Virginity and (In)Visibility in Medieval Religious Literature

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21814/diacritica.5851

Keywords:

Hagiography, Virginity, Visibility, Euphrosyne, Mary of egypt

Abstract

In medieval religious literature one can find strategies that were used to precise and control contexts and modalities of symbolic representations of the female genre. This article analyses some of the concepts that were active in those representations of genre in the 13th and 14th centuries. It will examine specifically the notion of Virginity, drawing on two examples from hagiography – the “Vida de Eufrosina” and “Vida de Santa Maria Egipcíaca” (Cód. Alcob. 266). By looking into issues of visibility and invisibility, this article aims to demonstrate hermeneutical problems underlying the problematics of Virginity.

References

Agostinho, S. (1845). Confessionum. In J. P. Migne, Patrologia latina (Vol. 32, pp. 65–868). Petit Montrouge.

Bloch, R. H. (1991). Medieval Misogyny and the Invention of Western Love. The University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226059907.001.0001

Brown, P. (1995). Le renoncement à la chair. Virginité, célibat et continence dans le christianisme primitif. Bibliothèque des histoires.

Bullough, V. L. (1974). Transvestites in the Middle Ages. American Journal of Sociology, 6, 1381-1394. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/225706

Cassiano (2009). Conférences, II (Sources Chrétiennes, Vol. 54). Les Éditions du Cerf.

Castro, I. (Dir.) (1985a). Vida de Eufrosina. In Vidas de santos de um manuscrito alcobacense (Colecção Mística de Fr. Hilário da Lourinhã, COD. ALC. CCLXVI/ANTT 2274) [sep. de Revista Lusitana, n. s., 5., pp. 43–55]. Centro de Estudos Geográficos.

Castro, I. (Dir.) (1985b). “Vida de Santa Maria egipcíaca”. In Vidas de santos de um manuscrito alcobacense (Colecção mística de Fr. Hilário da Lourinhã, COD. ALC. CCLXVI/ANTT 2274) [sep. de Revista Lusitana, n. s., 5, pp. 56–71]. Centro de Estudos Geográficos.

Cipriano. (1844). Liber de habitu virginum. In J. P. Migne, Patrologia latina (Vol. 4, p. 459). Petit Montrouge.

Foucault, M. (1982). Le combat de la chasteté. Communications, 35, 15–25. https://doi.org/10.3406/comm.1982.1518 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/comm.1982.1518

Foucault, M. (1984). Le souci de soi. Histoire de la sexualité (Vol. 2). Gallimard.

Foucault, M. (2018). Les aveux de la chair. Histoire de la sexualité (Vol. 4). Gallimard.

Huchet, J. C. (1985). Les déserts du roman medieval. Le personnage de l’ermite dans les romans des XIIe et XIIIe siècles. Littérature, 60, 89 –108. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/litt.1985.1450

Jerónimo, S. (1933). To eustochium. The virgin’s profession (Letter XXII). Select letters of St. Jerome (F. A. Wright, M. A., Trad.) (pp. 53–159). Heinemann.

Maître Eckhart (1993). Traités et sermons (A. de Libéra, Ed. & Trad.). Flammarion.

St. Methodius. (1958). The symposium: A treatise on chastity (Ancient Christian Writers). In H. Musurillo (Trad.). The Newman Press.

Moiteiro, G. C. (2018). Obediência e clausura: Receção e produção femininas de um tópico definidor e persistente. In A. C. Gouveia, J. Nunes, & P. F. de Oliveira Fontes (Coords.), Os dominicanos em Portugal (1216-2016) (pp. 27–46). Universidade Católica Portuguesa. http://dx.doi.org/10.34632/9789728361815

Schulenburg, J. T. (1998). Forgetful of their sex: female sanctity & society, 500-1100. University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226518992.001.0001

Tertuliano. (1997). Le voile des vierges. De virginibus velandis. (E. Schulz-Flügel, Ed. & P. Mattei, Trad.; Sources Chrétiennes, Vol. 424). Les Éditions du Cerf.

Welter, J.-Th. (1973) L’Exemplum dans la littérature religieuse et didactique du Moyen Âge (E.-H. Guitard, 1927). Slatkine Reprints.

Published

2024-12-28

Issue

Section

Articles Special Issue

How to Cite

Virginity and (In)Visibility in Medieval Religious Literature. (2024). Diacrítica, 38(3), 37-47. https://doi.org/10.21814/diacritica.5851

Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.