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Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature / KATHRYN WEBB

Swansea University Author: KATHRYN WEBB

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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.57016

Abstract

This thesis examines responses to Christ’s gendered flesh that are located not in canonical literary texts or traditional saints’ lives, but in the sermons, visions and confessions of devout and orthodox men and women, whose orthodoxy, upon closer examination, is nevertheless decidedly unorthodox. I...

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Published: Swansea 2021
Institution: Swansea University
Degree level: Doctoral
Degree name: Ph.D
Supervisor: Herbert McAvoy, E.
URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa57016
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fullrecord <?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2021-06-02T14:44:43.6298963</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>57016</id><entry>2021-06-02</entry><title>Christa, Christus: Christ&#x2019;s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>42a04779ad9d9c41782b861beceebda0</sid><firstname>KATHRYN</firstname><surname>WEBB</surname><name>KATHRYN WEBB</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2021-06-02</date><abstract>This thesis examines responses to Christ&#x2019;s gendered flesh that are located not in canonical literary texts or traditional saints&#x2019; lives, but in the sermons, visions and confessions of devout and orthodox men and women, whose orthodoxy, upon closer examination, is nevertheless decidedly unorthodox. In it, using a series of test cases, I argue that closer scrutiny of these non-canonical texts thus offers a more nuanced understanding of late-medieval notions of interplay between gender, sexuality and the divine than has been considered within previous scholarship.Beginning with the thirteenth-century Liber Specialis of Mechthild of Hackeborn (d. 1298), I demonstrate that, although remaining within the bounds of orthodox scripture and exegesis, the Saxon author nevertheless presents her readers with a Christ whose identity as saviour is predicated on his elevation of the female and the fleshly, and whose symbiotic, fluid relationship with Mechthild implicates her as co-redeemer through a divine, glorious, joyful, and uniquely feminine fecundity. I follow this with a detailed close analysis of the early fourteenth-century transcript of a young woman&#x2019;s heresy trial in southern France, in which she confesses to equating Christ&#x2019;s body with the &#x2018;filth&#x2019; of the afterbirth, a concept so awful to her that she had been unable to believe in God or the transubstantiation. As I argue, however, Auda Fabri, experiences a species of revelation not unlike other orthodox female mystics, but, lacking their communities of discourse, must remain in a state of abjection from which capitulation to androcentric authority alone can save her. My third case-study is a sermon by the fourteenth-century English priest, John Mirk, in which Christ condemns an unconfessed merchant to Hell through the clotted blood from his feminised side-wound, which he casts at the dying man. I argue that, in attempting to uphold orthodox belief and practices, Mirk reveals a profound anxiety regarding late-medieval beliefs regarding the body and feminised flesh of Christ, whose appearance Mirk eventually demonises. Finally, to initiate my set of conclusions, I focus briefly on a largely unknown thirteenth-century Hebrew text, in which a Jewish woman in Sicily seems to give birth to a messianic figure from her body, which drips honey and oil. The woman&#x2019;s ecstasy, resonant of the experiences of Christian women mystics like Mechthild, suggests some sort of commonality between the Sicilian Jewish and Christian female communities in pre-plague Europe.Ultimately, then, this thesis argues for &#x2013; and contributes to &#x2013; the need for far wider recognition of the importance of non-canonical and more generically varied source material and its closer scrutiny to gain better understanding of the deeply gendered complexities attached to the many labile beliefs concerning Christ&#x2019;s flesh and blood during the Middle Ages.</abstract><type>E-Thesis</type><journal/><volume/><journalNumber/><paginationStart/><paginationEnd/><publisher/><placeOfPublication>Swansea</placeOfPublication><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint/><issnElectronic/><keywords>gender, Christ, medieval, tears, queer, mysticism, heresy, blood, flesh, affectivity.</keywords><publishedDay>2</publishedDay><publishedMonth>6</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2021</publishedYear><publishedDate>2021-06-02</publishedDate><doi>10.23889/SUthesis.57016</doi><url/><notes>Author: Kathryn Loveridge (nee Webb).</notes><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><supervisor>Herbert McAvoy, E.</supervisor><degreelevel>Doctoral</degreelevel><degreename>Ph.D</degreename><apcterm>Not Required</apcterm><lastEdited>2021-06-02T14:44:43.6298963</lastEdited><Created>2021-06-02T13:47:57.9057422</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences</level><level id="2">School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics</level></path><authors><author><firstname>KATHRYN</firstname><surname>WEBB</surname><order>1</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>57016__20047__f7d5d8b403ae41e9a3cb30d66d76752f.pdf</filename><originalFilename>57016.christa christus.final.KathrynLoveridge(Webb).pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2021-06-02T14:20:28.4770017</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>1378508</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>E-Thesis &#x2013; open access</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>Copyright: The author, Kathryn Loveridge, 2021</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling 2021-06-02T14:44:43.6298963 v2 57016 2021-06-02 Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature 42a04779ad9d9c41782b861beceebda0 KATHRYN WEBB KATHRYN WEBB true false 2021-06-02 This thesis examines responses to Christ’s gendered flesh that are located not in canonical literary texts or traditional saints’ lives, but in the sermons, visions and confessions of devout and orthodox men and women, whose orthodoxy, upon closer examination, is nevertheless decidedly unorthodox. In it, using a series of test cases, I argue that closer scrutiny of these non-canonical texts thus offers a more nuanced understanding of late-medieval notions of interplay between gender, sexuality and the divine than has been considered within previous scholarship.Beginning with the thirteenth-century Liber Specialis of Mechthild of Hackeborn (d. 1298), I demonstrate that, although remaining