WOMEN AND SANCTITY: LIVES OF THE FEMALE SAINTS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH FROM ...

519 Pages·2008·18.37 MB·English

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WOMEN AND SANCTITY:
LIVES OF THE FEMALE SAINTS WRITTEN IN ENGLISH
FROM CYNEWULF TO THE KATHERINE GROUP
GOPA ROY
Thesis submitted f or the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
University College, London, April 1991.
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ABSTRACT
An important concern in these Lives is the conflict between the flesh
and the spirit. Virginity in particular plays a central part. The
first part of this study examines the background to these concerns.
The discussion is based on works by the Fathers, particularly
St Augustine, and by English writers (Bede, Aldhelm and s€lfric).
Illustrations are taken from the Old English Lives. The following
areas are covered: the disobedience of the flesh, of which sexual lust
was one symptom; the Christian view of virginity as a means of
recovering the obedience of the flesh and restoring the harmonious
relationship between man and God lost by the fall; the qualities,
physical and spiritual, required of a virgin; the powers attributed to
virginity in the Lives of virgin saints. The last part of the section
discusses the reasons for the greater emphasis given to virginity in
women than in men, and examines the degree to which such reasons
influenced the Lives produced in England before the Conquest.
The second part consists of studies, in the light of the
foregoing, of the following Old English Lives: Cyriewuif's Jullana;
Eugenia; Euphrosyne; Margaret; Mary of Egypt.
Part three traces developments in spirituality and changes in
attitudes towards women which influenced the Lives of the Katherine
Group. The following are amongst the works discussed: the Liber
Confortorius of Goscelin; works by Anseim and the Cistercians; Hall
Melôhad and the Ancrene Wisse.�This Is followed in part four by
studies of the three Lives of the Katherine Group.
The Appendix provides textual and bibliographical information
about the Lives which are the subject of the study.
�
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
�
Acknowledgements 5
�
Prefatory note 5
�
Abbreviations 6
�
Introduction 9
PART I: VIRGINITY
�
Chapter 1:�Flesh and spirit 13
�
2: VirgInity and marriage 27
�
3: On being a virgin 35
�
4: Virginity and power 63
�
5: Virginity and women 122
PART II: OLD ENGLISH LIVES
�
Chapter 6:�Cynewuif's Juliana 162
�
7: &lfric's 'Life of St Eugenia' 188
�
8: The 'Life of St Euphrosyne' 217
�
9: The Life of St Margaret' 230
�
10: The Life of St Mary of Egypt' 250
PART III: FROM THE CONQUEST TO THE KATHERINE GROUP
�
Chapter 11:�Goscelln of St Bertin and Anseim of Canterbury 297
�
12: The Continent in the twelfth century 323
13: England in the twelfth end early thirteenth
�
centuries 340
�
14: Developments in spirituality 369
�
15: Developments in feminine Imagery 391
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PART IV: THE LIVES OF THE KATHERINE GROUP
�
Chapter 16:�St luliene 409
�
17: St Marherete 426
�
18: St Katerine 440
�
Appertdlx: texts, manuscripts, studies 475
�
Bibliography and references 496
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I am grateful to the following for their help: Geoffrey Needham, Mark
Bateson, Sue Burch, Lynne Grundy, Karl Hubke, David McDougall, Ian
McDougall, and my parents.
PREFATORY NOTE
Unless otherwise stated, Latin texts are quoted as printed by the
editors.
Where available, printed translations of Latin texts are also quoted.
Where no translations are available, I have provided translations or
paraphrases.
Biblical references are to the Vulgate, and quotations are from the
Douay-Rheims translation.
Unless otherwise stated, Old and early Middle English texts are quoted
as printed by the editors, except that the letter 'wynn' has been
normalised to 'w'; and Skeet's hyphens in Lifric's Lives of Saints
have been omitted.
In quotations from early Middle English texts, 3 represents lower case
yogh'.
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AB8REV1ATION
AASS: Acta Sanctorum, cci. 3. Bollandus et al. (Antwerp, Brussels,
Paris, 1643-1894)
Assmann: AngelsSchslsche Homillen und !Ieiligenleben ed. Bruno
Assmann, Bibliothek der angeischsichen Prose 3 (Kassel, 1889;
repr. with a supplementary introduction by Peter Clemoes,
Darmstadt, 1964). References are to homily and line numbers
AW: Ancrene Wisse: Edited from I Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,
3. R. R. Tolkien, EETS 249 (London, 1961). References are to
folio and line numbers
BHL: Bibliotheca Hagiographica Latina (Brussels, 1898-1901).
Supplement, Subsidia Hagiographica 12 (Brussels, 1911)
BT: An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary cci. Joseph Bosworth & T. Northcote
Toiler (Oxford, 1898). With a supplement by Toiler (Oxford,
1921). Enlarged Addenda and Corrigenda to the Supplement by
Alistair Campbell (Oxford, 1972)
Butler: Alban Butler, Butler's Lives of the Saints, 2nd edItion,
supplemented by H. Thurston & D. Attwater, 4 vols (London, 1956)
CCCM: Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Medievalis (Turnhout, 1966-)
CCSL: Corpus Christianorum Series Latina (Turnhout, 1953-)
CH: Homilies of Lifric ed. Benjamin Thorpe, 2 vols (London, 1844-46)
CSEL: Corpus Scriptorum Ecciesiasticorum Latinorurn (Vienna, 1866-)
DNB: Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford, 1917-)
EElS: Early English Text Society
Ehwald: Aidhelmi Opera Omnia, ed. R. Ehwald, I4GH Auctores Antiquissimi
15 (Berlin, 1919)
EME: Early Middle English
HE: Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English People ed. & trans.
