Religious Men and Masculine Identity in the Middle Ages

226 Pages·2013·5.191 MB·English

by  Patricia H. Cullum, Katherine J. Lewis

CMYK
156+5mm 0mm 156+5mm
PMS
IR
D
E RELIGIOUS MEN
E
L
The complex relationship between masculinity and religion, as experienced 
NI
in both the secular and ecclesiastical worlds, forms the focus for this volume,  G AND MASCULINE
T
whose range encompasses the rabbis of the Babylonian and Palestinian Talmud, 
I
I
and moves via Carolingian and Norman France, Siena, Antioch, and high and  TO IDENTITY IN THE
late medieval England to the eve of the Reformation. Chapters investigate  YU
the creation and reconstitution of different expressions of masculine identity, 
S MIDDLE AGES
I
from the clerical enthusiasts for marriage to the lay practitioners of chastity, 
N
from crusading bishops to holy kings. They also consider the extent to which  M

lay and clerical understandings of masculinity existed in an unstable dialectical  T
E
relationship, at times sharing similar features, at others pointedly different, co- H EDITED BY
N
opting and rejecting features of the other; the articles show this interplay to  E P. H. Cullum and Katherine J. Lewis
be far more complicated than a simple linear narrative of either increasing  A

M
divergence, or of clerical colonization of lay masculinity. They also challenge  N
conventional historiographies of the adoption of clerical celibacy, of the 
ID
decline of monasticism and the gendered nature of piety. D

DM
PATRICIA CULLUM is Head of History at the University of Huddersfield. LA 2
E 3
S 4
KATHERINE J. LEWIS is Senior Lecturer in History at the University of  +

AC 6
Huddersfield. m
GU m
Contributors: JAMES G. CLARK, P.H. CULLUM, KIRSTEN A. FENTON,  EL
I
S
JOANNA  HUNTINGTON,  KATHERINE  J.  LEWIS,  MATTHEW  N
MESLEY,  CATHERINE  SANOK,  MICHAEL  L.  SATLOW,  RACHEL 
E
STONE, JENNIFER D. THIBODEAUX, MARITA VON WEISSENBERG

Cover Image: ‘Theoderic recalls Desiderius’. Chroniques de France ou de Saint Denis.
© The British Library Board. Royal 16 G. VI, f.82v.  C
u
l
l
u
Series: Gender in the Middle Ages m

