Between the virgin martyr who grows roots when men try to rape her, the woman who dresses as a man/becomes a man and distinguishes himself as a monk, the former prostitute who leaves for the desert and eats nothing for forty-seven years, and the former queen and abbess of a double monastery (i.e., overseeing both monks and nuns) whose advice is actively sought after, the Early English period abounds in quirky, surprising, and sometimes hilarious, models of female sanctity.
The goal of this seminar will be to get an idea of the main types of female sanctity that existed in early medieval England, and from this to reflect upon what it meant to be a woman during the Pre-Norman Conquest period.
What do these female saints reveal about models of femininity in the Early English imaginaire? What models could women relate to, aspire to, and imitate at the time?
- Enseignant·e: Juliette Vuille