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In the historiography of the Black Death, Southern Italy remains terra incognita, even to this day. This paper intends to highlight the considerable relevance of the Chronicle of Aquila in the Abruzzi on this subject. Written by the humanist merchant Buccio di Ranallo in around 1360, the work is one of the first examples of the genre of epic urban chronicles in volgare (“ordinary” speech), which was to see such great success in the fifteenth century. It has more than 1,250 quatrains. Although it has been published in two complete critical editions, the work is considered extremely mediocre from a literary point of view, and has been completely ignored by historians. However, it has highly interesting data on the 1348 catastrophe and the various upheavals it produced in the economy, social behavior, and people's attitudes. Buccio's chronicle is certainly the richest Italian narrative source – including Boccaccio – on the Black Death.

Colorful Language and its Counterpart. Illustration and Defense of “Oaths” in the Miracles of Gautier de CoinciIt seems that, whether Saracen or Christian, people swore a great deal in the thirteenth century, sometimes using extreme language. Gautier, who was a good observer of human nature and something between a sermon writer and a moralist, seems to quote these “oaths” with secret pleasure because of the inventiveness of such linguistic excess. Incidentally, in the same century, a preacher convinced people that they could atone for this common sin by opening their purse to support a just cause. In fact, an angry swearword describing the anatomy of a saint or of Christ in detail led unacceptably to images of the dissection, dismemberment, and massacre of the sacred body. Fortunately, reserve and discretion tended to accompany an oath pronounced when evoking Our Lady. Otherwise the terrible wrath of God would have descended upon the sinner.

The Two Translations (Fourteenth–Fifteenth Century) of Cassian's Conferences into Old French. What Translation Strategies Were Used, and What Was at Stake?To date, we have two translations of the Conferences of John Cassian in Old French, for each of which just one manuscript has been preserved. One was made by Jean Golein by order of Charles V and is dated 1370, while the other, commissioned by Edward I of Portugal, is the work of an anonymous scribe, and generally agreed to have been composed between 1391 and 1438. This study examines the translation strategies necessitated by a change of readership, from monks for the original text to a courtly audience for the translations; by the still very intense issues around the subject of Pelagianism; and by the development of attitudes about the scale of vices, and particularly in the case of the present text, of gastrimargia, castrimargie, and even gloutonie. Each of these two popularizers accepted these challenges and molded them according to their own world.

A Space for Customs Duty on Trade: The Town, Outskirts, and Provostship of Caen
Rates set for customs duty on merchandise when it entered a space or was sold were not mere lists of products and numbers; the lists also reveal a multitude of facets on the practices of the town and its space. The “Customs of the Provostship of Caen” provides us with a good example of the richness of these texts. This paper focuses on what this particular document contributes to our understanding the urban space in the broader sense, including its area of influence. The first part describes the ways in which customs were levied based on a variety of principles. The relationships between the levy and the space (provostship, outskirts, and town) and time (centered on the market) in which the levy was being applied are then analyzed. The third part describes the exemptions, people, and spaces involved. Finally, related to these aspects, we examine the manner in which customs were levied.

A Critical Rereading of the History of Reading: Discursive Regularities of Modern Historians
The aim of this paper is to map the current discourse of historians of reading by adopting a cross-disciplinary approach that challenges the views of researchers specializing in specific eras. This perspective shows that there is a recurring linear pattern in these specialized studies, whether they are on antiquity, the middle ages, modern times, or the present day. Identifying this leitmotif enables a better appreciation of the practices of periods too often regarded as pivotal or transitional, such as the medieval era.

The Franciscans in the Mamluk Sultanate from 1330 to 1516With the fall of the Latin States in the East in 1291, the Franciscans found refuge in Cyprus. However, as soon as the time seemed propitious, they called on the Papacy to help them get back their homes in Syria. In 1333, they returned to the Holy Land and Beirut for good. The Mamluk sultans granted them privileges, which insured their protection, and maintained conditions that allowed them to accomplishing their duties without hindrance. The European powers also supported the presence of the Franciscans in the East, because it often strengthened their interests and objectives, as different as these may have been. This paper studies the question of the Franciscan presence in the Mamluk sultanate during the fourteenth to fifteenth centuries; their role in the organization of pilgrimages; and their relationship with city authorities.