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This volume discusses, from an historical and literary angle, the
ways in which sanctification and the inscription of saintliness
take place. Going beyond the traditional categories of
canonization, cult, liturgical veneration and hagiographical lives,
the work raises fundamental issues concerning definitions of saints
and saintliness in a period before the concept was crystallized in
canon law. As well as discussing sources and methodology,
contributions cover contextual issues, including relics and
veneration, life and the afterlife, and examinations of specific
sources and texts. Subjects raised include the idea of hagiography
as intimate biography, perceptions of holiness in writings by and
about female mystics, and bodily aspects of the Franciscan search
for evangelical perfection.
An examination of the growth and different varieties of anchoritism
throughout medieval Europe. The practice of anchoritism - religious
enclosure which was frequently solitary and voluntarily embraced,
very often in a permanent capacity - was widespread in many areas
of Europe throughout the middle ages. Originating in the desert
withdrawal of the earliest Christians and prefiguring even the
monastic life, anchoritism developed into an elite vocation which
was popular amongst both men and women. Within this reclusive
vocation, the anchorite would withdraw, either alone or with others
like her or him, to a small cell or building, very frequently
attached to a church or other religious institution, where she or
he would - theoretically at least - remain locked up until death.
In the later period it was a vocation which was particularly
associated with pious laywomen who appear to have opted for this
extreme way of life in their thousands throughout western Europe,
often as an alternative to marriage orremarriage, allowing them,
instead, to undertake the role of "living saint" within the
community. This volume brings together for the first time in
English much of the most important European scholarship on the
subject to date. Tracing the vocation's origins from the Egyptian
deserts of early Christian activity through to its multiple
expressions in western Europe, it also identifies some of those
regions - Wales and Scotland, for example - where thephenomenon
does not appear to have been as widespread. As such, the volume
provides an invaluable resource for those interested in the
theories and practices of medieval anchoritism in particular, and
the development of medieval religiosity more widely. Dr LIZ HERBERT
MCAVOY is Professor of Medieval Literature at Swansea University.
CONTRIBUTORS: Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker, Gabriela Signori, M. Sensi,
G. Cavero Dominguez, P. L'Hermite-Leclercq, Mari Hughes-Edwards,
Colman O Clabaigh, Anna McHugh, Liz Herbert McAvoy.
New research into medieval women from the Anglo-Saxon to the late
medieval period demonstrates their energy, defiance and wit. The
phenomenon of medieval women's middle age is a stage in the
lifecycle that has been frequently overlooked in preference for the
examination of female youth and old age. The essays collected here,
ranging from the Anglo-Saxon to the late medieval period, and
drawing variously from literary studies, history, law, art and
theology, address this lacuna. Taking a variety of critical
approaches, the contributors consider medieval definitions,
paradigms andexperiences of female middle age, analysing how the
middle-aged woman perceived herself subjectively, as well as how
she was perceived by others. They seek to challenge the received
wisdom that in the middle ages, at forty, womenwere deemed "old"
and, from that point onwards, their thoughts should be focused on
preparing for death. On the contrary, this collection demonstrates
their energy, defiance and wit. Sue Niebrzydowski is Lecturer in
English, Bangor University, Wales. Contributors: Jane Geddes, Clare
A. Lees, Carol M. Meale, Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker, Sue
Niebrzydowski, Raluca L. Radulescu, Sara Elin Roberts, Corinne
Saunders, Diane Watt.
Much recent research has illuminated medieval secular life and
lifestyles with renewed attention to the economic and social
history of medieval households. New editions of household rolls and
account books have appeared, together with further studies of kin
groups and the demographics of household, and intensified awareness
of the household as a site of cultural patronage. Current
scholarship on medieval women has also produced numerous studies of
the devotional reading of medieval women, of medieval female
communities, and the history of medieval professed and laywomen's
religious lives. However we know of no study uniting the household
and medieval women's religious activities as a focus of enquiry.
The present volume thus at once addresses a field of vigorous
scholarship while offering a distinctive and powerful focus for the
history of medieval women.
