St Katherine of Alexandria: Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe

280 Pages·2003·4.67 MB·English

by  Jacqueline Jenkins

St Katherine
of
Alexandria
Texts and Contexts in
Western Medieval Europe
Edited by
Jacqueline Jenkins and Katherine J. Lewis
EIEPOLS

1
Medieval Women: Texts & Contexts
This series provides a venue for work in one of the most exciting and fast-
growing fields in medieval studies, the history of women’s contributions to
western culture. The series title contains a deliberate and productive ambiguity.
fl
vJj^ Since women’s literary culture is a history of reading, hearing, and patronage
V y as well as of composition, the series will consider medieval women’s texts as
^ texts for and about, as well as by, medieval women. Broader comparative analyses
and detailed work on particular texts are both needed in the development of this field, and so is
international scholarly co-operation. The series is especially interested in making more accessible
to each other scholarship on medieval women undertaken in the English-speaking world and
mainland Europe respectively.
ST KATHERINE OF ALEXANDRIA
Texts and Contexts in Western Medieval Europe
St Katherine of Alexandria was one of the most popular saints in medieval Europe.
This book constitutes the first interdisciplinary collection of essays to explore her cult
and the range of meanings which St Katherine embodied for her devotees. The essays
between them consider a wide range of evidence, from visual representations (wall
paintings, manuscript illuminations, stained glass, and seals), to literary texts (lives of
the saint, prayers, hymns, devotional manuscripts, and breviaries) as well as documentary
evidence (wills, chronicles, ecclesiastical records and antiquarian writings) and the
physical remains of churches and chapels dedicated to St Katherine. These sources are
interpreted as part of wider manifestations of devotion to the saint in England,
France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Wales. The authors approach the cult from varying
disciplinary and methodological perspectives, but all seek to uncover the various religious,
social and cultural messages contained within the different versions of St Katherine
which these particular texts and contexts offer. The volume as a whole therefore sheds
light not only on devotion to St Katherine, but also on a much wider range of issues
and ideologies governing the lives of her devotees and the societies in which they lived.
Cover illustration: St Katherine preaching, from Yale University,
Beinecke MS 411, fol. 144?; reproduced with permission
3N 2-503-51290-9
9782503512907 THE UNIVERSITY OF HULL
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES

St Katherine of Alexandria
Medieval Women : Texts and Contexts
8
Medieval Women : Texts and Contexts
EDITORIAL BOARD UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE
CENTRE FOR MEDIEVAL STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF HULL
Juliette Dor Constant Mews
Université de Liège Monash University
Bridget Morris Anneke Mulder-Bakker
University of Hull Rijksuniversiteit Groningen
Barbara Newman Nicholas Watson
Northwestern University Harvard University
Jocelyn Wogan-Browne
Fordham University
St Katherine of Alexandria
Texts and Contexts
in Western Medieval Europe
edited by
Jacqueline Jenkins
and
Katherine J. Lewis
BREPOLS
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
St Katherine of Alexandria : texts and contexts in Western
medieval Europe. - (Medieval women : texts and contexts ; 8)
1.Catherine, of Alexandria, Saint 2. Catherine, of
Alexandria, Saint - Cult 3. Christian women saints -
Biography 4. Christian saints - Biography 5. Christian
hagiography
IJenkins, Jacqueline HLewis, Katherine J., 1969-
270’.092
ISBN 2503512909
© 2003, Brepols Publishers n.v., Thrahout, Belgium.
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.
D/2003/0095/61
ISBN 2-503-51290-9
Printed in the E.U. on acid-free paper