Bertram Coigrave & R. A. B. Mynors (Oxford, 1969)
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HM: Bali Meiôhad ed. Belle Mlllett, EETS 284 (London, 1982).
References are to page and line numbers
Ker: Neil R. Ker, Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon
(Oxford, 1957). References are to catalogue and article numbers
LC: 'The Liber Confortetorius of Goscelin of Saint Bertin', ed.
C. H. Talbot, Analecta Monastica 3, Studia Anselmiana 37 (1955),
1-117, Rome.
Leclerq & Roche is: S. Leclerq, C. H. Talbot, H. II Roche is, S. Bernardi
Opera, B vols (Rome, 1957-1977)
Lewis & Short: A Latin Dictionary, Chariton 1. Lewis & Charles Short
(Oxford, 1879)
LS: Lifric's Lives of Saints ed. Walter W. Skeet, EElS 76, 82, 94,
114 (London 1881-1900; repr. in 2 vols 1966). References are to
homily and line numbers
MGH: Monumenta Germaniae Historice
Mombritius: Sanctuarium seu Vitae Senctorum, ed. B. Mombritlus (2nd
ed., 2 vols, Paris, 1910)
NCE: New Catholic Encyclopaedia (New York, London, etc., 1967)
ODCC: Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, ed. F. L. Cross &
E. A. Livingstorie, 2nd edition (Oxford, 1974)
CE: Old English
OEM: Old English Martyrology
Ott: 3. H. Ott, Ober die Queilen der Mel Jigenleben in Lifrics Lives
of Saints I (Helle, 1892)
PL: Patrologia Latina ed. S. P. Migne (Paris, 1844-64)
PM: Anselm's Prayers and Meditations ed. Benedicta Ward
(Harmondsworth, 1973)
SC: Sources Chrétiennes (Paris, 1940-)
Schmitt: F.S. Schmitt, Sancti Anselmi Cantuariensis Archiepiscopi
Opera Omnla, 6 vols (London 1938-1961)
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Skeet: W. W. Skeet, ed., Lifric's Lives of Saints (See LS above).
References are to volume and page numbers
Sources: Sources of Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture: A Trial Version,
ed. Frederick M. Biggs, Thomas D. Hill, Paul E. Szarmach, with
the assistance of Karen Hammond (New York, 1990)
Wace & Schaff: Henry Wace & Philip Schaff, editors, A Select Library
of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (Oxford & New York, 1890-1902).
References are to volume and page numbers
For further abbreviations used in the Appendix, see below, 495,
p.
note 3.
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INTRODUCTION
Saints have always been portrayed as ideal models of Christian conduct
and belief,' and their Lives reflect, as one would expect, the ideals
and values of the period and milieu in which they were produced. The
models of sanctity presented in the Lives of women saints no doubt
express much that was regarded as worthy of commemoration and
emulation in any holy person, whether a man or a woman; but they often
also reveal particular emphases and interests which can be connected
with the fact that the saints presented are female rather than male.
The purpose of this study is to identify what characterised the
sanctity of the female saints whose lives are extant in Old and in
early Middle English, and to attempt to understand what lay behind the
particular images of sanctity presented in them.
Such an investigation requires attention not only to the
spiritual background of the Lives, but also to changing attitudes
towards women, and to literary matters; for the way in which a female
saint is presented may be affected by prevailing attitudes towards
women; and influenced by 'literary' images of the feminine as
expressed, for example In exegetical writings, such as in allegorical
interpretations of the Song of Songs. Factors such as these can help
us to understand the nature of female sanctity as it was conceived at
various times, and the differences we find in the presentation of the
same or similar saints in versions of their Lives produced at
different times.
In the case of the Lives with which this study Is concerned,
comparisons with their sources (where this is possible) show that
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whereas some of the Old English Lives are fairly straightforward
literal�translations�of�earlier�Latin�versions,�significant
modifications have been made to others. 3 When we look at the period
following the Conquest, we find that major changes in attitude and
interest take place, which affect the presentation of the saints in
the Katherine Group Lives.
One of the most Important features of these Lives (and Indeed of
Lives of women saints as a whole) is the emphasis on virginity found
in them.�The study therefore begins with an investigation of the
background to, and possible reasons for, this emphasis, and discusses
expressions of the theme in the Old English Lives. Those Lives which
require separate treatment are then discussed individually: Cynewulf's
Juliana, a poetic life, the earliest of the group, and a Life which
can be read in terms of the conflict between the flesh and the spirit;
&lfric's 'Life of Eugenia', which reveals interesting differences in
its presentation of Eugenla's sanctity when compared with the Latin
versions; Euphrosyne, a virgin saint, but not a martyr, and one who,
like Eugenie, disguises herself as a man; Margaret, a virgin martyr
who defeats a dragon; and Mary of Egypt, the only one of the group who
is not a virgin, and who, as a repentant sinner, presents a model very
different from that provided by virgin saints.
We turn next to the period following the Norman Conquest, and
certain texts, such as the Liber Confortatorlus of Goscelin, which
have not so far received much attention in connection with attitudes
towards women and holiness, are examined in some detail. Other more
familiar texts, such as the Ancrene Visse and other works related to