies, while Joel Blanchard puts "public space the test of theater. "

Finally, the conflict, "the time of the exchange policy." Once again, the places studied are very different in rural Castile (Hipólito Rafael Oliva Herre) to Franconia from the late Middle Ages (Joseph Morsel), via Toulouse (Xavier Nadrigny) and Languedoc (Vincent Challet ).

From Jürgen Habermas, and particularly of the philosopher's thought on public space, or lack thereof-in the Middle Ages, historians have "attempted to identify public spaces casual", with a willingness to go both "backwards a certain tendency of medieval history who [would freeze] in an intangible concept of dominium any possibility of social change", and "relocate the medieval period in a general history of political emancipation." One way to query the Middle Ages and the present.

The notice of history for all

Sharp and dense book, The Public Sphere in the Middle Ages: Jürgen Habermas debates, does not really want a book public. Sometimes difficult for the average reader, especially if he is not aware of the history of the Middle Ages (especially the end of the period), it is nonetheless a scientific and historiographical who will refer, not only in his study of public space and the thought of Habermas, but also in how to make medieval history a contemporary story, can make us think and make progress on the issues of today.

Also read our interview with Nicolas Offenstadt .

- P. Boucheron, N. Offenstadt (eds), The Public Sphere in the Middle Ages: debates over Jürgen Habermas , PUF, 2011.