Lives of the Anchoresses The Rise of the Urban Recluse in Medieval
Europe Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker. Translated by Myra Heerspink Scholz
"We are blessed here with a study of rare insight and perception
into the functioning of lay religious devotion in northwestern
Europe and its interaction with institutionalized and learned
clerical religion."--"Speculum" In cities and towns across northern
Europe in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a new type of
religious woman took up authoritative positions in society, all the
while living as public recluses in cells attached to the sides of
churches. In Lives of the Anchoresses, Anneke Mulder-Bakker offers
a new history of these women who chose to forsake the world but did
not avoid it. Unlike nuns, anchoresses maintained their ties to
society and belonged to no formal religious order. From their
solitary anchorholds in very public places, they acted as teachers
and counselors and, in some cases, theological innovators for
parishioners who would speak to them from the street, through small
openings in the walls of their cells. Available at all hours, the
anchoresses were ready to care for the community's faithful
whenever needed. Through careful biographical studies of five
emblematic anchoresses, Mulder-Bakker reveals the details of these
influential religious women. The life of the unnamed anchoress who
was mother to Guibert of Nogent shows the anchoress's role as a
spiritual guide in an oral culture. A study of Yvette of Huy shows
the myriad possibilities open to one woman who eventually chose the
life of an anchoress. The accounts of Juliana of Cornillon and Eve
of St. Martin raise questions about the participation of religious
women in theological discussions and their contributions to church
liturgy. And the biographical study of Margaret the Lame of
Magdeburg explores the anchoress's role as day-to-day religious
instructor to the ordinary faithful. Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker is a
senior lecturer in history and medieval studies at the University
of Groningen. She is the author many books in Dutch, including
"Seeing and Knowing: Women and Learning in Medieval Europe,
1200-1550" and is editor of "The Invention of Saintliness" and
"Sanctity and Motherhood: Essays on Holy Mothers in the Middle
Ages." The Middle Ages Series 2005 312 pages 6 x 9 ISBN
978-0-8122-3852-5 Cloth $65.00s 42.50 ISBN 978-0-8122-0286-1 Ebook
$65.00s 42.50 World Rights History, Women's/Gender Studies,
Religion Short copy: In cities and towns across northern Europe in
the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a new type of religious woman
took up authoritative though solitary positions in medieval
society. Mulder-Bakker offers a new history of these women and
their roles as counselors, theological innovators, and public
recluses.
Mary of Oignies (1177-1213) was one of the first holy women to
transform religious life in the late twelfth and early thirteenth
centuries. Living as a beguine and a free anchoress she guided
those who came to speak with her, both high clerics and common
people alike. In the oral world of medieval Christianity one
disregarded her word at considerable risk. This volume contains all
of the relevant medieval sources on Mary of Oignies, translated by
Margot King and Hugh Feiss OSB. They include: the Life written by
her confessor, James of Vitry, and the Supplement thereof by Thomas
of Cantimpre; the liturgical office of her feast-day; and the
'History of the Priory of Oignies'. Also included are an
introductory essay about her life and significance, written by
Anneke Mulder-Bakker; a study about Mary as a 'friend to the
saints' by Brenda Bolton; and the manuscript transmission of her
Life, by Suzan Folkerts. The volume therefore provides a
comprehensive 'companion' to Mary of Oignies and her wider
significance in medieval and modern scholarship.
An examination of the growth and different varieties of anchoritism
throughout medieval Europe. The practice of anchoritism - religious
enclosure which was frequently solitary and voluntarily embraced,
very often in a permanent capacity - was widespread in many areas
of Europe throughout the middle ages. Originating in the desert
withdrawal of the earliest Christians and prefiguring even the
monastic life, anchoritism developed into an elite vocation which
was popular amongst both men and women. Within this reclusive
vocation, the anchorite would withdraw, either alone or with others
like her or him, to a small cell or building, very frequently
attached to a church or other religious institution, where she or
he would - theoretically at least - remain locked up until death.
In the later period it was a vocation which was particularly
associated with pious laywomen who appear to have opted for this
extreme way of life in their thousands throughout western Europe,
often as an alternative to marriage orremarriage, allowing them,
instead, to undertake the role of "living saint" within the
community. This volume brings together for the first time in
English much of the most important European scholarship on the
subject to date. Tracing the vocation's origins from the Egyptian
deserts of early Christian activity through to its multiple
expressions in western Europe, it also identifies some of those
regions - Wales and Scotland, for example - where thephenomenon
does not appear to have been as widespread. As such, the volume
provides an invaluable resource for those interested in the
theories and practices of medieval anchoritism in particular, and
the development of medieval religiosity more widely. Dr LIZ HERBERT
MCAVOY is Professor of Medieval Literature at Swansea University.
CONTRIBUTORS: Anneke B. Mulder-Bakker, Gabriela Signori, M. Sensi,
G. Cavero Dominguez, P. L'Hermite-Leclercq, Mari Hughes-Edwards,
Colman O Clabaigh, Anna McHugh, Liz Herbert McAvoy.
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