Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T13:27:32.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

‘Erat Abigail Mulier Prudentissima’: Gilbert of Tournai and Attitudes to Female Sanctity in the Thirteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Christine Walsh
Christine Walsh*
Affiliation:
London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

For many people in the Middle Ages it was the belief in the intercessory powers of saints at the court of heaven which drove individual acts of veneration. However, saints were not just sources of assistance in times of need; they could also be perceived as role models both for those who wanted to live a religious life and for the broader laity. Not surprisingly, the lessons drawn from a particular saint’s life tended to reflect individual attitudes and beliefs, and the same saint could be used to justify contradictory forms of behaviour. This paper examines two contrasting responses to the cult of St Katherine of Alexandria and what they tell us about attitudes to women and female sanctity in the thirteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 47: Saints and Sanctity , 2011 , pp. 171 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 A good general introduction to saints as intercessors is Ward, B., Miracles and the Medieval Mind: Theory, Record and Event 1000–1215, rev. edn (Aldershot, 1987).Google Scholar

2 Katherine is supposed to have died c. 305 but there is no evidence that she ever existed. Her Passio probably dates from the eighth century. For a discussion of the origins of her cult, see Walsh, C., The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Early Medieval Europe (Aldershot, 2007).Google Scholar

3 Her intercessory powers are emphasized in the earliest versions of the Passio when, as she is led out to her execution, Katherine prays that whosoever shall pray for assistance in her name shall have their prayers answered and a heavenly voice is heard granting her request. See, e.g., the tenth-century Greek Passio by Simeon Metaphrastes published by J.-P. Migne with a Latin translation by Surius (PG 116, 275–302).

4 See Blamires, A., ‘Women and Preaching in Medieval Orthodoxy, Heresy and Saints’ Lives’, Viator 26 (1995), 135–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

5 Mary Magdalene was the other saint associated with female preaching and similar attempts were made to show her as an exception. See Jansen, K. L., The Making of the Magdalen: Preaching and Popular Devotion in the Later Middle Ages (Princeton, NJ, 2000), esp. ch. 2Google Scholar; Blamires, ‘Women and Preaching’, 141–5; Rusconi, R., ‘Women’s Sermons at the End of the Middle Ages: Texts from the Blessed and Images of the Saints’, in Kienzle, B. M. and Walker, P.J., eds, Women Preachers and Prophets through Two Millennia of Christianity (Berkeley, CA, 1998), 173–95, esp. 179–82.Google Scholar

6 For an introduction to recent historiography on sermons, see Muessig, C., ‘Sermon, Preacher and Society in the Middle Ages’, JMedH 28 (2002), 73–91.Google Scholar

7 Schneyer, J. B., Repertorium der lateinischen Sermones des Mittelalters für die Zeit von 1150–1350, II vols (Munich, 1969–90), 2: 282–318.Google Scholar

8 All biblical quotations are from the Latin Vulgate. Those in English are from the Challoner revision of the Douai-Reims translation of the Latin Vulgate. Where the Authorized Version reference differs, it is given in parentheses.

9 Vatican City, BAV, MS Vat Lat 11444, fols 10rb-12ra, dating from the thirteenth century.

10 Gilbert studied at Paris University, where he taught for some years before joining the Franciscans shortly before 1240. He was a prolific writer and his works include many sermons; Schneyer lists 457 by him, although only two are on the theme of St Katherine. Gilbert was well connected and was commissioned by Pope Alexander IV (1254–61) to produce two collections of his sermons, and by Louis IX (1226–70) to write a manual on good government. For a summary of Gilbert’s life and works, see DSp, s.n. ‘Guibert de Tournai’. See also D’Avray, D. L., The Preaching of the Friars: Sermons Diffused from Paris before 1300 (Oxford, 1985), 120–4, 144–6.Google Scholar For a list of Gilbert’s sermons, see Schneyer, Repertorium, 2: 282–318.

11 1 Kgs 25: 3 [1 Sam. 25: 3]: ‘and the name of his wife was Abigail. And she was a prudent and very comely woman.’

12 Repertorium der lateinischen Sermones des Mittelalters für die Zeit von 1350–1500 [CD-ROM] from the unpublished papers of J. B. Schneyer, ed. L. Hödl and W. Knoch (Münster, 2001) [This is a continuation of Schneyer’s Repertorium, referred to above, which was compiled after his death from notes that he left. Unless otherwise specified, all references are to Schneyer’s original Repertorium, not to the CD—ROM].

13 Charleville, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 92. See Schneyer, , Repertorium, 7: 224 (no. 159)Google Scholar; Catalogue général des manuscrits des bibliothèques publiques des départements, 7 vols (Paris, 1849-85), 5: 589–90 Google Scholar. Gilbert knew Bonaventure well and accompanied him to the Council of Lyons in 1274.

14 See Maier, C.T., Crusade, Propaganda and Ideology: Model Sermons for the Preaching of the Cross (Cambridge, 2000), 250–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

15 See , R. H. and Rouse, M.A., ‘Biblical Distinctions in the Thirteenth Century’, Archives d’histoire doctrinale et littéraire du Moyen Age 29 (1974), 271–37.Google Scholar

16 1 Kgs [1 Sam.] 25: 41.

17 BAV, MS Vat Lat 11444, fol. 10rb, lines 24–26: ‘convenientes possunt assumi verba proposita ad commendationem beate virginis Katarine’.

18 Ibid., lines 32–34: ‘Sic beata Katerine primus fuit sponsa diaboli propter macule originalis infectionem et postea sponsa Christi’.

