Preface I

Summary

Since meeting Edelgard DuBruck in Kaprun, Austria, in 1995 — at one of the international medieval congresses organized by Fifteenth-Century Studies with which Edelgard's name has become so inextricably linked — I have benefited immensely from more than a decade of collaborative work with this exemplary scholar and steadfast friend. Even though Edelgard is now an octogenarian, she remains an active researcher, astute editor, and dedicated colleague to an expansive network of medievalists (still growing) which she has cultivated throughout the years. What sets Edelgard apart from others is the staggering workload she willingly undertakes at a time when others with graying temples or depleted physical reserves might opt for a less rigorous post-retirement work life. Yet one has the sense that Edelgard stands ever in the vanguard, attuned and receptive to shifts in scholarship, primed and vitalized for the next professional adventure.

Edelgard's European background may partially explain her indomitable spirit. Born in Breslau (now Wrocław), Germany, she lived through Hitler's totalitarian regime and procured her first teaching position tutoring German, French, English, Latin, and Math to the daughter of a German noble, who was living in Poland. Later, she taught second and fourth grade in the village of Wangern (Silesia). When news of an air raid upon Breslau, her home town, created anxiety about the plight of her family, she returned to Breslau and was informed that all inhabitants had to evacuate, whereupon her family fled to Helmstedt (at the later Iron Curtain).