within the bounds of orthodox scripture and exegesis, the Saxon author nevertheless presents her readers with a Christ whose identity as saviour is predicated on his elevation of the female and the fleshly, and whose symbiotic, fluid relationship with Mechthild implicates her as co-redeemer through a divine, glorious, joyful, and uniquely feminine fecundity. I follow this with a detailed close analysis of the early fourteenth-century transcript of a young woman’s heresy trial in southern France, in which she confesses to equating Christ’s body with the ‘filth’ of the afterbirth, a concept so awful to her that she had been unable to believe in God or the transubstantiation. As I argue, however, Auda Fabri, experiences a species of revelation not unlike other orthodox female mystics, but, lacking their communities of discourse, must remain in a state of abjection from which capitulation to androcentric authority alone can save her. My third case-study is a sermon by the fourteenth-century English priest, John Mirk, in which Christ condemns an unconfessed merchant to Hell through the clotted blood from his feminised side-wound, which he casts at the dying man. I argue that, in attempting to uphold orthodox belief and practices, Mirk reveals a profound anxiety regarding late-medieval beliefs regarding the body and feminised flesh of Christ, whose appearance Mirk eventually demonises. Finally, to initiate my set of conclusions, I focus briefly on a largely unknown thirteenth-century Hebrew text, in which a Jewish woman in Sicily seems to give birth to a messianic figure from her body, which drips honey and oil. The woman’s ecstasy, resonant of the experiences of Christian women mystics like Mechthild, suggests some sort of commonality between the Sicilian Jewish and Christian female communities in pre-plague Europe.Ultimately, then, this thesis argues for – and contributes to – the need for far wider recognition of the importance of non-canonical and more generically varied source material and its closer scrutiny to gain better understanding of the deeply gendered complexities attached to the many labile beliefs concerning Christ’s flesh and blood during the Middle Ages. E-Thesis Swansea gender, Christ, medieval, tears, queer, mysticism, heresy, blood, flesh, affectivity. 2 6 2021 2021-06-02 10.23889/SUthesis.57016 Author: Kathryn Loveridge (nee Webb). COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University Herbert McAvoy, E. Doctoral Ph.D Not Required 2021-06-02T14:44:43.6298963 2021-06-02T13:47:57.9057422 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics KATHRYN WEBB 1 57016__20047__f7d5d8b403ae41e9a3cb30d66d76752f.pdf 57016.christa christus.final.KathrynLoveridge(Webb).pdf 2021-06-02T14:20:28.4770017 Output 1378508 application/pdf E-Thesis – open access true Copyright: The author, Kathryn Loveridge, 2021 true eng
title Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
spellingShingle Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
KATHRYN WEBB
title_short Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
title_full Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
title_fullStr Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
title_full_unstemmed Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
title_sort Christa, Christus: Christ’s Transgressive, Gendered Flesh in Late Medieval European Literature
author_id_str_mv 42a04779ad9d9c41782b861beceebda0
author_id_fullname_str_mv 42a04779ad9d9c41782b861beceebda0_***_KATHRYN WEBB
author KATHRYN WEBB
author2 KATHRYN WEBB
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institution Swansea University
doi_str_mv 10.23889/SUthesis.57016
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - English Language, Tesol, Applied Linguistics
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description This thesis examines responses to Christ’s gendered flesh that are located not in canonical literary texts or traditional saints’ lives, but in the sermons, visions and confessions of devout and orthodox men and women, whose orthodoxy, upon closer examination, is nevertheless decidedly unorthodox. In it, using a series of test cases, I argue that closer scrutiny of these non-canonical texts thus offers a more nuanced understanding of late-medieval notions of interplay between gender, sexuality and the divine than has been considered within previous scholarship.Beginning with the thirteenth-century Liber Specialis of Mechthild of Hackeborn (d. 1298), I demonstrate that, although remaining within the bounds of orthodox scripture and exegesis, the Saxon author nevertheless presents her readers with a Christ whose identity as saviour is predicated on his elevation of the female and the fleshly, and whose symbiotic, fluid relationship with Mechthild implicates her as co-redeemer through a divine, glorious, joyful, and uniquely feminine fecundity. I follow this with a detailed close analysis of the early fourteenth-century transcript of a young woman’s heresy trial in southern France, in which she confesses to equating Christ’s body with the ‘filth’ of the afterbirth, a concept so awful to her that she had been unable to believe in God or the transubstantiation. As I argue, however, Auda Fabri, experiences a species of revelation not unlike other orthodox female mystics, but, lacking their communities of discourse, must remain in a state of abjection from which capitulation to androcentric authority alone can save her. My third case-study is a sermon by the fourteenth-century English priest, John Mirk, in which Christ condemns an unconfessed merchant to Hell through the clotted blood from his feminised side-wound, which he casts at the dying man. I argue that, in attempting to uphold orthodox belief and practices, Mirk reveals a profound anxiety regarding late-medieval beliefs regarding the body and feminised flesh of Christ, whose appearance Mirk eventually demonises. Finally, to initiate my set of conclusions, I focus briefly on a largely unknown thirteenth-century Hebrew text, in which a Jewish woman in Sicily seems to give birth to a messianic figure from her body, which drips honey and oil. The woman’s ecstasy, resonant of the experiences of Christian women mystics like Mechthild, suggests some sort of commonality between the Sicilian Jewish and Christian female communities in pre-plague Europe.Ultimately, then, this thesis argues for – and contributes to – the need for far wider recognition of the importance of non-canonical and more generically varied source material and its closer scrutiny to gain better understanding of the deeply gendered complexities attached to the many labile beliefs concerning Christ’s flesh and blood during the Middle Ages.
published_date 2021-06-02T04:12:25Z
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score 11.014067

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