a
n
d

L
e
w
i
s

(
e
d
s
.
)
an imprint of BOYDELL & BREWER Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and
668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620-2731 (US)
www.boydellandbrewer.com
Gender in the Middle Ages
Volume 9
Religious Men and Masculine identity
in the Middle ages
Gender in the Middle Ages
issn 1742–870X
Series Editors
Jacqueline Murray
diane Watt
Editorial Board
clare lees
Katherine J. lewis Karma lochrie
This series investigates the representation and construction of masculinity and
femininity in the Middle ages from a variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary
perspectives. it aims in particular to explore the diversity of medieval genders,
and such interrelated contexts and issues as sexuality, social class, race and eth-
nicity, and orthodoxy and heterodoxy.
Proposals or queries should be sent in the first instance to the editors or to the
publisher, at the addresses given below; all submissions will receive prompt and
informed consideration.
Professor Jacqueline Murray, college of arts, university of guelph, guelph,
ontario, n1g 2W1, canada
Professor diane Watt, school of english and languages, university of surrey,
guildford, surrey gu5 7Xh
Boydell & Brewer limited, Po Box 9, Woodbridge, suffolk, iP12 3dF, uK
also in this series:
i Gender and Medieval Drama, Katie normington, 2004
ii Gender and Petty Crime in Late Medieval England: The Local Courts in
Kent, 1460–1560, Karen Jones, 2006
iii The Pastoral Care of Women in Late Medieval England, Beth allison Barr,
2008
iV Gender, Nation and Conquest in the Works of William of Malmesbury,
Kirsten a. Fenton, 2008
V Monsters, Gender and Sexuality in Medieval English Literature, dana M.
oswald, 2010
Vi Medieval Anchoritisms: Gender, Space and the Solitary Life, liz herbert
Mcavoy, 2011
Vii Middle-Aged Women in the Middle Ages, edited by sue niebrzydowski,
2011
Viii Married Women and the Law in Premodern Northwest Europe, edited by
cordelia Beattie and Matthew Frank stevens, 2013
Religious Men and Masculine
identity in the Middle ages
edited by
P.H. Cullum and Katherine J. Lewis
the Boydell PRess
© contributors 2013
All Rights Reserved. except as permitted under current legislation
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast,
transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission of the copyright owner
First published 2013
The Boydell Press, Woodbridge
isBn 978-1-84383-863-0
The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer ltd
Po Box 9, Woodbridge, suffolk iP12 3dF, uK
and of Boydell & Brewer inc.
668 Mt hope avenue, Rochester, ny 14620-2731, usa
website: www.boydellandbrewer.co.uk
a ciP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British library
The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy
of uRls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book,
and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate
Papers used by Boydell & Brewer ltd are natural, recyclable products
made from wood grown in sustainable forests
typeset by servis Filmsetting ltd, stockport, cheshire
Printed and bound in great Britain by
cPi group (uK) ltd, croydon, cR0 4yy
contents
list of illustrations vii
contributors viii
acknowledgements x
introduction
P.H. Cullum and Katherine J. Lewis 1
From salve to weapon: torah study, masculinity, and the Babylonian
talmud
Michael L. Satlow 16
gender and hierarchy: archbishop hincmar of Rheims (845–882) as a
religious man
Rachel Stone 28
The defence of clerical marriage: Religious identity and masculinity in
the writings of anglo-norman clerics
Jennifer D. Thibodeaux 46
Writing masculinity and religious identity in henry of huntingdon
Kirsten A. Fenton 64
‘The quality of his virtus proved him a perfect man’: hereward ‘the
Wake’ and the representation of lay masculinity
Joanna Huntington 77
episcopal authority and gender in the narratives of the First crusade
Matthew Mesley 94
v
Contents
‘What man are you?’: Piety and masculinity in the vitae of a sienese
craftsman and a Provençal nobleman
Marita von Weissenberg 112
‘imitate, too, this king in virtue, who could have done ill, and did it not’:
lay sanctity and the rewriting of henry Vi’s manliness
Katherine J. Lewis 126
John of Bridlington, mitred prior and model of the mixed life
Catherine Sanok 143
Why men became monks in late medieval england
James G. Clark 160
Feasting not fasting: Men’s devotion to the eucharist in the later Middle
ages
P.H. Cullum 184
index 201
vi
list oF illustRations
Figure 1: st John of Bridlington, parish church of st laurence, ludlow.
Photograph: the author. 146
Figure 2: st John of Bridlington, Beaufort hours: london, British library,
Ms Royal 2 a XViii, fo. 7v. © The British library Board. Reproduced
by permission. 156
vii
contRiButoRs
James G. Clark is Professor of history at the university of exeter. he has pub-
lished widely on monastic and clerical life in later medieval and pre-Reforma-
tion england. Recent books include The Benedictines in the Middle Ages (2011),
Ovid in the Middle Ages (2011) and The culture of medieval English monasticism
(2007). he is currently completing a study of the dissolution of the Monasteries
for yale university Press.
P.H. Cullum is head of history at the university of huddersfield. she has writ-
ten widely on religion and gender in the later Middle ages and particularly on
clerical masculinity. she is co-founder of The Bishop’s eye, a research network
based at the universities of huddersfield and lincoln focused on medieval mas-
culinity, high status men, and interactions between clerici and laici using the
archival and material resources of the diocese of lincoln.
Kirsten A. Fenton is a teaching Fellow in Mediaeval history at the university
of st andrews, uK. she is the author of Gender, nation and conquest in the
works of William of Malmesbury (2008) and co-editor, with cordelia Beattie, of
Intersections of gender, religion and ethnicity in the Middle Ages (2010); she has
written a number of articles that focus on ideas of medieval masculinity.
Joanna Huntington is senior lecturer in Medieval history at the university of
lincoln. her current and forthcoming publications focus on masculinities in
twelfth-century histories, hagiography, kingship, and rulership, and she is work-
ing on a monograph, Heroes from histories: Shaping male virtue in post-Conquest
England and Normandy.
Katherine J. Lewis is senior lecturer in history at the university of huddersfield.
she is the author of Kingship and Masculinity in Late Medieval England (2013).
she has also published a number of works on saints’ lives and cults in later medi-
eval england (especially st Katherine of alexandria), considering the operation
of both femininity and masculinity within these.
viii
Contributors
Matthew Mesley was awarded an MPhil at the university of cambridge, and
his Phd at the university of exeter. he is currently a Postdoctoral Research
assistant at the university of Zürich and is working on a snF-funded project
exploring clerical masculinity and the episcopal office.
Catherine Sanok is associate Professor of english and Women’s studies at the
university of Michigan. her book, Her life historical: Exemplarity and female
saint’s lives in late medieval England, was published in 2007. she is currently
completing a monograph that explores forms of affiliation and community in
vernacular lives of english saints.
Michael L. Satlow is Professor of Religious studies and Judaic studies at Brown
university. he has written widely on the social and religious history of Jews and
Judaism in antiquity and issues of method and theory in the study of religion.
his most recent books are Creating Judaism: History, tradition, practice (2006)
and Jewish marriage in Antiquity (2001); he is the editor of The gift in Antiquity
(2013).
Rachel Stone is a Postdoctoral Research associate at King’s college london,
working on the project ‘The making of charlemagne’s europe, 768–814’. her
book, Morality and masculinity in the Carolingian empire, was published in
2011. she is currently preparing a translation of hincmar of Rheims’ treatise
‘de divortio lotharii regis et Theutbergae reginae’ with charles West of sheffield
university.
Jennifer D. Thibodeaux is associate Professor of history at the university of
Wisconsin-Whitewater. she is the editor of Negotiating clerical identities: Priests,
monks and masculinity in the Middle Ages (2010), and the author of numerous
essays on the norman clergy and masculinity. she is currently working on a
monograph provisionally titled ‘The manly priest: masculinity, the clergy and
anglo-norman reform’.
Marita von Weissenberg is Visiting assistant Professor of history at Xavier
university, cincinnati, ohio. she was awarded her Phd by yale university in
May 2013. her dissertation is titled ‘Men in the family – husbands in society:
Men, marriage and masculinity in late medieval hagiography 1100–1500’. More
broadly, she is interested in the intersections of religion, society, culture, and
gender.
ix