The Vulgate Genesis and St. Jerome’s Attitudes to Women
It is Jerome’s hostility to women (and his suspicion and fear of them) that is usually emphasized. Some of my examples show evidence of this bias. But some of my examples also show a great warmth and sensitivity on his part to the women concerned in the passages, and I am inclined to attribute to St. Jerome a much more sympathetic and affectionate nature than does David Wiesen…
St. Birgitta: The Disjunction Between Women and Ecclesiastical Power
However, if one theoretically unseats the primacy of the Papal cause and instead places its importance within the context of Birgitta’s life as a woman, a more sympathetic portrait emerges. When I re-examine her visions and her life in this light, I find that Birgitta was divided in her allegiance to the Papal Father in her concern for women.
The Paradox of Evil: a Study of Elevation Through Oppression
For medieval mystical women, the ability to maintain two opposite concepts simultaneously seems to be requisite for spiritual development. Not only were women asked to comprehend humanity’s otherness from God, as women, they were assumed subservient to men and, paradoxically, as able to receive redemption as their male counterparts; women understood their nature as both inferior and worthy, lesser than and equal to.
Civic Knighthood in the Early Renaissance: Leonardo Bruni’s De militia (ca. 1420)
This little piece of buffoonery gives us a good idea of what knighthood had come to mean in the minds of many Italians by the late fourteenth century. For the Florentine judge, his knighthood was an honor which gave him the opportunity to dress up in a dazzling costume. It was a piece of merchandise he had purchased; nothing more. He had no sense of shame at his lack of bellica virtus.
Seduction, Abandonment, and Sorcery in Middle English Lyrics
My purpose in writing this article is to expose a different view of romantic relationships that exist in medieval literature, a view that is in opposition to courtly love.
The art of medicine: Midwives and obstetric catastrophe: retrieving the past
For the historian, however, and for any healer with an eye for the human dimensions of medicine, the story has just begun. For Floreta is, in fact, the first known European midwife to be put on trial for the death of a mother in childbirth. Indeed, she is charged not with simple medical negligence, but with premeditated murder.
Women in the Northern Courts: Interpreting Legal Records of Familial Conflict In Early Fifteenth-Century Yorkshire
This article reconsiders the story of Katherine Norfolk and her troublesome relations in light of these documents, which I found as a part of my wider research on women, conflict and power in late medieval Yorkshire.
“The World on the End of a Reed”: Marguerite Porete and the annihilation of an identity in medieval and modern representations – a reassessment
Central to the aims of this thesis is the question “how did Porete „fit‟ the religious landscape of her period?” A seeming obstacle to this pursuit are claims from within the scholarship that Porete did not „fit‟ at all, but was, rather, as an aberration amidst other female mystics of the period.
State power and illicit sexuality: the persecution of sodomy in late medieval Bruges
The study of marginal groups in the late medieval Low Countries is much neglected. The issues of when, where and how homosexuals came to be marginalized, to be regarded as a danger to social order, have not been specifically investigated in this part of Europe.
Love, Marriage, and Happiness: Changing Systems of Desire in Fourteenth-Century England
It is my intention not only to explore the discourse of love and desire in the fourteenth century, but also to examine how the ideas have been altered from those present in the Anglo-Norman and Latin material that was written or widely read in twelfth-century England and what pressures and influences may have brought about these changes.
Be My Medieval Valentine?: Five Fabulous Books on Love!
Five fabulous books to enjoy with your Abelard or Heloise! Happy Valentine’s Day Medievalverse!
The debate on the Epistolae duorum amantium. Current status
The methodological questions at stake are much more important and interesting. To quote the initial words of P. von Moos’ monumental article, these documents represent a real challenge for medievalism.
The ancient and medieval Greek writers perceptions concerning the relationship between sexual characteristics and testicular volume
Hippocrates (5th-4th c. BC) was the first Greek medical writer to leave a written re- port on the changes in the voice of eunuchs…
Diseases as causes of divorce in Byzantium
Τhe purpose of this study is to describe the diseases for which divorce could be issued if one of the spouses wanted, in Byzantine times.
Review: The Countess
The Countess is a 2009 film about Elizabeth Báthory. It is the Julie Delpy’s third directorial effort. Julia casts her self in the starring role as Erzsébet Báthory.
The jus primae noctis as a male power display: A review of historic sources with evolutionary interpretation
Although most historians would agree today that there is no authentic proof of the actual exercise of the custom in the Middle Ages, disagreements persist concerning the origin, meaning, and development of a widespread popular belief in this alleged “right” and the existence of symbolic gestures associated with it.
Female Discourses: Powerful and Powerless Speech in Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte Darthur
Verbal interactions of female characters of Le Morte Darthur are analyzed in various instances of speech behavior, such as advice, apology, conflict managing, complaining, nagging and teasing.
The foundational rape tale in Medieval Iberia
When one reads Medieval historiographic texts—whether written in Latin, Arabic or Romance—it appears that both the Moorish invasion and the Christian Reconquest of Spain are linked to a rape episode.
If She Says Yes or Is Silent: A New Interpretation of Female Marital Consent in the Settlement Period in Iceland as Revealed Through the Family Sagas
Icelandic Sagas have captivated the minds of casual readers and historians alike due to their complex depiction of character and deeply resonant storylines. All of the characters are highly nuanced and developed, but many times it is the female characters that catch a reader’s attention because of their exceptional level of activity and variety.
Rape in Medieval England: A Legal History, 1272-1307
Many historians have therefore concluded that although Westminster II’s rape laws were intended to halt the growing incidence of rape and facilitate prosecutions, they were evidently inadequate.
Primary Sources and Context Concerning Joan of Arc’s Male Clothing
A number of the clergy who had served on the tribunal later testified, during the posthumous investigations and appeal of the case (1450, 1452, and 1455-56) after the English were expelled, that the transcript and judges had misrepresented the circumstances and hence the theological implications.
Guinevere, the Superwoman of Contemporary Arthurian Fiction
In a perceptive article published in 1987, Elisabeth Brewer explores attempts by early twentieth-century dramatists and more recent novelists to transform Guinevere from a peripheral into a central figure in the Arthurian story.
“To all grave and modest matrons”: Practical Midwifery and Chirurgery in De conceptu et generatione hominis (1580)
If previous manuscripts offered helpful remedies to soothe women’s suffering, these new works studied reproduction for theoretical gain, not practical application.
CATHARISM AND THE TAROT
The idea of heretical origins for the Tarot still attracts attention because the Medieval heresies share two important traits with modern Tarotists.