Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe: Popular Culture and Religious Reform

280 Pages·2016·7.749 MB·English

by  Rabia Gregory

Drawing upon a voluminous reading in secondary literature and a broad
knowledge of rare books and manuscripts from many premodern European
regions, Gregory’s study challenges the often anachronistically sexualized
notions of contemporary feminist scholarship concerning the bride of Christ
and the bridegroom. Her work instead examines the trope of “marrying Jesus”
in fresh ways, pointing up the complexity and fecundity of interpretations this
fundamental theme generated in late medieval religion.
—Philip M. Soergel, University of Maryland, College Park, USA Marrying Jesus in
M
E
a
The first full-length study of the notion of marriage to Jesus in late medieval a
and early modern popular culture, this book treats the transmission and rlyrry Medieval and Early Modern
transformation of ideas about this concept as a case study in the formation of Min
religious belief and popular culture. Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early g
Modern Northern Europeprovides a history of the dispersion of theology about od J Northern Europe
the bride of Christ in the period between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries ee
s
and explains how this metaphor, initially devised for a religious elite, became rnu
s
integral to the laity’s pursuit of salvation. N in Popular Culture and Religious Reform
o
Unlike recent publications on the bride of Christ, which explore the gendering r M
t
h
of sanctity or the poetics of religious eroticism, this is a study of popular e
e
d
religion told through devotional media and other technologies of salvation. r
ni RABIA GREGORY
Marrying Jesusargues against the heteronormative interpretation that brides ev
E
of Christ should be female by reconstructing the cultural production of a
u
l
brides of Christ in late medieval Europe. A central assertion of this book is r
oa
that by the fourteenth century, worldly, sexually active brides of Christ, both pn
male and female, were no longer aberrations. ed
Analyzing understudied vernacular sources from the late medieval period—
including sermons, early printed books, spiritual diaries, letters, songs, and
R
hagiographies—Rabia Gregory shows how marrying Jesus was central to late A
medieval lay piety, and how the “chaste” bride of Christ developed out of B
I
sixteenth-century religious disputes. A

G
R
E
Rabia Gregory is Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Women’s and
G
Gender Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA. O
R
Y
Cover illustration: Woodcut (cropped from opening, permission granted), Eternal Embrace of
Christ and the Loving Soul, Von der ynnigen selen wy sy gott casteyet vnnd im beheglich mach.
Erfurt: Wolfgang Schenck, 1499. Biblioteka Uniwersytecka we Wroclawiu, XV.Q.329 d iv r.
www.routledge.com

