The tales of the virgin martyrs typically emphasize the torture and mutilation of beautiful young women. To the modern reader, these medieval texts seem like exercises in sadism, but they also provided Medieval women such as Hildegard of Bingen and Joan of Arc with role models who helped them to shape their own extraordinary destinies. This book explores the ability of the virgin body to generate contradictory meanings, both repressive and liberating, depending on who told the tale and how it was told.
The tales of the virgin martyrs typically emphasize the torture and mutilation of beautiful young women. To the modern reader, these medieval texts seem like exercises in sadism, but they also provided Medieval women such as Hildegard of Bingen and Joan of Arc with role models who helped them to shape their own extraordinary destinies. This book explores the ability of the virgin body to generate contradictory meanings, both repressive and liberating, depending on who told the tale and how it was told.
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ix | |
| Acknowledgments |
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xi | |
| Introduction Genuine Devotion, Imaginary Bodies |
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1 | (14) |
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Strange Triangle: Tertullian, Perpetua, Thecla |
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15 | (32) |
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Androgynous Virgins and the Threat of Rape in the Fourth Century |
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47 | (38) |
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From the Sublime to the Ridiculous in the Works of Hrotsvitha |
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85 | (26) |
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A Chorus of Virgins: Hildegard's Symphonia |
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111 | (32) |
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Pelagius, Rupert, and the Problem of Male Virginity in Hrotsvitha and Hildegard |
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143 | (22) |
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Catherine and Margaret: Vernacular Virgins and the Golden Legend |
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165 | (30) |
| Epilogue Joan of Arc |
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195 | (18) |
| Notes |
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213 | (34) |
| Index |
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247 | |
Maud Burnett McInerney teaches English and Medieval Studies at Haverford College.
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