19 e.g. ibid., fol. 10vb, lines 11–12:’electa mea sponsa, mea speciosa’.

20 The earliest surviving reference to Katherine’s mystical marriage is in an Old French poem dated to 1251 (Paris, BN, MS Arsenal 3645). It is not mentioned in the influential The Golden Legend, written c. 1260. See Nevanlinna, S. and Taavitsainen, I., St Katherine of Alexandria: The Late Middle English Prose Legend in Southwell Minster MS 7 (Cambridge, 1993), 22–3 Google Scholar; Lewis, K.J., The Cult of St Katherine of Alexandria in Late Medieval England (Woodbridge, 2000), 107–10 Google Scholar; de Voragine, Jacobus, The Golden Legend: Readings on the Saints, ed. and trans. Ryan, William Granger, 2 vols (Princeton, NJ, 1993), 2: 334–41.Google Scholar

21 See Lewis, C.T. and Short, C., eds, A Latin Dictionary (Oxford, 1996)Google Scholar, s.v. sapiens, where there is a cross-reference to prudens.

22 e.g. BAV, Ms Vat Lat 11444, fol. 11ra, lines 16–17: ‘Proverbs 2 Dominus dat sapientiam et ex ore eius scientia et prudentia’ (‘the Lord giveth wisdom and out of his mouth cometh prudence and knowledge’).

23 e.g. ibid., fol 11va, lines 19–21: ‘(Ecclesiasticus 19: 28 [20: 1]) est tacens et ipse est prudens. Amos 5 prudens in tempore illo tacebit etc’ (‘there is one that holdeth his peace and he is wise. Amos 5 the prudent shall keep silent in that time etc’).

24 D’Avray, D. L., ‘Katherine of Alexandria and Mass Communication in Germany: Woman as Intellectual’, in Bériou, N. and D’Avray, D. L., eds, Modem Questions about Medieval Sermons: Essays on Marriage, Death, History and Sanctity (Spoleto, 1994), 401–8.Google Scholar

25 Ibid. 405.

26 The following works provide a good starting point for modern research on the beguine movement: Grundmann, H., Religiöse Beivegungen im Mittelalter: Untersuchungen iiber die geschichtlichen Zusammenhänge zwischen der Ketzerei, den Bettelorden una der religiösen Frauenbewegung im 12. und 13. Jahrhundert und iiber die geschichtlichen Grundlagen der deutschen Mystik, 2nd edn (Darmstadt, 1961)Google Scholar, ET Religious Movements in the Middle Ages, trans. Rowan, S. (Notre Dame, IN, 1995)Google Scholar; McDonnell, E., The Beguines and Beghards in Medieval Culture: With Special Emphasis on the Belgian Scene (New Brunswick, NJ, 1954);Google ScholarLerner, R., The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the Later Middle Ages (Berkeley, CA, 1972)Google Scholar; Simons, W., Cities of Ladies: Beguine Communities in the Medieval Low Countries 1200–1565 (Philadelphia, PA, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Miller, T. S., ‘What’s in a Name? Clerical Representations of Paris Beguines (1200–1328)’, JMedH 33 (2007), 60–86.Google Scholar

27 von Dollinger, J.J. I., Beitrâge zur politischen, kirchlichen und cultur-Geschichte der sechs letzen Jahrhunderte, 3 vols (Vienna, 1882), 3: 180–200.Google Scholar

28 See, e.g., three sermons by Gilbert in support of crusades in Maier, Crusade, Propaganda and Ideology, 176–209.

29 Von Döllinger, Beiträge, 199–200.

30 Ibid. 199: ‘Habent interpretata scripturarum mysteria et in communi idiomate gallicata, quae tamen in sacra scriptura exercitatis vix sunt pervia’.

31 Le Goff, J., ‘Le Dossier des mendicants’, in 1274: Année charnière, mutations et continuités: Lyon-Paris, 30 septembre — 5 octobre 1974 (Paris, 1977), 211–22.Google Scholar

32 Simons, Cities of Ladies, 87–8.

33 Ibid. 80–5.

34 Miller, ‘What’s in a Name?’, 79–80.

35 Oliver, J. H., Gothic Manuscript Illumination in the Diocese of Liège (c. 1250 — c. 1330), 2 vols (Leuven, 1988) 1: 112–14 Google Scholar. The Psalters cited by Oliver are: Baltimore, Walters Art Gallery, MS 37 (ibid. 2: 239–41); Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, MSS IV-36 (ibid. 244–6), IV-1066 (ibid. 248–50); Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS 288 (ibid. 250–2); Liège, Bibliothèque de l’Université, MS 431 (ibid. 259–62); New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS 440 (ibid. 280–3); Oxford, Bod]., Douce MSS d. 19, fols 10–39; 381, fols 63–5; Philadelphia, Free Library, Lewis European MSS 3:1-28 and 8: 1–4 (ibid. 285–6); Paris, BN, lat. MS 1077 (ibid. 287–9).

36 Ibid. 1: 114.

37 Oliver, J. H., ‘Medieval Alphabet Soup: Reconstruction of a Mosan Psalter-Hours in Philadelphia and Oxford and the Cult of St Catherine’, Gesta 24 (1985), 129–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

38 Ibid. 137.

39 Beguine devotion to Katherine can be shown to have continued into later centuries. See, e.g., certain fifteenth-century wills in A. de la Grange, ‘Choix de testaments tournaisiens anterieurs au XVIe siècle’, Annales de la Société historique et archéologique de Tournai, ns 2 (1897), 1–365, at 141 (no. 464), 220 (no. 775), 227 (110. 798), 265 (no. 934), where various bequests are made to the saint.