Marrying Jesus in Medieval and
early Modern northern europe
In loving memory of
Mariana Issa Geha
1910–2005
&
Dorothy Pauline Huston
1927–2009
Marrying Jesus in Medieval and
early Modern northern europe
popular Culture and religious reform
rabia gregory
University of Missouri-Columbia, USA
First published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© rabia gregory 2016
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
rabia gregory has asserted her right under the Copyright, designs and patents act, 1988,
to be identified as the author of this work.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are
used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
gregory, rabia.
Marrying Jesus in medieval and early modern northern europe: popular culture and
religious reform / by rabia gregory.
pages cm
includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4724-2266-8 (hardcover) — ISBN 978-1-4724-2267-5 (ebook) —
isbn 978-1-4724-2268-2 (epub)
1. Marriage—religious aspects—Christianity—history of doctrines. 2. Mystical union—
history of doctrines. 3. Jesus Christ—Mystical body—history of doctrines. 4. europe—
Church history. 5. spirituality—Christianity—history of doctrines. i. title.
bt706.g74 2016
274’.05—dc23
2015029927
ISBN: 9781472422668 (hbk)
Contents
List of Figures and Tables vii
Preface and Acknowledgements xi
1 portraits of the bride of Christ 1
2 any body’s bridegroom 31
3 transmedia stories of Jesus and the loving soul 67
4 Created to be a bride 117
5 Taking Jesus as a Second Husband 145
6 sisters and brides of Christ 169
7 Confessions of “true” brides of Christ 191
8 brides of Christ, Contemporary Christianity, and american
popular Culture 215
Bibliography 227
Index 255
Page Intentionally Left Blank
list of Figures and tables
Figures
2.1 Sponsa et Sponsus, Exposition on the Song of Songs. bayerische
Staatsbibliothek München, CLM. 18125, 1v., c. 1200. 38
2.2 Sponsa et Sponsus, Exposition on the Song of Songs.
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, CLM. 4550, third quarter
of the twelfth century. 39
2.3 Sponsa et Sponsus, Exposition on the Song of Songs.
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek München, CLM. 30172, 1403. 40
2.4 Christ in Majesty, Speculum Virginum, book 10. The Walters Art
Museum, baltimore, Ms W 72, fol. 98 r. 42
2.5 Jesus Attracting the Faithful to Heart, 1480/1490. Courtesy of
national gallery of art, Washington, rosenwald Collection,
1943.3.853. 43
2.6 Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, Mensheid wordt door de duivel
geketend, 1550, after a design by Maarten van Heemskerck.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-BI-6540X. 46
2.7 Dirck Volckertsz Coornhert, Zaligheid wordt bereikt door een te
worden met Christus, 1550, after a design by Maarten van
Heemskerck. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, RP-P-BI-6553x. 47
2.8 Unknown artist, Eternal Embrace and Closing Prayer, Von der
ynnigen selen wy sy gott casteyet vnnd im beheglich mach.
Erfurt: Wolfgang Schenck, 1499. Biblioteka Uniwersytecka
we Wrocławiu, XV.Q.329 d iii v–d iv r. 58
3.1 God sends his messengers, Buch der Kunst, dadurch der
weltlich Mensch mag geistlich werden. augsburg: Johann
bämler, 1477, a 4 r rb 85766. reproduced by permission of
the huntington library, san Marino, California. 80
3.2 The Soul at the altar with Christ as Man of Sorrows, Buch
der Kunst, dadurch der weltlich Mensch mag geistlich
werden. augsburg: Johann bämler, 1477, c 8 v rb 85766.
reproduced by permission of the huntington library,
san Marino, California. 82
viii Marrying Jesus in Medieval and Early Modern Northern Europe
3.3 title page, Den gheesteliken minnenbrief die Jesus Christus
sendet tot synre bruyt. leiden: govert van ghemen, c. 1495,
a i r. Cambridge university library inc.6.e.102[3117]. 84
3.4 Christ wakes the Soul, Von der ynnigen selen wy sy gott casteyet
vnnd im beheglich mach. Erfurt: Wolfgang Schenck, 1499,
a iii r. Biblioteka Uniwersytecka we Wrocławiu, XV.Q.329. 86
3.5 Christ undresses the Soul/Christ hangs the Soul, Christus und
die minnende Seele. Albertina, Vienna, DG1930/198/6–7. 88
3.6 The Soul enthroned with her Attendants and Wounding Jesus,
Buch der Kunst, dadurch der weltlich Mensch mag geistlich
werden. augsburg: Johann bämler, 1477, m 8 r, rb 85766.
reproduced by permission of the huntington library,
san Marino, California. 90
3.7 title page, Mauburnus’s Rosetum exercitiorum spiritualium
et sacrarum meditationum. Zwolle: peter os, 1494, rb
104186. reproduced by permission of the huntington library,
san Marino, California. 95
3.8 Coronation of the Virgin with profession statements, Biblia
Pauperum. Nuremburg: Hans Sporer, 1471–75, 36. Courtesy of
scheide library, princeton, nJ. 97
3.9 “er hat mich gezieret mitt der cronen als der gemahel” [He has
adorned me with a crown as the bride], Biblia Pauperum.
Nuremburg: Hans Sporer, 1471–75, 40. Courtesy of Scheide
library, princeton, nJ. 99
3.10 The Descent from the Cross (front), c. 1420. panel, 62 × 30 cm.
Inv. Nr. 268.a. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.
photo credit: scala / art resource, ny. 102
3.11 Christ bearing the Cross (reverse), c. 1420. panel, 62 × 30 cm.
Inv. Nr. 268.b. Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid, Spain.
photo credit: scala / art resource, ny. 103
3.12 Iconographic finger ring from Godstow Abbey, early fifteenth
century. depth: 11.3 millimeters, diameter: 19.6 millimeters,
weight: 15.448 grams. british Museum, inv. nr. an287704001.
Copyright of the trustees of the british Museum. 105