The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs
<p>Early medieval England is well-known for its assortment of royal saints; figures who, though drawn from nearly five centuries of pre-Conquest Christianity, are often best known from eleventh-century hagiography. Common among these narratives is the figure of the “wicked queen”–a woman whose...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | deu |
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Winchester University Press
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Royal Studies Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/188 |
| _version_ | 1811296212830126080 |
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| author | Matthew Firth |
| author_facet | Matthew Firth |
| author_sort | Matthew Firth |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <p>Early medieval England is well-known for its assortment of royal saints; figures who, though drawn from nearly five centuries of pre-Conquest Christianity, are often best known from eleventh-century hagiography. Common among these narratives is the figure of the “wicked queen”–a woman whose exercise of political power provides the impetus for the martyrdom of the royal saint. Flatly drawn and lacking in complex motivation, the treacherous woman of English hagiography is a trope, a didactic exemplar tailored to eleventh-century English audiences, and a caution of the dangers of female agency. Here biblical archetypes, clerical scholarship, and an inherent social misogyny unite in a common literary framework. Yet it is also true that each of these “wicked queens” has a unique transmission history that displays a complicated progression of the motif within a living narrative. This article examines the role of the treacherous woman as a narrative device in three royal hagiographies: <em>Passio S. Æthelberhti</em>, <em>Vita et miracula S. Kenelmi</em>, and <em>Passio S. Eadwardi regis et martyris</em>. In so doing, it explores the authorial motives and social influences that informed the composition of these figures, arguing that each is formed of a convergence of the historical and regional contexts of the saints’ cults with the political concerns and ecclesiastical anxieties of the tenth and eleventh centuries.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T05:46:10Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-930827870d29421d9f11fdac035996b9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2057-6730 |
| language | deu |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T05:46:10Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Winchester University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Royal Studies Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-930827870d29421d9f11fdac035996b92022-12-22T02:59:58ZdeuWinchester University PressRoyal Studies Journal2057-67302020-06-017110.21039/rsj.188231The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal MartyrsMatthew Firth0Flinders University<p>Early medieval England is well-known for its assortment of royal saints; figures who, though drawn from nearly five centuries of pre-Conquest Christianity, are often best known from eleventh-century hagiography. Common among these narratives is the figure of the “wicked queen”–a woman whose exercise of political power provides the impetus for the martyrdom of the royal saint. Flatly drawn and lacking in complex motivation, the treacherous woman of English hagiography is a trope, a didactic exemplar tailored to eleventh-century English audiences, and a caution of the dangers of female agency. Here biblical archetypes, clerical scholarship, and an inherent social misogyny unite in a common literary framework. Yet it is also true that each of these “wicked queens” has a unique transmission history that displays a complicated progression of the motif within a living narrative. This article examines the role of the treacherous woman as a narrative device in three royal hagiographies: <em>Passio S. Æthelberhti</em>, <em>Vita et miracula S. Kenelmi</em>, and <em>Passio S. Eadwardi regis et martyris</em>. In so doing, it explores the authorial motives and social influences that informed the composition of these figures, arguing that each is formed of a convergence of the historical and regional contexts of the saints’ cults with the political concerns and ecclesiastical anxieties of the tenth and eleventh centuries.</p>https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/188kingshipqueenshiphagiographyenglandæthelred iiælfthryth |
| spellingShingle | Matthew Firth The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs Royal Studies Journal kingship queenship hagiography england æthelred ii ælfthryth |
| title | The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs |
| title_full | The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs |
| title_fullStr | The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs |
| title_short | The Character of the Treacherous Woman in the Passiones of Early Medieval English Royal Martyrs |
| title_sort | character of the treacherous woman in the passiones of early medieval english royal martyrs |
| topic | kingship queenship hagiography england æthelred ii ælfthryth |
| url | https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/188 |
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